
Launched my iOS game as Open Source - embwbam
http://github.com/seanhess/wizardwar#wizardwar
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nosefrog
"The final work shall not compete directly with Wizard War, in any mobile app
store or on the web." \- This line is too restrictive and keeps your custom
license from being an open source license. The point of free and open source
software is it protects your freedom to modify and distribute the software for
any purpose.

Imagine if Microsoft Word distributed itself as "open source", with the
exception that one can't use that source to compete with Word. You wouldn't
really be able to do much with it, would you? Even simply distributing it to
your friends would technically be "competing" with Word.

~~~
embwbam
We are mainly distributing the source code so people can learn from it, but I
would be happy if they used the code or even the artwork to make a
substantially different game. I just don't want someone to just slap a
different name on it and out-market us or something.

How could I word the license to give people more leeway while still preserving
that intention?

~~~
tikhonj
"Open source" has a very well-defined, widely accepted meaning. Part of this
is that an open source license cannot restrict the purpose for which the code
is used. This isn't making a value judgement on such licenses: it's just
defining "open source".

If you actually want your code to be open source, you should use one of the
common licenses like the GPL or BSD license; this makes life easier both for
you and people who would use your code. Since these licenses are common,
people know exactly how they work and are willing to trust them. A custom
license like yours seems much riskier to use: for example, how is "competes
with" defined?

You can license the code and the artistic assets separately. This is what Id
does with its old Quake engines. This way the code is still open source in the
strictest sense of the word, but somebody couldn't just resell your game as-
is.

You can license the assets under one of the Creative Commons licenses. These
have well-defined and well-understood terms that you can mix and match to find
something that suits your needs.

~~~
hayksaakian
This comment needs more attention.

Assets licensed with CC (use the one that requires permission)

Code licensed with real Open Source (example: MIT license)

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embwbam
We will eventually monitize this app through in app purchases, but decided to
launch it open source. I'm not sure we got the license right, but it seems
like we can provide the source as an example to the community without losing
too much.

Obviously it would be cool if other people got involved in keeping the game
content fresh, but that might not be realistic.

I think it would be cool if more commercial applications were open source for
learning purposes, but I know that might not be feasible for most products.

~~~
embwbam
For those of you that have tried the game: any feedback? Would you pay for an
extended single player game, unlockable wizards with a custom special spell,
or some kind of supporter program that gives you early access to a forum and
betas?

~~~
gfosco
In the future, you should avoid committing your Parse application id and
client key publicly... You don't want other dev's piggybacking on your account
quota, though it's not really a security risk by itself. Considering it's
already there, make sure you've implemented Class-level security to protect
your data. [https://www.parse.com/docs/data#security-
classes](https://www.parse.com/docs/data#security-classes)

~~~
embwbam
You're only looking at the dev key. I have a separate "secret" branch with the
production keys for everything. It hits a different firebase too.

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jamesk_au
There is a player roaming the multiplayer arena named "Indefeatable" (sic) who
appears to be able to cast the heal spell without any delay.

Perhaps an unintended consequence of allowing everyone to compile their own
version of a multiplayer game.

(Defeating him/her was satisfying.)

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archagon
This is great and I hope more app developers follow suit!

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wavesum
I don't see the problem here. The way I understand open source is that the
source is available and can be distributed forward.

I think it's bit troubling to define Open Source as "Free" software as defined
by GPL. That's very misleading as it is very far from free since you are not
free to distribute any parts of your software with any other license.

GPL is like legal virus.

Thumbs up for the OP. Good, altruistic effort.

~~~
belorn
So sad for you that one must follow the license. I guess it would be more
"free" if people where allowed to ignore copyright all out. Music, and music
software particularly.

Since people try to say that I live in a free country, I guess I should also
be allowed kill anyone, torture, and do anything I would like to. How dare
they have laws and at the same time say that I am free. Its so misleading.
Truly troubling how they define it as "Free".

I guess in your world, BSD is also a virus, demanding that all advertising
materials must include the acknowledgement that: This product includes
software developed by the <organization>.

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srcmap
Cool project. Thank you!

BTW, I create srcmap database for this project @

[http://www.srcmap.org/s/sl.htm#c=P&d=/proj_src/wizardwar/&p=...](http://www.srcmap.org/s/sl.htm#c=P&d=/proj_src/wizardwar/&p=wizardwar.slk)

Let's see how many users will hit the server in next couple of day or so.
(finger crossing...)

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daveytea
Thanks for giving the source code to the community!

For those that want to test the game but don't want to set it up in xcode, i
compiled the code and uploaded to app.io:
[https://app.io/qj4Ofv](https://app.io/qj4Ofv)

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ianstallings
I love this idea. You can still get to make money and the rest of us get to
benefit and contribute. I like this particularly for games, where the content
can not be as easily duplicated as say a business app. Creativity and all
that.

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adjwilli
This is a great idea especially if you can monetize it successfully. I would
buy it just go support it.

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x0054
I am just learning Objective C as well, and this is very helpful! Thanks!

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richkuo
as someone learning iOS development - thank you

