Sandbox, Torque Boot Camp, Virtual World Research
by Davey Jackson · 08/19/2008 (4:50 pm) · 8 comments
Hi Everyone-
With the school year rapidly approaching, GarageGames is doing everything we can to make new resources available for the 2008-2009 school year. This includes updated technology (Get the Torque X Builder Beta NOW), better documentation, teacher training, new books and better art tools. Many of you have already reviewed my recommended reading list which I posted in on my blog last month. In July, after returning from GameFest, I also posted information about XBox 360 development for Microsoft's new XNA Community Game Program. This month we plan to make things even better, by meeting with many of you face-to-face at the Sandbox Symposium at SIGGRAPH and opening our fall teacher training Boot Camps. In this post I've also included links to some exciting MMOs, serious games and research projects made with Torque.
Enjoy
==========================================================
School Link Update
We recently updated our Education Landing Page with links to new schools that have adopted Torque. Please take a moment to find your school and check your link for accuracy at www.garagegames.com/solutions/education/
Additions and corrections can be send to: michaelb (AT) garagegames (DOT) com
==========================================================
GarageGames going to Sandbox Symposium at SIGGRAPH
sandbox.siggraph.org/about.html
August 9-11th
SIGGRAPH Posters
This was my second year attending Sandbox and I really enjoyed it. Last year several presenters including 2007 Keynote John Kilima www.cityarts.com/ made special mentions of Torque as it pertained to their work. This year's Sandbox Symposium featured a combination of paper presentations, panels, and workshops hosted by Peter Brinson, Karen Schrier and Geoff Long. "A Theory of Fun for Game Design" author Raph Koster gave a fantastic opening keynote discussing why we need to re-envision "Future Technology."
Now this is Nerdy, a Latte Foam Carmel Printer:
Sandbox also presented a great opportunity to connect with several Torque educators and researchers, including RIT's Stephen Jacobs and USC's Chris Swain. University of Calgary's Jim Parker presented fantastic paper on increasing in game payer counts by switching avatar movement from 100% player controlled (as you would want for an FPS) to player commanded behavior which can be pre-scripted (as in an RTS).
It was also a thrill to see both of Ed Maurina III's books on TGE in the Siggraph Book Store:
===========================================================
Torque Boot Camp for Teachers at University of Advancing Technology
October 1st-3rd
Tempe, AZ
Back by popular demand, our next Torque Boot Camp for Teachers will be held October 1st-3rd at the University of Advancing Technology. This boot camp session will be on our core 3D 'Torque Game Engine' and will be facilitated by none-other-than "3D Game Programming All in One" author Ken Finney. Ken is a GarageGames Associate as well as a games industry and academia veteran who has been teaching with Torque for over 5 years. In this session you will learn:
* How the Torque Simulation operates from object processing and communication to smart referencing and management of every object in the simulation
* Detailed specifics of the capabilities, uses, and expandability of Torque Networking including the move management system, control object capabilities and techniques, object ghosting and updating, as well as remote procedure calls between client server
* In-depth understanding of the Torque Object Hierarchy from the highest root classes down to the most fully featured child classes such as Player, Vehicle, and more
* Design and implementation strategies based upon a holistic understanding of proven methodologies for Torque development
* Review the critical systems and features of Torque to give you a strong edge in the classroom
Registration is $890 per-person.
Pre-registration, through September 19th is $740 per-person
Space for this session is extremely limited, so, please register early.
If you are interested in hosting a Torque Boot Camp at your school, please contact me: daveyj (AT) garagegames (DOT)com
========================================================
Torque MMO, Virtual World and Research Projects
There is no ignoring the powerful effect MMOs and Virtual worlds are having not just on the games industry, but also the next generation of internet users. According to research firm eMarketer, 53 percent of the 34.3 million child and teen Internet users in the U.S. will be participating in virtual worlds on at least a monthly basis by 2011. During the emergence of this new space, GarageGames has been a consistent contributor of engine technology for MMO research, Virtual World and "Serious Games" development. One of the first published projects, I-MMERSION's "Virtual Canada" , launched at the World's Fair "Expo 2005" in Aichi, Japan. Since then Torque has been used for several high profile MMO and research projects including "vSide/The Music Lounge," IBM's "Metaverse" project, and Spin Master's "Swype Out" toy line.
