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Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

defold.com

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Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#11

Post by gorjusborg »

flohofwoe wrote: post #9
cxr wrote: post #6

Not actually open source. This is yet another instance of a project eager to reap the rewards of being associated with "open source" without committing to it (i.e. with a license that would make it so). Defold is source-available and some flavor of royalty-free with limitations. It's actually worse than that, though, because it goes out of its way to obscure the license terms; in this instance, they're going for asso…

[flagged]

Personal vendetta? That's not what I'm reading from his comment. I appreciate that he's sharing details about the behavior of the developers around a piece of software that by its very nature is the foundation of its user's products.

Given the issues w/ Unity, I think this information is pertinent and welcome.

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#12

Post by imiric »

cxr wrote: post #6

Not actually open source. This is yet another instance of a project eager to reap the rewards of being associated with "open source" without committing to it (i.e. with a license that would make it so). Defold is source-available and some flavor of royalty-free with limitations. It's actually worse than that, though, because it goes out of its way to obscure the license terms; in this instance, they're going for asso…

I think you're being too harsh.

The main item on the landing page says "free to use" and "source available", while that "big fat nav item", that doesn't show up on mobile without clicking on the navigation, clearly states:

> Defold is a source available game engine with a developer-friendly license derived from the popular Apache 2.0 License.

And under "Open source":

> A large selection of official and community developed open source extensions are available through the Asset Portal.

I think this is clear enough, and doesn't seem like they're abusing the open source terminology. Whether you agree or not with their license is another topic, but their copy seems clear to me (an OSS enthusiast and first-time visitor on their site).

That said, the title of this HN post is misleading, and definitely needs to be updated to reflect this.

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#13

Post by SXX »

flohofwoe wrote: post #9
cxr wrote: post #6

Not actually open source. This is yet another instance of a project eager to reap the rewards of being associated with "open source" without committing to it (i.e. with a license that would make it so). Defold is source-available and some flavor of royalty-free with limitations. It's actually worse than that, though, because it goes out of its way to obscure the license terms; in this instance, they're going for asso…

[flagged]

They are free to run their business and we are free to point out how they distort meaning of "open source". They can easily call it "source available" and no one will bother them.

There is actually open source game engine called Godot that licensed under standard MIT License. We should not let companies like Defold Foundation to mislead anyone to think their software product license is equal in terms of freedoms provided to community.

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#14

Post by gorjusborg »

ensignavenger wrote: post #8
hesdeadjim wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the problem with this whole Unity crisis. Every other engine out there is… small. I have a 50+ person team with a big open world game and I’m basically fucked into accepting whatever Unity wants. I can’t just switch engines with four years of tech and team experience. And Unity knows this. It’s so fucking slimy and malicious.

This is why I only use Open Source... if you build on a proprietary platform, the owner of that platform can change the terms at any time and you are stuck with a massive cost to change, or you just pay the ransom.

In a competitive marketplace it can be hard to accept less than state-of-the-art.

That said, we are seeing that it might be worth starting out on an open source platform and dig in to make it state-of-the-art.

Not everyone is interested or capable of doing that, though.

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#15

Post by cxr »

imiric wrote: post #12
cxr wrote: post #6

Not actually open source. This is yet another instance of a project eager to reap the rewards of being associated with "open source" without committing to it (i.e. with a license that would make it so). Defold is source-available and some flavor of royalty-free with limitations. It's actually worse than that, though, because it goes out of its way to obscure the license terms; in this instance, they're going for asso…

I think you're being too harsh. The main item on the landing page says "free to use" and "source available", while that "big fat nav item", that doesn't show up on mobile without clicking on the navigation, clearly states: > Defold is a source available game engine with a developer-friendly license derived from the popular Apache 2.0 License. And under "Open source": > A large selection of official and community deve…

> Everything about this screams, "We know exactly what we're doing, but we're going about it in such a way that we can claim plausible deniability."

(Feel free to address literally any of the pre-emptive points I made in my post, rather than responding as if I didn't already make them.)

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#16

Post by raincole »

stuckinhell wrote: post #3

I've been seeing a ton of game engines on hackernews in the last couple days. I think many hobby game developers don't realize the astounding important of designer oriented tools. Even most game companies have coders create designer oriented gui tools for games to be more productive. Whatever open source engine cracks an easy 3d player controller, dialogue system, human retargeted animation system, and easy editor ex…

> 3d player controller,

Unity has no this built-in.

> dialogue system,

Neither.

> human retargeted animation system

Unity has a built-on one but it's shitty.

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#17

Post by OnionBlender »

stuckinhell wrote: post #3

I've been seeing a ton of game engines on hackernews in the last couple days. I think many hobby game developers don't realize the astounding important of designer oriented tools. Even most game companies have coders create designer oriented gui tools for games to be more productive. Whatever open source engine cracks an easy 3d player controller, dialogue system, human retargeted animation system, and easy editor ex…

What about Wicked Engine?

- https://github.com/turanszkij/WickedEngine - https://wickedengine.net/

The first video on Steam seems to show a dialog system.

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967460/Wicked_Engine/

(How are you supposed to create lists in hacker news comments?)

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#18

Post by raincole »

hesdeadjim wrote: post #4
Orothrim wrote: post #2

I really like Defold, have used it for a number of small games I've developed for a side hustle.

It’s the problem with this whole Unity crisis. Every other engine out there is… small. I have a 50+ person team with a big open world game and I’m basically fucked into accepting whatever Unity wants. I can’t just switch engines with four years of tech and team experience. And Unity knows this. It’s so fucking slimy and malicious.

If Unity isn't so big it won't be a crisis, obviously.

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#19

Post by cpeterso »

ingonealan3 wrote: post #7
hesdeadjim wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the problem with this whole Unity crisis. Every other engine out there is… small. I have a 50+ person team with a big open world game and I’m basically fucked into accepting whatever Unity wants. I can’t just switch engines with four years of tech and team experience. And Unity knows this. It’s so fucking slimy and malicious.

For someone who's completely out of the loop, what changes are the Unity peeps doing to their business model?

Unity plan pricing and packaging updates: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37481344

Re: Defold: Lua game engine for web and mobile

#20

Post by 0xBA5ED »

cxr wrote: post #15
imiric wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're being too harsh. The main item on the landing page says "free to use" and "source available", while that "big fat nav item", that doesn't show up on mobile without clicking on the navigation, clearly states: > Defold is a source available game engine with a developer-friendly license derived from the popular Apache 2.0 License. And under "Open source": > A large selection of official and community deve…

> Everything about this screams, "We know exactly what we're doing, but we're going about it in such a way that we can claim plausible deniability." (Feel free to address literally any of the pre-emptive points I made in my post, rather than responding as if I didn't already make them.)

Your objective points were addressed. Any response to your subjective point "Everything about this screams X" would itself be subjective and not conducive to productive conversation.
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