GarageGames
If any example were required to illustrate the explosion of indie development combined with the rise of casual, downloadable games, Oregon-based GarageGames' Torque engine and development suite would be it.
Initially created from the skeleton of the PC-based Tribes 2 engine by ex-members of its development team at Dynamix in 2000, the Torque engine has since blossomed to offer various technological options for game makers ranging from hobbyists through to professional studios.
This is reflected in the pricing options that are split into indie and commercial, depending on the size of the licensee.
The simplest option is Torque X 2.0, which is designed for use as part of Microsoft's XNA Game Studio 2.0 for Xbox 360 and PC games, while a similar option for general PC and Mac games is the 2D drag and drop engine, Torque Game Builder.
The 3D version of this is the Torque Game Engine, while Torque Game Engine Advanced includes features such as dynamic lighting, programmable shaders, a terrain rendering system and special effects such as water.
Other flavors of these technologies are specifically available for Xbox 360 and Wii development in the form of Torque 360 and Torque for Wii.
Torque / Game / Builder / Engine / Advanced / X / 360
Features (TGEA): DirectX 9-class renderer including procedural generated shaders and custom materials; Puppeteer Mesh animation system, terrain generation engine, TorqueNet networking, TorqueScripting language; Mission Builder editor
Platforms: Linux, Mac, PC, Wii, Xbox 360
Integration with Other Technologies: Bullet Physics, OGRE, Havok, PhysX, Scaleform and Umbra, plus plug-ins for 3ds Max, Maya, Houdini and XSI
Cost: ranges from $100 per seat to $1,495 commercial license depending on technology. No royalties.
Released Games Include: Curse of the Pharaoh (Ph03nix), Cyclomite (Wideload), Marble Blast Ultra (GarageGames), Think Tanks (BraveTree), Wildlife Tycoon (Pocketwatch), Penny Arcade Adventures (Hothead)
Games in Development Include: Legions (GarageGames), Metal Drift (Black Jacket), TBA (EA), TBA (NCsoft), TBA (Ubisoft), TBA (Vivendi)
www.garagegames.com
GarageGames' Marble Blast Ultra
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On a related note, I'm pleased to find that there's more support for Linux than I previously thought. I'll have to look at a couple of them closer.
> It's safe to say Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the current,
> de facto industry standard middleware
It's safe to say that it's currently the most popular 3rd party engine for AAA current-gen titles. That's not really the same thing as being a de facto industry standard. You wouldn't say the Ford Focus is the de facto standard for UK cars, just because it has the largest market share. By definition a de facto standard has to be so completely ubiquitous that anything other than it seems odd - that's not Unreal 3's status.
Like: Unity, Unigine, StemCell, NeoAxis, Quest3D.
And much more, there are Game Engines very good and the prices is more low.
Shouldn't this article be called "List of expensive commercial engines" ?
Why not the Nebula engine?
Or ... well.... the list is long: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines
Game engines have come a long way in the last few years and the commercial engines that had the market to themselves need to realise that they face competition and need to restructure thier licensing. the engine with the best tools and licensing will make a lot of money.