GG removing TGE and TGEA from the product line!?

#61 @CSMP i gotta tell ya I just got out of a design meeting and the guys who have to go out and convince folks in neighborhoods that placing a raw sewage treatment plant in their neighborhoods should be given lifetime achievment awards, those guys can sell a refrigerator to an eskimo in the middle of a blizzard jeez.

#62 TGEA is not 'old tech' for many people.

And if it is open-source, many more people will use it. The bigger the base of an open-source application, the higher tech it is due to the fact that people will add better and greater things!

#63

Quote:Other than the HUGE improvement and graphics rendering and art pipeline/tools, the actual game development with Shapebase/Gamebase/GUI/TorqueScript is largely unchanged from TGE -> Torque 3D.

I would use the good old '+1' here, if I weren't too fond of the English language.

#64 @Kenneth
Extremely valid point. But as i mentioned, headphones are resellable. I tend to roll, meaning i get one set, and when i'm tired of it, sell it to finance my next set. Not gona happen with T3D :P Once that $1000 is invested, its there, thats it. I'm not gona be able to sell it to finance say Unity or C4. Using about $1000 I could probably get TGEA ($300), Unity Indie ($200), C4 standard ($350) and Esenthel Hobbyists ($200), and have the freedom to choose.

Also, as a CASUAL hobbyist, its more of a stepping stone thing. If i didn't have a $250 earphone, I wouldn't have an audio hobby. If i didn't have an audio hobby, no way i would even considered $1000 headphones, much less save up a year for it. The $250 earphones let me experience the difference, just as TGEA lets people get their hands wet. I mean, based on that argument, Grado wouldn't have to release their lower end s60i - s325i series, but jump straight to their world class ps1000 series, and hobbyist like me would be getting that ? I don't really think so... in the end, its a hobby and the willingness to pay depends on your dedication to it.

So by this, GG is dropping the casual hobbyist in favor of those really dedicated to trying game creation, and thus seriously shrinking their market. Good or bad ? I would think its bad, but only time will tell...

Lastly, sorry about the $ thingy =P Those were in Singapore $, so its more like 6% of my whole year take home. $2.1k a month is take home. My school loan is about $30k++ and I pay about a $1K a month, transport is about $400. That leaves like $700, that that doesn't even include food and bills yet. Lets say I eat 2 MacDonald meals a day @ $5 each (I tend to skip breakfast due to waking up late :P) The $400 left covers bills then excess.

Now the argument will probably be that in 3 years the loans finished and I have $1K more. Once that's done, with the spare cash, I'm probably moving out. Then there'll be rental, and utility bills which my dad is covering now, saving to buy a place of my own etc. Its not so much as how much of your income it is, but more of how much of your spare cash it is. With the loan its closer to %45 of my entire years spare cash and thats alot considering how little the spare cash is... Of course, thats because I'm younger and to older consumers, price is less of an issue... When I'm in my mid 30s and have settled down, it might not be that much of an issue anymore :P But then, would I want to wait till my mid 30s to start my hobby, will my interests even be the same by that time ? (yeah, this is probably an exaggeration :P). Or I could look for a better paying job now... anyone got any job offers ? :P

#65 You have a great point Dreamarvel and basically said what i have been trying to point out, and that is if this is something you are truly dedicated to 1k is not that much, Removing TGEA or TGE from open market i still say is a bad thing, but if it is removed temporarily as a precursor to an open source than it is a good thing...oh and the last thing is when you make it to the mid 30's and have gods blessing of a wife you find out its even a bigger issue as you find yourself in the same place as the younger developers and having to answer to mom for those big purchases :P

#66 the true is that GG is forced us to upgrade now or buy T3D and for new users buy T3D, its a marketing strategy...

#67 GG is not forcing us to do anything, as said before they will still accept license requests after the deadline it will just be handled by the Licensing department instead of publicly selling it in the GG Store.

It makes it easier for new users to only see T3D and justify the price themselves... instead of seeing the cheaper versions available and choosing those instead, as well as GG not having to deal with any newbies having problems with older tech that is not supported anymore... making it easier for GG to concentrate on there Torque2D/3D tech.

True it is a marketing strategy, false they are not forcing anyone to do anything... only trying to coax those that would like to get there hands on the older tech while it is still easily available.

#68 GG folks: I do hope you end up open-sourcing TGE. I'm sure T3D is the hotness, it certainly looks it, but there's no way I can justify spending that much on an engine when I have no intention of shipping anything, I just like Torque as a platform to experiment and play with, and learn.

In the meantime, I'm switching over to Ogre3D (www.ogre3d.org). It's a different beast, and there's pros and cons to the lack of an integrated script language like TorqueScript, but it's certainly comparable in quality and robustness (eg torchlight). Of course, Ogre's just a rendering engine, not a complete game engine.

It's been fun being a lurker for all these years... I'm sure I'll check the blog occasionally to see what y'all are up to.