Jump to content
MakeWebGames

Copyright licenses


Zettieee

Recommended Posts

So, what licenses do most game 'engine' creators use?

Mainly aiming at free engines.

I've read the GPL 3.0 and understand that, if you use the source, you are accepting that if someone want's a copy of your game. they may have it free of charge.

Would that also cover non profit from use of the script/engine?

Would this mean I have no rights to sell 'my' game if it was using an engine with such license?

Let me know what licenses you guys use and for what purpose.

^^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GPL in any form is the spawn of the devil and should be burnt at the stake along with any programmer even contemplating using it.

However, you can still sell GPL licensed code - look at MySQL's licensing policy for an example of this.

Personally, I tend to use the BSD (3-clause) license for both open-source and commercial work, but there are plenty of decent alternatives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't agree that ALL source should be freely available for learners?

I somewhat like the GPL but. Using it posts some difficult terms....

BSD, I'll go have a read and post what I think tomorrow/tonight.

thanks

All sources can be freely available, without licensing under GPL.

Somewhat relevant

MIT and BSD are my preferred licenses. (:) license is a nice one too.)

Edited by Djkanna
Added my preference, when it comes to licenses.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

These days, most favor the BSD, Apache and MIT license, though there are still quite a lot of developers using GNU GPL.

A bit to Octarine's statement, the GNU is evil yes.

They encourage people to sell "free" software, that's the whole point of the license it seems.

There's quite a few issues with the license as well, such as compatibility with silly things: take PHP for instance, they license PHP under the PHP license, because of a silly trademark(?) issue.

I also like BSD(2-clause) for open-source projects, it seems a bit more "free" than most other licenses.

But if you choose a open-source software license, do some research on the one you want to pick - it's marginally specific to the end goal of what you want to accomplish releasing with your program.

Another license I'd like to put up here is the Creative Commons variety.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would it be viable to create my own license?

Because in the end, I'd like to sell the source as well as give it freely to anyone who wants to learn from it...

Would this be accomplished with a simple license or would I need to find a license that fits my needs?

Thanks again for the comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a word ... no. Stick with tried and tested licenses. Seek legal advice if you feel like spending a $ or two, or accept that you will occasionally make minor mistakes and lose out. Find a license that covers the essentials, but is clear and concise.

At the end of the day, while licenses are important, the code is more important -- without it, there would be no need for a license -- so don't waste too much time on it. There are a good 15-20 or so current licenses that would cover you; of that, there may be 5 or so which are almost ideal and one maybe two should be pretty dam near perfect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...