The Independent Developer Program grants developers "unrestricted prototyping" with Havok's suite--which includes Havok Animation, AI, Behavior, Cloth, Destruction, and Physics--to evaluate all aspects before licensing those that suit their needs.

Havok products have been used in such games as Uncharted 2, Far Cry 2, Dead Space, and Assassin's Creed II, as well as movies including Watchmen and The Matrix.

The first developer to pipe up for the Independent Developer Program is Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes developer Krome Studios, whose CEO Robert Walsh declared in a press statement, "This program gives our business the flexibility to innovate our game development processes and strategies."

"Krome has the unique opportunity to develop multiple prototypes... and then, if required, to license those technologies," he explained. "Havok enables Krome to manage its risk during development and allows it the freedom to explore fresh possibilities."

Reaching out to smaller developers has proved a popular idea as of late. Epic Games and Unity Technologies both recently released free versions of their development platforms in the form of Unity Indie and the Unreal Development Kit respectively.