4 ms·

Godot games have been shipped on consoles plenty of times

TylerE 3y ago
There are paid, non open source forks that support console. Actual godot does not, and never will. From their own docs: “ Godot does not officially support consoles (save for XBox One via UWP) currently. The reasons for this are: To develop for consoles, one must be licensed as a company. Godot, as an open source project, does not have such a legal figure. Console SDKs are secret, and protected by non-disclosure agreements. Even if we could get access to them, we could not publish the code as open-source. Consoles require specialized hardware to develop for, so regular individuals can’t create games for them anyway”
- flangola7 3y ago
  Why would an SDK be secret?
  - patmorgan23 3y ago
    Because the console manufacturers want to protect their proprietary platforms.
    - flangola7 3y ago
      Protect them from what?
      - TylerE 3y ago
        Reputational damage. Big part of the appeal of consoles is “it just works”. That falls apart of you start letting random shovelware devs ship whatever.
        flangola7 3y ago
        That has nothing to do with SDK secrecy.
        dns_snek 3y ago
        Ok? What does that have to do with the SDK? Having access to the SDK doesn't give you unfettered access to publish on their stores. It only allows you to write and compile code targeting their hardware/runtime.
  - throwaway7679 3y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983#Loss_of_publishing_control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983#Loss_... TLDR A game market flooded with shovelware crap is a disaster for everyone. Modern day consoles intentionally add hurdles/friction/cost to publishing in order to weed out the less serious studios.
    - kibwen 3y ago
      No, that's a different concern entirely. Nintendo could (though never will) open up Switch development to everyone while still exercising judicious control over which games are listed in their own store. And in the meantime, there's already tons of crap shovelware on the Switch storefront. Nintendo doesn't filter for quality.
  - numpad0 3y ago
    Security through obscurity(which is often enough btw).
- kevingadd 3y ago
  So your argument breaks down to "once I get access to the closed source console SDKs and spend money for devkits, I will need to use a closed source fork of Godot to ship my closed source app on consoles"? What is the alternative? The console vendors do not allow console ports to exist in the open.
  - TylerE 3y ago
    Use Unity, Unreal, or anthoer commerical engine that doesn't have a large upfront cost?
    - gcr 3y ago
      Unity, Unreal, and friends have these similar problems: the console SDK isn't open and may require porting work to integrate with the engine. The difference is that lots of Unity and Unreal developers go through the trouble to do this.
      - bananaboy 3y ago
        With unity you get the console version of unity when are authorised by the console manufacturer. So it’s not like you have to do much to make at least the core engine work on console. The work is in the game itself which is different game to game.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- gabereiser 3y ago
  Consoles no longer require specialized hardware to develop for. There are test kits for ps5 but you can compile on your PC. Where are you getting your information from? The only requirement is a header or two and a code sign. Godot OSS can’t support consoles because the SDK (those headers) are closed source, but there’s nothing stopping you from implementing the half dozen header functions in Godot source yourself. There’s some companies trying to provide that support. I’m sure Godot* (the company) will as well. To dismiss Godot because you, a solo hobby dev, can’t target PS5 is hilarious.
  - TylerE 3y ago
    That is literally from the godot site. https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.0/tutorials/platform/consoles.html https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.0/tutorials/platform/conso...
    - matt3D 3y ago
      I think you're conflating two things. To paraphrase the docs : You can ship games on consoles, but the tools required to do so will never be included in the open source code. Eg. Just because you need to buy a tin opener to open your can of beans, doesn't mean you don't have any beans
      - TylerE 3y ago
        You can carve a spoon into a can opener. That doesn’t make an unmodified spoon a can opener.
    - gabereiser 3y ago
      Did you read it? It clearly backs what I just said. Godot open source doesn’t support consoles because console sdks are closed source, but there’s nothing stopping you from publishing on consoles. They literally list a company who is doing that, more are following. There’s no restriction at all other than you having access to the SDKs which you get when you sign a contract to publish your game on their platform.

