TLK Shaman Demo Sneak Peek/Soft Launch!

Oh ya, the TLK Shaman demo sneak preview just launched in the TLK private forums. The demo, which was produced by Synapse Gaming and features TLK technology, also features artwork by Christophe Canon and music by Ajari Wilson.

Now it's only a matter of time before the public release... :)

-John

TLK Shaman Demo Nearing Completion

During these past two weeks I had time to finish up work to the TLK Shaman demo, and I'm hoping we'll release it very soon. Unfortunately due to time constraints the Shaman demo hadn't changed much since IGC, but over the past two weeks I've made up for that.

The demo, which was produced by Synapse Gaming and features its technology, also features artwork by Christophe Canon and music by Ajari Wilson.

I've worked on a number of projects over the years, but this is certainly one of my favorites. The quality of work produced by Christophe and Ajari is simply amazing, and their professionalism is topnotch. Moreover our team meshed very tightly together - it seemed like we were always moving in the same direction and able to know exactly what the others were looking for. I'm definitely looking forward to working with these guys in the future.

Before the official launch we're planning on a private beta launch within the TLK community in order to get feedback on the demo and to widen our testing.

I'm really looking forward to this release and hoping everything goes well.

TLK Shaman demo desktop background:


-John

Free Radiant May Have Some Substance To It

Interestingly enough the recent claims that Radiant is free for any use may actually be accurate. Originally disregarding this as yet another wild claim (of which there have be many over the years, regarding both Radiant and Hammer), I was rather surprised to see that it had more substance than I originally thought.

I'll reserve judgment though, as some things about the license still bother me. More than anything it may be that it's so similar to the previous licensing and all official comments refer to the license change, but avoid saying free for all or commercial use. :/

The information that came out of the GG community thread was fairly helpful in putting a perspective on the license - it'll be cool if those guys are right. It's a shame that the conversation took a downturn, I was curious to hear what others had to say on the matter. As always I'm amazed at how quickly some people turn to sarcasm - how can one person's opinion really bruise an ego that bad?

Anyway off on a tangent now, all in all it was an interesting discussion and I appreciate those who contributed helpful information - I'll definitely keep an eye on this in the future.

The Obligatory Bi-monthly "Is Radiant Free" Thread Started-up Again Today

Yes, it's started again - the obligatory bi-monthly "Is Radiant Free" thread kicked-off today. Once again the GPL license is being used as a blanket of protection against what seems to be a commercial tool.


"But it's GLP'ed!"

To the surprise of many GPL is not a license for providing free software - it's a license designed to keep the software's source code open and available (hence open source).

While I don't claim to be a legal expert, version 2 of the GPL license clearly states that the license does not extend to usage of the software or to files generated by the software:

"Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program)."

What does this mean? Is the Radiant commercial license still in full effect and referring only to the usage of Radiant, and the GPL license to the code - ei: only the source is free, not usage of the product?

This type of licensing seems to be common nowadays as more and more open source companies are trying to build businesses out of their products (understandably). A good example of this is MySQL, though it uses a dual licensing scheme - and it's not free. ;) So what's the deal?

-John

Torque Lighting Kit 1.4 silent release - Oh so awesome :)

It's been a month since the Torque Lighting Kit's 1.4 silent release, and it's definitely time to start letting the rest of the GarageGames community in on the release. The response to TLK 1.4 was overwhelming; once again TLK takes Torque to a whole new level!


Whats in the latest TLK?

More than even I could imagine. Among the usual tweaks and enhancements TLK received a massive upgrade, including:

• Interior detail mapping
• Multiple dynamic DTS shadows
• Mountable lights
• Faster relights
• All new documentation and modeling guides
• Already built TLK executables - no compiling necessary!

TLK owners: for more info on these and other features check out the TLK release notes (packaged in the TLK 1.4 release), or head over to the Torque Lighting Kit private forums!


Almost immediately we received a ton of positive feedback on the new documentation. Documentation takes a tremendous amount of time, and seeing that effort make such a positive impact, quite frankly, couldn't have made me any happier.

"I would like to give you a virtual pat on the back for TLK1.4. Very good work. The documentation/merge info/release notes are brilliant. I went over all documents and must say, that they are very easy to read and to understand. Even for a non-native speaker."

Soon after the TLK 1.4 release one particularly talented TLK user was already digging into detail mapping, which, as you can see from his screen shots, makes the texture detail very consistent at any distance:

Well another kick ass TLK release - I can't wait to see these features in the Torque community's hands and the awesome projects that are sure to follow. :)

-John Kabus
Blog: Bleeding Edge Indie
Synapse Gaming