Can games be selled without the source code?

Started by RealAquilus, March 04, 2017, 09:51:16 AM

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Ho guys, i don't understand if the  GPLv3 is only for the modifyied version of Solarus or for the game made with It too,
Probably this is a stupid question but i don't understand much the license ahahahah.

Sorry for my English and thanks to Who will help me!

March 04, 2017, 02:59:14 PM #1 Last Edit: May 16, 2017, 06:34:09 PM by Zefk
You do not need to have all the Solarus game code in your game. Remove what you do not want, but remember to list the people to credit. A requirement mention by Christopho is to link to the Solarus Engine and website.

All GPLv3 means is that you must freely provide your source code or code you use somewhere if you plan to release your game to the public.

Your graphics can be packed with your source code as long as they are free graphics (In license talk that means a free distribution).

You will probably want to sell your art pack separately if it is original art that you do not want free.

If your code is "pure" Lua and uses no Solarus functions, then you can sell code separately without freely releasing the source to the public. Just do not pack it in Solarus because it will become GPLv3 if you do and that makes it free.

You can check the License Help for Beginners for more information.

When the new tutorial site will be done, your license help post will be a good candidate for a dedicated page, because everyone ask this question all the time  ;)
Edit: typo

@Neovyse
The question by RealAquilus was unexpected. I think he said, "Does all the source code of games made by the Solarus engine have to be included in my game?" It seems I have to improve the license help post.

I am glad it will help out the Solarus team. License issues are a pain when comes to software development.

Yes it's very complicated: a real nightmare because there are so many possibilities and combinations.

This topic is excessively important, but also confusing and hard to understand, so we should probably make some very detailed tutorial, maybe in pdf, that almost anyone could understand, even kids/teenagers/grandparents. It could be called "licensing tutorial for dummies beginners". The explanations need to be very precise, with correct English grammar, with explicit examples, no ambiguities, and without omitting subtle details (this is no easy task, and I will try help when I get some free time, but these days I am quite busy :(). If there is some lawyer in the forum, the help for a tutorial would be very welcome :D
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you. But if you really make them think, they'll hate you."

March 10, 2017, 10:23:39 PM #6 Last Edit: March 10, 2017, 10:25:39 PM by RealAquilus
As i know, a game made under GPL v3 can be sold without release the source of the game, IF you didn't have made changes to the engine/editor itself (for example if i pack all my game in the data.solarus and remove what is unnecessary like the editor ecc and i didn't any changes to the original source i should be right for sell it).
Solarus has the same license of Blender and i read this some time ago for it, so for Solarus should be the same, i guess ahahaha.
My english sucks and the GPL is a pain to understand for me, pls don't kill me ahahahahah

March 10, 2017, 10:43:52 PM #7 Last Edit: March 10, 2017, 10:46:07 PM by Diarandor
Quote from: RealAquilus on March 10, 2017, 10:23:39 PM
As i know, a game made under GPL v3 can be sold without release the source of the game, IF you didn't have made changes to the engine/editor itself (for example if i pack all my game in the data.solarus and remove what is unnecessary like the editor ecc and i didn't any changes to the original source i should be right for sell it).
Solarus has the same license of Blender and i read this some time ago for it, so for Solarus should be the same, i guess ahahaha.
My english sucks and the GPL is a pain to understand for me, pls don't kill me ahahahahah

You MUST either give a copy of the source code for the engine (for the game itself the Lua code can be unpacked I guess so there should be no problem) or give the website where it can be downloaded (maybe in the solarus-games website). If you have modified the source code, then you MUST do it for the modified version. Giving credit to the original authors and keeping the same (or a compatible) license is also mandatory for the GPL. "Free as in freedom" means that you can do with it whatever you want, BUT you cannot do it in any way you want: you must respect the license terms/conditions.

You really did well when asking here about these things, because of the "Ignorantia juris non excusat" ("ignorance of law excuses no one"), so this subject must be taken seriously.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you. But if you really make them think, they'll hate you."

Damn i feel stupid, but i still doesn't understand this well... I will wait the "explanation for stupid" ahahahah.
I'm sorry, i hope the explanation will come recently, because i really want to make some little-commercial game with Solarus, i simply love this editor+engine. :)