@colingourlay @panic Is their SDK still on a weird non-free license?
@dos @colingourlay Depends on what you mean by non-free! The SDK is literally free, and you’re free to distribute any games you make with the SDK for free? https://play.date/dev/sdk-license/
@panic @colingourlay So yup, it's sadly still non-free: non-redistributable, non-modifiable and prohibiting development of other SDKs.
@dos @colingourlay Oh, I see. Let me ask: what’s your actual goal/dream, the literal thing you want to do or make that the current license prevents you from doing? We’d be happy to talk internally about how to get there!
@panic @colingourlay For starters, not making the platform essentially dead when the rights owner goes down would be nice. Nobody else can host a copy of the SDK.
Then, not having to require my users to use non-free software in order to modify, compile and deploy my projects would be appreciated as well.
Last but not least, all software is buggy and SDKs are not an exception. When I stumble upon a bug in it, I should be able to inspect it, debug, fix and share the fix with others.
@panic @colingourlay It's an interesting hardware that I'd definitely spend time making fun games for, as that's just what I do with other platforms. I've been eyeing this one since the very beginning, it could be neat for game jams. However, this platform lacks an essential feature - that feature being "an acceptable license". Life is simply too short to waste on proprietary platforms, for many reasons - both philosophical and practical.
@dos @colingourlay Got jt, understood! I can absolutely see that that’s an essential feature for you! Thanks for at least being aware of Playdate!
@dos @colingourlay Ok, got it! So it’s a little more philosophical/theoretical than, say, you had a dream game you wanted to make but the SDK is missing X feature that’s really important to you. Understood and respected!