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I agree with a focus on open tools. Luckily, there seems to be quite a few OSS game development tools out there, which is why Unity and Unreal now give away the

I agree with a focus on open tools. Luckily, there seems to be quite a few OSS game development tools out there, which is why Unity and Unreal now give away their full platforms for "free". That being said, I'm highly skeptical of the "openness" of those platforms, which is why I can't quite bring myself to abandon Blender as a game engine, even though it is somewhat inferior. The problem is, now that Unreal and Unity are so readily accessible to anyone, a FOSS competitor is unlikely to spring up: from my experience, game developers and artists are paradoxically so willing to shackle themselves to proprietary software (and actively deride anyone who opts for the "inferior" open-source alternatives), whereas I can make a lot more money as a software engineer using FOSS languages, libraries, and platforms.

detaro 10y ago
> game developers and artists are paradoxically so willing to shackle themselves to proprietary software Why is that paradoxical?
- xabotage 10y ago
  By that I mean, given that artists and game developers are often underpaid and exploited, proprietary tools only exacerbate the situation because the artists are forced to pay whatever price the vendor names (even if the company buys the licenses, it just means less resources left to hire more people to alleviate the insane overtime). Independent shops or freelancers are especially at a disadvantage when they have to rely on expensive tools. Just because the business model for using Unreal is favorable now, that may change (and it certainly isn't favorable for people hooked on Autodesk products). I understand that if no decent alternatives to tools exist, there is a cost-benefit justification for buying good software. But if artists and game developers are so passionate about what they do that they accept more work for less pay, why can't they be more passionate about FOSS? I'm passionate about FOSS precisely because it allowed me to explore and hone my creativity at a time when professional tools seemed well out of reach.
  - Pica_soO 10y ago
    I have yet to see the longest,most delicious Stallmann sandwich, from which we all shall eat, once we leave our jobs. I have a full time job and a side-project (game) and nothing else. If open source would really have a plan to supply income, food and roof for people contributing, they would come. But just standing there, yelling at the mining-pit "You are all wage-slaves" with empty pockets, that attitude gains altitude pretty quickly.
    - xabotage 10y ago
      Not sure what "empty pockets" means with an engineer's salary using FOSS tools day in and day out. When was the last time you had to purchase a programming language? A Unix terminal? What makes you think FOSS tools only create FOSS products? When products become tools for other products, opting for the open source tools increases the margin used to feed the "wage slaves".
BoorishBears 10y ago
Unreal is open source. Unity is making commitments to open source and is open sourcing more of their tech but open source remains a very very expensive option only for AAA teams. Open engines like Godot and Irrlicht are still around even with all that happening. Sometimes the building blocks to build a AAA game engine are still somewhat closed (due to licenses on platform SDKs or 3rd party libraries) but overall you can make some pretty advanced game engines using openly available graphics techniques.

detaro 10y ago

> game developers and artists are paradoxically so willing to shackle themselves to proprietary software Why is that paradoxical?

xabotage 10y ago
By that I mean, given that artists and game developers are often underpaid and exploited, proprietary tools only exacerbate the situation because the artists are forced to pay whatever price the vendor names (even if the company buys the licenses, it just means less resources left to hire more people to alleviate the insane overtime). Independent shops or freelancers are especially at a disadvantage when they have to rely on expensive tools. Just because the business model for using Unreal is favorable now, that may change (and it certainly isn't favorable for people hooked on Autodesk products). I understand that if no decent alternatives to tools exist, there is a cost-benefit justification for buying good software. But if artists and game developers are so passionate about what they do that they accept more work for less pay, why can't they be more passionate about FOSS? I'm passionate about FOSS precisely because it allowed me to explore and hone my creativity at a time when professional tools seemed well out of reach.
- Pica_soO 10y ago
  I have yet to see the longest,most delicious Stallmann sandwich, from which we all shall eat, once we leave our jobs. I have a full time job and a side-project (game) and nothing else. If open source would really have a plan to supply income, food and roof for people contributing, they would come. But just standing there, yelling at the mining-pit "You are all wage-slaves" with empty pockets, that attitude gains altitude pretty quickly.
  - xabotage 10y ago
    Not sure what "empty pockets" means with an engineer's salary using FOSS tools day in and day out. When was the last time you had to purchase a programming language? A Unix terminal? What makes you think FOSS tools only create FOSS products? When products become tools for other products, opting for the open source tools increases the margin used to feed the "wage slaves".

BoorishBears 10y ago

Unreal is open source. Unity is making commitments to open source and is open sourcing more of their tech but open source remains a very very expensive option only for AAA teams. Open engines like Godot and Irrlicht are still around even with all that happening. Sometimes the building blocks to build a AAA game engine are still somewhat closed (due to licenses on platform SDKs or 3rd party libraries) but overall you can make some pretty advanced game engines using openly available graphics techniques.