VVVVVV, the clever platformer from Terry Cavanagh where you reverse gravity instead of jumping has now had the source code opened up so you can see the dirty innards.
The open license doesn't cover the assets (icons, art, graphics or music) which are still under a proprietary license. So you will need some to play with it, which Cavanagh said you can get from the Make and Play Edition for personal use and that edition also has the tools to make levels.
Why did they decide to do this though? Well, VVVVVV is just about ten years old and releasing it pretty much changed Cavanagh's life so they're doing it as a thank you to everyone who purchased it and supported them. Linux support came a little later, with the port arriving in 2011 as part of the third Humble Indie Bundle.
You can find it on GitHub which has two editions, one for desktop and one for mobile. It's not "open source" though, since the license has a few special restrictions with it aimed at non-commercial use. Find out more in the official announcement which goes over more details. Lovely to see more developers open up their code, I do wish more did this once a game is well past its prime to help others learn and to keep their games alive on future platforms after the original developer moves on.
If you do wish to buy a full copy you can find it on Humble Store, GOG, itch.io and Steam.
More recently, Cavanagh also released the excellent Dicey Dungeons you definitely need to try.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
slaapliedje Jan 10, 2020
seanbutnotheard Jan 10, 2020
Quoting: slaapliedjeTime for a port to the Atari 8bits?
Well it's already been ported to C64...
(edit: removed the link because I realized after the fact that it's an unofficial "cracked" version, apologies for that. perhaps now that the source is released there will be an "official" port.)
Last edited by seanbutnotheard on 10 January 2020 at 4:54 pm UTC
slaapliedje Jan 10, 2020
Quoting: seanbutnotheardI love that since I set it to 'get emails when there has been a post' that I still got the link.Quoting: slaapliedjeTime for a port to the Atari 8bits?
Well it's already been ported to C64...
(edit: removed the link because I realized after the fact that it's an unofficial "cracked" version, apologies for that. perhaps now that the source is released there will be an "official" port.)
Huh, wonder how someone would have cracked it then ported it though? Wouldn't they need the source? Not sure what language it's coded in.
Quoting: slaapliedjeQuoting: seanbutnotheardI love that since I set it to 'get emails when there has been a post' that I still got the link.Quoting: slaapliedjeTime for a port to the Atari 8bits?
Well it's already been ported to C64...
(edit: removed the link because I realized after the fact that it's an unofficial "cracked" version, apologies for that. perhaps now that the source is released there will be an "official" port.)
Huh, wonder how someone would have cracked it then ported it though? Wouldn't they need the source? Not sure what language it's coded in.
It's recreated from scratch in 6502 assembler, so it's not really ported and it's not really a crack either (it is however copyright infringement on the original).
slaapliedje Jan 10, 2020
Quoting: DesumImportant to keep in mind this is a 'look but don't touch' license.Oh, lame. Look but don't port!
I recently found out that Bard's Tale 3 for the Apple IIGS was basically finished, but never released. It literally only needs the art work to be done. The original coder still has the source and everything. But since MS now owns the rights, who knows if it'll ever get a release. Always hate it when a game series doesn't get the whole series on a system.
Too bad we can't get some of the ones like this to be open sourced. Or the Ultima series or something, that'd be awesome to see a lot of bugs patched and other ports for those!
Quoting: DesumImportant to keep in mind this is a 'look but don't touch' license.
While the license doesn't fit the open source or free software definitions it does allow modifications and hence ports(minus the assets).
Quoting: KristianQuoting: DesumImportant to keep in mind this is a 'look but don't touch' license.
While the license doesn't fit the open source or free software definitions it does allow modifications and hence ports(minus the assets).
I think the assets are available too actually? I'm basing that on the fact that Terry notes that you can use this to build the whole game and play it for free. But the license doesn't allow you do then slightly modify that new copy and sell it as your own work.
Terry described it as the "Doom" license though... so I'm a bit confused here. Pretty sure the Doom license didn't include assets!
Terry's tweet on the matter: https://twitter.com/terrycavanagh/status/1215677944418439174
The last bit prevents it from meeting the definitions I referenced. But it does allow you to make changes and then give away your changes for free.
Sir_Diealot Jan 25, 2020
Quoting: ageresThat 4000 items switch case: https://github.com/TerryCavanagh/VVVVVV/blob/master/desktop_version/src/Game.cpp#L4048It clearly isn't a 4000 case switch statement, it's just that the numbering has a few holes.
The author sure had a peculiar way of structuring code. Lots of huge switch statements interspersed with large if else statements.
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