Havok Establishes Independent Developer Licensing Program

Independent developers now have a new way to use Havok middleware in commercial projects, with the debut of the Intel-owned company's Independent Developer Program, an annual licensing arrangement. Rather than licensing each middleware component on a per-case basis, the Independent Developer Program is an annual licensing arrangement that confers access to all of Havok's middleware products. Best known for its long-running and widely-used Havok Physics implementation, Havok also produces the tools Havok Animation, Havok AI, Havok Behavior, Havok Cloth, Havok Destruction, and Havok Physics. The suite supports multiplatform development. The new move comes as the latest move by a tool developer to court independent developers. Recently, both Epic and Unity announced initiatives making versions of the Unreal Engine and Unity engine available freely to game makers. Since last year, indie PC developers have been able to freely download the Havok Physics and Animation from Intel's website. That offer remains intact. Havok says Brisbane, Australia-headquartered Krome Studios is the first studio to take advantage of the new program, which Krome CEO Robert Walsh said "gives our business the flexibility to innovate our game development processes and strategies." "Havok has ascended from being just a middleware provider to becoming an instrumental business partner," Walsh added in a statement. "Havok enables Krome to manage its risk during development and allows it the freedom to explore fresh possibilities with Havok’s technology."