Quake 3 to go GPl!!

Forum: water cooler
Topic: Quake 3 to go GPl!!
started by: SaidinUnleashed

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Jan. 02 2005,21:16

I hadn't heard this before I read it on /. and not everyone reads /. so I figured i would post it here.

This is from the Blog of John Carmack, head programmer (afaik) of ID Software.

Quote

I intended to release the Q3 source under the GPL by the end of 2004, but we had another large technology licensing deal go through, and it would be poor form to make the source public a few months after a company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for full rights to it. True, being public under the GPL isn’t the same as having a royalty free license without the need to disclose the source, but I’m pretty sure there would be some hard feelings.

Previous source code releases were held up until the last commercial license of the technology shipped, but with the evolving nature of game engines today, it is a lot less clear. There are still bits of early Quake code in Half Life 2, and the remaining licensees of Q3 technology intend to continue their internal developments along similar lines, so there probably won’t be nearly as sharp a cutoff as before. I am still committed to making as much source public as I can, and I won’t wait until the titles from the latest deal have actually shipped, but it is still going to be a little while before I feel comfortable doing the release.

Do I see a Quake3.uci in the near future!?

I THINK I SEE A LIGHT!!!

-J.P.

Posted by firefly2442 on Jan. 05 2005,06:31

Nice. Chalk up a victory point. Maybe Carmack will make all his games GPL now.... :laugh:

Posted by yo on Jan. 10 2005,06:11

Quote (firefly2442 @ Jan. 05 2005,01:31)

Nice. Chalk up a victory point. Maybe Carmack will make all his games GPL now.... :laugh:

quake, quakeworld and quake2 engines _are_ already gpl

Posted by AwPhuch on Jan. 10 2005,15:40

They still have to make up thier money, so dont expect a new game to immediately go gpl..however it is nice to see gaming companies after they made the bulk of thier profit offer a game to the masses!

Brian
AwPhuch