Open Letter to the GarageGames
by Jay Moore · 04/20/2006 (10:58 pm) · 28 comments
Open Letter to the GarageGames' Community
GDC Binge, What's on my to do list, personal rant and Job Opening.
You are the greatest. If we don't tell you that often enough, our bad.
As proud as I am of our technology and the products we've created - I spend an equal amount of time telling the planet about what an amazing community of developers surround GG and Torque and how that is value we can't manufacture and passion we can't package. I believe it is partly a result of being a company with the best interests of our customers behind EVERY decision that we make.
Through various forum threads, emails, and general buzz around the water cooler, it has come to my attention that perhaps not everyone in the community is feeling appreciated, communicated with, or generally in the know like as they felt when it was just 10-12 employees hanging out online with only 40,000 or so community members that contributed to GG (that was just last year - now at over 30 GGers nearly 100 associates and 65,000 community members - it appears we're growing).
Let me share a few highlights from GDC that might help explain, but in no way excuse me from not communicating better with everyone in the Garage:
Leading up to GDC I had the chance to respond to over 1,000 requests for meetings (not that I was able to respond to everyone). You read right, now granted many were people trying to sell us something, get us to outsource something or just want to let us know they'd always believed in GG (and most came by the booth even if I didn't personally reply to their emails to tell them to). We have very valuable partnerships we enjoy in the industry with companies like ATI, Creative Labs, Logitech, AMD, nVIDIA, Oberon and many more all of whom it wasn't possible to find time to sit down with and talk about 2006 plans during this busy GDC (more work for me at e3).
This was the first event where every new meeting didn't start with 'Can you take a minute to explain to us your business model. We're not sure we understand how you make money'. Finally, by having the highest grossing title on the very successful Xbox 360 Live Arcade, people are understanding that if you do good things, make great games, empower people and don't get greedy, the money will follow.
Yes, I was the "Tradeshow Man" that Jeff referred to in his blog. We, between our teams, had over 200 sit down meetings at GDC - many with very exciting outcomes. We actually had rooms at the Hilton(attached directly to the convention floor) - it astonished those used to staying 10 miles away at the cheapest flea bag hotel. I think I only logged over five nights a total of 13 hours in my room - 3 of which were answering emails. A typical day would start at 8 am, I'd have 2-3 breakfast meetings (that can get expensive), meet at the booth to kick off the day (sometimes the only time the other 15 GG people would see me the entire day), then to 2-3 more meetings before lunch, a lunch meeting or reception, 6-8 more meetings before dinner, then like on Tuesday evening the Torque Educational Advisory Board Meeting (wow was that fun - Davey and GG enjoy some extremely passionate partners in education doing great things), an IGDA reception, 1-2 parties and then at about 11pm end up at the Fairmont for time connecting with old friends and going up to the suites to party some more. I was on a bit of a jag as pictures someplace on Flickr attest.
This year along with other casual game companies GG hosted our first party at GDC - board games and poker night.
On the floor (Eric Fritz managed the booth) and Benjamin Bradley handled press, Justin DuJardin and Adam Larson got to show off Torque Game Builder as it is poised to leap out of Early Adopter phase (only 1 year and 3-4 months after launch), Matt Fairfax and Paul Scott showed off Constructor (it is inspiring to think about how fully customizable tool and interior brushes can be manipulated through script), and Pat Wilson, Ben Garney, Mark Frohnmayer (mostly playing MB Ultra) and Tim Aste showed off TSE Xbox 360. Adam deGrandis and Tim Aste showed off all of our art pipeline in the Autodesk booth everyday and Tim Aste and Ben Garney showed off the making of the Legions demo at the ATI theater on Thursday. Davey Jackson was on Education and Stephen Zepp worked with the serious games and training & support customers. Jeff Tunnell, Josh Williams and Mark F. took on the heavy lifting in business development meetings.
To get to GDC required new brochures, back drops, buttons, mouse pads, signs, temporary tattoos, web site updates and demos, that took nearly everyone and our service providers working for 8 weeks solid to get to the 'ta Da!' stage at GDC.
