Whats the best "Out of the Box" Team Structure?
by Brian Colin · in Torque Game Engine · 02/26/2004 (8:11 am) · 8 replies
This is a Newbie Question from Experienced Developers... Doubtless we'll sort everything out down the road, but I was wondering if anyone has an opinion about the best/fastest way to set things up initially in a group development environment.
Recently, we stumbled across the GarageGames/Torque website, liked what we saw, and immediately purchased 3 SDK "seats"....And now we're trying to get a feel for how quickly we can expect to "get up to speed" using the Torque Engine... and how much we will need to re-organize and coordinate our existing development process; if at all.
(We're an arcade game design & development group with some experience using 3DGamestudio to "demo" simple game concepts for particularly unimaginative clients, ...I.e., we've used it enough to have a pretty good feel for how quickly we can put things together with it.)
We typically like to have our Artists do EVERYTHING connected with the art side of things: creation, conversion, level design, object placement, etc.. However, several of the Getting Started Tutorials that cover things we would ordinarily consider "artist" responsibilities make reference to certain files or paths that came with the SDK / source code, ... stuff the artists don't have immediate "access" to.
For best results: Should I duplicate the programmers' directory structure on the artists' stations? ...i.e., simply copy the programmers' c:\torque source code directory to the artists' computers so everyone has the same environment?
Thanks...
Recently, we stumbled across the GarageGames/Torque website, liked what we saw, and immediately purchased 3 SDK "seats"....And now we're trying to get a feel for how quickly we can expect to "get up to speed" using the Torque Engine... and how much we will need to re-organize and coordinate our existing development process; if at all.
(We're an arcade game design & development group with some experience using 3DGamestudio to "demo" simple game concepts for particularly unimaginative clients, ...I.e., we've used it enough to have a pretty good feel for how quickly we can put things together with it.)
We typically like to have our Artists do EVERYTHING connected with the art side of things: creation, conversion, level design, object placement, etc.. However, several of the Getting Started Tutorials that cover things we would ordinarily consider "artist" responsibilities make reference to certain files or paths that came with the SDK / source code, ... stuff the artists don't have immediate "access" to.
For best results: Should I duplicate the programmers' directory structure on the artists' stations? ...i.e., simply copy the programmers' c:\torque source code directory to the artists' computers so everyone has the same environment?
Thanks...
#2
Can't have "seats"...the programmer who bought it owns it and the license is non-transferrable. This means you can't just buy 3 copies and hand them out as programmers come and go.
Second,
The artists can *not* have access to the C++ source files *but* they can have access to all of the script files and the art assets...essentially you would send them everything in the C:\torque\example folder + a compiled exe.
02/26/2004 (8:21 am)
First,Can't have "seats"...the programmer who bought it owns it and the license is non-transferrable. This means you can't just buy 3 copies and hand them out as programmers come and go.
Second,
The artists can *not* have access to the C++ source files *but* they can have access to all of the script files and the art assets...essentially you would send them everything in the C:\torque\example folder + a compiled exe.
#3
Only if you plan to buy Licenses for them also. NOBODY that doesn't have an SDK license is supposed to come in contact with the source code, You can however copy everything in the "Example" folder to their stations and supply them with Compiled .exe's to run the example games with. That is all they need to test their art with. Beyond that you can supply them with the compiled versions of the tools for building models, such as map2dif or the plug-in's for exporters.
02/26/2004 (8:27 am)
"For best results: Should I duplicate the programmers' directory structure on the artists' stations? ...i.e., simply copy the programmers' c:\torque source code directory to the artists' computers so everyone has the same environment?"Only if you plan to buy Licenses for them also. NOBODY that doesn't have an SDK license is supposed to come in contact with the source code, You can however copy everything in the "Example" folder to their stations and supply them with Compiled .exe's to run the example games with. That is all they need to test their art with. Beyond that you can supply them with the compiled versions of the tools for building models, such as map2dif or the plug-in's for exporters.
