I'm curious, what is the licensing on the included Jack Claw source code?
Could I mod it and release it? (Commercially?) What about the included media?
PS. Attempted to get answers from fronzebyte via the in page "chat with frozenbyte" widget. Not much help from them at all. Kind of discouraging.
Heya, curious about the included Jack Claw source--whats the licensing on it?
→Would some one be able to mod and release the source? With existing media assets? How about commercially?
→(Not that I want to buy the source, compile it and sell it) But was curious about utilizing the engine and assets to create a different game and how release options would be liited (or not)
→limited*
Joonas/FrozenByte: I suggest you to go to the frozenbyte jack claw forums and ask about the stuff there.
→Where would that be?
(no answer)
Here's the license text from the README of the source code:
JACK CLAW SOURCE CODE LICENSE
THE COMPUTER CODE ("SOURCE CODE") CONTAINED HEREIN IS THE SOLE PROPERTY OF FROZENBYTE LTD. ("FROZENBYTE").
FROZENBYTE GRANTS TO END-USERS A ROYALTY-FREE, PERPETUAL LICENSE TO USE, DISPLAY, MODIFY, DISTRIBUTE AND
CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS OF THE SOURCE CODE, SO LONG AS SUCH ACTION IS FOR NON-COMMERCIAL, ROYALTY-FREE
AND REVENUE-FREE PURPOSES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE END-USER TAKE ANY ACTION WHEREBY THE SOURCE CODE CONTAINED
HEREIN WOULD BE USED FOR REVENUE-BEARING PURPOSES. THE END-USER UNDERSTANDS AND AGREES TO THE TERMS HEREIN
AND ACCEPTS THE SAME BY USING THE SOURCE CODE IN ANY WAY.
THE SOURCE CODE IS PROVIDED AS-IS AND FROZENBYTE MAKES NO WARRANTY AS TO THE USABILITY OR CORRECTNESS
OF THE SOURCE CODE. ANY USE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
FROZENBYTE RETAINS THE RIGHT TO ALTER THESE LICENSE TERMS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON.
SOURCE CODE README AND FURTHER LICENSE NOTES
--------------------------------------------
Last update to this file: 12th of April 2011
Jack Claw was a project in development at Frozenbyte during the years 2006-2008. It was a big-budget multiplatform game for next-gen consoles and PC. The project was canned in 2008 and the team set to work on Trine ( http://www.trine-thegame.com ) instead. More history on the project can be found at Frozenbyte's website or on the Jack Claw website, and more info on the transition from Jack Claw to Trine can be found in the Gamasutra postmortem:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5826/postmortem_frozenbytes_trine.php
This source code package allows you to compile the game and develop it further if you wish (for non-commercial purposes). All other Jack Claw files, including the art assets and the level editor, remain the sole property and copyright of Frozenbyte. You may not distribute any of the files not included in the source code package. Should the source code include any 3rd party files or software, the copyright remains with the original owner and you are not allowed to distribute or modify such files or software. It is also forbidden to distribute Jack Claw or any direct derivative, in any way (e.g. not even for free), in any "app stores" such as the Mac App Store or similar, or in any distribution channel that has authorization control by a third party.
If you have a question about the license or a specific file, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're mostly just covering our legal base with this stuff.
Please note that we cannot provide any official support for this source code release, although we will try to help where we can.
If you are interested in developing Jack Claw, please get in touch with us or join the community - we are not actively developing the game on our own anymore but we are generally open to ideas, and our main interest is to just get the game out there and see what happens, and support the community with their ideas.
That's actually... a really bad license. Noncommercial only and no revenue is really restrictive, and retaining the right to relicense the software whenever Frozenbyte chooses?
It is because they hope to create a crowd-sourced game later down the road. The idea is that by releasing the source they can hold contests to create levels and bosses and music and therefore create a finished product with minimum effort.
Could I mod it and release it? (Commercially?) What about the included media?
PS. Attempted to get answers from fronzebyte via the in page "chat with frozenbyte" widget. Not much help from them at all. Kind of discouraging.