So to tell you a little more about what I'm doing around the Garage these days, here are a few things I'm spending 12+ hour days working on now:
1) Torque Game Builder Marketing Rollout:
A) A 'potential' contest to be revealed soon that will culminate at IGC - think lots of hours working with sponsors, media and promotional teams. For the developers it will mean fame, trips to IGC and dev. hardware for the best (most fun) indie TBG games (see I can spread rumors).
B) Case Studies and developer spotlights on key studios and projects
C) Curriculum and lesson plans for teaching TGB in higher Ed.
D) Marketing & promotional paper - The Flash Game Developers Guide to the Torque Game Builder.
E) Website(s), demos and hype to fuel the proverbial marketing machine.
2) Torque Constructor
3) TSE and TSE Xbox 360
4) Marble Blast Ultra ongoing marketing
5) The FIVE - yes count them FIVE new games that we're launching and taking out to distribution!!! (its been awhile!)
Ok, so maybe I'm leaving out a few top secret things that I honestly can't tell you about, but that is a large portion of just the marketing teams efforts right now.
It also might hearten everyone to know GG has had full on company meetings trying to figure out how we can hit our milestones, take advantage of the key opportunities we're focused on (among MANY we don't chose to focus on) and still interact and support the community more in this time of accelerated growth.
2006 will be a very exciting year with much history being written in the GG saga, but I want one of the footnotes to be that we were able to sustain amazing growth and still have a vibrant and connected community that made the journey as rewarding as the arrival at our destiny.
Beginning of personal rant:
======================
If you doubt GG at some point that's fine, we understand that (I had my concerns in the early days). If you question us in a constructive manner, that's can be ok too, I try to answer all emails & phone calls from contributing community members, associates and customers large and small (I don't always succeed) - usually on how we can work together to reach your dreams.
BUT, If you don't want to contribute or don't believe in what GG is doing, I personally wouldn't mind if you found another community to join that is doing more to change how games are made and played. We rarely moderate our forums, but at times we find them hard to read, if you just want to bitch start your own blog or go over to slash dot.
Because sometimes working for a small percentage of what I could make at the job offers I frequently get unsolicited, traveling 20+ weeks a year promoting our developers and making their dreams a possibility and then reading that somehow a vocal minority of that community thinks we're out to rip them off or in some way don't care about them or delivering high quality tools (even when they are sold for BELOW reasonable prices) that can be a little demoralizing.
End of personal rant.
=======================
Last, but not least. We do most of our hiring as you've probably noticed through our very successful intern program, but sometimes we don't always find every role in GG filled this way.
JOB POSTING: Sales Engineer for Torque
It is a rare person who can understand game dev. tech, communicate well, you trust to set expectations your products meet and has the ability to consult, solve dev. tech problems for customers, and have sales skills.
If you think you have what it takes or know someone who might, contact me for details jaym @gargegames.com.
Finally, when I see the dev. snapshots, the resources contributed, the TDN posts escalating and all of the fun cool games under development on Torque I can't say how excited I get about our incredible community and how much I look forward to seeing everyone around the Garage reach their dreams.
GDC Binge, What's on my to do list, personal rant and Job Opening.
You are the greatest. If we don't tell you that often enough, our bad.
As proud as I am of our technology and the products we've created - I spend an equal amount of time telling the planet about what an amazing community of developers surround GG and Torque and how that is value we can't manufacture and passion we can't package. I believe it is partly a result of being a company with the best interests of our customers behind EVERY decision that we make.
Through various forum threads, emails, and general buzz around the water cooler, it has come to my attention that perhaps not everyone in the community is feeling appreciated, communicated with, or generally in the know like as they felt when it was just 10-12 employees hanging out online with only 40,000 or so community members that contributed to GG (that was just last year - now at over 30 GGers nearly 100 associates and 65,000 community members - it appears we're growing).
Let me share a few highlights from GDC that might help explain, but in no way excuse me from not communicating better with everyone in the Garage:
Leading up to GDC I had the chance to respond to over 1,000 requests for meetings (not that I was able to respond to everyone). You read right, now granted many were people trying to sell us something, get us to outsource something or just want to let us know they'd always believed in GG (and most came by the booth even if I didn't personally reply to their emails to tell them to). We have very valuable partnerships we enjoy in the industry with companies like ATI, Creative Labs, Logitech, AMD, nVIDIA, Oberon and many more all of whom it wasn't possible to find time to sit down with and talk about 2006 plans during this busy GDC (more work for me at e3).
