Fun with Acronyms: TGB, BIG, IGC, PP

Howdy all, new guy here.

"New" being a relative term; I started work with GarageGames at the beginning of the year. This, being my first blog post, is a good indication of how busy I have been since starting. Either that, or a good indication of how much Puzzle Poker I've been playing. More on that later. First though, what the hell have I been doing for 4 1/2 months?

Torque Game Builder (TGB)

I'm sure by now you are all aware that the release of TGB is imminent. You should also by now be aware that it is kicking some serious ass. Part of what I have been working on is to make sure that all of our marketing efforts and promotions surrounding TGB are ready to go at the launch of the product. You may have noticed our new TGB Landing Page. (The Features page is a work in progress, so don't pass judgement on that yet.) This is the design we will be moving forward with on the website, creating easily navigable Landing Pages for each of the three engines, as well as each of the various "solutions" using Torque. Rick recently posted a blog entry looking for a webdev. Well, we found one (or, he found us) and he starts next week! So you should start seeing website changes happening at a steady clip from here on out. In addition to website changes, we are really putting a lot of effort into a BIG promotion for the release of TGB, which brings me to...

Break Into Games (BIG) Competition

I don't want to steal Jay's thunder so I can't say much about this other than it's gonna be BIG. The competition will begin upon the launch of TGB and will culminate at the 5th Annual IndieGamesCon. Speaking of which...

IndieGamesCon (IGC)

Early Bird Registration is now open! IGC will be held October 6-8 at a new (and much larger) venue this year. Sign up early for the best deal; prices increase on July 1. Head on over to www.indiegamescon.com to check out the latest info. There isn't a whole lot there yet, but those of you familiar with IGC know it is an event not to be missed. Those of you unfamiliar with it...well, it's an event not to be missed! More information on speakers and group discussions will be added as those details are finalized.

Puzzle Poker (PP)

Last, but certainly not least, I've been playing a LOT of Puzzle Poker. Shortly after I showed up, someone pointed me towards this game on the demo machine. It was built using TGB, was in development, was getting close to being finished, and could use some playtesting. Well, four hours later, I'm pretty sure the emphasis had shifted from playTESTING to PLAYtesting. Now, I don't like to brag (but I sure do love to talk smack! What does that say about me as a person?), but have you looked at the Puzzle Poker leader board? I tried looking, but all I could see was the name SecretSauce. Please, do me (and yourself!) a favor, and go download the demo. Please. I need some competition. It's lonely at the top.

Fear not, Apple users, your chance will come. The OSX version is on its way.

One more thing, I'd love to see a console version of Puzzle Poker for the sole reason that then I would be able to make my Wii do PP.