So who the heck is IAC?

#121 @Derry - I don't think that GG would just drop the products, maybe not support them any further at a stable release apart from what the community comes up with but its best not to speculate until you know for sure what is going to happen. I for one, like many others have invested heavily in time and money with the products over the past few years and for them to be dropped would be damaging to the community, as well as the reputation of what was, and what is now, with plenty of compensation claims. So lets sit back, enjoy the ride and see what happends.

#122 Hehe, what just came to my mind:

Hey, and if the doubters are right at the end of the day and all goes into dust and the deal was a mistake, don't worry. The GG founders already showed once that they're able to make such a fantastic spin off thing like GG. I believe they are able anytime to create something alike again. :-)

And I find it interesting and good to see how worried people are about GGs future. That means to me that GG created a very valueable thing for the people which they don't want to loose. Congrats GG, you can really be proud of yourself!

#123 Im getting a little concern over this web Browser (IA) thing. Does this means that GG staff will put all the effort developing this solution? Because honestly, I cant see a TGE or a TGEA running on a web browser..
Its definitely a cool way to go, but I still think there is a lot to be done regarding TGE-A and TGB. Unless you pull a rabbit off the hat and come up with a proper solution.
Is GG games making a turn to web based games?

CC

#124 The web is not being exploited enough in the games area. Yes you have your Flash games, but massive multi-player games through your web browser is the way forward on the net. I don't know what people would do if the net stopped being free, and a licence created for only the serious. I know of one person who is making a packet out of turn based, web driven text games without hardly any graphical elements involved, so what could you do with graphic rich games (a whole lot more!). To have the option there for TGE or TGEA to be web based without it being dominant would be great, but let's not stop people creating downloadable PC/MAC games, they will be around for a long time to come, as you're not going to change things over night, even if a multi-media PC console was created with development in mind. Well known cable and sattelite companies are working on cornering this market where games are downloaded or played through set top boxes/web browsers on televisions and PCs, so there will be plenty of people jumping on that bandwagon to ensure they get a piece of the pie.

The impression I get at the moment is that people are worried, and are frantically trying to complete their games before any announcement is made, but hopefully GG will announce something soon that will set the record straight with regard to not knowing the future of TGE/A, TGB, which is on everyones minds.

#125 No one can convince anyone in their right minds that 'browser' games are the way forward on net, not until the whole world has high speed cable (or whatever) connections. Anyways, I don't really care how they do it or what. Honestly, if GG have had so much trouble with providing proper support to the main engines (TGB/TGE/TGEA) before the deal then they shouldn't have really wasted resources on GGE and TorqueX/Wii stuff. Might wanna fix and improve the main projects first, right? Right.

Let's wait to see what amazing updates (unless documentation for TGE is all that's in store for us) coming to us in next few weeks thanks to this new deal.

#126 Come to IGC! :)

#127 Well, I've tried to wade my way through all of these posts, blogs, and everything else and I think we all have the right to be concerned. Before I became disabled, I worked in telecommunications and I saw many of these investments, ie larger companies coming in and promising not to do anything drastic or stating they were commited to doing the right thing, etc, etc. Nothing ever usually happens like it was planned, regardless of the intentions.

Let me say, I think I've made my stance on some of Garage Games business practices pretty clear, especially regarding the RTS Kit, lack of good documentation on just about everything, and and a few other things. All I can say at this point, with out knowing more, is I hope I'm wrong about my gut feelings on this investment.

If things do go well and this whole thing does work out, I just would like to make one suggestion. With all this new money coming in, I would hope if Garage Games wants to market this new product ot at least make more than a half hearted effort to have some actual documentation this time. Not a half hearted attempt as is the norm here.

Just remember, the path to hell is paved with good intentions...

#128 Grats, GarageGames! Considering what you have done for the industry with the limited resources you guys had, I can only begin to imagine what great things you can do now :)

I really hope you stay true to the indie spirit, because I'd hate to see GG turn into just another (funding) publisher.

Just too bad that GarageGames, the big example independent developer for a lot of us out here, is no longer independent (who would have thought that, can you see the irony?).

Anyway, good luck with this new business. I really hope you stay true to what you are. Remember where you are coming from :P

(And yes, I am excited about the new market GG is trying to create :)

#129 I've been taking a look at various engines for a while now and have been heavily leaning toward TGEA. Now that this news has broke I'm holding off until some information is released about what will happen with the current products. Although it sounds like there will be some new benefits with this deal, I'm not interested in browser games.

#130 Wow, lots here. It's only taken me 2 days to catch up. :-O

To respond about my comparing Adobe to GG.....

The comparison is apples to oranges as far as I am concerned. When Adobe aquired 3danarchy, they made lots of promises. I continued on the bandwagon and beta tested Atmosphere. When they bought out OkyZ (sp??) we thought it was to make the engine even more stable. Short time after the last aquisition, they shut down the project. All the work the team I had been working with was for nothing. Lost and unusable. Adobe owned the engine and the browser plugin. (yes, it was a browser based game engine). When the pluggin was pulled, the games stopped.
Here, I own the engine code. The games I make, I own. No matter what happens to GG, I still have the engine.
My consern is for GG. Period. They have been thru this before tho. Tribes. Did they make the same mistake twice? Only they can know. My consern is that they are making the same mistake, and that in the end, they will end up right back where they started. With a skeleton of an engine. That would be a big shame.