#4
- the 3 seats you have are NOT owned by your studio, ie they can't, as they are personal, non-transferable license, as the EULA you agreed to specifies. Now, GG has been sort of lenient with people buying licenses for others, but thing is , you don't own their seat, they do, and for ever.
- If you want your company to own TGE seats, the only way is to pay 10k US dollars per title (commercial license), which will get you 5 seats for the duration of each title's lifecycle. This is the only way a commercial entity can "own" TGE seats. And to be precise, it doesn't own the seats, but it's more of a lease, since it's per title.
- As has been said, you can't share any of the C++ sources with non licensees. You can give each of your artists binaries of your builds and of the tools, as well as the content of the example folder. That's it. Of course, you're free to add your own scripts and assets to this, obviously ;)
02/26/2004 (9:08 am)
To add to Matthew's comments : - the 3 seats you have are NOT owned by your studio, ie they can't, as they are personal, non-transferable license, as the EULA you agreed to specifies. Now, GG has been sort of lenient with people buying licenses for others, but thing is , you don't own their seat, they do, and for ever.
- If you want your company to own TGE seats, the only way is to pay 10k US dollars per title (commercial license), which will get you 5 seats for the duration of each title's lifecycle. This is the only way a commercial entity can "own" TGE seats. And to be precise, it doesn't own the seats, but it's more of a lease, since it's per title.
- As has been said, you can't share any of the C++ sources with non licensees. You can give each of your artists binaries of your builds and of the tools, as well as the content of the example folder. That's it. Of course, you're free to add your own scripts and assets to this, obviously ;)
#5
This engine is inexpensive enough that I would gladly get everyone in the company their own License if will reduce the learning curve. At first glance, the tutorials seem to be directed at the License holder. (In our case, it is our artists who have the most game engine/level building experience... and I don't want them to be hampered because they don't have acess to something a tutorial might assume they have.)
In particular, the 3dsexporter tutorial refers to setting up a shortcut to the torquedemo_DEBUG.exe file which, initially at least, exists only in a programmers' SDK Example folder.
If, as GONZO suggests, it is OK to pass the Example folder over to the artists, and thats the only thing they're going to need from the SDK,then it sounds like the consensus is that there is "no need" for me to set the artists up with full licenses... Thanks.
02/26/2004 (9:25 am)
OK, got it. Not a "seat"....a License. My question was not directed at getting around the License fees, rather, I was trying to find out the most efficientway for my team to get up to speed quickly. This engine is inexpensive enough that I would gladly get everyone in the company their own License if will reduce the learning curve. At first glance, the tutorials seem to be directed at the License holder. (In our case, it is our artists who have the most game engine/level building experience... and I don't want them to be hampered because they don't have acess to something a tutorial might assume they have.)
In particular, the 3dsexporter tutorial refers to setting up a shortcut to the torquedemo_DEBUG.exe file which, initially at least, exists only in a programmers' SDK Example folder.
If, as GONZO suggests, it is OK to pass the Example folder over to the artists, and thats the only thing they're going to need from the SDK,then it sounds like the consensus is that there is "no need" for me to set the artists up with full licenses... Thanks.
#6
02/26/2004 (10:35 am)
You can pass everything in the example folder to the artists. In addition, any binaries you produce (such as from stuff in the tools directory) is ok. The exporters are also safe for distribution. You're barred from distributing any C++ source.
#7
02/26/2004 (10:51 am)
Thanks again.
#8
02/26/2004 (6:27 pm)
Sorry if we jumped on you mate =) We just wanted to make sure that you didn't get yourself into trouble without knowing it. When it comes to licensing this community can come on a little strong at times =) 
Torque Owner Badguy
Im not sure which references you speak of regarding the programmer source.
But the artist's have no need for the source.
you can simply provide them a copy of all the tool's and the a copy of the released "demo" of your current source tree.
no need to pass them the code.