Pre-Sale Questions
by Tal Meser · in Torque Game Engine · 08/14/2008 (12:11 am) · 12 replies
Hi,
I have discovered this engine not so long ago and have had my eye on it for me and my team of developers. We are wanting to purchase the TGEA and have been unsure of what would be the best option to go with.
There are 10 team members in the current team with around eight who would need to use it for use.
My first question is what is the difference between the Indie and the Commercial license? With the Commercial license I am not understanding if I need to buy a license per programmer. I see the EULA shows these:
- (b) Licensee may not distribute the source code to the engine in any manner, unless recipient also has a license to the Engine.
- (a) The TGEA Indie Game License fee for the Engine is $295 per each programmer using or accessing the source code to the Game(s) There are no additional royalties. Licensee does not have to show the Games or publish the Games with GarageGames.
- (a) The Commercial license fee for the Engine is $1495, with no royalties. Licensee does not need to have any permissions or approvals from Licensor to release, publish, sell, or otherwise exploit Games.
The next question is what would be the best option for our team? We only have two programmers but the rest would require access to some of the engine tools.
I am looking forward to purchasing and using this great engine in our project, and your help on these questions will get me one step closer.
Thanks,
Tal Meser
I have discovered this engine not so long ago and have had my eye on it for me and my team of developers. We are wanting to purchase the TGEA and have been unsure of what would be the best option to go with.
There are 10 team members in the current team with around eight who would need to use it for use.
My first question is what is the difference between the Indie and the Commercial license? With the Commercial license I am not understanding if I need to buy a license per programmer. I see the EULA shows these:
- (b) Licensee may not distribute the source code to the engine in any manner, unless recipient also has a license to the Engine.
- (a) The TGEA Indie Game License fee for the Engine is $295 per each programmer using or accessing the source code to the Game(s) There are no additional royalties. Licensee does not have to show the Games or publish the Games with GarageGames.
- (a) The Commercial license fee for the Engine is $1495, with no royalties. Licensee does not need to have any permissions or approvals from Licensor to release, publish, sell, or otherwise exploit Games.
The next question is what would be the best option for our team? We only have two programmers but the rest would require access to some of the engine tools.
I am looking forward to purchasing and using this great engine in our project, and your help on these questions will get me one step closer.
Thanks,
Tal Meser
#2
So our position would be to either buy two Commercial licenses or two Indie licenses? If we purchase the Indie licenses the rest of our team can use the engine except access the C++ Source, But we can share around the tools we receive within the team regardless of who owns a license...
Is that correct?
08/14/2008 (12:58 pm)
Ah, Thank you very much for your help.So our position would be to either buy two Commercial licenses or two Indie licenses? If we purchase the Indie licenses the rest of our team can use the engine except access the C++ Source, But we can share around the tools we receive within the team regardless of who owns a license...
Is that correct?
#3
When you ask about tools, which ones do you mean specifically?
08/15/2008 (10:09 am)
Yes. If you purchase the indie licenses, then they are tied to that user and that account. If they leave your company, they take the license with them and you will have to purchase a new indie license for the next programmer you hire.When you ask about tools, which ones do you mean specifically?
#4
08/16/2008 (12:49 am)
I guess whatever comes with the engine? What do I get with the engine exactly, other than the source code? 
#6
08/18/2008 (1:12 pm)
When you buy TGEA, you get all the tools listed on the TGEA Product Page, basically everything that has been developed in-house for TGEA. Specifically, you'll want to check out the features page to see what ships with the engine. Some third parties offer additional tools that you must buy separately.
#7
08/19/2008 (1:35 pm)
I understand that, but I read from another thread that I can give my team members some tools which come with the engine. e.g. The 3D Toolset, Puppeteer or Atlas Terrain. They would be the extra tools which I have to buy separately?
#8
Puppeteer and Atlas are features of the engine that make using externally created assets easier to manage. You will still need another program to create the content (such as L3DT for Atlas terrains).
08/19/2008 (1:53 pm)
The 3D Toolset is the only one of those that could be considered a "tool". Essentially, this includes the Mission and Terrain Editors in the engine. They aren't a separate executable. If you want to see what it looks like, download the demo and hit F11.Puppeteer and Atlas are features of the engine that make using externally created assets easier to manage. You will still need another program to create the content (such as L3DT for Atlas terrains).
#9
Puppeteer is not a 3D modeling application, just so we're clear. It is the boned animation system. Your artists will have to use a third party modeling solution to get their artwork into Torque. More information can be found in the Artist section of the shiny new documentation.
Also, you get a single license for ShowTool Pro with the purchase of TGE 1.5. It is linked to the person who purchases the engine as well. It cannot be shared.
You can definitely give them a binary build of the world editor to place their artwork in the game environment, though.
You will need to pick up a package that supports the generation of ATLAS terrain as well for your artists.
08/19/2008 (1:54 pm)
Just thought I might clarify a bit more.Puppeteer is not a 3D modeling application, just so we're clear. It is the boned animation system. Your artists will have to use a third party modeling solution to get their artwork into Torque. More information can be found in the Artist section of the shiny new documentation.
Also, you get a single license for ShowTool Pro with the purchase of TGE 1.5. It is linked to the person who purchases the engine as well. It cannot be shared.
You can definitely give them a binary build of the world editor to place their artwork in the game environment, though.
You will need to pick up a package that supports the generation of ATLAS terrain as well for your artists.
#10
Also I understand that I will need to get ShowTool Pro for my modelers and animators...
Finally what do you mean by picking up a package that supports the generation of ATLAS terrain?
Thanks again for all your help,
Tal
08/19/2008 (9:32 pm)
Ok, that makes much more sense. Of course I understand that I need a 3D modeling application for my artists. I just was not aware that we also create our animations in the application as the last game engine I used to develop a game had its own animation program, the idea of having the animators use our own software is much better overall.Also I understand that I will need to get ShowTool Pro for my modelers and animators...
Finally what do you mean by picking up a package that supports the generation of ATLAS terrain?
Thanks again for all your help,
Tal
#11
08/20/2008 (6:17 am)
ATLAS terrain is not editable in-game or in-engine. You create the terrain in a program like L3DT or Grome and export it. 
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
Those who are scripting the engine (not accessing the engine source code) or creating art content for the game you are working on do not require licenses.