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What a year... Here comes 2008!

Name:	Brett Seyler
Date Posted:	Dec 22, 2007
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Blog post

It's been an exciting year here at the Garage and it looks to be a mind-blowing 2008 not just for gamers with the impending launch of InstantAction, but for the technology side of the business as well. Torque is now taught or used to teach in more than 200 schools and universities worldwide. The education part of the business is on the serious up and up with new books by Brad Strong, Mike Duggan, and John Kanalakis. There's also online training for anyone ramping up at Torqueschool here in the U.S., at SIM University with Playware Studios in Singapore. On top of that, the GG crew is headed to Texas in a couple weeks to run a boot camp at SMU Guildhall and people are taking notice.

Indies and Commercial developers alike have been cranking out AWESOME games, and more generally developing really impressive products with Torque. Consider this ridiculous list of games Powered by Torque. Trust me too, you guys haven't seen anything compared to what's coming in 2008. It's not just indies, big commercial developers are using Torque too. Torque has been licensed by NC Soft, Sony, Disney, Vivendi Universal, Hasbro, even without hands on commercial services and support. We're also now officially officially supported middleware for both Microsoft and Nintendo, so wherever you want to go with your Torque game, the road is well-paved.

In the non-game space, we're seeing lots of really cool stuff too. We've been licensed by NASA, L3, Lockheed Martin and many others for serious games projects. C2C and Eric Preisz consult and develop applications for this space regularly. Just last month in Montreal, Davey Jackson and I took a look at an oil rig training simulation powered by Torque that knocked our socks off. Seeing all these non-game applications is inspiring and very interesting both from a technical and business perspective, but it's never really been our core focus. We've always been concentrated on empowering *game* development and we want to continue to do that.

To further that goal, we're updating our EULAs for commercial licensing available on GarageGames.com. The standard EULAs available through online purchase now permit only games for entertainment. If you're wanting to profit from a simulation, serious game, virtual world, machinima, educational game or other game-not-for-entertainment application of Torque, you'll need to contact us at licensing@garagegames.com for licensing details. We already do this for Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 licensing, so it's really not much of a change, but it makes sense for us and for people doing non-game development. Torque is still freely available for non-game applications under a very similar license. Please contact us for more information at licensing@garagegames.com.

The fact is, when huge companies or government agencies have licensed Torque in the past, they've almost always demanded changes from our standard EULA. It should be easier for us to handle this work knowing beforehand what Torque is being licensed for so we can offer a license that better suits the application. It has always been our goal to empower indies, and we want our product to be accessible to anyone, but we didn't fully anticipate the many ways Torque would be used when we first established our Commercial EULA more than 6 years ago.

We'll also now be requiring the display of a Torque logo or "splash screen" as just about every other game technology company does to help build their brand. Emergent, Epic, Unity, Valve and others all do this and it makes sense. This will help us identify the Torque stuff we're really proud of and make noise about it! Without this requirement in our EULA, identifying the best games powered by Torque often happens months after the game ships or not at all. This is unfortunate both for other developers working with Torque who want to see what's possible and for us because even though a splash screen is not a requirement, developers often don't even both to send us a link or post something in the forums. So, we want to see what new stuff happens with our technology, and we'd like to be identified with it. If this creates an undue burden for commercial developers or their publishers, we're happy to remove it in a custom license if you contact us at licensing@garagegames.com.

So that's it :) Lot's of cool stuff in 2007 and way more in 2008! Pretty minor changes to the commercial EULAs.

To answer some predictable questions...

Q. Has anything changed if I'm an Indie?
A. Nope :) We'll continue to improve GG tech and keep it affordable with a liberal license and support this rockin' community.

Q. Will the price of Torque be higher for non-game applications?
A. Possibly. It will depend on what you're doing. It's also possible that it could be cheaper if you're part of a non-profit or doing research.

Q. When are the changes effective?
A. The posted EULAs are now changed and the changes are effective January 1st, 2008. Even though our EULA allows amendments or changes at any time without notice (and no other company on Earth would do this sort of thing, but...), we're giving people the opportunity to purchase Torque under the old EULA until 2008.

