Taking part in the Great Games Experiment [update 1]
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Feb 7th 2007 at 8:30AM }
"Great games deserve to be played, regardless of budget or bureaucracy." That particular thought seems to be at the core of the Great Games Experiment, an online community that revolves, or rather, obsessively spins around, our favorite industry and pastime. The urge to call it the "game developer's MySpace" is definitely present, but doing so wouldn't really do the site justice. For one thing, it's shockingly devoid of awful MIDI tunes and pasty individuals who desperately want to cut themselves.
The website's creator, GarageGames, envisions a networked utopia of game players and game developers discussing and contributing to various projects. Anyone with an interest in games can join and post reviews or commentary, even based upon the works-in-progress of game developers. Independent studios should be able to keep the community updated on their projects, incorporate external suggestions and, once their games are complete, have access to an informed audience.
The Great Games Experiment is currently running a series of contests to encourage gamers to join and try out the site's beta features -- the final version launches this March. If you're interested in a more open form of game distribution and development, be sure to give it a bash.
Update: Joystiq readers can use the referral code "joystiqgge" to obtain a Beta account. Thanks Eric!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve @ Feb 7th 2007 9:12AM
As a developer, I have better things to do with my time than to work on someone else's software for free. If I'm going to sit around working, then I'm going to sit around working on the project that I'm supposed to complete.
As a developer, I have also found these developers' resource forums to be of limited use. Sometimes you get an answer, but usually no one seems to even understand the question. I swear you can go on those forums and as "is water is wet?" and the first reply will be "why are you trying to drink salt water instead of fresh water?" Oh, and the word "you" will be spelled "U" like a child would do.
CW @ Feb 7th 2007 9:15AM
Am I the only person who get's a bad vibe from GarageGames?
I've looked at it in the past, and best I can tell it is a bunch of suckers producing crapware, and the only one benefiting from the site is the vendor (GarageGames) by selling their Torque engine for $150(or more) a pop.
They've been around for a while: has ANYBODY seen ANYTHING notable come out of here?
ss @ Feb 7th 2007 9:36AM
He he!
This line pwns the internets.
"For one thing, it's shockingly devoid of awful MIDI tunes and pasty individuals who desperately want to cut themselves."
SmartriX @ Feb 7th 2007 9:57AM
I too get bad vibes from GarageGames but its not just from their released games.
Prof-KOS @ Feb 7th 2007 9:52AM
This sounds like a resource that would be a great boon to the industry, if it were run by a more reputable company.
For one these types of forums have to have good moderators that will weed out users that add nothing in particular to any discussion. It is also important to make the site a useful, easy and quick resource.
The best way to do this is follow a standard forum set-up, recruit good mods, keep it organized, and for God's sake stop trying to make a buck at every turn. All that does is turn everybody relevant off of the project.
Marty @ Feb 7th 2007 11:14AM
I consider myself an indie developer, and I take part in GGE... it's a neat site, but it's filled to the brim with idiot My-game-is-the-best players, and Garage Games people who do nothing but promote Garage Games. It's like making they made a whole site just to show everyone how good they are, heh..
Becca @ Feb 7th 2007 1:46PM
Wait, so Steve, essentially what you're saying is that you're too busy developing to take the time to talk to the idiot proles that your audience is comprised of?
I'm on GGE, and think it's great. Yeah, it's got a few bugs now and then (hello, beta), but I think it provides a casual environment for gamers and developers to interact. It's fun and interestingly engineered, but it's also free interaction with your audience w/o arranging a formal usability study. And that is priceless.
And, how can you get bad vibes from Garage Games? As Marty McFly would say, 'lighten up, jerk.'
Eric Fritz @ Feb 7th 2007 1:33PM
One important piece of information is that joystiq readers can use the referral code "joystiqgge" to automatically receive a beta account. That way you don't have to wait for the beta request to go through. A direct link: http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/joystiqgge
In response to the some of the comments above, it's painfully obvious that none of them bothered to check out the site. We (GarageGames) created the site, but GarageGames and Torque products are not given any special treatment; this is a site for everyone. The site is not a forum (forums aren't even implemented yet). It is a place to network with other developers and gamers, to promote your game if you're a developer, and to find cool new (or old) games if you're a gamer. It is not about gamedev tools, it's about games.
Dismissing the site because you "get a bad vibe" from GarageGames would be quite unfortunate.
- Eric Fritz, GarageGames