GarageGames technology has also been used extensively in the simulation and serious games market. In 2006 Valador Inc. launched thier "VIVE" simulation environment and early this year Visual Purple launched their "Rapid Onset" and "Sudden Thrust" trainers powered by Torque. Several months ago GarageGames was approached by UC Berkeley to participate in two cultural preservation projects. This week those projects went live and you can see them here, "Remembering 7th Street" and here "Virtual Sambor Prei Kuk, Cambodia" .
Although Virtual Worlds and Serious Games are not covered under our standard "Indie" or "Commercial" licenses, GarageGames does provide special licensing for funded and non-funded academic research, NSF, DoD, DARPA and government grants, as well as public and private multi-stage proof of concept work. We also offer separate licensing of GarageGames technology for commercial ventures.
For questions or more information on MMO, Virtual World, Simulation or Research licenses please email daveyj (AT) garagegames (DOT) com. Please include your project's category in the subject line.
Links:
Virtual Canada: www.i-mmersion.com/ent_virtualcanada.shtml
vSide/The Music Lounge: www.themusiclounge.com/app/dashboard
Metaverse: eightbar.co.uk/2007/05/08/the-ibm-innovate-quick-internal-metaverse-project/
Swype Out:www.swypeout.com/
VIVE: www.businessandgames.com/blog/2007/07/valador_serious_games_creating.html
"Rapid Onset" and "Sudden Thrust
In closing here are some cute pictures of Brett Seyler playing on his trampoline:
With the school year rapidly approaching, GarageGames is doing everything we can to make new resources available for the 2008-2009 school year. This includes updated technology (Get the Torque X Builder Beta NOW), better documentation, teacher training, new books and better art tools. Many of you have already reviewed my recommended reading list which I posted in on my blog last month. In July, after returning from GameFest, I also posted information about XBox 360 development for Microsoft's new XNA Community Game Program. This month we plan to make things even better, by meeting with many of you face-to-face at the Sandbox Symposium at SIGGRAPH and opening our fall teacher training Boot Camps. In this post I've also included links to some exciting MMOs, serious games and research projects made with Torque.
Enjoy
==========================================================
School Link Update
We recently updated our Education Landing Page with links to new schools that have adopted Torque. Please take a moment to find your school and check your link for accuracy at www.garagegames.com/solutions/education/
Additions and corrections can be send to: michaelb (AT) garagegames (DOT) com
==========================================================
GarageGames going to Sandbox Symposium at SIGGRAPH
sandbox.siggraph.org/about.html
August 9-11th
SIGGRAPH Posters
This was my second year attending Sandbox and I really enjoyed it. Last year several presenters including 2007 Keynote John Kilima www.cityarts.com/ made special mentions of Torque as it pertained to their work. This year's Sandbox Symposium featured a combination of paper presentations, panels, and workshops hosted by Peter Brinson, Karen Schrier and Geoff Long. "A Theory of Fun for Game Design" author Raph Koster gave a fantastic opening keynote discussing why we need to re-envision "Future Technology."
Now this is Nerdy, a Latte Foam Carmel Printer:
Sandbox also presented a great opportunity to connect with several Torque educators and researchers, including RIT's Stephen Jacobs and USC's Chris Swain. University of Calgary's Jim Parker presented fantastic paper on increasing in game payer counts by switching avatar movement from 100% player controlled (as you would want for an FPS) to player commanded behavior which can be pre-scripted (as in an RTS).
It was also a thrill to see both of Ed Maurina III's books on TGE in the Siggraph Book Store:
===========================================================
Torque Boot Camp for Teachers at University of Advancing Technology
October 1st-3rd
Tempe, AZ
Back by popular demand, our next Torque Boot Camp for Teachers will be held October 1st-3rd at the University of Advancing Technology. This boot camp session will be on our core 3D 'Torque Game Engine' and will be facilitated by none-other-than "3D Game Programming All in One" author Ken Finney. Ken is a GarageGames Associate as well as a games industry and academia veteran who has been teaching with Torque for over 5 years. In this session you will learn:
* How the Torque Simulation operates from object processing and communication to smart referencing and management of every object in the simulation
* Detailed specifics of the capabilities, uses, and expandability of Torque Networking including the move management system, control object capabilities and techniques, object ghosting and updating, as well as remote procedure calls between client server
* In-depth understanding of the Torque Object Hierarchy from the highest root classes down to the most fully featured child classes such as Player, Vehicle, and more
* Design and implementation strategies based upon a holistic understanding of proven methodologies for Torque development
* Review the critical systems and features of Torque to give you a strong edge in the classroom
Registration is $890 per-person.
