Innovation and IndieZen
by Tony Richards · in General Discussion · 12/06/2007 (5:01 am) · 0 replies
This goes along with what I posted over here, but since it's kinda off topic over there I'm going to cross-post and discuss it more over here (and hopefully it turns out to be a discussion and not just a soliloquy!)
The goal of IndieZen.org is to create an open source framework for game engines and tools with an unrestrictive license with the potential for closed source plugins.
This means that companies and individuals are free to create their own closed-source rendering engines, terrain engines, scripting engines, etc. Since they all use the same framework, individuals are free to pick and choose among all of the plugins and put together the exact game engine / tool chain they want.
The framework stays open source and unrestrictive and several companies / individuals contribute to it to make it flexible enough to handle all of the plugins everyone is creating.
What I would love to see is for at least three game development and three tool development companies / groups to join in and fully adopt the framework. This adoption would include the creation of one or more plugins that implement a given section of the framework. These plugins could be available as open source or for sale separately or provided together as a complete game engine / tool chain. When sold separately, game developers could mix and match components from different companies based on the needs of their game.
Possibly some of the plugins and components could be open source. The rendering plugins, for instance... we could have basic OpenGL / DirectX plugins available as open source, but that wouldn't preclude a company like Garage Games or a group like Ogre3d from creating their own rendering plugins.
Why do I want to see this happen?
It's the best way for Indies to get what they need without always having to re-invent the wheel and without being restricted by GPL/LGPL or other licenses.
How do I plan on making this happen?
For the past year I've been going it alone (not by choice... I welcome anyone to join) and I'm implementing the framework and enough of the plugins to create a great game engine and tool chain. Some of the plugins will be closed source (hey, I gotta eat too, ya know? ;) ) but a lot of the basics will be open source.
I already have one other game development company interested in porting some of their code over to this framework. As time goes on this will start snowballing. Look at how many people contributed resources and such to Torque here at Garage Games... if each of those resources were new plugins or enhancements to open source plugins then... well, that didn't happen, but I hope it happens now.
When this happens, Indie Game Developers will be able to collaborate on the basics and stop always re-inventing the basics and then we'll be free to concentrate on true innovation.
That's what IndieZen is all about... freeing the Indies from the mundane and fostering an environment of true innovation.
The goal of IndieZen.org is to create an open source framework for game engines and tools with an unrestrictive license with the potential for closed source plugins.
This means that companies and individuals are free to create their own closed-source rendering engines, terrain engines, scripting engines, etc. Since they all use the same framework, individuals are free to pick and choose among all of the plugins and put together the exact game engine / tool chain they want.
The framework stays open source and unrestrictive and several companies / individuals contribute to it to make it flexible enough to handle all of the plugins everyone is creating.
What I would love to see is for at least three game development and three tool development companies / groups to join in and fully adopt the framework. This adoption would include the creation of one or more plugins that implement a given section of the framework. These plugins could be available as open source or for sale separately or provided together as a complete game engine / tool chain. When sold separately, game developers could mix and match components from different companies based on the needs of their game.
Possibly some of the plugins and components could be open source. The rendering plugins, for instance... we could have basic OpenGL / DirectX plugins available as open source, but that wouldn't preclude a company like Garage Games or a group like Ogre3d from creating their own rendering plugins.
Why do I want to see this happen?
It's the best way for Indies to get what they need without always having to re-invent the wheel and without being restricted by GPL/LGPL or other licenses.
How do I plan on making this happen?
For the past year I've been going it alone (not by choice... I welcome anyone to join) and I'm implementing the framework and enough of the plugins to create a great game engine and tool chain. Some of the plugins will be closed source (hey, I gotta eat too, ya know? ;) ) but a lot of the basics will be open source.
I already have one other game development company interested in porting some of their code over to this framework. As time goes on this will start snowballing. Look at how many people contributed resources and such to Torque here at Garage Games... if each of those resources were new plugins or enhancements to open source plugins then... well, that didn't happen, but I hope it happens now.
When this happens, Indie Game Developers will be able to collaborate on the basics and stop always re-inventing the basics and then we'll be free to concentrate on true innovation.
That's what IndieZen is all about... freeing the Indies from the mundane and fostering an environment of true innovation.
About the author
I am the founder of IndieZen.org, a website dedicated to the Indie 2.0 Revolution where a number of Indie game development studios and individuals collaborate and share a suite of custom built open source game development tools and middleware.
