GarageGames Services

Heading To Austin

Last week, we visited the G2E conference, the largest casino gaming conference in the world. It was quite a large show, one of the biggest I've ever been to, and their continued push towards entertainment game quality is showing. Casino companies have been using Torque based products for years, and we are excited to see how things progress over the next year.

In Austin this week, we are heading to GDC Online. For us, it's an opportunity to meet with old friends and make new acquaintances. It's a shame that this will be the last year for a GDC in Austin because it's one of my favorite venues for a conference. If you are interested in meeting with us at Austin, e-mail us at services@garagegames.com or contract us through services.garagegames.com.


T3D MIT: Post Launch

By now, the whole world seems to know that Torque 3D is available on GitHub via the MIT license. The response to the launch has been overwhelmingly supportive and it's surprising how many calls I've had with different people in different industries who are interested in Torque and GarageGames. The exposure has been wonderful.


So Why Open Source?

Many of you have asked how a company that gives away its product can make money. The answer is simple. By making Torque 3D available under the MIT license, GarageGames along with its community can build an ecosystem where new ideas and new opportunities will flourish. And while you've heard me talk about GarageGames and service work, our new model isn't really just about service work. It's about being innovative.

A software business that isn't innovating is dying. And stagnation isn't something we were willing to accept. By making Torque 3D open source, we could then spend more time using the software and innovating in new areas through the use of game technology.

That's why we started Innovation Friday. A project that gives GarageGames employees the opportunity to work on almost anything they desire on Friday if they have already put in 40 hours from Mon-Thurs. And by almost anything, I'm referring to an approval process that checks to make sure that an employee isn't working on anything illegal or contrary to company values. So far we have a 100% approval rate. Under this program, we encourage employees to work in teams and open source their projects so they can share development and what they are working on with the world. It will take time, but as great ideas grow, we will invest in them and build great products and services from these creative efforts.

But it is going to take a while and the risky proposition of being innovative is…well…risky. So as one of our founders would always say, “keep your day job”. So we have a day job: the service business.


The Service Business

A year ago, we set out to test the waters as a service business as a possible way to fund innovative products. We did well and I'm happy to say that under this new business, 2012 revenue is expected to exceed that of 2011.

GarageGames employees are great at many things and I'd like to take a movement to explain our service work focus.

Game and Application Works for Hire– We can build games for your company. The majority our company has experience developing games including many hit titles including: Crysis, Might & Magic, Rift, Guitar Hero, and others. We have a full art team with a Creative Director who managed teams for art development in titles including Gears of War. Art & Design for Hire Services– We have already performed multi-month design service contracts for large entertainment companies. Our art staff is also prepared to help you make your game look great. Custom Development Software Platforms – At our core, we are a software development platform company. We've been building software that is the base for thousands of 3rd party applications for over ten years. Usually, core development is a small part of a game development team; we are a company of core developers. Training – Interested in using a Torque product? Let our developers visit your firm and train your employee with hands-on, guided lessons. Firm, Fixed-Price, Contracts – Building firm, fixed-priced, contracts (FFP means that the price of a large contract is negotiated up front) is challenging. We believe we excel at this process. For more information, we wrote a document to explain how we scope and estimate fixed priced contracts.

We think our services fit the needs of many industries including: education, training, entertainment, and enterprise. If you would like to find out more, contact us at services@garagegames.com

Conclusion
These are exciting times but they come with some big challenges. Right now, our biggest risk by far is hiring. We have many new opportunities and we are looking for smart people to join our team. This is something you can help with. Please share this blog with your friends and direct them to our hiring page. We have several open positions and we expect to be opening more positions in the near future, so please check back.