Beginning in 2001, GarageGames have aimed to bring games development back to the independents - or even the individuals. Founded by Jeff Tunnell, Rick Overman, Tim Gift and Mark Frohnmayer - all formerly of Dynamix, which was closed by Sierra during the restructuring of the company by Vivendi Universal.

GarageGames is there to take the focus of the industry away from the big publishers like EA, and inject creativity and freshness into a market that has become bogged down in sequels and licences.

The company’s website is not just a place for the companies products to be sold, but is a support network and research centre for developers, who can use the considerable expertise of those who work there.

The main product is the Torque Engine - a modified version of the engine used by Dynamix for Tribes 2. And immensley powerful piece of software, it is available to indie developers for US$100, and has recently been expanded to include the Torque Shader Engine, which allows support of higher level shading technology.

The Shader Engine was used to delevop Marble Blast Ultra, which was released onto Xbox 360’s Live arcade to enourmous success, effectively raising the bar of what was thought possible by an indie developer.

We spoke with Jay Moore, self described Evangelist, buzz builder, biz dev. guy, and game promoter from GarageGames.

What are the long term goals of GarageGames?

It really is as simple as our tag line ‘change the way games are made and played’. GarageGames has been at the forefront of the independent game development movement, breaking down the barriers to entry from technology to markets and putting the fun and innovation of next generation of talent directly into the players hands.

How would you rate the achievements of GarageGames to date?

What was once a dream is now becoming history, the transition to downloadable gaming entertainment, the new opportunities like Xbox Live Arcade for downloadable content wanting a premium casual 3D game experience and now Torque being recognized as the world class community driven game development technology that is affordable for everyone.

Why do you feel that what GarageGames is doing is important for the industry?

Well when we started the technology barrier was so high that independent game development was basically an oxymoron in that only fully funded or publisher owned studios could afford to build games and the buyers at Walmart and the analysts on Wallstreet decided what was a viable game to bring to market. Basically closing down all the ‘pick up’ publishing relationships that had existed for independents to bring games to publishers. From our perspective we take the power away from the suits and give it to the players to decide if we have a fun game.

What is the relationship between GarageGames and Microsoft like?

For us MS is giving the players that vote in Xbox 360 Live Arcade, being the highest grossing title [with Marble Blast Ultra] on XBLA has been proof positive that with fun high production value multiplayer games GarageGames can produce ’snack food’ size games that fill a craving from players around the world. As far as our relationship with Microsoft, they get games and they get GarageGames’ mission.

Now that Satoru Iwata from Nintendo has essentially confirmed that the Revolution will feature original content on their download service, do you see yourself establishing the same kind of relationship with them?

We’ve always said we’ll be everywhere there is an opportunity to bring fun games to players with our tools and our games. I can neither confirm or deny any relationship with Nintendo or why GarageGames booth was right next to the Nintendo Gamers Lounge at GDC.

Where do you see the industry heading in the next few years?

When I write my future trends book for the game industry, I’ll get back to you. For now its a great time to be GarageGames.