Prospects For Open-Source Engines Now That UE4/Source2/Unity Are Free?

[justmy2cents]

@kwahoo you simply compiled the official ue4 git source? any link? All is working compared to Windows? I'll try also in the next days.

at least as my following of development on IRC. official git doesn't have some fixes that are already present in linux branch. you might want to go on IRC and make sure for better experience

as far as impact on OSS engines? boohooo, Unity was already free, UE4 was 19$ (since you could simply unregister and continue to use it). won't make slightest dent

now... 3rd player Source 2? one of the things they said is that they are not just making it free, but also as reference implementation for anyone. if needed people can take parts and include them into their own engine. meaning... this only helps OSS engines to be even more competitive

[rice_nine]

Game developers don't use it because it's GPL-licensed (like anything Quake-related, like DarkPlaces). Game developers would rather screw over their users?

Having a hopeful business model that is incompatible with forced full disclosure does not constitute "screwing over" people.

also, correction: I shouldn't have said network, but at least you can import Python modules to your heart's content, right?

[kmare]

So, what is this?

that looks awesome! could you please comment on feature completion and performance against the windows version?

[eydee]

What I secretly hope for is that someone will resurrect the Vampire Bloodlines Resurgence mod with Source 2, and it will be available for all platforms. It would be great for everyone, both windows and linux (and mac) users, as it is considered one of the greatest RPGs of all times by many. I'd do it if I had the programming skills, but unfortunately I don't.

Even if it would be picked up by an official publisher (acquiring the rights as well), it could probably sell a lot, people still love this game.

[mememe]

I don't think it changes anything. These engines are not free software, so if you are concerned about that, then the old id Tech 3 or 4 based game engines are still your best shot. If it doesn't really matter to you it's unlikely that you cared about the open source engines in the first place.

As for artwork, yeah, I don't see that happening in the open source world. In order to build normal maps game developers create high resolution meshes that are projected onto the low res version that you see in the game. While Blender actually does this, zBrush works much better at high density meshes, especially with techniques like Dynamesh. Even disregarding the tools, building assets takes time. Building assets in your spare time means that you need to be employed, in order to feed yourself, to have a home. And you just can't expect artists and developers to work 40 hours a week and then spend even just half of that working on a free software game.

The thing with Linux kernel development is that there are companies that pay developers to make contributions. The developers can spend a lot of time working on Linux itself. The companies on the other hand get the benefit of a nice operating system or maybe the possibility of offering commercial services around it. That's not possible, at least not for the artwork side of game development.

[GreatEmerald]

Then you still are running proprietary software; an engine you can't freely distribute and modify. I believe people should be able to create and play fully free games, from code to artwork.

Me too. Just saying that it's still an option to at least make one's own code libre.

that looks awesome! could you please comment on feature completion and performance against the windows version?

I haven't tried the Windows version, but I'm not seeing anything wrong with either of those on Linux.

[gotwig]

While Unreal Engine 4, Source 2, and Unity 5 aren't out under a free software license, the source code is now freely available and there's no upfront costs to game developers until they start selling their games.

Unity 5 source code is not included in the free version, i dont know where you found that.

http://unity3d.com/unity/faq

Source 2 is a bunch of APIs, with no integrated editor.

The only choice left is Unreal.

[DMJC]

Game editing

Linux won't compete with Windows for game editing until we have programs like Deep Exploration, Fred2, the Descent *32 tool suite, 3d studio max, lightwave, There's more I can't remember the names of off the top of my head. The problem Linux has is it's missing a lot of the middleware that game development uses. A lot of the time you don't just slap together a model and stick it in the game. It's a LOT more complex than that now. Take Rocksmith 2014 for instance. To make DLC for the game you use Editor On Fire, as well as the Rocksmith 2014 toolkit. But you also need to run the sound files through a commercial middleware tool that adds some metadata to the vorbis files. This is why Linux has trouble being a platform for game editing. There's a model viewer on Windows, simple tool that reloads the geometry/textures whenever you click on the view window. It's designed to make creating lightmaps simple. You have Photoshop open on one screen, and your model on the other, and your model updates when you switch from your painter to your model viewer. Linux has nothing like this, yes there are 3d model viewers, but none of them reload on focus. It's simple enough to make but noone has. There also isn't a great geometry viewer. Sure you can make blender load a lot of models with tons of plugins, but Blender is massive and really like using a bazooka rather than a scalpel.

[Luke_Wolf]

The more important question is imho, would this have happened without open source game engines and open source movement in general?

The answer is absolutely yes they would have.

This is a result of the Indie scene coming into it's own. The open source community had effectively nothing to do with this. Basically the big engines see that there's a huge market for indie games, however their former price schemes excluded the indie developers from using them as they have little to no budget, as a result the game engines have figured out a "Pay later" scheme to get indies to use their engines.

[justmy2cents]

Then you still are running proprietary software; an engine you can't freely distribute and modify. I believe people should be able to create and play fully free games, from code to artwork.

in UE case this is not the case. as soon as you sign up you need to connect your git access where you can fork your own modifications that can later be reused by some other person who also signed up. if not so, i wonder how linux branch in progress would work

as far as distribution of editor as part of the game, isn't this way to complex to be usable? although, i remember reading they are working on those options too