Back in February, Valve released the source code for Team Fortress 2 (TF2) into the Source SDK, which allows modders to see how it all works and get their standalone mods onto Steam. But also, it allows them to fix up issues directly in Team Fortress 2.
This leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Because the source code is not real open source, the contributors of those fixes have fewer rights to their own code than Valve. Valve should have just made the code proper open source. Keep the art assets proprietary, basically what id Software did when they were still cool. It’s not like the Source 1 Engine contains great trade secrets after all those years since release and if it did, the non-commercial license would not keep snooping eyes away.
They gave you an inch, and
You wanted a mile?
I always want symmetric licensing for community contributions. I have the same stance for Canonical and their Contribution License Agreement that also gives Canonical the exclusive rights to sell proprietary licenses.
This is a general stance I have, no matter who it is.
Valve does symmetric licensing for their SteamOS components, so there is precedent.
Also, I think you read way more into my comment than I actually meant, as if “sour taste” is the same as making demands.
I would argue it’s still better than keeping it closed though. It really is a half way mark. It allows those that do care and have the know how to actually fix the game they wanna play.
I highly doubt it’ll lead to Valve selling copies, let alone a financially relevant amount. So it can’t exactly be classified as exploitation either. Basically I think it’s fine.
TF2 is free and has been for a while now. I don’t see valve turning that around this late in the lifespan of the game. As far as multiplayer online games go, TF2 is geriatric, amazing it still holds such a large playerbase.
Isn’t TF2 the last game in active development that’s still using Source 1? Dota was the first to switch to Source 2, CS switched a couple of years ago, and Deadlock is using it as well. Valve may touch up the older single player games like they did with HL1. L4D2 gets the occasional crash fix but nothing that constitutes actual development.
Actual open source might revitalize it.
It’s a step in the right direction
What is it, like an SDK?
Yes, Valve released TF2’s game logic as part of the Source 1 SDK.