GarageGames

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"Garage Games" redirects here. For InstantAction game platform, see InstantAction.

GarageGames

Type	Video game developer, Video game publisher
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Eugene, Oregon, USA
Key people	Josh Williams (CEO & CTO) Joe Maruschak (GM GG Studios) Brett Seyler (VP Bizdev) Andy Yang (GM InstantAction) Randy Dersham Jeff Tunnell (founder) Rick Overman (founder) Mark Frohnmayer (founder) Tim Gift (founder)
Industry	Interactive entertainment
Products	Video games, Web Portals, Game Engines, Game Publishing
Employees	90
Website	http://www.garagegames.com/

GarageGames is located in Eugene, Oregon and on the web at GarageGames.com. As the makers of Torque game development technology, they have provided professional level cross-platform technology and tools since 2000. The Torque Game Engine was the original technology behind the Tribes series of games, and has been used since to develop countless games on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. GarageGames' own Marble Blast Ultra is a best-selling hit on Xbox Live Arcade.^[1]

[edit] History

In 2007, the company received a majority investment by Barry Diller and Interactive Corporation (NASD: IAC).^[2] GarageGames was founded by four industry veterans Jeff Tunnell, Tim Gift, Rick Overman, and Mark Frohnmayer. The founders literally worked in their garage on severance checks and released Torque Game Engine in August 2001. The name GarageGames is intentionally similar to the term "garage band", and is meant to evoke a similar concept in game development. The stated goal of GarageGames is to offer licensing of game engines and publishing to virtually anyone, in contrast to leaving would-be game makers at the mercy of large publishers driven by sales in the retail channel. To that end, in 2007, GarageGames also announced the development of a new game platform called InstantAction at InstantAction.com.^[3]

[edit] Game Development Technology

[edit] Licensing

GarageGames originally offered the Torque Game Engine for sale in 2000. Eschewing industry standards for game engine licensing, they offered the technology under a per-seat "Indie" license for a much more affordable price than available alternatives.^[4] The Indie licensing model (available to individuals and companies with less than $250,000 in annual revenues) and the affordable price endure today. GarageGames also offers affordable "Commercial" licensing options to companies with more than $250,000 in annual revenues. Estimates based on the size of the GarageGames community (100,000+) put the number of Torque licensees in the 50,000 range.

[edit] Products

Torque Game Builder
Torque Game Engine
Torque Game Engine Advanced
Torque X
Torque for Wii
Torque 360
Torque Networking Library (open source)

GarageGames.com also sells more than 100 3rd party game development products.

[edit] Release Timeline

[edit] Torque Game Engine

1.0	08/09/01
1.1	10/17/01
1.1.1	01/21/02
1.1.2	07/25/02
1.2	09/24/03
1.2.1	02/19/04
1.3	09/17/04
1.4	11/23/05
1.4.2	01/25/06
1.5	10/24/06
1.5.1	04/05/07
1.5.2	05/15/07

[edit] Torque Game Engine Advanced

1.0	02/15/07
1.0.1	04/02/07
1.0.2	08/10/07
1.0.3	08/31/07
1.7.0	04/04/08

[edit] Torque Game Builder

1.0	02/25/05
1.0.2	04/20/05
1.1	06/20/06
1.1.1	08/09/06
1.1.2	09/28/06
1.1.3	11/29/06
1.5	07/10/07
1.5.1	07/14/07
1.6	12/16/07
1.7	01/30/08
1.7.1	02/01/08
1.7.2	02/08/08
1.7.3	05/14/08

[edit] Torque X

1.0	07/05/07
2.0	03/13/08

[edit] Torque for Wii

1.0	07/16/07
1.5	02/14/08

[edit] Torque 360

1.0	12/01/06
1.5	03/16/08

[edit] Applications

Torque is primarily a game development technology. Various versions of the engine have been used to develop more that 200 published games.^[5]. It has been licensed by Electronic Arts, NC Soft, Sony, Disney, Vivendi Universal, Hasbro, and many other game teams and publishers and it's officially supported middleware for Microsoft and Nintendo. Minions of Mirth and Dreamlords are successful Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) implementations. Games like Think Tanks, Marble Blast Ultra, Screwjumper and others are more core, or action-oriented.