Q. If I have a 2007 or older 'indie" license can I make a simulation, serious game, virtual world, machinima, educational game or other non-entertainment application?
A. No. Indie license have always been for games only. Contact licensing@garagegames.com if you want to use Torque to make these products.

Happy Holidays!

-Brett

Recent Blog Posts

List:	03/26/08 - Torque's 2D and 3D Future 03/13/08 - Torque X! 12/22/07 - What a year... Here comes 2008! 04/30/07 - Still looking for Senior Engineers 04/11/07 - GarageGames Now Hiring for several positions

Submit your own resources!

Ian Roach (Dec 22, 2007 at 01:14 GMT)

Great stuff GG, must say i like some of those pending torque powered games, its good to hear more about projects being made with torque.

I especially like that cricket revolution. These types of projects need to be advertised on GG more :)

Congrats on 2007 and i look forward to even more in 2008

Julian R (Dec 22, 2007 at 02:04 GMT)

Looking good GG - hopefully I'll be able to add my game to the list in 2008 :)

Brett Seyler (Dec 22, 2007 at 02:28 GMT)

Thanks guys. We'll keep that "Powered by Torque" page as a living doc and add details, screens, and other media over time. There's still a bunch out there not on that list, but it's really tough to track it all down. \

If any devs out there made a game that should be on that list, let us know and we'll do our best to get people playing it.

Donald \"Yadot\" Harris (Dec 22, 2007 at 03:46 GMT)

It's amazing, I knew GG and the Torque tools where big this really helps to show off where GG has been and where you guys are going. I REALLY can't wait until the new year. Especially in January.... my birthday is on the 29th

Ps
Can you put the link to Powered by Torque under the Products page? So we can point new comers to that link when they are on the fence about buying new the engine.

Joe Rossi (Dec 22, 2007 at 03:52 GMT)

That's a bummer... One of the main reasons I upgraded to a commercial TGB license was to avoid the forced splash screen requirement that (at the time) only applied to indie licensees. I haven't seen the new EULA, but I hope there will be some leeway. Can't we put a "powered by Torque" logo on the main menu instead?

Brett Seyler (Dec 22, 2007 at 03:54 GMT)

@Joe: If you already own the license, it's not an issue for you :)

Donald \"Yadot\" Harris (Dec 22, 2007 at 03:56 GMT)

Brett if you are headed this way let me know, I know a couple of good places to eat at!

Kevin James (Dec 22, 2007 at 04:11 GMT)

I made a documentary with TGB once for a competition called History Day.

Prairie Games (Dec 22, 2007 at 04:18 GMT)

Quote:
If you're wanting to profit from a simulation, serious game, virtual world, machinima, educational game or other game-not-for-entertainment application of Torque, you'll need to contact us at licensing@garagegames.com for licensing details.

What is the difference between a virtual world, serious game, and an "executable electronic single or multi-user games for entertainment." as defined by the EULA?

Brett Seyler (Dec 22, 2007 at 05:10 GMT)

@Prairie Games: It really boils down to, is your game's purpose to entertain? If it has other purposes like training, education, enabling communication or basic socializing, then it's not a "game for entertainment." Entertainment may be *a* purpose, but it must be the only purpose.

Here's a good timely example of games not for entertainment:

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/21/015235

Prairie Games (Dec 22, 2007 at 06:20 GMT)

Alright, as long as no one learns anything playing our games were fine. I can live with that ;)

Thanks for the clarification.

Daniel Eden (Dec 22, 2007 at 11:18 GMT)

I was always under the impression that socializing was entertainment. At least if you're doing it right. \=)

Deborah Marshall (Dec 22, 2007 at 12:06 GMT)

@Kevin: Can you send me a link to your documentary? GG has been trying to be better about tracking these awesome projects that people are working on. That's partly the reason why we made the list (and we hope in the future to make it easier to add to from the community).

Brett Seyler (Dec 22, 2007 at 18:45 GMT)

@ Daniel, Prairie: On more serious note, of course games we create have elements that enable socialization and learning, but the line is a little fuzzy.

