EA has open sourced Command & Conquer: Red Alert under GPLv3
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This is a momentous event. I only wish it had Red Alert 2 in it.
If it doesn't then I'm not interested.
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Is Tiberian Sun included!!!??
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Is Tiberian Sun included!!!??
No. The repo has Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert 1, Generals with Zero Hour, Renegade, and components for the HD ports of TD and RA1 they put out a few years ago.
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It sounds like that's what happened, but through the proper channels. They hired a known CnC community/modding site admin as the dev.
I'd imagine he pitched that this was an easy way to reduce maintenance costs while fostering massive good will and making the amount of long tail sales over time higher.
That's actually kind of a brilliant concept that should serve as an example for other video game publishers then: open-source the program so that it can be maintained by the community, but require a license to use the artwork. The community could eventually recreate and even improve the artwork anyway.
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Short version: You can make free stuff for them but they still own all of it and still require people to purchase a copy to use the derivatives.
You can make complete conversions with your own assets. That's basically how old id engines work.
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Are they trying to become the not most hated studio? The bar is pretty low these days...
I feel like at some point, EA became the least hated major studio by staying exactly where they were. The rest of the industry zoomed past them.
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I'm assuming this is more about art assets. Art is not code and you shouldn't expect them for free. It's not a catch.
Correct. The license (at least, the one I read for Red Alert) is GPLv3 with some additional stuff. The additional stuff is mostly about not using EA trademarks in your version or showing any connection to EA itself. So it appears that a clean room asset swap would be allowed as long as it includes the title screen.
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Intellectual property is what allows them to make these games GPL.
The GPL is a way to make intellectual property work the way it should by default.
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I feel like at some point, EA became the least hated major studio by staying exactly where they were. The rest of the industry zoomed past them.
Nah, you're going way too far. Least hated studio? What about CD Projekt Red? Larian? Fromsoft? Who hates Warhorse more than EA?
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I hope everyone's SSDs have enough SPACE
When I first played Red Alert, it was on a computer with a 6.4GB hard drive, and I had no idea how to fill up that much space at the time. I think we'll be fine.
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It’s a kick ass game but some of the tropes didn’t age well.
The whole premise is "America: Fuck Yeah, The RTS".
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No. The repo has Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert 1, Generals with Zero Hour, Renegade, and components for the HD ports of TD and RA1 they put out a few years ago.
AY YO RENEGADE!?
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Who cares. EA sucks balls
You can hate the company while accepting this. EA doesn't have exclusive control over that game anymore.
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Nah, you're going way too far. Least hated studio? What about CD Projekt Red? Larian? Fromsoft? Who hates Warhorse more than EA?
Maybe I should clarify that to "publisher". EA itself doesn't really make games anymore. They fund the studios who make games.
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Is Tiberian Sun included!!!??
From what I've read/know, the source for Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 were lost a while ago. Doesn't mean it can't be reverse engineered at some point, but it's challenging. I'd LOVE for those to be next though!
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I'm not well versed in C&C, but it's always good to see more games open sourced.
its odd that they open sourced Generals and the first CNC and Red Alert, but nothing in between.
CNC3 was my favorite, and I'll die on that hill . but RA2 was obivously the fan favorite, and Tiberian Sun had probably the best atmosphere
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its odd that they open sourced Generals and the first CNC and Red Alert, but nothing in between.
CNC3 was my favorite, and I'll die on that hill . but RA2 was obivously the fan favorite, and Tiberian Sun had probably the best atmosphere
Sometimes licenses get in the way, it's possible they bought an engine or tech from a 3rd party and don't have the legal standing (or don't know if they do or not) to release the source.
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Sometimes licenses get in the way, it's possible they bought an engine or tech from a 3rd party and don't have the legal standing (or don't know if they do or not) to release the source.
someone else here suggested that the source code for TS/RA2 was lost. which wouldnt surprise me.
These are games that were made when and before the Zoomers were being born. they are ancient by most people's standards.
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You can hate the company while accepting this. EA doesn't have exclusive control over that game anymore.
I will never have anything good to say about EA
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someone else here suggested that the source code for TS/RA2 was lost. which wouldnt surprise me.
These are games that were made when and before the Zoomers were being born. they are ancient by most people's standards.
Fallout source is gone too. There was just no reliable way to store source code back then, a lot of times it was just one of the developers that had it sitting in a desk drawer.
If it's new enough, maybe a burnt CD.