This was the first event where every new meeting didn't start with 'Can you take a minute to explain to us your business model. We're not sure we understand how you make money'. Finally, by having the highest grossing title on the very successful Xbox 360 Live Arcade, people are understanding that if you do good things, make great games, empower people and don't get greedy, the money will follow.
Yes, I was the "Tradeshow Man" that Jeff referred to in his blog. We, between our teams, had over 200 sit down meetings at GDC - many with very exciting outcomes. We actually had rooms at the Hilton(attached directly to the convention floor) - it astonished those used to staying 10 miles away at the cheapest flea bag hotel. I think I only logged over five nights a total of 13 hours in my room - 3 of which were answering emails. A typical day would start at 8 am, I'd have 2-3 breakfast meetings (that can get expensive), meet at the booth to kick off the day (sometimes the only time the other 15 GG people would see me the entire day), then to 2-3 more meetings before lunch, a lunch meeting or reception, 6-8 more meetings before dinner, then like on Tuesday evening the Torque Educational Advisory Board Meeting (wow was that fun - Davey and GG enjoy some extremely passionate partners in education doing great things), an IGDA reception, 1-2 parties and then at about 11pm end up at the Fairmont for time connecting with old friends and going up to the suites to party some more. I was on a bit of a jag as pictures someplace on Flickr attest.
This year along with other casual game companies GG hosted our first party at GDC - board games and poker night.
On the floor (Eric Fritz managed the booth) and Benjamin Bradley handled press, Justin DuJardin and Adam Larson got to show off Torque Game Builder as it is poised to leap out of Early Adopter phase (only 1 year and 3-4 months after launch), Matt Fairfax and Paul Scott showed off Constructor (it is inspiring to think about how fully customizable tool and interior brushes can be manipulated through script), and Pat Wilson, Ben Garney, Mark Frohnmayer (mostly playing MB Ultra) and Tim Aste showed off TSE Xbox 360. Adam deGrandis and Tim Aste showed off all of our art pipeline in the Autodesk booth everyday and Tim Aste and Ben Garney showed off the making of the Legions demo at the ATI theater on Thursday. Davey Jackson was on Education and Stephen Zepp worked with the serious games and training & support customers. Jeff Tunnell, Josh Williams and Mark F. took on the heavy lifting in business development meetings.
To get to GDC required new brochures, back drops, buttons, mouse pads, signs, temporary tattoos, web site updates and demos, that took nearly everyone and our service providers working for 8 weeks solid to get to the 'ta Da!' stage at GDC.
So to tell you a little more about what I'm doing around the Garage these days, here are a few things I'm spending 12+ hour days working on now:
1) Torque Game Builder Marketing Rollout:
A) A 'potential' contest to be revealed soon that will culminate at IGC - think lots of hours working with sponsors, media and promotional teams. For the developers it will mean fame, trips to IGC and dev. hardware for the best (most fun) indie TBG games (see I can spread rumors).
B) Case Studies and developer spotlights on key studios and projects
C) Curriculum and lesson plans for teaching TGB in higher Ed.
D) Marketing & promotional paper - The Flash Game Developers Guide to the Torque Game Builder.
E) Website(s), demos and hype to fuel the proverbial marketing machine.
2) Torque Constructor
3) TSE and TSE Xbox 360
4) Marble Blast Ultra ongoing marketing
5) The FIVE - yes count them FIVE new games that we're launching and taking out to distribution!!! (its been awhile!)
Ok, so maybe I'm leaving out a few top secret things that I honestly can't tell you about, but that is a large portion of just the marketing teams efforts right now.
It also might hearten everyone to know GG has had full on company meetings trying to figure out how we can hit our milestones, take advantage of the key opportunities we're focused on (among MANY we don't chose to focus on) and still interact and support the community more in this time of accelerated growth.
2006 will be a very exciting year with much history being written in the GG saga, but I want one of the footnotes to be that we were able to sustain amazing growth and still have a vibrant and connected community that made the journey as rewarding as the arrival at our destiny.
