LGPL, GPL, BSD licenses [Was: OSS/Linux Games Programming]

[Marc Lanctot]

Tyler Aviss wrote:
> One of the things I would eventually like to do is develop some small
> commercial products. Even if they're just something small and silly
> like an iPhone game.
> My initial thoughts would be to have a short closed-source release
> cycle for the project's core, possibly with a "modding" SDK. Once
> enough time passes or some form of sustainable revenue cycle emerges,
> to release to full source (I believe that ID et al did this with some
> older engines).
> 
> I know that most Linux/Unix users are fairly against the concept of
> any non-open software (and one has to be careful with how/what
> libraries one uses to avoid (L)GPL issues), but how do you all think
> the concept of a to-be-open release would work? One could even
> incorporate wording into a new license that basically says the game
> source would be "liberated" upon certain conditions being met, which
> would prevent things from becoming like WineX/Cedega.
> 
> Again, I know a lot of people are against the idea of such things, but
> in these times it's fairly hard as it is to find time for the
> projects. Enough money to pay the bills could mean more dedication to
> the project itself.

This doesn't touch on your questions or concerns, but is somewhat 
relevant and good for you or others to know.

Kongregate is an emerging games site that allows players to build and 
submit games that are hosted on the Kongragate site.. the cool part is 
that they give you up to 50% of the revenues your game generates from 
ads. Now, that's incentive to make a game people return to often, and a 
pretty cool business model! I don't know how well it's working, though, 
I haven't had time to look into it much.. but it has been getting quite 
popular.

Details at http://www.kongregate.com/pages/earn

Marc

-- 
Without requirements or design, programming is the art of adding bugs
to an empty text file.
   -- Louis Srygley
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