Why isn't any big company using torque?

#41 Origin:
In 2009, amidst a topic spiraling out of control with ignorance about engine technology, indie and professional markets, and general game development knowledge, David Montgomery-Blake decided to make a tongue-in-cheek comment about the Valve Source engine leak. This comment included an assertion that Source had made use of code from the following game engines/game-oriented languages: Torque Game Engine, [http://www.yoyogames.com]GameMaker[/url], Unity 3D, and DarkBasic.

While his message is unclear as to which version of the engines are likely to have been used to create a "hodge-podge" Source engine by Valve, it should be generally assumed that Valve would have the funds to acquire source versions of the various engines.

It seems that David's link to the conspiracy theory is deep indeed, with resounding waves that few but industry insiders who drink martinis at GDC with heavy-hitters at sleazy strip clubs could have known.

The founders of Valve are "Microsoft Millionaire" Gabe Newell and ex-Dynamix/Microsoft employee Mike Harrington. Mike Harrington. As an ex-Dynamix employee, it is very likely that Harrington could have had access to the Torque codebase. Since there is absolutely no sharing of code between professionals in the industry, one could very-nearly safely assume that he carried this knowledge with him to Valve. Where he made Half-Life before going off to start Picnik. Snopesish does not know if he used any of the Dynamix codebase for his awesome web photo-editing suite. He will not let us see the source. But it is relatively safe to say that he did make use of Flash to create the site. Which is where the next link comes into play.

Tom Higginsworked at Macromedia during the Adobe acquisition and is now a Product Evangelist for Unity 3D. While it is unclear as to what deals have been made in private, it is an almost plausible conclusion that his work could definitely have been transferred from the Unity team through his covert Adobe contacts to Mike Harrington during the creation of Picnik which was then transferred via even more nefarious and secret PM's to the Source development team via Gabe Newell.

The Game Creator's link is much more immediate. In 2008 they sealed a deal with Microsoft to include their product DarkBasic GDK with Visual Studio 2008. The hingepin of this deal, of course, was to allow ex-Microsoft's Gabe Newell to have access to the complete sourcebase for DarkBasic. Microsoft employees stick together like Katamari balls.

To belabor the Katamari point we have Sandy Duncan, the CEO of YoYo Games, the owners of the GameMaker product line. Duncan was one of the Microsoft employee responsible for unleashing XBox Live plague in Europe. With Sandy's resume at Microsoft Europe, it would be almost unsurprising if the Newell Source conspiracy had not reached across the pond to make a Source source grab from the YoYo Games repo.

Conclusion: With enough wild assertions, random game engine companies' histories, wikipedia, snopes, and Google, you too can make up a blatantly untrue and horribly speculative conspiracy that someone will believe.

#42 David...you rock =)

#43 Lol, awesome David. Just awesome! Some of us can understand what the term(s) apocryphal urban legend means and not take the joke/humor as an unintended attack, but jeez at the reactions of some people -- poor perception and/or comprehension on their parts maybe. Yet in the midst of it all there is just enough substance and fact to make you wonder what if?

#44 Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. =)

#45

Quote:
With enough wild assertions, random game engine companies' histories, wikipedia, snopes, and Google, you too can make up a blatantly untrue and horribly speculative conspiracy that someone will believe.

That's what they want you to believe...

What have you done with the real David Montgomery-Blake!

#46 I've gotten him an eight-figure job re-tweeting spam money-making schemes in the hopes that enough suckers bite to give him the elusive ninth figure he so desires in his life!

#47 @David
LOL, OMG, I almost spit out my morning soda when I read the follow up conspiracy. LOL Not cool trying to deprive me of my caffeine! LOL

Brian

#48 Ever notice how all of the evil in the software world eventually leads back to Microsoft? It's like a six degrees of separation game...

#49 I want to believe!

#50 mmm...delicious conspiracy theory. May I have another ?