Pre-registration, through September 19th is $740 per-person
Space for this session is extremely limited, so, please register early.
If you are interested in hosting a Torque Boot Camp at your school, please contact me: daveyj (AT) garagegames (DOT)com
========================================================
Torque MMO, Virtual World and Research Projects
There is no ignoring the powerful effect MMOs and Virtual worlds are having not just on the games industry, but also the next generation of internet users. According to research firm eMarketer, 53 percent of the 34.3 million child and teen Internet users in the U.S. will be participating in virtual worlds on at least a monthly basis by 2011. During the emergence of this new space, GarageGames has been a consistent contributor of engine technology for MMO research, Virtual World and "Serious Games" development. One of the first published projects, I-MMERSION's "Virtual Canada" , launched at the World's Fair "Expo 2005" in Aichi, Japan. Since then Torque has been used for several high profile MMO and research projects including "vSide/The Music Lounge," IBM's "Metaverse" project, and Spin Master's "Swype Out" toy line.
GarageGames technology has also been used extensively in the simulation and serious games market. In 2006 Valador Inc. launched thier "VIVE" simulation environment and early this year Visual Purple launched their "Rapid Onset" and "Sudden Thrust" trainers powered by Torque. Several months ago GarageGames was approached by UC Berkeley to participate in two cultural preservation projects. This week those projects went live and you can see them here, "Remembering 7th Street" and here "Virtual Sambor Prei Kuk, Cambodia" .
Although Virtual Worlds and Serious Games are not covered under our standard "Indie" or "Commercial" licenses, GarageGames does provide special licensing for funded and non-funded academic research, NSF, DoD, DARPA and government grants, as well as public and private multi-stage proof of concept work. We also offer separate licensing of GarageGames technology for commercial ventures.
For questions or more information on MMO, Virtual World, Simulation or Research licenses please email daveyj (AT) garagegames (DOT) com. Please include your project's category in the subject line.
Links:
Virtual Canada: www.i-mmersion.com/ent_virtualcanada.shtml
vSide/The Music Lounge: www.themusiclounge.com/app/dashboard
Metaverse: eightbar.co.uk/2007/05/08/the-ibm-innovate-quick-internal-metaverse-project/
Swype Out:www.swypeout.com/
VIVE: www.businessandgames.com/blog/2007/07/valador_serious_games_creating.html
"Rapid Onset" and "Sudden Thrust
In closing here are some cute pictures of Brett Seyler playing on his trampoline:
#2
For starters if you take Torque and turn it into an MMO or Virtual World, you have to write all of the code necessary for making that happen... why do you want to charge me more money for code that I have to write?!?
The Virtual Worlds limitation is a farce anyway... all I have to do is add some game rules and voila, it's a game and it doesn't fall under the "virtual worlds" category anymore.
I wish the GG staff would spend more time finding more creative ways of making games rather than spending so much energy finding creative ways of making more money.
GG's success will come from the success of their customers.... concentrate on making your customers more successful and you won't have to worry about the money part.... it'll come naturally.
08/19/2008 (10:20 pm)
I don't understand the Virtual World limitations in your EULA.For starters if you take Torque and turn it into an MMO or Virtual World, you have to write all of the code necessary for making that happen... why do you want to charge me more money for code that I have to write?!?
The Virtual Worlds limitation is a farce anyway... all I have to do is add some game rules and voila, it's a game and it doesn't fall under the "virtual worlds" category anymore.
I wish the GG staff would spend more time finding more creative ways of making games rather than spending so much energy finding creative ways of making more money.
GG's success will come from the success of their customers.... concentrate on making your customers more successful and you won't have to worry about the money part.... it'll come naturally.
#3
Entertainment based games are covered under the present EULA. Projects are bound by the EULA of their project's most current version of the engine. So if your working on a MMO "G", who's primary purpose is entertainment, your fine. A WoW, MoM or Sypeout style game is totally cool. If you're making a different kind of MMO "Project." like a Second Life, vSide, or Metaverse you need to get in contact with us about a Virtual World or Modeling Simulation and Training License.
Now there's certainly a bunch more "little questions" in between these kinds of "clarity issues" which can feed the blood pressure, so here is the simple test for if our standard EULA covers your project: "What is the primary purpose of your project? Is it to entertain through employing a set of game objectives, or is there another primary purpose for the application such as training, teaching, testing, visualizing, simulating, socializing, conferencing, demoing technology or services, gambeling ...ect?
Of the projects listed above, Sypeout is the only one we count as a "game" and falls under our standard license. All of the others would need a separate license with us under the present EULA. Note: some of these projects were grandfathered under our old EULA. "Remembering 7th Street" and "Virtual Sambor Prei Kuk, Cambodia," have research licenses through our academic outreach program.
Let me clarify too, that we LOVE special projects, and seeing new applications of Torque outside of game development. Heck if we like it we'll help promote it I did above. If you're project is in a grey area send us a write up of your project directly, and tell us where you think it does/doesn't fall under our standard EULA.
--davey
08/19/2008 (10:57 pm)
Certainly Kevin-Entertainment based games are covered under the present EULA. Projects are bound by the EULA of their project's most current version of the engine. So if your working on a MMO "G", who's primary purpose is entertainment, your fine. A WoW, MoM or Sypeout style game is totally cool. If you're making a different kind of MMO "Project." like a Second Life, vSide, or Metaverse you need to get in contact with us about a Virtual World or Modeling Simulation and Training License.
Now there's certainly a bunch more "little questions" in between these kinds of "clarity issues" which can feed the blood pressure, so here is the simple test for if our standard EULA covers your project: "What is the primary purpose of your project? Is it to entertain through employing a set of game objectives, or is there another primary purpose for the application such as training, teaching, testing, visualizing, simulating, socializing, conferencing, demoing technology or services, gambeling ...ect?
Of the projects listed above, Sypeout is the only one we count as a "game" and falls under our standard license. All of the others would need a separate license with us under the present EULA. Note: some of these projects were grandfathered under our old EULA. "Remembering 7th Street" and "Virtual Sambor Prei Kuk, Cambodia," have research licenses through our academic outreach program.
Let me clarify too, that we LOVE special projects, and seeing new applications of Torque outside of game development. Heck if we like it we'll help promote it I did above. If you're project is in a grey area send us a write up of your project directly, and tell us where you think it does/doesn't fall under our standard EULA.
--davey
#4
Wow, ouch! I don't even know what to say.
You pose a theoretical here, which, I suppose, might encourage me to refund you if you are that upset about what we offer and the terms of our license. We actually talk about this stuff alot (See here. ) in order to adapt our technology and licensing model in time with new and popular uses of game technology. Torque is already ridiculously under priced as a physics, rendering, terrain or networking engine just for game use.
We're a GAME company, we LOVE GAMES and game MAKERS and we've helped create an insane niche opportunity for indies to access professional game development software. However, if we were to shut our eyes to the emerging markets for serious games, virtual places, corporate trainers, military trainers and research technology projects we could never grow to be effective in those new markets. (And by "effective" I mean both successful as a business, and successful as a powerful technology provider.)
So, if the changes we made 8 months ago have a direct impact on your project, please contact us directly, and we'll likely work it out. But please don't attempt to draw me into a public flame battle, using a theoretical scenario designed to make us look like grinches. Also, please don't tell us how we should run our business in a tone, which implies we aren't delivering enough value to our customers, or are somehow incompetent as developers. We've shipped 4 games this year, and have had across the board growth in content, tools, book and engine adoptions, while launching an exciting new web technology and trying to stay nice guys. It's alot. Please don't make it tough on us for sport, and if you have real beef, please contact me directly, and I'll happily resolve your license in side conversation. (This offer is open to anyone who else who feels the same, or even not as strongly, as Tony.)
