News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by TylerE on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:09PM (#37527812)
Godot is never going to be able to ship for consoles due to license incompatibility. That's a pretty big dealbreaker for non-hobbyist projects that aren't exclusively targeting desktop.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by kevingadd on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:13PM (#37527854)
Godot games have been shipped on consoles plenty of times
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by TylerE on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:16PM (#37527896)
There are paid, non open source forks that support console.

Actual godot does not, and never will.

From their own docs:

“ Godot does not officially support consoles (save for XBox One via UWP) currently.

The reasons for this are:

To develop for consoles, one must be licensed as a company. Godot, as an open source project, does not have such a legal figure. Console SDKs are secret, and protected by non-disclosure agreements. Even if we could get access to them, we could not publish the code as open-source. Consoles require specialized hardware to develop for, so regular individuals can’t create games for them anyway”

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by kevingadd on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:19PM (#37527941)
So your argument breaks down to "once I get access to the closed source console SDKs and spend money for devkits, I will need to use a closed source fork of Godot to ship my closed source app on consoles"? What is the alternative? The console vendors do not allow console ports to exist in the open.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by TylerE on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:21PM (#37527965)
Use Unity, Unreal, or anthoer commerical engine that doesn't have a large upfront cost?
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by gcr on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:54PM (#37528355)
Unity, Unreal, and friends have these similar problems: the console SDK isn't open and may require porting work to integrate with the engine.

The difference is that lots of Unity and Unreal developers go through the trouble to do this.

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by bananaboy on Friday September 15, 2023 @06:53PM (#37530056)
With unity you get the console version of unity when are authorised by the console manufacturer. So it’s not like you have to do much to make at least the core engine work on console. The work is in the game itself which is different game to game.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by flangola7 on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:22PM (#37527985)
Why would an SDK be secret?
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by patmorgan23 on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:30PM (#37528078)
Because the console manufacturers want to protect their proprietary platforms.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by flangola7 on Friday September 15, 2023 @06:05PM (#37529667)
Protect them from what?
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by TylerE on Friday September 15, 2023 @06:49PM (#37530021)
Reputational damage. Big part of the appeal of consoles is “it just works”. That falls apart of you start letting random shovelware devs ship whatever.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by dns_snek on Saturday September 16, 2023 @07:03AM (#37533718)
Ok? What does that have to do with the SDK?

Having access to the SDK doesn't give you unfettered access to publish on their stores. It only allows you to write and compile code targeting their hardware/runtime.

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by flangola7 on Sunday September 17, 2023 @02:20AM (#37542063)
That has nothing to do with SDK secrecy.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by throwaway7679 on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:38PM (#37528163)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983#Loss_...

TLDR A game market flooded with shovelware crap is a disaster for everyone.

Modern day consoles intentionally add hurdles/friction/cost to publishing in order to weed out the less serious studios.

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by kibwen on Friday September 15, 2023 @04:30PM (#37528732)
No, that's a different concern entirely. Nintendo could (though never will) open up Switch development to everyone while still exercising judicious control over which games are listed in their own store.

And in the meantime, there's already tons of crap shovelware on the Switch storefront. Nintendo doesn't filter for quality.

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by numpad0 on Friday September 15, 2023 @05:24PM (#37529301)
Security through obscurity(which is often enough btw).
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by gabereiser on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:48PM (#37528272)
Consoles no longer require specialized hardware to develop for. There are test kits for ps5 but you can compile on your PC. Where are you getting your information from? The only requirement is a header or two and a code sign. Godot OSS can’t support consoles because the SDK (those headers) are closed source, but there’s nothing stopping you from implementing the half dozen header functions in Godot source yourself. There’s some companies trying to provide that support. I’m sure Godot* (the company) will as well.

To dismiss Godot because you, a solo hobby dev, can’t target PS5 is hilarious.

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by TylerE on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:55PM (#37528370)
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by matt3D on Friday September 15, 2023 @05:02PM (#37529087)
I think you're conflating two things.

To paraphrase the docs : You can ship games on consoles, but the tools required to do so will never be included in the open source code.

Eg. Just because you need to buy a tin opener to open your can of beans, doesn't mean you don't have any beans

Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by TylerE on Friday September 15, 2023 @05:08PM (#37529143)
You can carve a spoon into a can opener. That doesn’t make an unmodified spoon a can opener.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by gabereiser on Friday September 15, 2023 @06:53PM (#37530051)
Did you read it? It clearly backs what I just said. Godot open source doesn’t support consoles because console sdks are closed source, but there’s nothing stopping you from publishing on consoles. They literally list a company who is doing that, more are following. There’s no restriction at all other than you having access to the SDKs which you get when you sign a contract to publish your game on their platform.
Re:Is Unity allowed to just change its fee structure like that? by gumballindie on Friday September 15, 2023 @03:15PM (#37527884)
Linux doesnt run on consoles though and the comment was about linux, which godot supports quite well. Once it gains popularity it will also sort out console issues.