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happysmileman
September 25th, 2007, 05:29 PM
As part of my LCVP (Leaving Cert. Vocational Program) project in school I've been asked to start, with a friend, a project or business, and preferably earn money (not necessary but it's obviously our aim)

My idea was that we download a bunch of FOSS games for Windows, put them on a DVD (along with source code to make it easier to follow the GPL etc.) and sell it for €5-6.

I'd like to know a few things, mainly your opinions.

First of all, what games should I get (the obvious one).

I'm thinking of Battle For Wesnoth definitely, for it's small size and great gameplay.
I was thinking of putting Enemy Territory on it, but while the engine is open-source the game contents itself don't appear to be, any know about this?
Not really sure what else, possibly Nexuiz and stuff.

Secondly, I'll be putting the game installer on it, as well as the text of whatever license it's distributed under and, given enough space, the full code (otherwise I'll give contact details and state on the DVD that I can give it out).
Can you see anything here that may be violating the GPL? Or any other law for that matter? (I will look into the other OSS licenses as necessary, but this is just the initial planning.
I'll also put a readme file (probably HTML) that will explain which games are under which license and a brief description, maybe a page with description for each?

Third, can you think of anything I'd need to do other than copy the files to a disk image and burn it? Would I be required to help people with installing these or do I just need to distribute with code and license (and my HTML files with basic info about each)

I may have more problems, but can't think of any, mainly just want to make sure it's legal and will work for now, I think I'd like to be able to start selling them by next Saturday so no rush, might take about a day or two to set it up but no more.

Oh and I'm not trying to push FOSS or Linux or anything, and the game will all be for Windows, I'm just concerned about doing well on project and maybe making some money, I most probably will include some links to Ubuntu site, FSF, GNU or stuff, and maybe have a HTML file explaining benefits of FOSS. But this is about selling games and coming up with a good idea for a project mostly

LaRoza
September 25th, 2007, 05:31 PM
If these are GPL games, just follow the license, but make sure to read the entire license with each game! Some don't allow such things.

happysmileman
September 25th, 2007, 05:46 PM
If these are GPL games, just follow the license, but make sure to read the entire license with each game! Some don't allow such things.

Ok, so it's fine to copy the installers and source code onto CD, with license and optional extras... Then charge for it, as long as the GPL hasn't changed.

If a games says it's licensed under GPL does that automatically mean I can do it, or can it use modified GPL and still claim it's GPL, ensuring I don't always have to read the same license repeatedly unless it says it's modified?

Other than that, what games would be recommended?

Vadi
September 25th, 2007, 05:56 PM
As far as I remember, GPL only allows you to charge for the distrubution media, and the max is $15. So your $5-6 will be okay, I think.

My original throught was against this, but thinking about it, you'll be helping promote FOSS stuff for Windows - great. Make sure to leave a big section for Ubuntu! :D

Some games I'd recommend, are irrlamb (http://code.google.com/p/irrlamb/downloads/list) and SuperTuxCart (http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/).

That's about it, I dont play many more games, but those ones are definitely addictive and work on windows also.

LaRoza
September 25th, 2007, 05:59 PM
I don't play many games, but if you want to distribute games, GamesKnoppix might be something worth looking into.

happysmileman
September 25th, 2007, 06:04 PM
My original throught was against this, but thinking about it, you'll be helping promote FOSS stuff for Windows - great. Make sure to leave a big section for Ubuntu! :D

Well on the page for FOSS in general I'll have a big section for Linux, that'll probably include a lot about Ubuntu, and I'll definitely link to some sites. And I might throw in some non-games like Firefox or the GIMP as well... I don't wanna give people a half-full disk when there's more FOSS to be given away, especially when they're paying for it



Some games I'd recommend, are irrlamb (http://code.google.com/p/irrlamb/downloads/list) and SuperTuxCart (http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/).

Cool, I'll look into all these after homework, as long as they're free and work on Windows (and can be distributed) it's fine...

kebes
September 25th, 2007, 06:06 PM
As far as I remember, GPL only allows you to charge for the distrubution media, and the max is $15. So your $5-6 will be okay, I think.
Not quite. You can resell GPL software and charge whatever you want. However you either must include the source code, or if you don't, you must offer the source code freely (in which case you can only charge for the media you deliver the source code on, and only up to a "reasonable" limit, like $15).

If you're distributing GPL software on CD, the easiest thing is to just include the source code right away, in which case you don't have to worry about people requesting copies of the code, and you can charge whatever you want. (Of course, nothing stops the users from making free copies for friends or downloading the same code for free from the net).

happysmileman
September 25th, 2007, 07:58 PM
Ok, so as far as I know it's prefectly fine to download most games, though i will look at the license for them all before including.

Now for the games... Any ideas of good FOSS, preferably something stable and of very good quality, I'm currently getting Sauerbraten and Battle for Wesnoth. Will look into Enemy Territory

Vadi
September 26th, 2007, 12:44 AM
Not quite. You can resell GPL software and charge whatever you want. However you either must include the source code, or if you don't, you must offer the source code freely (in which case you can only charge for the media you deliver the source code on, and only up to a "reasonable" limit, like $15).

If you're distributing GPL software on CD, the easiest thing is to just include the source code right away, in which case you don't have to worry about people requesting copies of the code, and you can charge whatever you want. (Of course, nothing stops the users from making free copies for friends or downloading the same code for free from the net).

Ahh okay, almost there. Thanks for clearing it up. I read the whole license from scratch, so my mortal mind didn't really comprehend all of the talk there.

nhydra
September 26th, 2007, 09:19 AM
Have a look about:
Nexuiz, Tremulos, OpenArena, America's army, Enemy territory, TORCS, Gl-117.
Nexuiz and Tremulos, OpenArena are great games. Nexuiz has nice graphics and very interesting level design as well as sound.
So, i suggest you to include it.