As we retweeted last night from one of the Unity developers (too late to do an article when I saw it), they've now opened up the UnityEngine and UnityEditor source code for referencing.
The key thing to note here, is that Unity is not making steps towards their engine and editor being open source, they do say it's specifically for developers to reference and to understand what it's doing behind the scenes. Something the Unity developers hope might help developers.
It's interesting to see them do this, hopefully they will reconsider their stance on actually open sourcing it in future. They make it clear they're not against it, but they don't think they would be able to remain in business if they did (source):
We are not releasing Unity as open source. Not even a little bit. (Sorry.) It’s not that we don’t like open source. We’d open source all of Unity today if we thought we could get away with it and still be in business tomorrow, and we do have a growing number of open source projects. But the main engine will remain proprietary for the foreseeable future, and the C# reference source code is released under a license which only permits you to read the code, not modify it. Please consult the full license text for details before you get carried away.
You can find it here on GitHub.
Ps. If you do need a fully open game engine, there's always Godot.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Doc Angelo Mar 26, 2018
QuoteThe C# part of the Unity engine and editor source code.
Now this is an interesting step. Yet, it is only a part of it. Unreal and Cryengine are open and can be compiled by users. That's not the case with Unity. Apparently, you can get a "Source Code license" to see everything, but those will likely come with NDAs.
DamonLinuxPL Mar 26, 2018
Crytek made a better move - two years ago published a CryEngine on github and few days ago also pulished Sandbox Editor :)
oldrocker99 Mar 26, 2018
Quoting: DamonLinuxPLCrytek made a better move - two years ago published a CryEngine on github and few days ago also published Sandbox Editor :)
And it is a good a move for then as Google's having made Android free was for them.
Quoteand the C# reference source code is released under a license which only permits you to read the code, not modify it.
That means they're giving us the source code but don't let us help improve and bugfix the engine/editor if something is found? That's quite a strange step. Nobody says they'd have to give royalties out of hand, but that's a little strange to me. Maybe just the first step.
Quoting: STiATThe point is, if you want it, legally you still have to buy it. If they open source it, they can still charge for it, but they can't stop other people from distributing it for free, so who'd pay? They'd need some kind of support model or something to not go out of business.Quoteand the C# reference source code is released under a license which only permits you to read the code, not modify it.
That means they're giving us the source code but don't let us help improve and bugfix the engine/editor if something is found? That's quite a strange step. Nobody says they'd have to give royalties out of hand, but that's a little strange to me. Maybe just the first step.
Last edited by johndoe on 26 March 2018 at 7:10 pm UTC
GustyGhost Mar 26, 2018
Maybe Godot will eat their lunch if they're not careful.
Doc Angelo Mar 26, 2018
Quoting: GustyGhostStrategic closedness. Unreal Engine are doing the same, I believe.
With Unreal, the full source code is openly visible, and it is expected that you compile it yourself. With Unity, only a part of the source code is openly visible. If you want to see the rest of the code and compile the engine yourself, you have to purchase a "Source Code License".
Quoting: GustyGhostStrategic closedness. Unreal Engine are doing the same, I believe.
Maybe Godot will eat their lunch if they're not careful.
Do you think Godot is better or on par with Unity right now?
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