Beginning of personal rant:
======================
If you doubt GG at some point that's fine, we understand that (I had my concerns in the early days). If you question us in a constructive manner, that's can be ok too, I try to answer all emails & phone calls from contributing community members, associates and customers large and small (I don't always succeed) - usually on how we can work together to reach your dreams.
BUT, If you don't want to contribute or don't believe in what GG is doing, I personally wouldn't mind if you found another community to join that is doing more to change how games are made and played. We rarely moderate our forums, but at times we find them hard to read, if you just want to bitch start your own blog or go over to slash dot.
Because sometimes working for a small percentage of what I could make at the job offers I frequently get unsolicited, traveling 20+ weeks a year promoting our developers and making their dreams a possibility and then reading that somehow a vocal minority of that community thinks we're out to rip them off or in some way don't care about them or delivering high quality tools (even when they are sold for BELOW reasonable prices) that can be a little demoralizing.
End of personal rant.
=======================
Last, but not least. We do most of our hiring as you've probably noticed through our very successful intern program, but sometimes we don't always find every role in GG filled this way.
JOB POSTING: Sales Engineer for Torque
It is a rare person who can understand game dev. tech, communicate well, you trust to set expectations your products meet and has the ability to consult, solve dev. tech problems for customers, and have sales skills.
If you think you have what it takes or know someone who might, contact me for details jaym @gargegames.com.
Finally, when I see the dev. snapshots, the resources contributed, the TDN posts escalating and all of the fun cool games under development on Torque I can't say how excited I get about our incredible community and how much I look forward to seeing everyone around the Garage reach their dreams.
About the author
Serial / parallel entrepreneur, insight merchant, sailor and red wine enthusiast. Co-founder of BitRaider, out to change the game. An original partner in GarageGames and hosted Indie Game Con `02-`05.
#2
04/20/2006 (11:11 pm)
You will have the people bitcing about minor things for quite a long time, that is because they dont know the full story, they are usually very new to the community. It is very rare that you see some us that have been around for years to start complaining about GG strategy, documentation, and personal motives. Like you said, they either wise up, or leave. Whicever path is more natural to them.
#3
04/20/2006 (11:12 pm)
Great blog Jay! You just motivated me a bit more ;)
#4
04/20/2006 (11:19 pm)
The rant really is a side note that I thought about deleting, but I felt like I presonally needed to say it. Yes, some day we may make money, someday we may get really famous, but right now there are a lot of passionate people starving up this operation so we can keep control of it and stay true to our mission. I know for some what we're trying to do isn't going to meet their expectations - I just don't need that to be the buzz I read on other forums and our own to the noise level it has grown to recently (I've quit reading the forums at times when my blood pressure couldn't handle it).
#5
Game on!
04/21/2006 (12:41 am)
Jay - I can't thank you and your team at GG enough for the great work you are doing. I totally hear you on the rant and can even think of a couple of one or two "bad eggs" that may have led to this situation. But, the reality is: there are a lot of us here that absolutely love what you are doing and the direction you are headed. I'm just a hobbiest at this without big ambitions to "make it big", but the community you've built here is second to none. I truly enjoy the time I spend here, the people I can help, and the people that help me out in return. I wish your team the best in the coming years and hopefully you can get to a point where no one is a starving artist... In any event, I love the cause you've decided to represent.Game on!
#6
Jay, remember that some of us are passionate perfectionists, so we show our love for GG by making lots of suggestions and critiques, usually but not always constructive sounding :-)
Not to be confused with those who will just whine & whine - and those idiots will never ship a game either- because they are too busy bitching and crying and hand wringing. Too self absorbed to see what an awesome deal Torque really is.
With TGB being marketed so heavily now- you are going to attract a lot of newbie developers who may be expecting a seamless out of the box experience with updated & consistent documentation. Hopefully that won't cause the whining volume to increase any more. But TGB is getting there & fast!
Alex
04/21/2006 (12:51 am)
As a TGB user it's exciting to see the attention it's getting and massive improvements with each new beta ! Also the TGB contest is interesting - looking forward to hearing more about that.Jay, remember that some of us are passionate perfectionists, so we show our love for GG by making lots of suggestions and critiques, usually but not always constructive sounding :-)
Not to be confused with those who will just whine & whine - and those idiots will never ship a game either- because they are too busy bitching and crying and hand wringing. Too self absorbed to see what an awesome deal Torque really is.
