So who the heck is IAC?

#81 Unless I'm mistaken, the deal was made earlier this year. That being the case, think about how many things GG has done for the indie community since then. Tons of updates on their products upon other things. I love GG and this community, I really hope that we can rally around GG and support them in this decision.

GG has always had our best interest in mind. Things haven't changed where that is concerned.

Thanks GG!

#82

Quote:Derek: I've really stretched too far into what I shouldn't be saying anyway

LOL!!! I suspect that you have. Don't mind me, I'm just that data mining fly on the wall. :)

Quote:
--in one of your posts above, you implied that us waiting to announce the deal until now was a negative thing

Actually, on the contrary. I was just alluding to the tone of Josh's blog mention. Nothing more, nothing less. My apologies if it came across any anything but.

Quote:
--in your post above, you imply that "console without the hardware monicker is a rather impressive pipe dream if you ask me"

Yes, but thats my opinion. Said opinion is based on past industry trends and says nothing about yet-to-be-unveiled-and-tested, GG+IAC initiative. As such, I stand by what I originally posted, and its entirety.

Quote:
--Josh has stated that one of the reasons we delayed the announcement so long was so that InstantAction.com wasn't treated as vaporware.

That fact that one has to resort to hindsight pre-processing, doesn't usually say much about the idea and/or plan to begin with. Heck, if I wanted to announce something, I just announce it. Why should I care what anyone thinks? Well I would, if there was in fact a possibility that - at the wrong moment - it could be regardless as something else. In this case, vaporware.

...and until its actually out there and doing what its supposed to, its a prime candidate for vaporware status.

Quote:
--nn fact, we've made more point releases and updates to all our engines in the last 6 months than ever before:

Which is what my point was based on. How is this going to affect TGEA? It could be negative, it could be positive.

Quote:Oh, and "gg didn't succeed financially"? Huh?

Well, if you read Josh's blog, that seemed to be the core if it. Unless you were reading something else?

#83 Josh offers up a bit more InstantAction detail in the GameDailyBiz article today.

#84

Quote:Unless I'm mistaken, the deal was made earlier this year. That being the case, think about how many things GG has done for the indie community since then.

Thats what I see some people missing... this deal has been in the works for quite a while. The fact that they're starting to tell us about it, means they felt we were ready to know. They have become Very wary about what they announce, at it has always come back to haunt them (constructor, tgea, etc etc). Again, look back to the last 6 months and the updates. I look forward to more cool stuff!

#85 What diff would it have made if they announced it or not? Its not like they could go back and undo the deal if in fact it did in fact come back to haunt them. Sorry, I'm just not buying it. Fanboyism has its limits but some people clearly don't get that. :)

As to the six months of updates, are you saying that without the deal, those updates wouldn't have been forthcoming? Highly unlikely.

The jury is still out on why Torque for the Wii is taken precedence over XB360, when in fact there isn't a single indie (or GG indie dev for that matter) who can get their hands on a Wii dev kit, let alone be able to afford it, get certification, get funding, get approval etc. MS in contrast is far more easier a path, then either Nintendo or PS3. To me, the Wii thing is just a bandwagon hopping thing just because it is a casual platform. IMO, that is one thing thats going to come back and haunt them.

#86 Torque Wii is not being developed in-house. The XB360 is, and I am the developer. If you are interested in that tech, let us know.

#87 For that matter, as additional information comes out in the coming weeks, if you have genuine interest in InstantAction.com as a deployment target for your game, we will be considering serious submissions.

quoted from the interview with Josh at GameDaily BIZ:

Quote:
The process here is easy. Get in touch with us at IASubmissions@GarageGames.com, or by phone, to say you'd like to talk. If you're an established studio or a veteran developer looking to start something new, you don't have to say much more than you want to talk, and we'll get in touch. If you haven't shipped a game before, tell us about yourself, the game you'd like to make, and how you're realistically going to get it done. Obviously, we're looking for teams who can really get stuff done, so experience goes a long way. But fresh developers with great ideas are exciting to talk with too. Overall, we're looking for people with great game ideas, and the ability to get them online. We're looking at both funded and unfunded projects.

#88 Post moderated to keep things on an even keel.

