GarageGames Update
by Dexter Chow · 07/19/2011 (5:07 pm) · 77 comments
We get a lot of questions about what we are doing and when things are happening. As you may know, we weigh giving early information out that may not be final (or may change) with guidance on what we are planning. Here is an update that will give helpful information for some of the community questions.
GarageGames is always looking for ways to stay connected to our community. Therefore, the idea of bringing back a GarageGames newsletter makes a lot of sense. Our summer newsletter is here and registered GarageGames customers will see it delivered to their email address by the end of the month. It is called the GarageGames Gazette. We highlight our sale specials, community happenings, our staff and what we have been doing this year. We also catch up with a successful Torque developer for an interview to learn about their development process. If you registered with us and we missed you, our apologies. To be added to our newsletter email list, just send an email to newsletter@garagegames.com with your email address and a note that you would like to be added to the list. Also, you can tell us what you think about our newsletter and even suggest new stories for our upcoming newsletters.
With our new art team, we want to provide professional quality art Torque 3D users can use to enhance their game or show off their code (it always helps to have great art to go with programming). Our first art pack, GarageGames Soldier Pack features 8 skins to put your soldier in jungle, tropical or even arctic environments. It is available now for $19.99. Our second art pack, GarageGames Vehicle Pack, gives the Cheetah from Torque 3D 1.1 radically different looks. It will be available this week for $19.99.
On the hiring front, I’m glad to announce we have three more programmers joining us in sunny Las Vegas. Kyle Miller has been with us a week. He comes from the simulation industry with extensive knowledge of several areas of programming. We did note that he has used Torque 3D extensively in his past job. Dennis Booth is a veteran developer with 10 years at Rainbow Studios/THQ and several software startups. Finally, Masaki Oyata joins us from teaching programming in the classroom to programming in our QA analyst position. Welcome.
On sales promotions, our $99 promotion on Torque products will be ending soon. We haven't locked down a date yet, but it is a limited time promotion. I'd also like to note Torsion and pureLIGHT are also limited time sales. Grab them while they are on sale. Keep your eyes open for Torque 2D. There's going to be a sale on two products later on in the week.
What about Torque products? Here are some in progress updates:
Torque 3D 1.2 - Bug fixes and more upgraded docs with extensive tutorials are in the works.
iTorque 1.5 - We're still trying to hire an iOS programmer; so we are looking at our options as far as features and release date. Progress is definitely being made on development. Improved multi-touch, Gyro and Accelerometer support are featured next in iTorque 2D Preview #2. We expect this to be available next week.
I hope you're staying cool this summer. Questions?
GarageGames is always looking for ways to stay connected to our community. Therefore, the idea of bringing back a GarageGames newsletter makes a lot of sense. Our summer newsletter is here and registered GarageGames customers will see it delivered to their email address by the end of the month. It is called the GarageGames Gazette. We highlight our sale specials, community happenings, our staff and what we have been doing this year. We also catch up with a successful Torque developer for an interview to learn about their development process. If you registered with us and we missed you, our apologies. To be added to our newsletter email list, just send an email to newsletter@garagegames.com with your email address and a note that you would like to be added to the list. Also, you can tell us what you think about our newsletter and even suggest new stories for our upcoming newsletters.
With our new art team, we want to provide professional quality art Torque 3D users can use to enhance their game or show off their code (it always helps to have great art to go with programming). Our first art pack, GarageGames Soldier Pack features 8 skins to put your soldier in jungle, tropical or even arctic environments. It is available now for $19.99. Our second art pack, GarageGames Vehicle Pack, gives the Cheetah from Torque 3D 1.1 radically different looks. It will be available this week for $19.99.
On the hiring front, I’m glad to announce we have three more programmers joining us in sunny Las Vegas. Kyle Miller has been with us a week. He comes from the simulation industry with extensive knowledge of several areas of programming. We did note that he has used Torque 3D extensively in his past job. Dennis Booth is a veteran developer with 10 years at Rainbow Studios/THQ and several software startups. Finally, Masaki Oyata joins us from teaching programming in the classroom to programming in our QA analyst position. Welcome.
