Newsbrief: GarageGames will make its flagship engine, Torque 3D, available for free with an open source license in a few weeks, as part of the company's efforts to realign its goals.
The engine will be released to Github under the MIT free software license, offering Torque 3D 1.2's complete source code and four starting templates. GarageGames' Dave Wyand will lead open source development and oversee future updates.
Shipped titles that have used Torque 3D include Fallen Empire: Legions and Hinterland. Developers that purchased the engine since the beginning of the month will receive a refund.
GarageGames notes that making Torque 3D open source falls in line with the steps it has taken to realign goals nine months ago, which include building a development tool that requires no programming (3 Step Studio), forming a service division, and focusing on innovative uses of game tech.
Very interesting. I would hope that this open source release will see a push from the community of developers to add Linux support. Something that I have thought that Torque has needed for a long time.
Garage Games just went from my naughty list to nice list. I think there was already a linux client being developed for torque too. Time to dust off all my old torque books!
This is great news. Torque and Unreal got me into games, torque and garage games gave indies dreams before there was much access to game markets. Glad to see it live on this way and allow it to evolve quickly. FBX support should be one of the first things added. Collada is great but hasn't lived up to the dream yet mainly due to proprietary 3d programs and various, patchy support. FBX seems to have won the format for now.
Just wanted to thank everyone for their nice comments. We hope you guys participate as we push the tech forward. Our next step is to develop a community driven roadmap.
IMHO - The main reason Torque3D dropped Linux and Mac OS support was the openGL code needed to be updated ... and evidently, has been a lack of qualified openGL programmers willing to assist.
There are "test" versions that work on either OS -- but now that its gone Open Source, I don't think it will be long before these issues are corrected and its fully cross compatible again.
I'm a GG member for quite some time and asked about the exact same thing I know that the MacOS port is still being worked on and is almost there just needs some of the shared code sorted out I believe.
More details on our blog:
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blog/view/21876/1
Thanks again for choosing the MIT license!
Wish you luck with your Service Business.
There are "test" versions that work on either OS -- but now that its gone Open Source, I don't think it will be long before these issues are corrected and its fully cross compatible again.