#89 Guys, keep in mind this is an emotional topic--please keep both the way you say things, and the way you read things carefully :)

That goes for all posters, not just Gareth specifically of course!

#90 In the interest of keeping this thread strictly on topic (the announcement), I've modded out this post.

@Derek: please feel free if you wish to post that in another forum, I'm not censoring the content, simply keeping this thread strictly on topic.

Stephen

#91 Eh? what happened there? Stephen, go ahead and remove my posts if you want. Looks like when I refreshed the page, they were re-posted. Though my first post was just fine I thought.

#92 Just trying to keep things on target, although it was quickly moving out of our general expectations of forum decorum.

#93 Yeah. Refresh tends to re-post.

#94 No, no, I'm fine with that. I just didn't want you thinking that I was re-posting something which you'd modded out.

Anyway, I've deleted them myself. No harm, no foul. I'll create another topic to respond to Pat.

#95 When GarageGames was looking to acquire BraveTree, we at BraveTree had to take a long hard look at our business and its core purpose. The conclusion we came to was that we were financially stable and firmly on a long slow growth track. We were successful and could have passed on the deal. But, if we merged with GG we could grow a *lot* faster and spend more time doing the things we were interested in doing (game dev and engine dev) instead of having to continue to take some contracts to make sure we stayed aflot.

In the end, it made more sense to us to grow faster rather than slower. We weren't a financial failure. We were stable and growing we just wanted to grow faster.

This is a similar situation.

#96 The situation may be similar, but you have the benefit of the GG guys and their proven core, uncompromising principles as it pertains to the whole indie scene. Thats a BIG DEAL.

So you just can't compare yours to the GG+IAC situation because, quite frankly, Barry aside, my guess is that the mentality, focus and principles are vastly different. And its that difference that operates like a domino once things go askew.

#97 Can't in any way disagree with your concern Derek, but I can say "let the actions prove the message". Stay tuned over the next several weeks and months!

#98 I just understood the World Domination through collaboration quote, for IGC on the front page.

@Stephen:

Quote:I ask that you keep it optimistic, if only because we keep saying again and again that this was a positive choice we made to allow us to accomplish our plans that we did not have the resources to accomplish before. Of course, if you simply don't agree with that statement and feel this is a "money grab", we're not going to convince you with words, so all I can ask is that you wait and see what our actions prove in the coming months.

Sure I will watch closely what happens, and your dedication to serve indies, at least in your words ;), will not be forgotten.
As I wrote previously, I'm just a bit sorry, GG is losing some/most independence financially.

I hope many things are going to improve from your side and you will be able to provide much more professionally presented products. It's not a big deal, but sometimes it left the feeling it was released because it was running out of time.

Some indies are also in need of your support, and from time to time, you should also consider other games than "fun" (?) products always looking the same (to our eyes, the ones not developping puzzles), and be a bit more friendly in your replies. Bad communication is returning a bad image. :)
But I'm getting off topic.

About console-in-a-browser, I don't know, some people are absolutely unable to handle a computer, regarding my tech. support experience, better keep them with real consoles instead! ;)

Edit: typos

#99 Hmmm... Not so shure about having a large corporation backing up GG, but theres also a positive thing over the situation.
Either we like it or not, CASH, is definilty a thing that would push things a bit forward... I wouldnt mind at all even if it would be an Vatican sponsorship (no offense).

Otherwise, money is the "root of all evil", and I guess its an easy pit to fall in... Specially in a "dog eat dog" corporate world as it is the corporate gameDev.

There are at least two ways to go, lets all wait and see what happens. Should GG succeed with IAC, Im up to it! otherwise, Im off..

#100 I agree with you coxo, that being money as the "root of all evil" in the corporate world though. But in the private sector money is a nice thing to have especially when you don't have much if any to speak of.

I don't personally agree with the way corporations sometimes end up. I've seen many times corps with money taking up indie or smaller businesses as underdogs, only for things to not work out and whats left? They sell it all ruining both sides of the coin.

I'm hoping this won't be the case here because I will and always have rooted for the underdogs instead of the corporations that try to suck up smaller, and usually more lucrative, businesses to fatten their own bankrolls.

As for browser based anything outside of websites and smaller mind-numbing games, that (in my opinion strictly) is a move away from better gaming technology, not towards it.