On sales promotions, our $99 promotion on Torque products will be ending soon. We haven't locked down a date yet, but it is a limited time promotion. I'd also like to note Torsion and pureLIGHT are also limited time sales. Grab them while they are on sale. Keep your eyes open for Torque 2D. There's going to be a sale on two products later on in the week.
What about Torque products? Here are some in progress updates:
Torque 3D 1.2 - Bug fixes and more upgraded docs with extensive tutorials are in the works.
iTorque 1.5 - We're still trying to hire an iOS programmer; so we are looking at our options as far as features and release date. Progress is definitely being made on development. Improved multi-touch, Gyro and Accelerometer support are featured next in iTorque 2D Preview #2. We expect this to be available next week.
I hope you're staying cool this summer. Questions?
About the author
Designer, Producer and Business Development Manager
#22
@Oscar - We've been working on bug fixes for the past year and a half which is why we haven't charged for updates. It's too bad for us that bug fixing doesn't drive sales like feature ;(. We've been guilty in the past of developing non-productized features for the benefit of increased sales. Everyone here believes that we would rather have less features at a higher quality bar and we think that's what you and future customers want as well.
@Edward - btw...in 1.2 we've added the option for decoupled 1st person art so that someone can implement iron sights for 1st person without compromising the look of the 3rd person character.
07/20/2011 (3:23 pm)
@Nathan - Affordable. But not $99.00. A blog on that is in the works.@Oscar - We've been working on bug fixes for the past year and a half which is why we haven't charged for updates. It's too bad for us that bug fixing doesn't drive sales like feature ;(. We've been guilty in the past of developing non-productized features for the benefit of increased sales. Everyone here believes that we would rather have less features at a higher quality bar and we think that's what you and future customers want as well.
@Edward - btw...in 1.2 we've added the option for decoupled 1st person art so that someone can implement iron sights for 1st person without compromising the look of the 3rd person character.
#23
07/20/2011 (4:59 pm)
@Eric brilliant news on that thanks :-). 
#24
Good news.
To be honest, I would love to see some effort into merging all the engines.
I know its a huge effort, but the main problem with Torque right now is that the engine is fragmented.
I want to be able to make a game in one version and deploy to multiple platforms!!!! Right now engines like Shiva or Unity just blow Torque in that point.
Other than that, keep the SciFi stuff coming!!!! I have use for such thing in my path in the future!
Luck!
07/20/2011 (5:42 pm)
@EricGood news.
To be honest, I would love to see some effort into merging all the engines.
I know its a huge effort, but the main problem with Torque right now is that the engine is fragmented.
I want to be able to make a game in one version and deploy to multiple platforms!!!! Right now engines like Shiva or Unity just blow Torque in that point.
Other than that, keep the SciFi stuff coming!!!! I have use for such thing in my path in the future!
Luck!
#25
IMHO+in order: Bugfixes, Additional Shaders or fixing the TGEA ported shaders, Features, Tutorials, Docs. [*Don't underestimate the selling power of pretty-fied with shaders, scenes!]
A separate complex shader package would be nice to see.
07/20/2011 (9:14 pm)
thx again for 1.1IMHO+in order: Bugfixes, Additional Shaders or fixing the TGEA ported shaders, Features, Tutorials, Docs. [*Don't underestimate the selling power of pretty-fied with shaders, scenes!]
A separate complex shader package would be nice to see.
#26
07/20/2011 (10:17 pm)
@Eric: I totally agree with you. Sometimes the engine feels like it tries to bite a little piece of everything and eating nothing in the end.
#27
Properly OpenGL 4.1 or Direct3D 11 are pretty good additions too, looking at the future. People see Direct3D 9 and it sounds old and unable to compete with the other engines.
07/20/2011 (10:41 pm)
I'm with E.B. more shaders adds a lot to a customer looking at new screens and also in the use of the engine. :-)Properly OpenGL 4.1 or Direct3D 11 are pretty good additions too, looking at the future. People see Direct3D 9 and it sounds old and unable to compete with the other engines.
#28
07/21/2011 (4:49 am)
I'd love to hear if the gyro/accelerometer improvements in iTorque preview 2 mean that iPad orientation bug is resolved? 
