GarageGames to Release T3D as Open Source
by Eric Preisz · 09/10/2012 (9:05 am) · 159 comments
Torque 3D to be Released on Github under the MIT license!
Eleven years ago, The GarageGames founders did an incredibly innovative thing when they sold a full source game engine for $100. We are excited to continue in their footsteps by announcing that we will be releasing Torque 3D as the best open source game technology in the world. Once again, GarageGames will be changing game development.
Why are we doing this?
Nine months ago, we realigned the goals of GarageGames; making Torque 3D available via a permissive open source license is a strategic move towards fulfilling the company vision. Our first goal was to use iTorque to build a new product we call 3 Step Studio. We envisioned a game development tool that requires no programming at all and began to build it. This product is available today for free, but it’s very, very, early in development and we expect to iterate many times before it is a commercially viable product. Our second goal was to build a service division. I’m happy to say that we’ve already booked our first million dollars in service work and we expect the growth trend to continue as we make Torque 3D more accessible. You can visit our services site at services.garagegames.com. We are very well prepared and staffed to provide support, training, and custom development.
Our long term plans are to focus on innovative uses of game technology. Currently, all GarageGames employees have the option to work on any project on Fridays. We are working on some really great projects under the initiative and it’s our hope that we will be able to invest in several of these projects as they evolve. We’ve encouraged our developers to open source these projects. If you think you have what it takes to be an innovative developer using game technology, consider applying for one of our open positions.
Dave Wyand will be leading the T3D open source effort and he has posted a blog describing the details around how we will run the development process. But before you dive into the details with Dave, I’d like to leave you with answers to some expected questions:
Is this version different or a subset of T3D?
We've split off some modules as separate downloads and we've removed some art to bring down the payload size. Other than those changes, the versions are the same.
Is this just a way for you to dump Torque 3D?
No. We've been using T3D internally for service projects and we expect that to continue. In some cases, our service work will directly benefit the core code base.
I recently bought your engine, I feel ripped off.
We will be offering refunds for T3D purchases that happened on or after Sept 1st but before this announcement.
What about other GarageGames engines?
We are starting open source efforts with T3D and learning from this experience. For now, the other engines/products are not available via the MIT license.
About the author
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#42
@ David: Yep, understand that:-) I've seen some of it and the gridbased solution made the game-play work surpraisingly well, so was just thinking out loud.
Keep up the great work!
Kaj
09/10/2012 (12:20 pm)
EDIT: @ David: Yep, understand that:-) I've seen some of it and the gridbased solution made the game-play work surpraisingly well, so was just thinking out loud.
Keep up the great work!
Kaj
#43
First:
After releasing source to GitHub, will it be possible to download old installer of the Torque3D 1.2 package?
Second:
Switching to open source is good move. I cross my fingers for CGfx shaders and Linux version of engine :D
09/10/2012 (12:20 pm)
Hi !!First:
After releasing source to GitHub, will it be possible to download old installer of the Torque3D 1.2 package?
Second:
Switching to open source is good move. I cross my fingers for CGfx shaders and Linux version of engine :D
#44
09/10/2012 (12:20 pm)
Interesting move, I can see only good things coming from this. I'm happy to see that you chose the MIT license and not some other nonsense.
#45
If you are a paid licensee, it will still be available under your account. But all future code pushes will be done on the GitHub master branch.
09/10/2012 (12:27 pm)
@Aleksander MarhallIf you are a paid licensee, it will still be available under your account. But all future code pushes will be done on the GitHub master branch.
#46
What about resources, old packs like the tank pack?
That is, if I want to open source my game which is made up of T3D, the tank pack and many different resources, am I allowed to?
09/10/2012 (12:56 pm)
Awesome move fellows!What about resources, old packs like the tank pack?
That is, if I want to open source my game which is made up of T3D, the tank pack and many different resources, am I allowed to?
#47
I am sure the LinkedIn group will grow. And btw, if you have not joined the LinkedIn group, please do:
www.linkedin.com/groups/Torque-Game-Builders-1205107
Thanks again guys
09/10/2012 (12:57 pm)
That is simply awesome. I can truly say that compared to other open source engines (since Torque will be one now), Torque is the best I have seen with code that is more organized. This is a great thing and I cannot wait to get that source. Thank you very much guys.I am sure the LinkedIn group will grow. And btw, if you have not joined the LinkedIn group, please do:
www.linkedin.com/groups/Torque-Game-Builders-1205107
Thanks again guys
#48
09/10/2012 (1:06 pm)
This is good news. If you guys think this will keep GG going strong I'm all for it. I don't feel like I got ripped off now that it's free. I haven't even used T3D since I bought it but I bought it to help support GG. Love you guys. 
