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0 pointsBoorishBears7y ago0 comments

I don’t think it’s a stretch but the whole “archival and porting” angle just doesn’t work.

The code for these games isn’t going to be available, so the fact the code for the engine isn’t available doesn’t mean anything

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gmueckl7y ago

The archival angle works for Unity because the actual game code is run in a .NET CLR (Mono in most variants of the engine).

Maybe the best way forward is source code escrow the way Trolltech arranged with Qt. They had a deal where the if they ever stopped working on an open source Qt, the last release would become automatically BSD- or MIT-licensed and thus available to all. They had the details worked out nicely. I really believe that Unity should be pressured into such a deal. It is not important now, but it will be an entirely different thing 5 to 10 years after they fold (if ever).

BoorishBearsOP7y ago

What are you going on about.

These games are closed source with IPs owned by multi-billion dollar corporations.

The engine being closed or open is of literally 0 consequence. Any 3rd party reverse engineering these games to run on a new platform would already be breaking licenses and trademark laws.

gmueckl7y ago

How much of the Steam cataöog is owned by big publishers? 10%? These generate most of the revenue. Bit there is this incredibly long tail of smaller games ownes by small publishers and indies who self-publish. These are virtually exclusively Unity engine titles. And there is no way any of thesw could afford the 6 or 7 digits for a source license. And unless thungs changed, you won't even considered eligible without an exceptional track record.

BoorishBearsOP7y ago

Which just goes back to my original point, if these small titles had been interested making open source games they wouldn’t use Unity.

It doesn’t matter how big the owner is anyways, you don’t own the IP.

So Unity being open sourced wouldn’t matter for a 3rd party trying to port it, and the majority of these small titles that initially willingly built on a closed sourced platform are not going clamoring to port their own games to new platforms decades from now.

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gmueckl7y ago

The archival angle works for Unity because the actual game code is run in a .NET CLR (Mono in most variants of the engine).

BoorishBearsOP7y ago

What are you going on about.

These games are closed source with IPs owned by multi-billion dollar corporations.

The engine being closed or open is of literally 0 consequence. Any 3rd party reverse engineering these games to run on a new platform would already be breaking licenses and trademark laws.

gmueckl7y ago

BoorishBearsOP7y ago

Which just goes back to my original point, if these small titles had been interested making open source games they wouldn’t use Unity.

It doesn’t matter how big the owner is anyways, you don’t own the IP.

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