Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: elmapulexcept that it worked for then, so its unlikely they will change their strategy, not until some open platform like steam deck kick their asses, but i dont think this will happen anytime soon

Well, I don't see why it can't happen. What are the numbers for the Switch for example?

111 Million units 8 days ago, growing every day. I know a family with 7 units, it's crazy.

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Quoting: Valck

Quoting: constAs an open source advocate and hobby game developer, I can't emphasize enough how important godot is. MIT was the correct license choice and the core developers clearly aren't in it for the money.

No one is denying that, but this isn't about the developers of Godot.

Juan Linietsky, Rémi Verschelde and Fabio Alessandrelli are without doubt the core developers of Godot.

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Quoting: Valck

Quoting: KimyrielleWell, if they work on proprietary stuff to allow games to run on consoles, they simply CAN'T upstream -everything- just...as much as they can?

Not sure if you read evil intent into their words when there isn't any? At least I don't think they are going to last in this business for very long if they build a reputation for exploiting the open source engine their business is based on, without giving back.

Specifically "the video game industry" has a reputation for exploiting technology, exploiting artists, exploiting developers, whenever, wherever, and however they can. What we "consumers" think – and so much less we Linux users, fraction of a market share of consumers – has never stopped "the video game industry", at best it might have given them a short second to pause, before they get the spin doctors spinning in the right direction again.

Again, I hope I read evil intent where there is none, but I'm all too wary of the long and strong arm of the industry we're talking about. This is not about indie studios or small companies; they already don't need this company's help.

Exploitism is hardly their fault, no idea why you would imply that.
They certainly use a more inclusive definition of "video game industry" then you.
AAA studios are hardly their target. Read the article about porting I linked.

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Quoting: Valck

Quoting: const

Quoting: Valck

Quoting: mr-victoryEven their FAQ says so!

Are other successful commercial open source companies using a similar philosophy?

Yes, W4 is deeply inspired by the original Red Hat business model. This model consists in providing commercial services to complement and support a fully free and open source ecosystem. That open source ecosystem stays independent and strives from the contributions of multiple commercial actors.

Just to put things into perspective, that business model isn't exactly original to Red Hat; it's basically dictated by the GNU license of the kernel and the GNU toolchain. That quote just makes it sound like Red Hat invented it, which definitely isn't the case.

I do respect that they (promise to) say they take the same approach, even though Godot is licensed under the much more "permissive" MIT license that theoretically wouldn't require them to give back any changes they make.

EDITed after jumping over to read the actual FAQ:

Throughout the development of our products we will be open sourcing as much as we can, including additions to Godot that strengthen the engine.

And there you have it... "as much as we can", as opposed to "everything because we have to". Marketing speech and business as usual.

They will port games to consoles and that means NDAs, license issues and so on. They can't just add a PS5/Switch export to the engine, Sony/Nintendo would probably sue them and win.

What they MIGHT do is build the engine so the last step after users get a license from console manufacturers is as easy as possible ... that's a different story.
They made a very informative blogpost about that issue: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-consoles-all-you-need-know [External Link]

They are obviously not the first company that will offer professional porting to consoles and it's great that such companies exist. Maybe they can even offer the necessary code to the console manufacturers, so these can include them in their SDK (I think that is what Unity did)

Otherwise, I'd trust these people to contribute back. Considering what they did for Godot so far, they are really underpaid.

Quoting: from the linked article"Unfortunately, consoles are entirely closed ecosystems. This means that there is a very simple rule that must be followed in order to develop for them: Unless you sign an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) and the manufacturer approves you, it is impossible for you to obtain any kind of information in regards to how they work (and much less publish games)."

Which looks like it is about to change with the Steam Deck and other, independent (gasp), consoles – and by the looks of it, "the video game industry" is already up in arms.

I freely admit wihout shame that I haven't been following them and what they have done before founding this company, and maybe I'm doing them injustice; I sure hope you all are right and I am wrong.

There is no sign whatsoever that Sony/MS/Nintendo will open up their walled gardens. SteamDeck surely is important and awesome, my favorite piece of technology since ages, yet it's still a long way for it to pressure these companys.

As an open source advocate and hobby game developer, I can't emphasize enough how important godot is. MIT was the correct license choice and the core developers clearly aren't in it for the money.

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Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: const

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderIm so glad seeing Boomer Clickers making a comeback :wink:

Just came to say the same. Hard to believe this genre was very very much dead until Deadalic reactivated it and now new titles come up all the time.

It wasn't quite dead. I think it just got drowned out by the explosion of other types of games for a while. I mean there were never that many adventure game releases per year even in the good old days.

