Hermitworks Entertainment Blogs

Well, we heard (through our crack-squad of underground rumor checkers) that the Great Games Experiment is opening up a few days early. Anyone reading this can avoid the rush and sneak in as of 12:01 Thursday. Space Trader is the featured game for the opening of the beta to the public, so we are thankful for the traffic (and testers) that the event will no doubt bring in.

This is a huge event for the folks over at Garage Games, and we wish them all the success they undoubtedly deserve. For those of you not in ‘the know’, The Great Games Experiment (GGE) is a social network that brings users, developers, and publishers together to promote, discuss, and publish games from indie developers right along side main-stream titles.

Leveraging their set of Torque development tools against a ‘one-click publishing’ concept, Garage Games has spent more than a year refining the greatest idea to come along since shareware.

Software publishing is due to take on a whole new meaning, as the type of media available for online consumption starts to envelop software entertainment, as well as news media, music, movies, etc. It’s strange how it took this long for the computer game industry to assimilate a web-based publishing paradigm and spawn an entity to seize the day.

As I have said before, this type of interconnected forum has the potential to shift the focus of the interactive entertainment industry. It remains to be seen if the tools provided on the GGE will be intuitive and accessible enough for the feckless hordes (as well as the tech savvy) to migrate, and subsequently meet a critical mass to ignite the GGE as a true powerhouse. However, if the responsiveness of the design team working on the closed beta of the GGE is engendered in whomever works on it’s next phase, I have no doubt that it will be a force to be reckoned with.

In fact, I suspect there is potential enough to wonder if the clueless upper echelon at Vivendi may utter a coalescent, “Doh!” as the waves of media (both bloggy and mainstream) discussing the launch, begin to publish their articles across the web. Digg away, you wonderful hordes. I wish all the crew at Garage Games every success, and while I expect that the next few weeks are gonna be pretty busy for them, I reckon it’s exactly the type of problem they’ve been dying to have.

Also, I understand Garage Games will be in attendance at GDC, I hope the HermitWorks crew has time to mingle and mix our thoughts and insights with you guys. Good luck and have fun!

On a personal note both Phillip Daigle and I would like to thank James Wily and Sean Sullivan over at Garage Games for not only working with us over here at HermitWorks, but accepting a few of our suggestions for GGE. You guys rock, and so does the rest of your team!

It’s a shame we’ll be holding down the fort here at the office while everyone is at GDC, Daigle claims he would have bought drinks for people. Expensive ones, the type that you would hide in the linen closet, lest your guests at the Battlestar Galactica Makeout Party Extravaganza try show off a very accurate impression of Colonel Tigh. Disclaimer: Neither Daigle, nor I have hosted/attended such a party, but we like to imagine that they exist.

Good work Garage Games men and women, congratulations on your successful launch.

Regards, Jordan Dennis and Phillip Daigle