Torque is also a popular solution for non-game applications like Serious Games and virtual worlds. It's been licensed by NASA, L3, Lockheed Martin and it has been used successfully for dozens of virtual worlds applications like Doppleganger's vSide (formerly the Music Lounge) and by IBM for internal and external training simulations.^[6] Torque is currently used for education in more than 200 schools and universities worldwide.^[7]

[edit] Future

Last year at the annual Indie Games Con 2007, GarageGames announced a new component-based merge of their game engine technology slated for a 2008 release.^[8] GarageGames' online platform InstantAction.com makes use of a browser plugin technology that allows any arbitrary graphics application to run inside the browser. It has been rumored that this plugin technology may be integrated with Torque and made available to Torque owners in the future allowing game publishing on demand.

[edit] Game Development

[edit] Marble Blast Series

Originally released in 2002, the cross-platform game Marble Blast was created with Torque Game Engine and has been published on Shockwave.com, Yahoo Games and Real Arcade. Marble Blast Gold available on GarageGames' website and Marble Blast Ultra is currently an Arcade Hit title on Xbox LIVE Arcade.^[9] The newest in the series, Marble Blast Online, is appearing exclusively on InstantAction.com.

[edit] Think Tanks

GarageGames acquired Bravetree Studios, the original developers of the Think Tanks series of games in 2005.^[10] Think Tanks was features on Xbox LIVE Arcade and currently sells on GarageGames' website. The newest version of Think Tanks is appearing exclusively on InstantAction.com.

[edit] Orbz

Released in 2003, Orbz was an early hit on the Mac platform. Orbz is currently available on GarageGames' website and rumored to make an updated appearance on InstantAction.com.

[edit] Z.A.P.

Released in March 2008, Z.A.P., also known as Zero All Productivity, was developed in collaboration between GarageGames and Bad Habit Software, a newly formed game studio comprised of games industry veterans who have worked on smash-hit console and PC titles including Syphon Filter, Warhawk, Ratchet&Clank, and Tribes. In Z.A.P. each player pilots a spaceship through a vibrant top-down maze in a variety of rapid fire team games. Modes include Capture the Flag, Hunters, Zone Control, Retrieve, and the "every man for himself" annihilation of Z.A.P. Match. The game demands lightning reflexes and strategic team play.

[edit] Fallen Empire: Legions

Legions is GarageGames' spiritual successor to the hugely popular Tribes series of games. Noted for it's fast-paced, multiplayer action, the Tribes series of games were developed by Dynamix (later purchased by Vivendi and later again by Universal) from whence the founders and many current employees at GarageGames came. Recent news articles point to an exclusive 2008 release of Fallen Empire: Legions on InstantAction.com. The game is now in closed beta.^[11]

[edit] Rokkitball

Rokkitball is a futuristic team-based game that's best described as football with rocket launchers and magno-beams. Launched on InstantAction.com in April 2007 with support for up to eight players, Rokkitball puts players on an ultramodern playfield with multiple goals. The tactics reward a combination of precision fire and team positioning to disrupt the enemy and control the field. Challenging bot players can be used to fill out games if there are too few humans, or to practice your skills when friends aren't available.

[edit] Game Publishing

Early in the company's history, GarageGames offered publishing terms to independent developers for distribution through its website game store that appealed to many small and independent game studios. To date GarageGames has published more than 100 titles in their game store. GarageGames has also self-published a number of titles on console platforms.

[edit] InstantAction.com

With the 2007 majority investment from IAC, GarageGames announced the development of a new online gaming platform called InstantAction. The platform is said to offer console quality games in a streaming play experience inside a web browser. InstantAction.com launched with a closed beta in January 2008. On February 2008, the beta became invitation based. As of March 6, 2008, InstantAction.com is now in full open beta.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e GarageGames

Game development products	Torque Game Engine • Torque Game Engine Advanced • Torque Game Builder

Developed games	Fallen Empire: Legions • Marble Blast Gold • Marble Blast Ultra • Realm Wars • ThinkTanks • Zap!

Published games	Aerial Antics • Bridge Builder • Chain Reaction • Dark Horizons: Lore • Dimenxion • Gish • Minions of Mirth • Orbz • Produce Panic • Puzzle Poker • Robot Battle • RocketBowl • TubeTwist • Tribal Trouble • Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa