[needs-packaging] game editor

[Dan MacDonald]

Game Editor is a 2D game creation tool.

Game Editor lets you design and develop 2D games for personal computers and mobile devices. No need to worry about system issues or compatibility. Game Editor is designed to be portable across all popular platforms, including Windows (95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista), Linux, Pocket PC, Handheld PC, GP2X and Windows Mobile-based Smartphones.

http://game-editor.svnrepository.com/code/trac.cgi/

Great program and its open source now but I'm unsure if the license is Ubuntu-friendly. Hopefully someone who knows more about free software licensing could tell me if we can package it for the ubuntu repos without any problems:

http://game-editor.svnrepository.com/svn/code/trunk/license.txt

[Ian Weisser (ian-weisser)]

(Section 3) This software uses a restrictive custom license, including no redistribution of source code, and individual (not company) use only.
(Section 7) Licenses of included code are not clear. 'Property of their respective owners'

[edited] 3. RESTRICTIONS.
(a) This license is granted to individuals only, and cannot be owned by corporate or business entities.
(c) Licensee may not sell any: (i) derivative works of the Engine or IDE, including translations or localizations, other than the Games; redistribute, encumber, sell, rent, lease, sublicense, or otherwise transfer rights to GEC; or (iv) remove or alter any trademark, logo, copyright or other proprietary notices, legends, symbols or labels in GEC.
(d) Licensee may not distribute the binaries, source code or documentation to the engine in any manner, without prior written approval from http://game-editorcom and the recipient also as a license to GEC.
(f) Licensee may not be a government contractor, government entity, large corporation, or small company performing subcontract work for any of these entities without obtaining a Commercial License. Small companies cannot take royalty advances or development fees from large companies or corporate entities for Games using the GEC without first obtaining a Commercial License for all programmers.

7. THIRD PARTY SOURCE CODES AND COMPONENTS
Game Editor uses third party source codes and the modifications in the third party source codes are property of their respective owners.
The third party components and codes used in Game Editor are property of their respective owners.
Game Editor uses the RakNet network library. The use of RakNet in your game requires a separated license and you need to agree with the RakNet license to make multiplayer games or any other modifications thats uses RAkNet. Get the RakNet license at: http://www.jenkinssoftware.com

[Dan MacDonald (allcoms)]

Hi Ian!

Thanks for looking at the license for me. Shame that it cannot be
included in Ubuntu but as you know I had my doubts about it.

I'll forward this onto the programs author to see if he is willing to
comment on or modify the license.

Dan

[Dan MacDonald (allcoms)]

Just got a reply from the author. I pointed him towards this page and said that we didn't think GE would be able to be included in Ubuntu but he says otherwise:

-----------------

Hi Dan,

Thanks you for your message.
It's fine for the ubuntu distro have the Game Editor if put the Game
Editor in the Software catalogue page at ubuntu.com site.

Regards,

----------------

I think he means http://packages.ubuntu.com/ when he says catalog page but I'm not sure.

Of course, there is still the problem of the Raknet lib, which seems to be under a CC license but it depends what your using it for so again I'm unsure where we stand with this. Maybe GE could be included in Ubuntu without RakNet support? It also requires LLVM and wxwidgets but both those are already in Ubuntu. I've not compiled GE myself so I don't know if Raknet is a required or optional dep.

http://www.jenkinssoftware.com/

[Ian Weisser (ian-weisser)]

To clarify: I didn't mean that the software couldn't be included in an Ubuntu repository; only pointing out some of the issues. It's not my call as a volunteer triager. Such a license will get several close reviews and debates before inclusion. If there's demand within the Ubuntu developer community to push the package, then it could find it's way into the Multiverse or Partners repos. But it will take time. Of course, inclusion as a Partner will depend on decisions by Canonical employees, and I can't speak for them.

Another option is for the upstream project or a third party to create their own repository (they're available on Launchpad as PPAs) to distribute the software package. This can be done concurrently with the process of inclusion into the official repos. This option makes the software available much faster, since it does not rely on the Ubuntu community to package and maintain it, and might be a good temporary solution for a small group - as long as the use is permitted by license.

[Alex K (levviathor)]

Just a heads up, but as of 10/8/09 Game Editor has been released under a dual license system. One of the licenses is the GPLv3.

Definitely an interesting program, and oneof the only graphical game creators for Linux.

http://www.linuxpr.com/releases/11684.html
http://www.game-editor.com