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Welcome Back GarageGames!

by Eric Preisz · 01/20/2011 (4:27 am) · 553 comments






You've been patiently waiting and the time has come. GarageGames is back! We've changed our name back to GarageGames and we are dropping the prices on all products to $99.00 to celebrate our new direction and return to our indie roots. It's been a storied ten years for the GarageGames name and we are looking forward to ushering in the next decade.

The return of GarageGames is much more than a $99 price point. It's a commitment to the community who grew with us over the years. It's a return to the values that brought people together to make great games without the burden of unbearable pricing or royalties. Our community is a diverse group of people who are willing and able to help each other grow as game developers and we can't wait to take that community to the next level. So before I dive into details, let's put some stakes in the ground:

We are committed to delivering you a full source solution without royalties at a price that indies can afford,

We are committed to a better out of the box experience: more intuitive tools focused on design, better tutorials and documentation, and web-site updates that support our most valuable feature…our community,

We are committed to bringing in more talent that can help us execute reliable processes, provide better quality, and set higher standards that exceed your expectation ( btw…we are hiring ).

You will find real evidence of our commitments scattered through this site that we updated late last night. The most obvious is the $99.00 price tag. We believe that this price makes the Torque product line available to everyone with a serious itch to make a game without opening the flood gates for free users who may not be as committed to the same goals as paid developers who rely on our support in the forums. You will notice that we are sun-setting TorqueX and providing refunds to those who pre-ordered iTorque 3D. We know that what we need more than anything is a more focused roadmap and these choices are a difficult, but necessary, step in that direction. You can find more product updates on this blog.

You may be wondering who the new owners are. First off, they are modest, so they asked that I not make them the focus of this blog. I'm guessing; however, that you do want to know that we are in good hands. Trust me...we are. Over the past couple of weeks I talked with dozens of interested parties but none of their values aligned as closely as they do with Graham Software Development. I can't thank them enough for suggesting and supporting the low price-point and the resurgence of the GarageGames brand. These guys are just like us; they are indie developers with the drive and desire to build something that changes the way people make games.

There's a lot for us to do. Setting and achieving a new, higher standard for game development tools won't happen overnight. On top of that challenge, we are switching over to new services ( web hosting, payment processing, etc. ) and moving into a new building (we are staying in Vegas, just moving to a bigger location ). We are also hiring and will be adding new people to the team ( did I mention that we are hiring? ). So you may see a few fresh company faces in the forums. Because of these moving pieces, you may notice the occasional web-site glitch or other disruption. So thanks, in advance, for your patience as we make these changes.

In closing, I can’t thank you enough for sticking with us during this time. The team stayed together through the transition and I can't help but think that your enthusiasm and kind words played a big role in making that happen. We look forward to meeting our new goals so that we can continue to deliver on the promise of bringing royalty free, full-source, game engines to everyone!

So let’s hear it in the comments. It's time to make some noise for GarageGames!

~Eric Preisz
CEO, GarageGames, LLC.

About the author

Manager, Programmer, Author, Professor, Small Business Owner, and Marketer.

#421
01/24/2011 (1:28 pm)
If a "gift" purchase will be available I would buy and donate at least 2 more license... I really suggest GG to give to this a preference since I know many people saying the same... In the big picture it can be many K waiting to go into GG pockets :-)
#422
01/24/2011 (1:35 pm)
With the backend code for the Studio licensing, the gift purchases are something that the web team could possibly implement (theoretically; I'm not speaking for them or the time it would take to do so). Before the Studio interface was integrated, it would have been nightmarish since you would have to have an account, add it to that account, and then gift the account to them in some form or another. It required a lot of work. To make it a friendly process would probably still require quite a bit of work.
#423
01/24/2011 (2:12 pm)
Sincerely I would like even more the ability to buy again the studio licenses, even for some $ more, and assign them...
#424
01/24/2011 (3:25 pm)
Quote:@Mike - 15 years? Wouldn't happen to be related to DNF, would it? :)


Quote:Welcome Back GarageGames. We missed you. :-)
In my head I can hear that being said in the voice of Agent Smith. Please tell me that was your intention. =)


I've been here 15 years??? Doesn't seem that long. No relation to DNF tho. :-)

As for agent smith...umm...had to google him. Now I know who you were talking about, so my answer would be....Yes. Of course. :-D (sorry, hadn't even thought about sounding like someone there, but hey, I'll take it. Agent Smith has a cool voice. :-) )
#425
01/24/2011 (3:44 pm)
This is the best. Good old garage games. I cant wait to see what the future has in store for this moment in history.
#426
01/24/2011 (3:52 pm)
On a side note, I'm really looking forward to the next blog. The next blog that talks less about the demise of the parent and the rebirth of GG and more about the products, features, and release plans.

In other words...I'm looking forward to getting back to business.
#427
01/24/2011 (4:28 pm)
@Ron

+++

(Is there a tripple-plus operator to pun off of for that comment? No? Well there damn well ought've been!)
#429
01/24/2011 (6:35 pm)
@Sparkling (I know this replay is a little late)

"I think I've been using Facebook too long. I keep finding myself wanting to do a "Like" or "Thumbs Up" on posts that have a positive message, but that I don't really want to flood the stream with a response to."

