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[EgilsJ]

Greetings.

Lately I've been wanting to create a game, I started off with Java but the system requirements for Java games are enormous in my opinion(and it's also a bit unstable imo). I don't need the fancy graphics or anything, but yet the sysreq is so huge. And then I look back at half-life or quake...Yeah, those are the graphics I need and look at the sysreq - 24mb ram minimum, 32mb recommended!

Now we know half-life was made in GoldSource engine, which is actually a modified Quake engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_engine

Many people went on making their own engine by modifying Quake engine, which was pretty much the best at the time. On the late 1999 John Carmack released the Quake engine source code, that's when all the modifications started.

Now I'm pretty beginner'ish with this, could you guys tell me, if I was to modify their engine too the way I want it, and then publish and sell my game, will I run into any copyright trouble? I mean, they released the source code, that's pretty much as if I were to write the code myself, right?
I happened to work with Goldsource engine a lot in the past, and it differs only in approximately 50 lines of code as Valve says themselves. Do you think Valve had to pay anything to the Quake engine owners(ID) after their success?

Forgive if being silly, but yeah, I appreciate the answers, and thx in advance!

[Shine Klevit]

Isn't quake a tad archaic?

I'd recommend looking into C#. If you know Java, you know it, and it's better for games.

[SF]

That "50 lines of code" has to be hyperbolic or referring to only a certain subset of the engine, because there are far too many technical improvements in HL1 compared to Quake for that to be feasible (skeletal animation, cubemaps, skyboxes, beam renderers, audio processing, and coloured lighting just off the top of my head).

More to the point; Why do you want to work with the Quake engine? Being specifically interested in engine development is the only reason I can think of to do this, but you sound more like you want something free to make commercial games with. For that I'd recommend looking into Unity, Flixel, OGRE, and Gameplay to start.

I'd also recommend just making a couple fun little free (but polished) games in whatever framework you decide on, and getting confident with managing a project before committing to something requiring a big time investment.

[EgilsJ]

Isn't quake a tad archaic?

I'd recommend looking into C#. If you know Java, you know it, and it's better for games.

What does tad archaic means? The engine uses sort of archive files if that's what it is.

Anyway I have little expierience with Java, and none with C#, but I worked a lot with that engine and I think with little modification it's perfect for the game I want!

[EgilsJ]

...

Thx for commenting. I did work with Unity a bit, and I like it, but I really need something with the littliest system requirements for my project at this time. I have the concept pretty much ready and I think the Quake engine is perfect for this, and right now I really wish to rush this project for personal reasons.

Btw here you can read the changes Valve made to the Engine!

[SuperDisk]

"Tad archaic" means that it's outdated.

Also, GoldSRC is far from 50 lines of code difference, it's had a lot of improvements from its original Quake heritage.

[rivon]

Don't try to modify Quake. It's old and it's very hard to orient in the source code especially when there's no API documentation like with the other non-game-specific engines.

If you want an easy and small engine, take a look at Irrlicht

[SF]

here[/url] you can read the changes Valve made to the Engine!

Uhh

There are about 50 lines of code from the Quake 2 engine

They didn't change 50 lines from Quake 1 to get to GoldSrc. They heavily modified the Quake 1 engine, and took about 50 lines from Quake 2 in addition to that.

[EgilsJ]

Don't try to modify Quake. It's old and it's very hard to orient in the source code especially when there's no API documentation like with the other non-game-specific engines.

If you want an easy and small engine, take a look at Irrlicht

Hmm, that looks nice, thank you!

They didn't change 50 lines from Quake 1 to get to GoldSrc. They heavily modified the Quake 1 engine, and took about 50 lines from Quake 2 in addition to that.

Ok sir

[eyeliner]

Considering all that, why not just use Q3 or even Q2's engine? They have trivial needs by today's standards, anyway.

[Hythlodaeus]

Now I'm pretty beginner'ish with this, could you guys tell me, if I was to modify their engine too the way I want it, and then publish and sell my game, will I run into any copyright trouble?

The Quake Engine source has been released under the GNU GPL license since 1999, which means you're able to distribute, modify and sell any copy of the engine and anything based on it provided you share the source code of your own modifications under a Free, share-alike Software License. GoldSource was made prior to the time were the Q1 engine had not been relicensed under GPL (1998) so they had to pay a license for it. You don't have to anymore though. There's nothing to worry about it, and you're free to create a game based on it and sell it, as long as you release its source under a GPL compatible copyleft license with the same terms as the GPL.

Please refer to the licensing terms of the GNU GPLv1 for more info.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-1.0.html

The previously suggested Irrlicht Engine is a little more permissive, being licensed under zlib license allowing you to use the engine for whatever the purpose you may like, with no share-alike restrictions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlib_license

If you're looking for a more updated version of the Q1 engine you can also try the Darkplaces Engine. Spares you the work of cleaning a lot of outdated code.

And remember. ALWAYS check your licenses before using someone else's engine or code. Software licensing is an issue that unfortunately is widely overlooked by most developers, while it should be taught along with any kind of programming course or class. In this ever-evolving tech world of today, it is increasingly important to know just what rights do you have and what rights you should or want to promote while using or making software.

[Ouren]

Call of Duty?