rough timeline for GG 3D engine...
by Vertex Storm · in Site Feedback · 01/13/2001 (11:10 am) · 4 replies
Hi,
Just curious if GG could give everyone a better idea about when the engine would be available???
Thanks
Just curious if GG could give everyone a better idea about when the engine would be available???
Thanks
#2
Thanks.
01/15/2001 (1:23 pm)
How much will the game engine cost? I'm new here so please don't bash me if this has already been answered.Thanks.
#3
Lithtech: $250,000+, unrestricted publishing
Lithtech: $495, SDK only, no source code, must publish through Real Networks
Quake1: $0, GPL (GNU Public License), source included, you must publish your source code.
Quake1: $10,000, source included
Quake2: $125,000, source included
Quake3: 8% royalty, min $300,000, source included
Unreal: I don't have this info, does anyone know?
NetImmerse/PC: $75,000, source included
The GarageGames mission is to educate and help independent developers create games and get them to market. When we officially announce the engine's availability we will also announce our distribution strategy. I believe everyone will agree they are getting an incredible value. In the mean time, I would be very interested in hearing what you feel is important in such a package. Source Code? Support? Distribution? Online vs. Retail? Example code? Pricing? Royalties? Training?
01/15/2001 (2:37 pm)
Good question and one that has not been discussed. There are a ton of hobbist engines out there, but only a handful of proven professional game engines. Each one has totally different upfront costs, royalties, license restrictions, etc,. Here is what the big contenders are doing...Lithtech: $250,000+, unrestricted publishing
Lithtech: $495, SDK only, no source code, must publish through Real Networks
Quake1: $0, GPL (GNU Public License), source included, you must publish your source code.
Quake1: $10,000, source included
Quake2: $125,000, source included
Quake3: 8% royalty, min $300,000, source included
Unreal: I don't have this info, does anyone know?
NetImmerse/PC: $75,000, source included
The GarageGames mission is to educate and help independent developers create games and get them to market. When we officially announce the engine's availability we will also announce our distribution strategy. I believe everyone will agree they are getting an incredible value. In the mean time, I would be very interested in hearing what you feel is important in such a package. Source Code? Support? Distribution? Online vs. Retail? Example code? Pricing? Royalties? Training?
#4
Support? This looks like a forum...feels like a forum. If we apply the duck test (tm) it's a forum. There's an IRC channel...that looks like about all the support you need.
Distribution?
Online vs. Retail? These two kind of go together, and I'm venturing out of my area of knowledge here. But this is my (uneducated) take on it. I have a idealistic viewpoint here. I code to code, because I love to, just for me, and I try to help other people. Everything is open source, and everything I've done (so far) is free. I 100% realize that this will not always be the case, but it seems to me that the mission at GarageGames is to give people, who are serious about it, the chance to make that game they always wanted to make. I really can't comment on licencing fee, because I don't know how valuable someone elses code is. But what if there were two tiers of licencing, one would be cheaper, but distribution would be through the GarageGames website solely, and either be free download, or GG could charge a small fee via PayPal, Credit Card, etc. The other drawback of this would be that because GG was the publisher, they would be represented by the game made, so they would be able to say, "Keep working on it," before putting it up on the page. This situation, in my (once again, uneducated) opinion would do two things. It would give the deveoper a chance to work with a state of the art engine, AND get publicity. For GarageGames, it would get them publicity, and have then be known for a source of good, cheap games. For the second tier of licencing, it'd be a larger fee, but you could licence it to sell. I'm really kind of torn on this. While it's everyone's dream to make a bestselling game. Selling, retail, a game made with an engine going for a fraction of the cost of other state-of-the art engines, that's kind of like changing a few things in the latest Linux kernel and then selling it as a new OS. I'm going to leave this question now...
Example code? You bet your ass.
Pricing? Not going to touch this with a 10ft pole.
Royalties? I didn't touch upon royalties in my dissertation above. I think that if the engine is low cost, royalties should be high. Like I said before, I write code to write code, and if I ever get to the point where I throw a hissy fit because I can't have a bigger piece of the pie may God strike me down. Once again, this should have multiple tiers.
Training? Training? What's that? That's where you sit down with DevStudio and a good flow of caffine and try till it works, right?
01/16/2001 (9:04 am)
Source Code? Resounding YES! Using other people's code without being able to read it is like using someone elses toothbrush. Because with your toothbrush, you get the bristles just so...and you can get bugs from other peoples toothbrushes.Support? This looks like a forum...feels like a forum. If we apply the duck test (tm) it's a forum. There's an IRC channel...that looks like about all the support you need.
Distribution?
Online vs. Retail? These two kind of go together, and I'm venturing out of my area of knowledge here. But this is my (uneducated) take on it. I have a idealistic viewpoint here. I code to code, because I love to, just for me, and I try to help other people. Everything is open source, and everything I've done (so far) is free. I 100% realize that this will not always be the case, but it seems to me that the mission at GarageGames is to give people, who are serious about it, the chance to make that game they always wanted to make. I really can't comment on licencing fee, because I don't know how valuable someone elses code is. But what if there were two tiers of licencing, one would be cheaper, but distribution would be through the GarageGames website solely, and either be free download, or GG could charge a small fee via PayPal, Credit Card, etc. The other drawback of this would be that because GG was the publisher, they would be represented by the game made, so they would be able to say, "Keep working on it," before putting it up on the page. This situation, in my (once again, uneducated) opinion would do two things. It would give the deveoper a chance to work with a state of the art engine, AND get publicity. For GarageGames, it would get them publicity, and have then be known for a source of good, cheap games. For the second tier of licencing, it'd be a larger fee, but you could licence it to sell. I'm really kind of torn on this. While it's everyone's dream to make a bestselling game. Selling, retail, a game made with an engine going for a fraction of the cost of other state-of-the art engines, that's kind of like changing a few things in the latest Linux kernel and then selling it as a new OS. I'm going to leave this question now...
Example code? You bet your ass.
Pricing? Not going to touch this with a 10ft pole.
Royalties? I didn't touch upon royalties in my dissertation above. I think that if the engine is low cost, royalties should be high. Like I said before, I write code to write code, and if I ever get to the point where I throw a hissy fit because I can't have a bigger piece of the pie may God strike me down. Once again, this should have multiple tiers.
Training? Training? What's that? That's where you sit down with DevStudio and a good flow of caffine and try till it works, right?
Torque Owner Rick Overman
I apologize for not being able to give you more details but there should be enough information for you to personally estimate a time frame.
--Rick