I know what you mean, there wasn't a "Like" button to click on your post :)
#430
01/24/2011 (7:38 pm)
Glad to see its GarageGames again, I didn't enjoy the (not-so) brief foray into other markets.

Been back purchasing as I'm sure a lot of people have and my enthusiasm to get some new games out there has been rekindled.

Thanks!
#431
01/24/2011 (11:51 pm)
I have some problems in my products


-iTorque 2D (ok)

-TGB Platformer Kit Pro (ok)

-Torsion (ok)

-Torque X Platformer Kit (ok)

-Torque 3D (bynary version. in the package i don't see the source code. I have to buy again for the source? )

-Torque X
-Torque X Builder (torque x and torque x builder are the same)
-Torque X ??? why 2 torqueX?
-Torque X Builder ??? why 2 torqueX Builder?

-Torque X 3D Beta

-Torque Constructor (ok)

-TGB Adventure Kit (ok)

-Torque Game Engine Advanced (ok death)

-Torque 2D Pro (ok)

-Torque Game Engine 1.4.2 (ok death)


#432
01/25/2011 (1:01 am)
Congratulations, glad to see you back.
#433
01/25/2011 (2:55 am)
@Lorenzo Cambaighi
Quote:-Torque 3D (bynary version. in the package i don't see the source code. I have to buy again for the source? )

Yes, You have to buy the source code for $99.

Link
www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/123838
#434
01/25/2011 (4:01 am)
I would also really like to see the return of studio licensing. I will be expanding my studio this year, and need seats that will belong to the studio and be assignable (and re-assignable) to employees of the studio.

Surely this sort of licensing would result in more seats sold.
#435
01/25/2011 (4:45 am)
As I said in the other announcement thread, this is great news and its good to have the original GG back! Personally I'm hoping for the next major T2D enhancements to be a web plugin and better performance. Congrats and welcome back!
#436
01/25/2011 (5:41 am)
Since I made an inquiry about studio licensing long before the whole IA mess, I well remember that a studio option was available back before Garage Games was purchased.

As many have pointed out, if you buy a license for someone so they can work on your team, and they then leave, you've lost that money. If your indy project is working only with local developers that you see every day, and could easily enforce some sort of contract, sure you could eliminate that worry. But I'd bet that most indy developers that would, and do, use Torque have an eye towards development with a team that exists only on the internet.

You can say "Only work with those you trust. If you don't trust them, don't buy them a license." But there's simply no way to be certain. It's not just down to trust, it's also down to ever changing circumstances in this game we call Life.

Let me give an example that happened to me.

I have a developer that I've worked with for years on a Neverwinter Nights persistent world. We have very similar design goals and he is very supportive of the fiction I've written and the plans I've made for a stand alone game. I bought him a binary license so that he could work as an artist for me. Shortly thereafter he got promoted in the company he currently works for. He now no longer has any time to work with or for me, even if I could pay him up front. I can't match the deal he has now. The cost of that binary license is now completely lost to me. At least in this case, I can justify that to myself (and my wife) as a thank you for the years of work he's done with me on the NWN world.
#437
01/25/2011 (8:17 am)
Really glad! Let's make some great Indie games :)
#438
01/25/2011 (9:53 am)
@ Jason Parker.

A lot of people have been asking about studio licenses. On the one hand, I like the simplicity of one product, one price, one license, but on the other hand, I understand the need for a small studio to be able to re-assign licenses if someone leaves. Meantime, if you bought a Studio license before we took over, nothing has changed - you can still re-assign.

Just for the record, in the past we at GSD always bought licenses for our team members (actually we reimbursed them for the cost of buying it themselves). If they left, they took that license with them. That was simply the cost-of-doing-business. But then prices skyrocketed. The cost-of-doing-business suddenly got a lot more costly. I'm sure that is why GarageGames created the studio license option (I'll ask around about that). Anyway, we were lucky because most people we hired already had their own Torque license.

Now that the pricing is down to $99, I don't feel like there is as great of a need for studio licenses. I personally feel like requiring each team member to have their own license is fair - but make no mistake, that policy is not set in stone. For now things will stay as they are, but this is on our list to consider, especially if we ever end the $99 price tag.

Also there have been some requests to allow for gifting of licenses. I think we are getting that mostly from students who would like to be able to ask their parents to buy them Torque, but it could work for studios as well. Seems like a good idea and we are considering it.
#439
01/25/2011 (10:06 am)
I just downloaded the demo to T3D it says I need to download the physx drivers from nvidia. I'm running an ATI radeon HD 5670 video card. shouldn't it run either way. when I run T3D it gives an error that says ( unable to run the game library) when I try to open the world editor.
#440
01/25/2011 (10:18 am)
Gifting would be great. It would've saved hassle when I bought the binary copy for the developer I mentioned in my previous post. I also can think of several people that are planning to go to school for various aspects of game development, and it would make a nice holiday or birthday gift for those and such.

As to the studio licensing being created because of the high price, not quite. I can't speak to whether or not there was a system for it before, like there was when the prices went up. Only that it was available on a case by case basis, and only if you asked in the first place. Then again, I asked back when there was a repo rather than the packaged downloads. At least that's what the response I got at the time sounded like anyway.