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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.

#61
01/20/2011 (7:37 am)
In my case I still have the studio license... I think as per your purchase of it it will stay at your disposal but they're not selling this type anymore... It's a pity, I would like to pay a bit more to have a license in my control to assign temporarily to people working with me on something...
It's sure that at 99$ everyone valuable at working with the engine will take a copy of it but that can change if the price will sensibly rise after that period...
In that case I would really like to see the possibility to purchase studio licenses coming back...

Anyway I'm happy, I was near the point of purchasing a standard license yesterday for assigning my studio license to someone doing some work for me... So now I saved around 600$ ! :-)

And having jumped on T3D caravan in an early phase, and then updated it to the studio license, in the end my studio license for T3D didn't cost me so much...

And I agree with Chris and Random,

Quote:a bigger community is better than no community

Quote:More indie devs, more indie games, more awesome.

;-D
#62
01/20/2011 (7:38 am)
Hey Everyone, seems like our FAQ didn't make the last push, we've been up all night and our eyes were a bit fuzzy in the morning.

All $99 licenses are individual licenses per our EULA with the exception of TorqueX which is studio. Here's a link to the FAQ.
#63
01/20/2011 (7:41 am)

Long...Live...GarageGames!


Thanks to everyone who helped keep us alive. To Eric and Derek for working all throughout the closure to get us new owners, to the rest of the team for their faith that things would be alright, and to the community for their massive showing of support.

It just goes to show, you cannot kill a great spirit. You can slow it down, you can try to call it something...but you can't kill GarageGames or its community.
#64
01/20/2011 (7:42 am)
Edited: nevermind, just a little bitter
#65
01/20/2011 (7:49 am)
Ah, and tomorrow will be my birthday, so this in the end is a nice present for me :-D
#66
01/20/2011 (7:51 am)
@Eric/Mich/David or anyone else that works at GG: It seems, from Eric's post, that the $99 price point is somehow part of the new philosophy of the GG brand.

But all the product pages indicate that price as being for a limited time only. Can we get some insight as to how long these prices will last and/or what the "normal" price points will be?
#67
01/20/2011 (7:52 am)
Congrats to the guys in Vegas for keeping the indie torch going, and all the hard work it has taken for today's unveiling.

Plus it feels great that I can finally talk about what I've been doing these past couple of weeks. :)

- Dave
#68
01/20/2011 (7:54 am)
lol @ mention of InstantAction in FAQ ... bleary eyed may be forgiven ... :P
#69
01/20/2011 (7:58 am)
So it's suddenly appropriate to say "We don't expect to see InstantAction" hehe. Slow and steady will win this race.
#70
01/20/2011 (7:59 am)
You know, I have no idea how people are surprised at this. I mean, there were ads and everything...

digitalflux.com/images/ggiscoming.jpg
#71
01/20/2011 (8:02 am)

@Ted
Hehe.
#72
01/20/2011 (8:07 am)
Congratulations, and Welcome Back!

This is definitely good news across the board.
#73
01/20/2011 (8:09 am)
Congrats Guys!!! I look forward to seeing the new stuff and doign what MGT can to help the community.
#74
01/20/2011 (8:13 am)
WOOT ! To celebrate I'm buying the whole suite of software available ! HURRAH !
#75
01/20/2011 (8:20 am)
Awesome stuff. I am glad that the cat is finally out of the bag on this one! Indies and the industry will really benefit by having GarageGames back and focusing on game engine technology once again.
#76
01/20/2011 (8:20 am)
Yay! Glad to see the return of GarageGames.

Now when I make my 3000th forum post I can do so with a smile and pride for such an awesome indie community - as well as company :)
#77
01/20/2011 (8:21 am)
@Ken

I can understand. Even if I'm not bitter myself about it.

I'm trying to look at it future-tense as the difference between it being a small portion of what revenue I might hope to make and an even smaller portion for future T3D adopters. 99% of my cost will be "intangible" time and effort, anyhow.
#78
01/20/2011 (8:23 am)
Impressive work, and even more impressive comeback to the land of blasting news. Hats off for this effort and the great news.

And, a big gratz to the team for still having a castle to spin off in. This move ought to kick some teeth in at the competitors doors ;)

Cheers guys
#79
01/20/2011 (8:26 am)
Wow! Great to have GG back!
This was like one season in "Dallas" (TV show that aired back a few years ago)....where the whole season just turned out to be a dream/nightmare. J.R. woke up, and everything was back to happiness!

I've just got to learn how to stop eating just before programming.

#80
01/20/2011 (8:27 am)
That's great guys! Really glad to see you stick with the core technology. I sincerely hope it works out for you guys!