#29
@Michael Cheers. Did wonder. Might have to pick a copy up then :)
07/21/2011 (6:56 am)
Forgot to mention the first time round, newsletter sounds good.@Michael Cheers. Did wonder. Might have to pick a copy up then :)
#30
Also will Torsion ever work for macs?(Unless it already does?)
07/21/2011 (12:48 pm)
So if you are going to start charging for updates(which we all know needs to happen eventually), is it better for me to buy T2D now discounted and pay for the upgrade? Or is it better to wait and just buy T2D when it comes out? It sounds like there will be lots of changes that happen to it so if I buy now will I automatically get the new one or will I have to upgrade to it?Also will Torsion ever work for macs?(Unless it already does?)
#31
07/22/2011 (12:51 am)
in the past it has always been better off owning the engine before a paid for upgrade. 
#32
07/22/2011 (7:05 am)
Ok - GG, can we get an announcement on this paid upgrade bit - or an announcement of the announcement so we can know when to expect details, please? We're having a speculation explosion (which we can't control, being human) and we could use a Panic Suppression Blanket. ;p 
#33
07/22/2011 (8:58 am)
@Juntaou - I have not heard of any plans to create an OS X build of Torsion. However, the following resource may be very useful to you: Debugging OS X/iOS from Windows
#34
07/22/2011 (9:40 am)
@Richard - There are a lot of details to cover, so it's going to need to come out in it's own blog. It's natural, but there's no reason to build things up to be bigger than it is. I don't think they changes will greatly impact any individual, but as a whole, it will help us better support you. 
#35
I think also that more assets in different theme would be great:
medieval,fantasy, horror, sci-fi(the packs presented are awesome!)
by culture
+ chineese, japanese, african,egyptian,etc
+ creatures pack and animals packs
+ Vegetation pack which use the vertex painting for the wind as it is showed in the documentation.
+ Physics Packs
Thank you for your great and awesome work GG.
07/22/2011 (10:57 am)
i look forward! ;)I think also that more assets in different theme would be great:
medieval,fantasy, horror, sci-fi(the packs presented are awesome!)
by culture
+ chineese, japanese, african,egyptian,etc
+ creatures pack and animals packs
+ Vegetation pack which use the vertex painting for the wind as it is showed in the documentation.
+ Physics Packs
Thank you for your great and awesome work GG.
#36
I'm going to second Jean-louis' idea - asset packs, especially with tutorial projects and a few source files so we can "take it from here" would be great.
07/22/2011 (11:10 pm)
@Eric - thanks man, I figured it would come in a blog soon. Was just trying to get "that statement" to help slow down all of the wanton speculation.I'm going to second Jean-louis' idea - asset packs, especially with tutorial projects and a few source files so we can "take it from here" would be great.
#37
07/23/2011 (2:51 am)
So one of the "sale on 2 products later in the week" is the Torque 2d adventure kit. :) SOld
#38
@Gene: How did you work out the Adventure Kit is on Sale, has it already happened then and I've missed it?
07/24/2011 (12:58 am)
How much later this week for the T2D sale stuff? As by my watch it'll be closer to next week.@Gene: How did you work out the Adventure Kit is on Sale, has it already happened then and I've missed it?
#39
07/24/2011 (2:03 am)
May I suggest that (for those that want to.. as an option) you also include a volontary monthly subscription model. For those who choose this path, there is no upgrade fee, and you get a more constant stream of much needed cash? 
#40
Btw as many things come back from the past, is there any chance that the GG merchandise will be back too?
07/24/2011 (7:36 am)
Nice update guys!Btw as many things come back from the past, is there any chance that the GG merchandise will be back too?
Torque 3D Owner Dexter Chow
GarageGames
Hi all,
Thanks for the comments and questions. Thanks for the quick responses Eric.
@Richard - We have a lot of creativity swirling around here. Fantasy art is a popular topic here. We don't have an announcement now, but your comment adds weight to my vote for one! Let me get back to updating my Sliver deck.
@Nathan - Yes, David and I talked about this and have put the newsletter on our website on our list of things to update at a later date.
@Oscar - Yes, we talked about bug fixes and the differences from content/feature updates. We don't have it all figured out but stay tuned, we hope to have a plan to communicate to everybody soon.