A new game development method

[Game_boy]

Katilian said:

Interesting idea. There are just a few points I would like to make/discuss:

1.  It is my understanding that the entire client engine (both gameplay and distribution) is the part which becomes open source. I see three initial issues with this:

• It is my understanding that the main way DRM works is through obscurity. Having the client open sourced removes part of the obscurity. I'm not necesarilly referring to directly being able to pirate games, but you need to be able to stop cheating and other exploits too. This isn't an area I'm entirely up to speed on, so perhaps someone can explain if this is actually feasible.
• Having a fully open source client means a 3rd party only needs to develop a server backend to distribute their own content (or they can outright lift the engine and make their own standalone game). While you might not see any problem with this and invite the competition, I can see investors being upset when their money is going towards developing software for the competition.
• If someone can gain access to the original content of another game (since you need a copy locally), what is to stop them connecting to a rogue server with a modified client? This basically stems from the previous two points.

2. You suggest that single player content serves as a free demo. As someone who dislikes online gaming, will this system have anything to benifit me when I'm after a solid single player experience?

3. Is the license GPL or BSD based? I'm assuming GPL as you have mentioned others submitting back to it. How do you deal with the issue of multiple people modifying the same parts to handle things differently?

Yes, you can always cheat, but having proper server-side protection can and does work. The server would simply need to check for any "illegal" movements made by the client: the client will just act as a terminal for issuing commands rather than processing the actual change in location. The danger ought not to be any more than closed-source clients if done properly, especially if te incentive to cheat is lessened by not having virtual currency or valuables.

I agree that new a server backend could be made, but per above most of the work in processing movement would be done on the server, so most of the game engine would have to be rewritten. It just woldn't be worth it. The third-party would also find it hard to repackage and redistribute the content and graphics upgrades (illegally) to keep parity with the main game.

Yes, if you want to heavily modify the client and recreate a server, it is possible, but to be honest it would be easier to create your own game. Real players are likely to stick to the official edition: look at Red Hat and CentOS.

To be continued...