charge for homebrew, or sell application

Hi,


I am working on a game (that will be released free to the world).

However, if I wanted to sell the game then what is stopping me?
How much of the "scene" comes under various Creative Commons or GNU stuff?

Quote

However, if I wanted to sell the game then what is stopping me?

I don't know about the risk since you are not a licensed Nintendo developper but I'd say nothing, as long as your sourcecode is not under a license that prohibits commercial profits:

- If you used GPL code, you would have to provide the WHOLE sourcecode as well though, so anybody could compile it himself and make it run on their wii without having to pay you any fees. Regarding the Wii homebrew scene, you won't sell many of them unless you are providing some extra value in what you are selling.

- if the code is all your own, you can keep it closed and distribute/sell the binary to whoever wants it.

Quote

How much of the "scene" comes under various Creative Commons or GNU stuff?

Most of the stuff here are licensed under the GPL license. The rest being generally closed source.
LibOGC is under a special license I believe which means that you can still link your application with libogc and do what your want with your application



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2009 12:01PM by ekeeke.

Well, most of the libraries you'd be using would be under licenses which would stop you selling your work I think, so you'd probably have to make your own libraries from scratch. Including, I think, libogc, the main library used for homebrew development. Oh, and how do you intend to sell it? You wont be able to sell something in a shop, as then people would have to have HBC to play it, and would cause a lot headaches. And selling it online probably wouldnt work too well either. Also, people have worked hard to make the libraries you're probably using, and released them for free. Respect them and the rest of the people in the scene and release it for free. That's what homebrew is. Free software, made by people for fun, not money.

Offer people the option to donate. It works.

Quote
LibOGC license
1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you
must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use
this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product
documentation would be appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and
must not be misrepresented as being the original software.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source
distribution.

Just to point it out about LibOGC, which probably you should use/have used more in your program.
I think there is also some LGPL libraries around, which you can also use in closed source apps...

Personally, I'm with eke-eke. Unless is something really marvelous you are doing, you won't sell many copies of your app. You should think well before trying to do a commercial launch.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2009 10:34PM by DanielHueho.

thanks everyone for clearing that up.... donations seem to be the way to go IF I wanted to reclaim some money then.


On a side note, I've not had much experience with the licensing side. I am in the process of writing a Wii version of Liquid Wars. I didnt get anywhere looking at the source code, so I rewrote it from scratch using possibly a different algorithm. I havent used any additional Framework Libraries (yet) and only used the stuff packaged with DevKitPro.

I have uploaded a pre-release version of the game, but no source yet (as I wanted to get to a stage I was happy with before people ripped it apart - for lack of a better phase). How do I go about ensuring all the license stuff is complete.