Had dreams of becoming an astronaut as a child? See how a group of game developers at the Federation of Galaxy Explorers volunteered their time to create MoonBaseOne, an educational game that exposes kids to science, technology and math.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 07/20/2009 (12:40 am) Comment 18 comments

Murder, intrigue and classic newspaper puzzles combine in Sudoku Ball - Detective. Read how European developer WhiteBear used a toy inventor's idea to put a new twist on this classic game.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 07/08/2009 (10:42 pm) Comment 6 comments

Summertime is conference time here at the Garage. See how you can meet up with us at Develop, Casual Connect, SIGGRAPH, Europe GDC, PAX, and the Austin Game Developers Conference.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 07/07/2009 (2:11 pm) Comment 34 comments

Brazilian software developers MusiGames give us a taste of rocker stardom with Drums Challenge. Originally focusing solely on serious musical applications, this new spin-off studio of D'Accord Music Software is enjoying the success of their first musical game release on the iPhone.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 06/30/2009 (1:35 pm) Comment 7 comments

You may have already played the game that has become a hit on the PC, Mac, and XBLA. You may have even been one of the first people to buy it on the iPhone (thank you)! Now you get an inside peak on how Marble Blast Mobile was made.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 06/16/2009 (4:28 pm) Comment 12 comments

Interested in purchasing a Torque engine? Things just got easier for you. Starting today, the forums for Torque Game Engine Advanced, Torque Game Builder, iTGB, and more have been opened for your viewing pleasure.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 06/12/2009 (11:37 am) Comment 80 comments

Some developers, like Archimage, take games seriously. With a $9M grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Archimage created two games aimed at preventing obesity and type II diabetes in children.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 06/09/2009 (5:23 pm) Comment 11 comments

T-shirts, mousepads, and caps...oh my! After using the Torque 3D pre-order shirts as a testbed, we've launched a GarageGames-themed merch store on the site to complement all your development needs.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 06/08/2009 (2:48 pm) Comment 42 comments

With more than one billion apps downloaded just nine months after the AppStore launch, the iPhone continues to surpass expectations on what this handheld device can achieve. Check out what studio Suggestive Interactive Content is cooking up with its first iPhone title, Ohmz!

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 06/04/2009 (3:19 pm) Comment 7 comments

And Yet It Moves is a unique game on a few levels. In order to progress through the game, the player must turn the world clockwise or counterclockwise in 90 degree intervals. The environment was made to look like a collage ripped out of paper. And perhaps most unique of all, this ground-breaking game began as a class project, now published on Steam.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 05/19/2009 (6:29 am) Comment 13 comments

iFPS Online breaks more firsts than just being the first iTGE game available in the iTunes AppStore. Pick Up and Play's game is also the first multiplayer FPS available for the iPhone, serving 2 to 10 players running over Wi-Fi and 3G on iPhones and iPod Touches. Read what it was like to develop this ground-breaking game.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 05/08/2009 (3:35 pm) Comment 9 comments

Meet Raycatcher, now available on Steam. Raycatcher allows you to interact with your personal MP3 library (no additional downloads required). Tired of working for a AAA studio, John Warner decided to strike it out on his own. His goal: get a game up on Steam. Developed by programmer-artist team Thinking Studios, Raycatcher gives you a rare glimpse of what it's like creating an indie game for the first time.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 05/05/2009 (2:40 pm) Comment 3 comments

Canadian-based Big Blue Bubble is no stranger to game development. Founded in 2004 by industry veterans, the company saw the potential of the upcoming mobile games market. Its first game, Bubble Trouble, quickly sold over 120,000 copies worldwide and was used in marketing campaigns by Nokia. Read on to see how an established game company eyes a new opportunity in the mobile market.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 04/28/2009 (6:02 pm) Comment 6 comments

Expounding on the classic snake games of yesterdecade, Sea Snake for the iPhone delivers an enjoyably addictive, intuitively fun experience by using old school game mechanics and adding modern touches including accelerometer support for tilt controls. Sea Snake broke all expectations by being an April 2009 iTunes Staff Favorite. Read on to see how Notunfun decided to use nostalgia to put a new spin on mobile gaming.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 04/17/2009 (4:37 pm) Comment 3 comments

Following Sudden Games and their trek into casual games is like watching a living case study of how to "make it" in video games. Now with four games in development and an eye to consoles and other platforms, Sudden Games is exploring the iPhone with Sushi To Go. Read on about the development of this time management and action game using the iPhone's unique accelerometer interface.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 04/13/2009 (3:08 pm) Comment 0 comments

Having been in the game engine business for nearly a decade, we've seen our share of rockstar Torque developers. One that immediately comes to mind is Rake in Grass, a small independent development studio that has made over 10 games with Torque. Recently, the Rake in Grass team has enjoyed some big successes, including seeing their fast-paced horror game Larva Mortus go up on Steam and Be a King as the 4th ranked game on RealArcade!

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 04/07/2009 (3:15 pm) Comment 4 comments

As promised, we took videos of all our booth demonstrations. My fellow GG'ers will be posting blogs soon of the live chat interviews and Torque 3D demos, but here's your first look at the games we showed off at the booth this year.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 04/01/2009 (4:08 pm) Comment 7 comments

I can't tell you how crazy it is over here in San Francisco. With the announcement of Torque 3D licensing and pricing and a host of awesome Torque-made games in the booth, we were hoping for a modest increase in traffic, especially in these economically rough times. We were not expecting the absolute flood of traffic to the booth that we've seen in the last day and a half. By eyeball estimation, we're double to triple the amount of foot traffic we had last year.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 03/26/2009 (12:26 pm) Comment 26 comments

Well, it's almost upon us. It's been a crazy week of scheduling meetings, preparing the booth, talking to game developers, and putting the final touches on demos, but GarageGames is just about ready for the biggest trade event of the year!

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 03/20/2009 (2:08 pm) Comment 25 comments

We're seeing a flurry of Torque games being released to the App Store. To give you a taste of what it's like to develop for the iPhone, meet Ray Graham, President and Chief Engineer of Bitwise Design. His company developed Hospital Havoc, a casual time-management/arcade/strategy game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You play a doctor with a helpful “sidekick” nurse in a small hospital room where wacky diseases are the norm.

Author Deborah M. Fike Date 03/13/2009 (10:07 am) Comment 6 comments