Re: [pygame] Game demo for review

[Troels Therkelsen <tt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David Mikesell wrote:

> Thanks, but I'm not looking to make this an open source project and am
> initially only targeting the Windows market.
>
> So, does anyone out there use Windows?
>
>  
There's two things I foolishly feel compelled to say at this point.  I'm 
probably going to regret it, and people are probably going to think I'm 
some sort of brainwashed OSS zealot.  But here's what I think:

First, closed source does not mean people won't reverse engineer your 
game and copy it (especially if your platform is Python/pygame -- Python 
is very easy to decompile).  In other words, if you have written some 
truly ingenius code, it will be easy for other people to rip you off, 
closed source or not.  The way to deal with this is not trying to keep 
your code hidden, because all code can be reverse engineered, but 
instead get proper legal counsel so you know which legal actions you can 
take to protect your intellectual property.  Security through obscurity 
is no security.

Secondly, open source does not mean you can't make money off your game.  
Again, if your game is truly worth it, people will be willing to pay for 
it -- regardless of whether they can read the source code or not.  Being 
able to download a limited shareware version of your game has nothing to 
do with whether you ship the source for the game.  In general, however, 
making any significant amount of money off end-user applications (games 
or otherwise) as an independant software developer, is unlikely (but 
certainly possible).  Don't mean to burst your bubble, but that's just 
how it is.

Now, I realise that it's your privilege to write closed source 
applications (whatever your reasons for doing so), and honestly, I 
welcome more commercially successful games written in Python/Pygame 
whether they are open or closed source.

However, it's also my privilege to deny you my help because you have 
decided to write a closed source application.

Best wishes,

/Troels Therkelsen