Quote:
This [browser based gaming] is bad on so many levels that I simply can't see how anyone can - with a straight face - buy into all this ...its going to be fine, really spinning. Seriously

Hog wash. There is nothing wrong with browser based games. That's where I got my start in all this. I found GG while looking for another browser based engine. Browser based games "can" make just as much money as a standalone game. And they don't have to be add based to make money.

Quote:
console, without the hardware

Would someone, anyone, PLEASE (urgently asking, not yelling) explain what in the world this is??

Come to IGC!

I can only dream. I have to feed my family tho, so must go to work everyday. :-(

I have signed up at IA (I hope thats what putting my email addy in that blank box was for)
I look forward to beta testing the new browser based gaming. :-) I would love to get the project I had going before back onto the net. :)

I will be watching and hoping for the best for GG.

Also, one more question....

What's going to happend with the google group? Is that going by the wayside? Or is it going to be used for another use? It has been quite dead there for a while now.

#131 @Scott Hill
"In fact you are hard pressed to find almost anything about game development in the Flash docs/information"

I'm not sure that there has ever been anything about game development in the official Flash docs. It's not a game engine. However, it is being used as a game engine with good success.

Not to burst any bubbles, but it appears that another company has beaten InstantAction to the punch. It's extremely similar to what I've been reading about this venture. Interestingly enough, they seem to be using Flash. I just stumbled upon it today, maybe you can learn something from them. Or heck, buy them before they get too big. www.kongregate.com

"A console without the hardware", to me, is just a silly "out of the box" description of a game portal. It also lacks that one major upside all consoles inherently have, which is reliability. Console developers KNOW how fast the machine will be, how much memory it has.. more importantly, exactly how their game will run. This is simply never going to be the case without that fixed hardware.

#132 Hopefully in all the rukus the description of InstantAction is getting, well, mangled.

I picture it something like Steam/Source Engine except on the web.

Steam only has Source Engine though as a platform, besides that you roll your own or license something else.

InstantAction/TGB
TGE
TGEA
TGBX
TGX
Whatever
Last Resort - Roll your own

That's alot of choices and alot of freedom.

Where all this flash/wildtangent mumbo jumbo is coming from I don't know.

Wildtangent even went this direction.
At first they had there own technology and streamed via web browser and a plugin.
Now it's just streaming technology and you provide your own engine.

#133 For my money, my guess is that six to eight months in, someone will realize what a bad idea it is and shut it down.

#134 Obviously we just have to wait and see. No point in speculating anymore. Let's see what updates GG has planned for aging engine like TGE and even TGEA [ok, not aging but with OpenGL support :) ].


Hopefully there are some website updates planned as well because I enjoy reading the blogs section on GG along with forum of-course.

#135 @Joe
"I'm not sure that there has ever been anything about game development in the official Flash docs. It's not a game engine. However, it is being used as a game engine with good success. "
Exactly, that was my point. InstantAction and related technologies are being developed by GG. A company whose primary focus is game development tools and engines.

"Not to burst any bubbles, but it appears that another company has beaten InstantAction to the punch. It's extremely similar to what I've been reading about this venture. Interestingly enough, they seem to be using Flash. I just stumbled upon it today, maybe you can learn something from them. Or heck, buy them before they get too big. www.kongregate.com"
We are familiar with Kogregate, it has been around a while. In fact one their devs is a friend of mine. But, InstantAction is very different from Kongregate, on almost every level. Again, that will be very clear once you see it.

#136 I've been reading this forum for the past 20 minutes catching up.

Something that has been sitting on my mind is this. Does IAC plan on doing what now seems to be popular with browser type "games" such as There.com and SecondLife? They aren't games as much as they are economic and social portals. Nothing more nothing less. Where some dude can go in and learn the tools, create a quasi-game, charge people virtual coin to play it and then he cashes in his virtua-chips for a new binary lava lamp.

I really hope this is not IAC's aim. I'm also concerned with the Ticketmaster etc. thing. I can picture a browser-based social "g.a.m.e." with spammers running around plugging their new hair spray line and people seeing a huge Ticketmaster bulletin board in town square. The whole virtual There.com/SL thing entirely makes me sick. They aren't games and nothing about them aside from a stock symbol and virtual-to-real-world-cash makes them unique as a game at all.

Yeah this is just MY speculation but after seeing the parent site, reading blogs, and seeing what browser based junk other companies have thrown our way in the last few years that claimed to "pioneer" but did nothing of the sort, I'm tending to get nervous.

#137 @AnarchyRising

We aren't talking features or games yet, but I think it's safe for me to say that the type of "game" you've outlined is nowhere near the type of experience we're shooting for. Don't worry. :)

Additionally, I don't think you'll find much insight in visiting IAC's site or their various other internet holdings. This is new territory for them, and they're relying on us to pull it off. You're better off looking at who we are and where we've been if you're trying to scry the future.

#138 A little more news here: Barry Diller's Web Gaming Play

#139

Quote:With recent disappointments in the performance of Ticketmaster.com and the turmoil in the mortgage and housing markets taking a toll on its real-estate-related sites, IAC needs for this online gaming endeavor to be a success. "It'd have to be in the hundreds of million of dollars in a few years for them to be interested at all," says Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with BernsteinResearch

This is the part I don't like... 8-/

#140 BTW: we have all been focusing on the fact game would be played within internet browser. Have some of you (I did not until a few minutes ago) considered a specific version of TG-something ;) being the browser for a whole range of games?
As long as network communication is improved within TGE/TGEA, it could certainly do the trick.