Casual Game Conference & Torque
by Joshua Dallman · 07/29/2008 (5:22 pm) · 5 comments
This past week I attended the Casual Game Conference in Seattle to drum up interest and publishing opportunities for my independent games. I met with over a dozen publishers and pitched them my games over and over. I became very practiced at this pitch by the conference conclusion :)
A key point that I was able to bring up in each of my pitches is the portability of the game engine powering the games. Although they were developed on the PC with Windows and with Windows as the target platform, both Shelled Online and Dragon Hatchery (3D and 2D respectively) could be ported over to the Mac platform, ported to X-Box, Wii, and now iPod, all seamlessly.
This feature of Torque opens publishing doors. If a publisher works with both PC and Mac but you only had the budget to develop for PC, boom, you can tell them the game will port to Mac in a snap. If a publisher is interested in your game for XBLA but not Wii or vice versa, you can tell them your game works on both. And if they are a cell phone or emerging portable gaming device publisher, the portability to iPod and iPhone will open a door where before there was none.
In pitch after pitch I was able to confidently assert that my games could be ported to any number of platforms, thanks to the strength of Torque's out-of-box portability. Try that with Unity or GameMaker (good luck!). This multi-platform portability is what first drew me to Torque 5 years ago and it's awesome to see it grow onto more platforms, which means more opportunity for you as an independent developer. This isn't just hyperbole or conjecture -- this Torque feature translated into real opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise. It is yet another compelling, real-world reason to use Torque.
Casual games have been exploding and the industry hasn't peaked yet. The conference exhibited the exciting spirit in the casual game industry. Change is afoot, the players are not all in place yet, developers get hits and turn into publishers every day - it's still the wild west and anything can happen. That means a lot of opportunties for indies with lots of companies and on lots of platforms. If you're indie and serious about games, I suggest you check out the casual space as it's a great sector to be in.
And if you do make a game with Torque, be aware of the additional value proposition that brings to the table with publishers.
Good luck and happy game-making!
Josh
A key point that I was able to bring up in each of my pitches is the portability of the game engine powering the games. Although they were developed on the PC with Windows and with Windows as the target platform, both Shelled Online and Dragon Hatchery (3D and 2D respectively) could be ported over to the Mac platform, ported to X-Box, Wii, and now iPod, all seamlessly.
This feature of Torque opens publishing doors. If a publisher works with both PC and Mac but you only had the budget to develop for PC, boom, you can tell them the game will port to Mac in a snap. If a publisher is interested in your game for XBLA but not Wii or vice versa, you can tell them your game works on both. And if they are a cell phone or emerging portable gaming device publisher, the portability to iPod and iPhone will open a door where before there was none.
In pitch after pitch I was able to confidently assert that my games could be ported to any number of platforms, thanks to the strength of Torque's out-of-box portability. Try that with Unity or GameMaker (good luck!). This multi-platform portability is what first drew me to Torque 5 years ago and it's awesome to see it grow onto more platforms, which means more opportunity for you as an independent developer. This isn't just hyperbole or conjecture -- this Torque feature translated into real opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise. It is yet another compelling, real-world reason to use Torque.
Casual games have been exploding and the industry hasn't peaked yet. The conference exhibited the exciting spirit in the casual game industry. Change is afoot, the players are not all in place yet, developers get hits and turn into publishers every day - it's still the wild west and anything can happen. That means a lot of opportunties for indies with lots of companies and on lots of platforms. If you're indie and serious about games, I suggest you check out the casual space as it's a great sector to be in.
And if you do make a game with Torque, be aware of the additional value proposition that brings to the table with publishers.
Good luck and happy game-making!
Josh
About the author
#2
07/29/2008 (6:41 pm)
Real-time TGB multi-play built in would indeed be yummy 
#3
Really it's the only feature on my "what I want in my game dev platform" list (cross-platform,low overhead, "prototypability", download size, advanced scripting, slick art pipeline, good reference docs, active development team) which I can't tick off yet.
I'll most likely be attending the Munich Casual Connect in February and maybe, just maybe, I'll have a game to pitch by then!
07/30/2008 (5:38 pm)
Indeed Leroy. Having attended a couple of Casual Connects and speaking/listening to folks in and around the industry; I genuinely believe the -only- thing holding TGB and perhaps TGE back from being the perfect entry point into game development for small studios or individuals is the lack of a Flash/Unity type web browser plugin. Perhaps "holding" is a poor word as it stops nothing in truth. Really it's the only feature on my "what I want in my game dev platform" list (cross-platform,low overhead, "prototypability", download size, advanced scripting, slick art pipeline, good reference docs, active development team) which I can't tick off yet.
I'll most likely be attending the Munich Casual Connect in February and maybe, just maybe, I'll have a game to pitch by then!
#4
07/30/2008 (8:06 pm)
Hope you do Rob (have something to pitch) and hopefully something good! :) Well guys, I'm pretty sure gg knows what a lot of peeps are waiting for the most as far as the torque 'new features list' is concerned so I'm sure it will be a reality sometime in the future, it's just a question of when! (I hope) 
#5
That's cool as candied ice.
07/31/2008 (5:37 am)
Hey! I didn't know you can port TGB games to iPod!That's cool as candied ice.
Torque Owner Leroy Frederick
I think all torque needs now is realtime multiplayer for TGB and a easy web interface plugin/compatibility out-the-box a'la instant action or flash / flex+air (as well as maybe even other mobile devices) and the portability would be full-circle for me :)