Engine (code) Safety

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Socoder -> On Topic -> Engine (code) Safety
Sat, 04 Apr 2015, 08:46
Steve Elliott	Say you've written a games engine that you want to sell, want to keep the code from prying eyes and prevent others making changes - thus causing inconsistency in your system. What's the best way to do it? Have to say I've no experience of this anti-piracy approach. Perhaps you put the engine routines into a dll...What's to prevent somebody from accessing the routines from C++? Because they know how to pass the required data to the required engine function - and therefore not have to purchase your engine. Perhaps a pre-compiled header approach is better? The GCC Compiler doesn't spit out machine code here, but seems pretty much gibberish. Note: I don't want this thread to turn into a free vs paid for engine debate. Thanks all. -=-=- Intel Core i5-4590 @ 3.2GHZ 8Gb RAM, NVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2Gb, Windows 8.1 64-bit.
Sat, 04 Apr 2015, 08:52
zzoom	Write it in B3D, its really quite hard to de-compile that sweet little (FREE!) language -=-=- Happy coding!
Sat, 04 Apr 2015, 08:56
Steve Elliott	It's my own language/engine zzoom.
Sat, 04 Apr 2015, 09:02
Jayenkai	If someone pays for control over the engine, I think that sourcecode oughta be included.. That's generally how these things go, otherwise how would someone who paid "to use your engine" be able to use that engine in cases where you haven't thought of them... Whether you suggest "open source" or "closed source" is down to how the license is written. "You are able to make use of my code, but may not distibute the code, only the compiled versions" This keeps it closed, whilst allowing paying customers the most value from their purchase. Otherwise.. shrugs. It's pretty hard to decompile most stuff. If you've made a compiled engine, it's generally secure enough. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sat, 04 Apr 2015, 09:09
Steve Elliott	Interesting question - they ask for an update? It does muddy the waters when it's not just an engine - but a language and engine combined. So basically I want control over a consistent system. If everybody can change the engine (but not the language) it seems like chaos to me -=-=- Intel Core i5-4590 @ 3.2GHZ 8Gb RAM, NVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2Gb, Windows 8.1 64-bit.
Sat, 04 Apr 2015, 11:58
rockford	If you provide a closed source engine for free, then it could be prudent to charge for updates and extras (except bug fixes) or for a paid version state that updates and extras will be included for a specified period from date of purchase/creation. Support would also be charged in a similar manner - ie the engine does what the client wants, but they don't know how to access features. I don;t readily agree with the whole OpenSource movement - it's too easy to be taken advantage of or to be left with something too broken for the original developer(s) to fix.
Sun, 05 Apr 2015, 02:05
Steve Elliott	Paid for updates are a must. We all saw how BRL's business plan failed - they just bring out a completely different language every few years - which annoys the users of the previous language. I don;t readily agree with the whole OpenSource movement - it's too easy to be taken advantage of or to be left with something too broken for the original developer(s) to fix. Yes - absolutely! -=-=- Intel Core i5-4590 @ 3.2GHZ 8Gb RAM, NVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2Gb, Windows 8.1 64-bit.
Tue, 07 Apr 2015, 13:44
Afr0	Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think the target audience for a new language geared towards game development today is too small. You should probably just sell engine licenses instead (license to use the source code) like Jay suggested. But even then, you're up against fierce competition: UDK IdTech 4 Torque Unity Monogame Most of these are free or free until your game sells so and so many copies. My advice: if you're looking to make money on building worlds, writing books is a much easier alternative. -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Wed, 08 Apr 2015, 04:00
Steve Elliott	It's a pet project of mine - something I've always wanted to do; so I'm not thinking it'll make me rich. I think I've got some good ideas and a worthwhile piece of software in progress. Well for a start I don't like the way Unity works - and more importantly I don't want to write games in a general purpose language like C#. -=-=- Intel Core i5-4590 @ 3.2GHZ 8Gb RAM, NVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2Gb, Windows 8.1 64-bit.