#49
I just hope that GG have more things in store regarding the engine. I also hope that now that it's under MIT, the engine can really pick up the pace.
First order of business: DX 11.1
then 64bit
09/10/2012 (1:06 pm)
@Sean: You just got a case of bad timing, that's all. Besides, how is MIT license in any way make it so you got screwed? This is great! I bought it, heck I got two licenses. I don't care.. The way I see it I supported an engine I like. Now it's under MIT. Even better.I just hope that GG have more things in store regarding the engine. I also hope that now that it's under MIT, the engine can really pick up the pace.
First order of business: DX 11.1
then 64bit
#51
Will GG also create some kind of asset store?
Again, congratulations and thank you ;-)!
09/10/2012 (1:16 pm)
Very nice move GG, congratulations on this decision! I think this will really help to make the community bigger, because now T3D simply is the best free solution that anyone can get. If Mac and maybe even Linux support is added by the community, then this will attract even more users, and for sure we will see many tutorials, addons...maybe like what happened with unity when they made a restricted version free. But this here is even better...there is no missing features like in unity, and there is no royality fee like with UDK...so to me really T3D now looks as the best choice out there...how can you beat "for free" ;-)! Will GG also create some kind of asset store?
Again, congratulations and thank you ;-)!
#52
More resources, developers working on the engine world wide, packs, books, training and games being made. On the plus side we should see Torque 3D being used more in College/Uni/Schools.
09/10/2012 (1:20 pm)
Having a MIT licence opens up all sorts of opportunities. It makes all of the time and money well spent. Some of those to mind are:More resources, developers working on the engine world wide, packs, books, training and games being made. On the plus side we should see Torque 3D being used more in College/Uni/Schools.
#53
09/10/2012 (1:23 pm)
@S2P: Yeah, I think schools will jump on this. Here you have a professional engine under MIT. Not even Carmack does that. This is truly an awesome gift.
#54
The bar for sharing it via a branch is way lower. I'm looking forward to sharing some of the things that I didn't feel were in good enough shape to sell.
09/10/2012 (1:26 pm)
We've got "other" source code that was lying around that's still useful but wasn't good enough to be sold.The bar for sharing it via a branch is way lower. I'm looking forward to sharing some of the things that I didn't feel were in good enough shape to sell.
#55
www.gamasutra.com/view/news/177431/Game_engine_Torque_3D_will_soon_be_free_open_...
09/10/2012 (1:29 pm)
BTW...if you stumble across the Gamasutra article, there are some inaccuracies that we are working with them to correct.www.gamasutra.com/view/news/177431/Game_engine_Torque_3D_will_soon_be_free_open_...
#56
@Eric, could you give some examples of some of those things?
09/10/2012 (1:30 pm)
Great news guys!@Eric, could you give some examples of some of those things?
#57
Just like previously, you would have to get permission for any licensing that you do not own to release it. We are going to be looking over a lot of things that we have that we did not feel were safe to sell in a productized way, but would be a perfect fit for open development.
@Henry Shilling
Torque X is a no-go unless we remove all 3D editor code (which uses and expensive commercial library) and all of the lighting code.
We will be evaluating our other engines that we can do this with, though. :)
@Andy S
We are evaluating how best to leverage our existing store and make it much more open in the future. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of tax hoops to jump through to sell things as non-US citizens.
09/10/2012 (1:32 pm)
@kcpdadJust like previously, you would have to get permission for any licensing that you do not own to release it. We are going to be looking over a lot of things that we have that we did not feel were safe to sell in a productized way, but would be a perfect fit for open development.
@Henry Shilling
Torque X is a no-go unless we remove all 3D editor code (which uses and expensive commercial library) and all of the lighting code.
We will be evaluating our other engines that we can do this with, though. :)
@Andy S
We are evaluating how best to leverage our existing store and make it much more open in the future. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of tax hoops to jump through to sell things as non-US citizens.
#58
09/10/2012 (1:39 pm)
This is an interesting move to say the least.. I hope this works out nicely. Looking forward to what's to come.
#59
09/10/2012 (1:42 pm)
One thing is a OSX port where the rendering is good enough to render Chinatown. I've also given licenses away where people were able to port to other platforms (mostly Android or derivatives) provided that they returned to us the non-game specific code. 
#60
This news rocks!
Good luck to GarageGames with the service business.
09/10/2012 (1:43 pm)
Just want to say thanks.This news rocks!
Good luck to GarageGames with the service business.
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake