Associates Program Exposed

Hey everyone! Let's talk about the Associate Program here at GarageGames. You've probably come across Associates here and there as you visit different parts of the site. But let's take a moment to really ponder a deep and complex issue: what is an Associate?

To many, the process of becoming an Associate is shrouded in mystery and legend. What are the benefits and responsibilities of being one? How do I become an Associate?

Do I have to go through brutal training to be an Associate?
Most of the time, an Associate is simply found directly in the community by doing some kick ass stuff. Some things that jump out at us are:

• An active forum presence. The way in which a person interacts with users of differing skill levels and the ability to be professional and respectful in sometimes-heated threads says a lot about their character.
Michael Perry has been a very active person in the forums as many of you know, and does a great job of this.


• Knowledge of Torque and related technologies. Some amazing contributions to Torque have come from Associates! Jeff Faust and his AFX Packs, John Kanalakis and his TorqueX 3D work, and Josh Engebretson and his work on MegaTerrains for example.


• Working with Betas and new tech. Submitting bugs and participating in discussions regarding the direction of current and future Torque products is part of the process of making Torque rock! John Kabus fixed lots of bugs and Joseph Greenawalt logged lots of bugs during the TGEA 1.7 betas.

An Associate wrestles with TGEA
So that's what Associates do for us. Here's a little of what we give back:

• An increased level of communication. We take Associate feedback very seriously and communicate often with them regarding product roadmaps and the direction in which current and future products will be heading.


• Early access. Everything from completely new projects, to major updates to current projects, and everything in-between are given to Associates before the rest of the community.


• Work possibilities. We often have contractual jobs available for Associates to take on. Some have even directly led to full-time GG employment! David Blake has been working contractually with us and doing an awesome job as a forum moderator. Many of the people working here today at GarageGames have come from previously working with us as Associates.

In short, we try to take care of our Associates in any way we can and provide them with lots of interesting opportunities!

I would like at this point to extend a warm welcome to three new Associates and show you some of their latest kick-assery:

• Rene Damm. Rene has spent a lot of time working on improving and fixing up Atlas, as you can see in the forums. From compiling fixes and bugs, to actually doing the grunt work and fixing them, Rene has been very interested in helping to make Atlas better for everyone.


• Jaimi McEntire. Jaimi has made many, many contributions towards the improvement of Torque Constructor! Torque Constructor 1.0.4 is something he took upon himself, and the reaction to it has been great!


• Chris Robertson. His Houdini Exporter Beta work and Milkshape Exporter speak for themselves. He also has a nifty resource for Multiple skins on a single model.

Can you spot Rene, Chris, and Jaimi in this picture?
So, what's next for the Associates Program? Well, one of my jobs is to run the program and make sure it runs in a way that makes both the Associates and GarageGames happy. I'll be investing a lot of thought into making the process more clear to the community as well.

We currently have about 75 Associates, some of whom are very active, and some who have moved onto other things. In the near future, I will be talking to the Associates to figure out what they want to get out of the program. We plan to make this program much more robust than it has been in the past. Ultimately I would like to see a smaller, more core group of individuals, working together to help make the GarageGames community great.

Thanks for reading, and congrats again Rene, Jaimi, and Chris!