OpenLara: Open-Source Engine Remake For Tomb Raider, Including WebGL Version

[starshipeleven]

Would the owners really have much to lose by just open sourcing the original engine and relicensing all the assets, especially for an old game with a large fan following like this?

The entire concept of letting something go like that is unacceptable for most managers. They prefer keeping it there and every now and then making a re-release, a best-of or something. Common in the media industry.

[kpedersen]

Would the owners really have much to lose by just open sourcing the original engine and relicensing all the assets, especially for an old game with a large fan following like this?

Up until recently I was working with one of the founders of Core Design and I asked him the same question. He literally said it was a matter of interest. It is up to a community to bombard them with this request. Basically they are still quite busy people and can't justify the time to dig out the source and work through the small bit of legal stuff to get this released without any real proof of interest.

Him and his brother are great guys and I highly recommend getting together and putting something towards them if you want this to go ahead.

That said, just like my OpenCDE project a few years back which helped trigger a release of the original CDE code. A project like OpenLara is likely going to be great proof that there is interest in a source release so this is still a very worthy project.

As an aside to a couple of earlier posts... Why does the fact that a game is still being sold make a difference for releasing the source? Thats a really old fashioned backwards view on how computers work. If someone illegally plays the game whether it was a torrented GoG binary or if they have gone through the trouble of compiling the game up from source on GitHub, they are still in breach of piracy laws. This is not the same as ID Software releasing the code under the GPL. The code of a game can be released and the product still be proprietary. To be honest, we as consumers should push for this kind of model much more than we do!

[devius]

How could they possibly disagree on something so much that it would prevent the project from continuing? I can't think of a single thing that would be up for such a debate.

Have you ever worked with someone else on something? Because if you ever did, you would know how someone could disagree on even the most basic and useless of things...

[schmidtbag]

Have you ever worked with someone else on something? Because if you ever did, you would know how someone could disagree on even the most basic and useless of things...

I work with people on projects on a regular basis, but since software development requires rationality, very rarely do disagreements ever hold back a project more than just a couple hours. I don't like to leave problems unresolved, and I believe it's nearly impossible to satisfy everyone. So, within reason I will accept a compromise in a situation I deem sub-par. I also do not work with people who prioritize subjectivity over objectivity, and that is something I try to figure out before I join them. It seems to me, at least one of the devs of OpenTomb must have prioritized subjectivity, because the situation otherwise just doesn't make sense. As I tried clarifying earlier, this project doesn't leave much rational/logical room to disagree on. I'm assuming the devs who worked on it had to have already started the project, which means they must have come to enough agreements as to what language to code in, what graphics library to use, what engine to use, and their primary objectives for the game. For a disagreement to prevent a project like this from progressing would require someone who is both completely stubborn and irrational, and at least one other person who is equally stubborn.

[Gusar]

Why does the fact that a game is still being sold make a difference for releasing the source? Thats a really old fashioned backwards view on how computers work.

I didn't say it makes a difference regarding a source release. I said it matters regarding the game assets (maps, textures, models, sound effects, music, ...). They're not going to relicense the assets if they're still selling the game. Relicensing the assets isn't being done even otherwise, at least I'm not aware of it ever happening.

[Flaburgan]

nomadewolf I have no problem running Tomb Raider 2 with wine using Ubuntu 16.10. Where are you stuck?

[smitty3268]

Have you ever worked with someone else on something? Because if you ever did, you would know how someone could disagree on even the most basic and useless of things...

We're coding with spaces, damn it. No tabs!

[ldo17]

We're coding with spaces, damn it. No tabs!

We’ll happily accept tabs, soon as everyone can agree on what they mean.

[kenren]

I didn't say it makes a difference regarding a source release. I said it matters regarding the game assets (maps, textures, models, sound effects, music, ...). They're not going to relicense the assets if they're still selling the game. Relicensing the assets isn't being done even otherwise, at least I'm not aware of it ever happening.

For example there is Ryzom:
Since 2010 all the software's source code is available under the AGPL. Similarly, the game's artistic work is available under an Creative Commons license. (from wikipedia)