Difference between revisions of "Talk:Wish List"
Source Code Release Notes and Comments
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Also, in the range of "asking for a dollar, getting turned down, and then asking for a hundred...", I'm adding a request for Bethsoft to release the full Oblivion and CS source code excluding the 3rd party stuff (stuff they don't own the rights to). | Also, in the range of "asking for a dollar, getting turned down, and then asking for a hundred...", I'm adding a request for Bethsoft to release the full Oblivion and CS source code excluding the 3rd party stuff (stuff they don't own the rights to). | ||
--[[User:MegaBurn|MegaBurn]] 10:56, 20 April 2006 (EDT) | --[[User:MegaBurn|MegaBurn]] 10:56, 20 April 2006 (EDT) | ||
== Source Code Release Notes and Comments == | |||
Bethsoft has maintained a remarkable level of support for modding over the years and this is the logical next step. While to date they haven't used mod content in their official products, that could certainly change as well. By creating a rigidly structured licensing system they can certainly take full advantage of the efforts of the modding community. If at the same time they were to release the engine and construction set source code then the community could effectively do a fair amount of the development work for them. This would allow them to increase the release rate, improve product quality, decrease development overhead, and otherwise make more money while also making the fans happy. | |||
Major points in open source development will probably include: Implementing the entire wish list. Moving all hard coded game data over to ESM/ESP files (e,g, magic effects). Porting the engine to Linux and other OS's. Implementing multiplayer. Tweaking the engine to improve performance. Eventually replacing the closed source middleware with open source equivalents that Bethsoft can use in future games. Hopefully allowing the development community to build a fair amount of Bethsoft's next game engine for them. | |||
Popular criticisms of game engine source code releases have, historically, been unfounded. Piracy, reduced sales, increased technical support costs, exploitation (viruses/trojans), etc have not been consistently reported as a result of releasing a product's source code, however stolen code has and will always be a problem (was a problem for Valve too so thats not limited to open source products, its a constant threat). It won't cost anyone their job either, much on the contrary, it could create a few jobs if source code or developer network access is sold as a product. | |||
Few commercial developers have yet to take full advantage of open source development communities but as game development costs increase this will become a necessity in time. Fact of the matter is adding hundreds new “unofficial developers” to their development team will only have a net positive impact on everyone involved. This maybe idealistic, but a program like this could also drive people to learn C++ and game development, giving Bethsoft a near endless pool of experienced programmers to recruit from. I think the only major barrier to releasing the source code will be micro$oft (the evil empire doesn't play nice with anything having to do with open source). | |||
To do this I suggest they create a development network similar to Red Hat's setup with Fedora (or for that matter Mandrake's model would work too, so would a dozen others). It would serve as a filtering process to give them most of the benefits of open source development without many of the headaches. If you think of it as an intellectual investment, it might take a year (or more) for this to actually produce something but in the long run it will yield significant returns. | |||
It will work if they decide to take this route. | |||
--[[User:MegaBurn|MegaBurn]] 12:48, 20 April 2006 (EDT) | |||