With TGB being marketed so heavily now- you are going to attract a lot of newbie developers who may be expecting a seamless out of the box experience with updated & consistent documentation. Hopefully that won't cause the whining volume to increase any more. But TGB is getting there & fast!
Alex
#7
I like the idea of a "Starve up company", it somehow seems more "artistic" than "indie" :)
I think that we're probably all guilty of not communicating often enough the positives. Ok, an image of the day here and there, but nothing that actually emotes how much the tools we're using enables the games to be made.
Anyway, just so you know, you guys rock!!!! :)
04/21/2006 (1:58 am)
Hehehe.. how can that be possible. Youre actually schmoozing HARDER?? I didnt think it was humanly possible to do that :)I like the idea of a "Starve up company", it somehow seems more "artistic" than "indie" :)
I think that we're probably all guilty of not communicating often enough the positives. Ok, an image of the day here and there, but nothing that actually emotes how much the tools we're using enables the games to be made.
Anyway, just so you know, you guys rock!!!! :)
#8
I been around since v12 and never doubt GG should make it and i never doubt that i should make it either,
Maybe i been whining as some say about (lights and sound) and haven't got my game finished yet.
It have been many hard words but still we talk .
What i try to say is, this community and GG is so great, so i don't have word for it !!
Some of you words warms inside Jay ,and some make me think .
I think this is really great !
Billy
04/21/2006 (4:05 am)
Lovely Blog !!I been around since v12 and never doubt GG should make it and i never doubt that i should make it either,
Maybe i been whining as some say about (lights and sound) and haven't got my game finished yet.
It have been many hard words but still we talk .
What i try to say is, this community and GG is so great, so i don't have word for it !!
Some of you words warms inside Jay ,and some make me think .
I think this is really great !
Billy
#9
When you're passionate about something, it can easily be taken personally when someone doesn't "believe" in you. Heck if GG gave away a red ferrari with each copy of TGE you'd get people complaining that they wanted a black one...
Don't worry about it. It really doesn't matter.
Rock on guys, true legends of our modern age :)
04/21/2006 (4:06 am)
Phil, of course it's not humanly possible. Jay isn't human...When you're passionate about something, it can easily be taken personally when someone doesn't "believe" in you. Heck if GG gave away a red ferrari with each copy of TGE you'd get people complaining that they wanted a black one...
Don't worry about it. It really doesn't matter.
Rock on guys, true legends of our modern age :)
#10
04/21/2006 (5:14 am)
Well said, Jay. To me names like Ben G., Mark F., Rick O., Jeff T., Timothy A., Melv May and all the others at GG have the same "wow" effect just as names like John Carmack, Will Wright, Tim Sweeney, John Romero, Shigeru Miyamoto & George Broussard. It does not happen very often that a small group of people changes things that affects the whole world - you did! Thanks for you fantastic work. 
#11
04/21/2006 (5:29 am)
Thanks for the hard work and I hope you all become filthy rich. You certainly deserve it. I'm sorry for my bitching and I hope us whiners don't get you down too much. Sometimes we forget and bite the hand that feeds us. But we do really appreciate everything you guys do. Just ignore us. We are sitting at our desks every day working and getting all leg cramps and stomach aches from too much junk food and drinks. We just get grumpy. But we love you guys. Not love love you. Well, if you let me beta test Constructor... I might love love y... no... what am I saying?! :P Just kidding. But really. Here's thank you number 1001 out of the 1000000 I know I'm going to have to give. 
#12
Thanks to everyone at GG for great products and perfect assistance.
Btw, the GG's "Community" was the major reason of why I stopped here and work with Torque engines.
it's really great time, as everything grows up, more great games are made with Torque and more developers are involved...
Good luck to everyone in your job (or hooby!) and thanks again!
04/21/2006 (6:25 am)
great blog entry and well said..Thanks to everyone at GG for great products and perfect assistance.
Btw, the GG's "Community" was the major reason of why I stopped here and work with Torque engines.
it's really great time, as everything grows up, more great games are made with Torque and more developers are involved...
