Martin

Oct 7, 2020

Please welcome Martin Linklater, @fizzychicken

Tech lead at @LucidGamesLtd and former Psygnosis game developer

Oct 7th to 14th on @imakefoss

@imakefoss is a Twitter rotation curation account. https://t.co/8oHYtRXM8i

Oct 7, 2020

Hello, and thank you for the opportunity to host IMakeFOSS for the week. I want to talk about how open source software is becoming increasingly important in game development.

Martin

Oct 7, 2020

First though, some history… I first heard about this thing called Linux back in the late 90s when I heard a recording of John Carmack from Id Software talk about the Quake level editor. I had no idea what Linux was, but it must be good if Carmack uses it…

Oct 8, 2020

FOSS is hugely important to Sony. The PS4 system software, OrbisOS, is a fork of FreeBSD 9.0, and the development toolchain is based on LLVM and Clang. That’s 106 Million copies of FreeBSD in people’s homes. https://t.co/4Y4YiXaLaZ

Oct 8, 2020

@gtfsheff I don’t know any details but I’ve heard FreeBSD devs mention Sony in the past. On the FreeBSD podcast I think. (https://t.co/BJJO3MLpHd)

Oct 8, 2020

So here are my 3 go-to FOSS tools for making games. Godot, Blender & Krita.

Oct 8, 2020

I’ve been following Blender for years but it was only when they moved to the new UI in V2.5 that I think things really started taking off. Blender is simply stunning… and is making BIG inroads with pro gamedevs who are sick of paying recurring fees and getting little back.

Oct 8, 2020

I’m relatively new to Godot but after spending some time with it I’m really impressed. It’s both lightweight AND capable, and the upcoming 4.0 release looks like it will make some solid inroads into pro gamedev. Unity & UE4 take note…

Oct 8, 2020

I’m no 2D artist but after years of grappling with GIMP and Inkscape using Krita is a breath of fresh air. Solid feature set and a great community behind it. Krita looks to be going far.

Oct 8, 2020

One FOSS project which is being used a lot in-game is Dear ImGui (https://t.co/bI7nsf77LB) by @ocornut. You will find this in lots of games, including Microsofts new Flight Simulator. It is a most excellent UI library.

Oct 9, 2020

Learning how to make games can be hard. Learning how to make game engines even harder. Thankfully there are lots of FOSS resources which you can use and more importantly learn from.

Oct 9, 2020

One of my favorite FOSS packages is Box2D (https://t.co/U6YASPel7V). By studying the API’s and the source code for Box2D you can learn an awful lot about how 2D games work and are programmed.

Oct 9, 2020

For 3D physics simulation you can take a look at Bullet (https://t.co/qtxbgqNsPB), which has been used on many commercial games including the Trials series.

Oct 9, 2020

Although the vast majority of commercial games are closed source… FOSS support is growing inside the games industry. This support may not come via source code contributions but through funding support for developers.

Oct 9, 2020

Last year the Blender Foundation received $1.2 Million from Epic Games to help fund the project. (https://t.co/WT3SZqtFRS)

Oct 9, 2020

The Godot game engine receives financial support from hundreds of developers, myself included, which enable them to hire full time staff to improve the engine. Momentum is growing as people realise the incredible value of projects like Godot.

Oct 9, 2020

@SubinSiby Unfortunately not. Although the Kernel is BSD based there are a number of proprietary and confidential libraries on the PS4 to handle graphics, audio, input and network services.

Oct 11, 2020

Here’s a situation… someone has asked you to remaster a 10 YO game… problem is the data pipeline uses a proprietary file format bound to a 10 YO piece of proprietary software which is longer supported…

Oct 11, 2020

These situations are real and can be a big problem. The software you need to load the original assets is no longer available since the vendor uses a rolling ‘per-seat’ licensing model and only supports a limited number of recent versions.

Oct 11, 2020

You are totally and completely at the mercy of the software vendor. Maybe they have gone out of business… maybe they simply don’t provide licenses for old versions. You are blocked before you even begin. Being able to load in your own data is now an issue.

Oct 11, 2020

Now there is another game you need to remaster… this one used a 10 YO version of Blender… getting hold of that and loading your assets is absolutely trivial (https://t.co/taEmoBE44m). Even if the exact version you need is tough to get hold of it uses an open file format.

Oct 11, 2020

This is another important difference with using FOSS tools. YOU are in control of your data. Being unable to load your own data because of closed file formats and limited support for old versions is a huge risk when using proprietary tools.

Oct 11, 2020

Proprietary software with closed file formats creates a parasitic relationship between you and your software. The vendor can cripple your access to your own data… unless you pay the toll. This is unacceptable. FOSS tools make this issue vanish. It’s YOUR data… always.

Oct 13, 2020

RT @josp0001: ‘I got my first computer in ‘09. WinXP was preinstalled. I discovered a red logo on the back. The machine came preinstalled w…

Oct 13, 2020

I’m handing over IMakeFOSS to another soul soon… to end I would like to open this up to any questions or comments you have regarding game development and open source…

Oct 13, 2020

Software is a collaborative effort… like Science. Only with openness and the freedom to stand on the shoulders of previous giants will it progress. Only FOSS can do this. Closed source is a dead end… doomed to be isolated and ultimately extinguished.

Oct 13, 2020

@workingjubilee Unless there is a shift in OS usage on the desktop gaming will be tightly bound to Windows for a while. Proton is amazing but it hasn’t increased Linux/BSD desktop market share at all. Maybe the shift to ARM based desktops will make a difference ? Who knows.

Oct 13, 2020

@workingjubilee One of the most promising shifts is the widespread acceptance of Vulkan graphics API. Microsoft have had a stranglehold on gaming with DirectX for years. Vulkan is making good progress and could open the route to more native Linux/BSD games.

Oct 13, 2020

@workingjubilee The widespread use of game engines is also making the OS less of an issue for developers. When you can build your game for Linux at the press of a button, as easy as Windows, there is little reason not to provide a Linux version for people to play.

Oct 13, 2020

@workingjubilee Ultimately people play games on whichever machine they have in front of them… and for the time being that seems to be a Windows box.

Oct 14, 2020

@josp0001 It’s a close call between PS1 and PSP but PSP wins. That was a wonderfully well designed piece of kit, and the limits of mobile HW mean you have to be much more creative. I worked with an amazing team on Wipeout Pure which was a PSP launch title. Loved it.

Oct 14, 2020

@ProjectOlivia1 @godotengine Thanks for reading. Godot has a bright future ahead and I wish you all the best with your game development adventures !

Oct 14, 2020

It’s time for me to pass the baton to @keshavmail68 now… thanks for reading my ramblings.