There are paid, non open source forks that support console. Actual godot does not, and never will. From their own docs: “ Godot does not officially support consoles (save for XBox One via UWP) currently. The reasons for this are: To develop for consoles, one must be licensed as a company. Godot, as an open source project, does not have such a legal figure. Console SDKs are secret, and protected by non-disclosure agreements. Even if we could get access to them, we could not publish the code as open-source. Consoles require specialized hardware to develop for, so regular individuals can’t create games for them anyway”

flangola7 3y ago
Why would an SDK be secret?
- patmorgan23 3y ago
  Because the console manufacturers want to protect their proprietary platforms.
  - flangola7 3y ago
    Protect them from what?
    - TylerE 3y ago
      Reputational damage. Big part of the appeal of consoles is “it just works”. That falls apart of you start letting random shovelware devs ship whatever.
      - flangola7 3y ago
        That has nothing to do with SDK secrecy.
      - dns_snek 3y ago
        Ok? What does that have to do with the SDK? Having access to the SDK doesn't give you unfettered access to publish on their stores. It only allows you to write and compile code targeting their hardware/runtime.
- throwaway7679 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983#Loss_of_publishing_control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983#Loss_... TLDR A game market flooded with shovelware crap is a disaster for everyone. Modern day consoles intentionally add hurdles/friction/cost to publishing in order to weed out the less serious studios.
  - kibwen 3y ago
    No, that's a different concern entirely. Nintendo could (though never will) open up Switch development to everyone while still exercising judicious control over which games are listed in their own store. And in the meantime, there's already tons of crap shovelware on the Switch storefront. Nintendo doesn't filter for quality.
- numpad0 3y ago
  Security through obscurity(which is often enough btw).
kevingadd 3y ago
So your argument breaks down to "once I get access to the closed source console SDKs and spend money for devkits, I will need to use a closed source fork of Godot to ship my closed source app on consoles"? What is the alternative? The console vendors do not allow console ports to exist in the open.
- TylerE 3y ago
  Use Unity, Unreal, or anthoer commerical engine that doesn't have a large upfront cost?
  - gcr 3y ago
    Unity, Unreal, and friends have these similar problems: the console SDK isn't open and may require porting work to integrate with the engine. The difference is that lots of Unity and Unreal developers go through the trouble to do this.
    - bananaboy 3y ago
      With unity you get the console version of unity when are authorised by the console manufacturer. So it’s not like you have to do much to make at least the core engine work on console. The work is in the game itself which is different game to game.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
gabereiser 3y ago
Consoles no longer require specialized hardware to develop for. There are test kits for ps5 but you can compile on your PC. Where are you getting your information from? The only requirement is a header or two and a code sign. Godot OSS can’t support consoles because the SDK (those headers) are closed source, but there’s nothing stopping you from implementing the half dozen header functions in Godot source yourself. There’s some companies trying to provide that support. I’m sure Godot* (the company) will as well. To dismiss Godot because you, a solo hobby dev, can’t target PS5 is hilarious.
- TylerE 3y ago
  That is literally from the godot site. https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.0/tutorials/platform/consoles.html https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.0/tutorials/platform/conso...
  - matt3D 3y ago
    I think you're conflating two things. To paraphrase the docs : You can ship games on consoles, but the tools required to do so will never be included in the open source code. Eg. Just because you need to buy a tin opener to open your can of beans, doesn't mean you don't have any beans
    - TylerE 3y ago
      You can carve a spoon into a can opener. That doesn’t make an unmodified spoon a can opener.
  - gabereiser 3y ago
    Did you read it? It clearly backs what I just said. Godot open source doesn’t support consoles because console sdks are closed source, but there’s nothing stopping you from publishing on consoles. They literally list a company who is doing that, more are following. There’s no restriction at all other than you having access to the SDKs which you get when you sign a contract to publish your game on their platform.