Edutainment games made for educating people (and being fun too if they want to be effective) in and outside of schools are not games for entertainment.

Games that are purposed to train people to do their jobs (unless people out there get paid to laugh or swear at their display...QA we love you) are not games for entertainment.

Games that are purposed to show off another piece of technology, tech demos, are not games for entertainment.

If you're making a 3D Facebook virtual world app (OMG...Beacon in 3D!), that's not a game for entertainment.

If you're not sure, just send us an email, but if you're developing a game the way we make games, the way Wideload, Square, EA, and every other game developer you can think of makes games, you're almost certainly good :)
Edited on Dec 22, 2007 18:46 GMT

Prairie Games (Dec 22, 2007 at 20:03 GMT)

Prairie Games throws around a lot of technology and Torque really is one component of the bigger picture for us. You may have read a little about Mojo which is the working name for our new MMO technology. It is totally understandable that if/when we wanted to demonstrate this technology as a separate product, we would need a different license and/or agreement. This has never been confusing.

"Virtual worlds" and to a lesser extent "simulations" being singled out in the EULA still concern me as they are pretty vague and not defined in the EULA itself. I'm not really sweating this... just giving you some feedback.

Thanks again,
-JE

Kevin James (Dec 22, 2007 at 23:24 GMT)

@ Deborah

Here's an old .plan with all the info you need. If you want the game folder, I can send you that as well. The video linked in the .plan is actually an old version, though the documentary was built using TGB 1.1.3 and its unlikely that it would play completely correct on any other computer than mine. (The fickleness of games)

Matt Huston (Dec 23, 2007 at 10:07 GMT)

The educational games amendment concerns me too. I am wondering what would be termed as an educational game. For instance, Pocketwatch Games I would term educational.

Brett Seyler (Dec 23, 2007 at 10:20 GMT)

@Matt: I don't know you'd be concerned. We're not denying developers these licenses, we're just not offering them carte blanche online. As far as the Venture Arctic / Africa games go, we consider those games for entertainment.

Brett Seyler (Dec 23, 2007 at 10:25 GMT)

BTW Andy Schatz, CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS: http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=655

That makes both the 2007 Casual and Sim of the year Torque games. W00t!

Aaron Ellis (Dec 23, 2007 at 21:10 GMT)

@Brett Seyler

Any talk of EULA changes has alway made me a bit nervous. My limited understanding of the legalese language is a big part of that unease. With that in mind, here's my question . . .

Is it safe to assume that those who obtained a commercial TGE license in the past are bound only by the EULA that we accepted at the time we licensed the engine? In my case I moved up to commercial almost two years ago. I would love to continue operating on that original (to me anyway) license agreement after the the new year and beyond.

It's possible this issue has already been addressed, but I just want to make sure I clearly understand how the planned EULA changes will affect current commercial licensees.

Thanks

Brett Seyler (Dec 23, 2007 at 21:51 GMT)

@Aaron: Yes. Absolutely. You will only be bound by EULA changes if you purchase an additional license or download any new releases.
Edited on Dec 23, 2007 21:53 GMT

Aaron Ellis (Dec 23, 2007 at 22:14 GMT)

Ok. That clears it up. So using new code updates to existing/licensed engine tech (like TGE) would require adopting the new EULA. I guess that makes sense.

Thank you.

Joe Rossi (Dec 24, 2007 at 04:25 GMT)

So if I were to download the next version of TGB, any previous versions that I have been using will become affected by this new EULA?

Josh Williams (Dec 24, 2007 at 17:02 GMT)

Joe R, no you're old version is governed by whatever EULA was associated with it. New versions are governed by whatever EULA is associated with them (as is porting code from a new version to an older version, of course). So, this does not in any way force any change on anyone for products or versions you already own. It's only for new stuff. The same should be true any time a software maker introduces EULA changes... it only applies to the new version. It'd be wrong to do it any differently, I think.

And I'm really excited for all the new Torque games, and Torque-based books coming out! :) This is gonna be a great year!

Happy holidays everyone! :) Hope all your development-- game and otherwise-- is going great and staying on-schedule.

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