I thought someone would have posted this, but couldn't find anything on the forum search.

Newly open-sourced game engine Torque3D is seeking funds on indiegogo to port their development tools to Linux.

It looks like the campaign is stalling a bit in the last few days, so I thought I'd post and say why I think this campaign is important to me.

1. There is no open-source 3D game engine comparable to Torque3D. Although both Irrlicht and CrystalSpace3D are quite mature, neither of them make use of the Ogre3D engine, and they fall behind in the artwork department. Unfortunately, we don't have a mature, feature-rich open-source engine that makes use of Ogre3D, so at the moment Torque3D is the only real full-service suite of game development tools in the open-source world that can deliver at a high quality.

2. Open-source requires wide platform support. Since open-source game developers rely on attracting a lot of contributors, we need to support Linux development -- not just making the game playable on Linux, but making it easy for Linux users to help make it. Let's face it, Linux is where the open-source community is. The culture is there. The programming talent is there. For those of us making anything more than a small platformer or 2d rpg, we need teams, not just a couple of enthusiasts.

3. The funding model holds a lot of potential for development in the open-source world. Although I like the idea of volunteer contributors, the truth is that this only works on a small scale, or in very exceptional cases where individuals have a lot of time to spend without earning money. UFO: Alien Invasion only got our new soldier models because of one very talented 3D artist who was out of work for several months. In a healthy open-source environment, Kickstarter-like campaigns could help fund major additions, artwork, or other components necessary for large-scale open-source games. OpenGameArt.org has already trialed this with the donation campaigns to purchase art assets.

4. In addition to the specific funding model in this indiegogo campaign, there is the wider funding model Torque3D's makers are gambling on, which sees open-source as part of an integrated open- and closed-source market. I'd love to see further developments in this field, with the tools and platforms going towards open-source, allowing small studios to create and sell content, contributing to the maintenance of the whole open-source ecology while also overcoming the hurdles modern games throw up in terms of time commitments and large-scale content creation. Gamers as a whole stand to gain most from this model.

I'm a Windows user. I don't have a lot of interest in Linux in general (except that I take a certain pleasure in seeing Microsoft's monopoly erode). But I think anyone interested in open-source gaming ought to consider contributing to this campaign. It's a worthwhile project, and a model that has a lot of potential if it proves successful.