08/19/2008 (11:55 pm)
@ Tony-Wow, ouch! I don't even know what to say.
You pose a theoretical here, which, I suppose, might encourage me to refund you if you are that upset about what we offer and the terms of our license. We actually talk about this stuff alot (See here. ) in order to adapt our technology and licensing model in time with new and popular uses of game technology. Torque is already ridiculously under priced as a physics, rendering, terrain or networking engine just for game use.
We're a GAME company, we LOVE GAMES and game MAKERS and we've helped create an insane niche opportunity for indies to access professional game development software. However, if we were to shut our eyes to the emerging markets for serious games, virtual places, corporate trainers, military trainers and research technology projects we could never grow to be effective in those new markets. (And by "effective" I mean both successful as a business, and successful as a powerful technology provider.)
So, if the changes we made 8 months ago have a direct impact on your project, please contact us directly, and we'll likely work it out. But please don't attempt to draw me into a public flame battle, using a theoretical scenario designed to make us look like grinches. Also, please don't tell us how we should run our business in a tone, which implies we aren't delivering enough value to our customers, or are somehow incompetent as developers. We've shipped 4 games this year, and have had across the board growth in content, tools, book and engine adoptions, while launching an exciting new web technology and trying to stay nice guys. It's alot. Please don't make it tough on us for sport, and if you have real beef, please contact me directly, and I'll happily resolve your license in side conversation. (This offer is open to anyone who else who feels the same, or even not as strongly, as Tony.)
#5
Nice to see Torque used wider and wider, it's really great stuff to play with!
All I can say is - I'm proud Torque developer, and you can another MMO project into your list: AfterWorld.
Actually we can call it "beta", but officially we just don't wanna push it until we prepare all we need/want, so we still call it "Alpha".
The nice "review" is posted by one of our players: http://talk.afterworld.ru/index.php?showtopic=1804
Jump in there and see by yourself what Torque can do!
Cheers!
08/20/2008 (4:30 am)
Hey Davey, that's cool stuffNice to see Torque used wider and wider, it's really great stuff to play with!
All I can say is - I'm proud Torque developer, and you can another MMO project into your list: AfterWorld.
Actually we can call it "beta", but officially we just don't wanna push it until we prepare all we need/want, so we still call it "Alpha".
The nice "review" is posted by one of our players: http://talk.afterworld.ru/index.php?showtopic=1804
Jump in there and see by yourself what Torque can do!
Cheers!
#6
Thanks for the prompt and complete explanation! That's more or less what I figured, and what Brett put out the last time this was discussed. But I figured it was worth clarifying to make sure. The terms "virtual world" and "MMO" are so vague that they can be really easily confused. ;)
Nice coverage, btw - always fun to read about stuff going on "out there" that I might not hear about otherwise.
08/20/2008 (7:23 am)
Davey-Thanks for the prompt and complete explanation! That's more or less what I figured, and what Brett put out the last time this was discussed. But I figured it was worth clarifying to make sure. The terms "virtual world" and "MMO" are so vague that they can be really easily confused. ;)
Nice coverage, btw - always fun to read about stuff going on "out there" that I might not hear about otherwise.
#7
08/20/2008 (10:50 am)
Update, new NASA video showing off Torque:www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-mFx6blZK8
#8
09/12/2008 (2:21 pm)
Glad you liked the Sandbox conference! 
Torque Owner Kevin McLaughlin
Last time someone pointed out the "virtual world and serious game" clause, there was a great deal of discussion about whether or not this included MMO games. There were quite a number of upset devs here until it was eventually clarified that the license DID allow MMOGs. Only 'serious games' and non-game virtual worlds required special licenses.
And then in your blog today, you post "For questions or more information on MMO, Virtual World, Simulation or Research licenses please email..." Now, my understanding from the last run through this little hamster maze of doom was that GG had reassured us that there was no requirement for special licenses for an MMOG. =)
Could you clarify your statement for us, please? There are a rather dramatic number of teams working on MMOGs with Torque right now, probably at least two dozen. Things like this cause unhealthy increases in our blood pressure. ;)