In addition to Daedalic, developers (and publishers) like Telltale, Revolution Software, Wadjet Eye, KING Art and others kept traditional adventure gaming alive through the dry spell for fans of the genre.

The classical (2D) point and click adventures (especiall those with monkey island like humor) absolutely looked dead between 1998 and 2008, when Edna and Harvey released.
TellTales Sam and Max Season One might shorten that to 2006 but I wouldn't call that a classical point and click. I wouldn't even get myself to replay these games, though I celebrated their release (Just to find they ran horribly on wine back then). TellTale games aged horribly.

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Quoting: Valck

Quoting: mr-victoryEven their FAQ says so!

Are other successful commercial open source companies using a similar philosophy?

Yes, W4 is deeply inspired by the original Red Hat business model. This model consists in providing commercial services to complement and support a fully free and open source ecosystem. That open source ecosystem stays independent and strives from the contributions of multiple commercial actors.

Just to put things into perspective, that business model isn't exactly original to Red Hat; it's basically dictated by the GNU license of the kernel and the GNU toolchain. That quote just makes it sound like Red Hat invented it, which definitely isn't the case.

I do respect that they (promise to) say they take the same approach, even though Godot is licensed under the much more "permissive" MIT license that theoretically wouldn't require them to give back any changes they make.

EDITed after jumping over to read the actual FAQ:

Throughout the development of our products we will be open sourcing as much as we can, including additions to Godot that strengthen the engine.

And there you have it... "as much as we can", as opposed to "everything because we have to". Marketing speech and business as usual.

They will port games to consoles and that means NDAs, license issues and so on. They can't just add a PS5/Switch export to the engine, Sony/Nintendo would probably sue them and win.

What they MIGHT do is build the engine so the last step after users get a license from console manufacturers is as easy as possible ... that's a different story.
They made a very informative blogpost about that issue: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-consoles-all-you-need-know [External Link]

They are obviously not the first company that will offer professional porting to consoles and it's great that such companies exist. Maybe they can even offer the necessary code to the console manufacturers, so these can include them in their SDK (I think that is what Unity did)

Otherwise, I'd trust these people to contribute back. Considering what they did for Godot so far, they are really underpaid.

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Quoting: StoneColdSpiderIm so glad seeing Boomer Clickers making a comeback :wink:

Just came to say the same. Hard to believe this genre was very very much dead until Deadalic reactivated it and now new titles come up all the time.

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Fun challenge: create a perfect SteamInput config for Deck :)

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Quoting: brokkrAfter playing far too much Hades (the epilogue is such a letdown after all that grinding!) I went back to the Racial Justice bundle from itch.io from two years back and picked out some of the ones, I had never gotten round to that seemed like a good fit for the Deck.

Night in the Woods was probably the standout. Great game, just demanding enough for some reason, that it hadn't worked well on my aging work laptop.

I really wish though, that itch.io had made more of an effort to embrace the Deck. Downloading, installing and integrating a Windows executable from itch on the Deck is still kind of a pain.

Played through Night in the Woods a good while back. One of the best gaming experience I ever had.

Itch should really look into making their client work great in Gaming mode. Overall, their client experience could be much better, since their website is the core of the store without doubt and they certainly lack resources to check if all devs uploaded files in a way that makes them install and launch from the client - even on windows. Anyway, they are the only store I can fully sympathize with.

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I've played exactly half of these on my Deck.

Multiversus is the first game in a while that made me play several online matches against randos in a row. Ton of fun, but damn, characters are expensive. I start considering buying a pack for it, because some characters do really really interest me and I kind of want to skip the work. This is a first for me, I thought I was immune to monetization schemes :D
Vampire Survivors in comparison gifts you all the time with new stuff and that might well be why it's so pleasant.

GTAV is just crazy good on the Deck. Always online makes me kind of angry and I wouldn't buy it again for that reason, but then again, it's just amazing to relive it. I'll certainly try streaming RDR2 from my PS4.

Hades is probably my most played game on Deck, pure perfection.

Stardew Valley is one of those games I was looking forward to play on Deck just to find I kind of don't wanna. My last play on PC was years ago and I just don't want to simply continue where I was. Whenever I consider booting it up and starting from scrat, something in my brain is alarming me to not put time into this game again, that will feel like work after a while...

ADJ is great fun for the while it gives, but more because of the humor the because of the gameplay. Still, it stays on my Deck as a Show-off.

Those other games certainly do interest me, but I'm currently happily scrubbing my huge huge pile of shame. Yay.

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