Indie License questions
by Zmark · in General Discussion · 02/05/2009 (12:19 pm) · 5 replies
Hello to all yaJ
I got some questions about the license for the Torque Game Engine Advanced. I’m a member of a small group of friends trying to make some small games after hours. We are interested in buying the TGEA engine. Our income is less than 250k (its zero at the moment as we are just getting started). Here come the questionsJ:
1. If we plan to develop the game by ourselves and sell it to a publisher, who is a big company with income bigger than 250k can we still use the “Indie” version?
2. As far as I understand, Indie licensing applies only to individuals. If in our group we have one programmer, one artist and one designer does it mean that the programmer has to sign the license?
3.As mentioned before in our group we have one programmer, one artist and one designer. How many licenses do we need to buy? “The TGEA Indie Game License fee for the Engine is $295 per each programmer using or accessing the source code” Does it mean that designers and artists using the tools don’t need a separate license?
Thx for the answersJ
I got some questions about the license for the Torque Game Engine Advanced. I’m a member of a small group of friends trying to make some small games after hours. We are interested in buying the TGEA engine. Our income is less than 250k (its zero at the moment as we are just getting started). Here come the questionsJ:
1. If we plan to develop the game by ourselves and sell it to a publisher, who is a big company with income bigger than 250k can we still use the “Indie” version?
2. As far as I understand, Indie licensing applies only to individuals. If in our group we have one programmer, one artist and one designer does it mean that the programmer has to sign the license?
3.As mentioned before in our group we have one programmer, one artist and one designer. How many licenses do we need to buy? “The TGEA Indie Game License fee for the Engine is $295 per each programmer using or accessing the source code” Does it mean that designers and artists using the tools don’t need a separate license?
Thx for the answersJ
About the author
#2
1) Probably not, from my understanding of the EULA, but at that point, you shouldn't have much trouble getting the $10k from the publisher as part of the deal. Most likely, you'll probably go through a portal or something instead of merging with a publisher, and you won't have to pay the $10k until your own company's income raises to $250k... At which point it won't be an issue ;)
2) The licensing is per-individual, and the programmer would personally own the license. I'm not sure about license transfers or group licensing, so you'll probably want to email GG for that info.
3) Only people who work with the source code would need to buy the license (indie or otherwise), and the others can either work with a demo version, or work with the compiled version and scripts supplied from the coder. Scripting is not considered source code, by the way. So only your programmer needs to buy a license, and when he compiles it, he can distribute the exe and scripts to the rest of the team.
02/05/2009 (12:59 pm)
Edit: Doh! Jaimi beat me to it!1) Probably not, from my understanding of the EULA, but at that point, you shouldn't have much trouble getting the $10k from the publisher as part of the deal. Most likely, you'll probably go through a portal or something instead of merging with a publisher, and you won't have to pay the $10k until your own company's income raises to $250k... At which point it won't be an issue ;)
2) The licensing is per-individual, and the programmer would personally own the license. I'm not sure about license transfers or group licensing, so you'll probably want to email GG for that info.
3) Only people who work with the source code would need to buy the license (indie or otherwise), and the others can either work with a demo version, or work with the compiled version and scripts supplied from the coder. Scripting is not considered source code, by the way. So only your programmer needs to buy a license, and when he compiles it, he can distribute the exe and scripts to the rest of the team.
#3
02/05/2009 (1:31 pm)
The commercial license is $1495, not $10k. It has not been 10k for quite a while! ;) 
#4
but my take on 1) is that the party who holds the license (ie has access to the the source code) is the party limited to < 250K. so if you're only giving them the final product, it seems like you're okay w/ indie.
02/05/2009 (1:44 pm)
i am not a lawyer,but my take on 1) is that the party who holds the license (ie has access to the the source code) is the party limited to < 250K. so if you're only giving them the final product, it seems like you're okay w/ indie.
Associate Jaimi McEntire
King of Flapjacks
2. Yes, the programmer who has access to the code needs the license. I don't recall actually signing a paper, just agreeing to the license when purchasing.
3. You need 1 license for each person that needs access to the code. Unless the designer and artist are using the source code, they don't need a license. That means you can't take your download and install it on their box, because that has the code in it. You can however, just copy the runtime over there, and that will give them access to the scripts, and to the map editor.