Good luck to everyone in your job (or hooby!) and thanks again!
#13
04/21/2006 (6:59 am)
Jay -- Keep fighting the good fight man. I definitely recognize the passion you guys have for this stuff, and it's contageous. I'm always very excited to see what you guys come up with next, and your team never fails to blow me away (as was the case with TGB). I am often telling the masses what a great product TGB is and what a great company and community you guys have on my gamedev.net blog. I will keep evangilizing for you. The world must know!
#14
Except for Garage Games.
I've trained myself to let the noise 'fade into the background' because the signal from GG and the 'genuine' members here has inspired me in many ways and helped me to do things I would have passed over. Kudos to you, to all GG and to the great indie developers and contributors here.
Warmest regards,
Don Hogan
CG Artist, Aspiring Indie Developer
04/21/2006 (7:15 am)
The signal to noise ratio that has become inevitable on the internet these days is why I don't read forums.Except for Garage Games.
I've trained myself to let the noise 'fade into the background' because the signal from GG and the 'genuine' members here has inspired me in many ways and helped me to do things I would have passed over. Kudos to you, to all GG and to the great indie developers and contributors here.
Warmest regards,
Don Hogan
CG Artist, Aspiring Indie Developer
#15
04/21/2006 (8:21 am)
Jay I would like to say thank you for your hard work as well man. It's becuase of you and your team that I am able to live my dream and create games. It's amazing that you are living your dream and by that you are helping soooo many others get to the dream they chase. Thanks again and keep up the great work. 
#16
I can't imagine the craziness of just adapting to and dealing with the growth of the GG staff alone, a lot of companies have folded under less stress. I have no doubt everyone one at GG is doing more than their share, and I want to thank the lot for the sacrifice and effort.
Don't let the unhappy post get you down Jay. As you said, they are the minority, and by far.
04/21/2006 (8:53 am)
Great post Jay. That GDC breakdown is an amazing whirlwind of work that certainly takes its toll. Make time for down time, we need you, even if we don't always realize it.I can't imagine the craziness of just adapting to and dealing with the growth of the GG staff alone, a lot of companies have folded under less stress. I have no doubt everyone one at GG is doing more than their share, and I want to thank the lot for the sacrifice and effort.
Don't let the unhappy post get you down Jay. As you said, they are the minority, and by far.
#17
04/21/2006 (9:57 am)
Don't have time to read ALL the comments - but wanted to say I think you guys are doing a great job. Those of us who actually pay attention know your busy on projects that will be worth the wait! Just keep up the great work. :-)
#18
Thanks for the note of appreciation. I need constructor so snap that whip pls hehe :)
04/21/2006 (10:46 am)
Need a booth babe for the Sales Position. Kinda a one two punch. (just kidding** well not totally).Thanks for the note of appreciation. I need constructor so snap that whip pls hehe :)
#19
04/21/2006 (12:01 pm)
Preach on it Jay!! I wanted to publicly give you props for your hard work. You are doing the work of three men at the office, and I am really excited about what you are doing!! Don't kill yourself...or do, whatever. 
#20
I imagine its very demoralising to read complaints about something you've just put 1-3 years of blood/sweat and tears into creating, but as hard as it may be, just remember those posts are by a vocal "minority".
In the vast majority of cases it's people trying to shift blame onto GG for what is really their own failings to create their game with TGE/TSE/TGB. Occasionally there is a kernal of truth in what they say but it's usually put across in a poor/inflamitary manor. Best thing to do is ignore the posts and then get back to what you do best, making cool tech :)
04/21/2006 (1:51 pm)
Did anyone else read that and feel tired by the end of it?, All I can say is, I'm glad I'm a programmer and not a marketting guy I don't think I could keep the pace ;)I imagine its very demoralising to read complaints about something you've just put 1-3 years of blood/sweat and tears into creating, but as hard as it may be, just remember those posts are by a vocal "minority".
In the vast majority of cases it's people trying to shift blame onto GG for what is really their own failings to create their game with TGE/TSE/TGB. Occasionally there is a kernal of truth in what they say but it's usually put across in a poor/inflamitary manor. Best thing to do is ignore the posts and then get back to what you do best, making cool tech :)
Torque Owner N R Bharathae