Source Code?

Software patents.


That's not to say we're infringing on any software patents, we don't know. More specifically we explicitly and intentionally do not know. The way the laws are written if someone sues us and shows it is possible we could have known we were infringing, the penalties increase astronomically, so we don't look.

Most big software companies explicitly forbid their employees from looking at software patents because of this, unless they're explicitly writing code that will be seen by others like open source projects or the larger game engine makers. Even then though they usually have a team separate from the development team whose job it is to scrub the code and suggest modifications or work out deals with the patent holder. Companies like id, Epic, Unity, or Crytek have large legal teams ready to handle any problems that might come up.


We don't, and we don't want to spend money on a legal team we could be putting into our games. So releasing the source code isn't worth the risk.

That is sad, sad news. Here, have this sad face.

Wow, thanks heaps for the answer @bgolus - definitely not something I would have thought is the stopping force behind releasing this sort of thing. Poor optimistic me

Makes me hate the current IP laws even more than I do already

Thanks for the answer. Even though this is unfortunate and not what I wanted to hear, It is understandable.

Damn patent system ruining everything yet again.

wait like 10 years and it might happen ...

Releasing the source code, should it ever happen, would be like 10% of the story.

You'd also need the correct build tool chain set-up (possibly using cross-platform compilers), the configurations thereof etc. etc. Then you might need access to the RCS, or possibly have to set your own up and correctly import the source code repository into your own. You might need to think about the security of accessing the original (or your own) repository. Then you have to think about setting up a multitude of different platforms to test your build on, software-test and game-test engineers. Then you have the issue of divergent implementation, and managing that across a distributed user base. Non-compatibility across variants of the game (or non-compatibility between clients and servers) will doubtless arise. Then you have a huge unworkable mess, very much like Linux

I haven't even begun to scratch the surface here. Software development can be quite tricky, it's a lot more involved than getting access to the source code.

wordless

Now that is an even more stupid mess of laws than I would have thought. Like driving a car, purposefully neglecting to obtain a driver's license beforehand, to not get fined when the police pull you out for going over the speed limit.

My sympathies. Mind is still boggled.