We believe in libre (as in freedom) software. We really think all software should be open-source, as it really benefits the community. Because of this, all of our games are libre software. However, being Duck in Town our first commercial game, we also want some kind of protections that would allow us to get some revenue and keep working on new chapters.

Usually, libre software projects benefit by providing support to the software, or by "selling" work for new features. In the case of game development, it is not as easy, because it is a work more creative and less "open" to contributions.

The basis of the licensing in Duck in Town is to separate it in two different parts: game code (scripts, shaders, scenes configuration) and assets (3D models, textures, dialogues, etc). The game code is totally libre under the GPLv3 license, while the assets are private and distribution is reserved to us. People will be able to read the code, redistribute or change it, but they won't be able to do the same with our assets (that represent the "creative" part of the work).

But wait! That's not true libre software!

Well, it is. Free Software Foundation states that they not share the position that "artistic or entertainment works" should be free, so there it is. And of course, we respect the 4 basic freedoms of software.

If you make your game libre software, how you will earn money?

Technically speaking, we will be selling the assets, not the actual software. I mean, we'll be selling that too, but people will be able to access it freely. However the only legal way of getting the assets is to get it from us. Hopefully that gives us enough support to keep working on games!

If you allow people to redistribute your code, pirating the game will be a lot easier!

Gaming companies spend tons of money on implementing super restrictive DRM to their games. And even with that, the games get cracked in less than a week. Piracy will happen with or without libre software, so at least we prefer legitimate users to access our code and learn as much as we did doing the game!

We think this model is the way to go for libre game development. The industry is very restrictive, including the tools that are commonly used (just look at some engines licenses...). We work 100% with libre software, so we think it is fair to contribute back some cool code to the community :)