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Acces to code?

A topic by Whaown created Aug 18, 2024 Views: 144 Replies: 7
Viewing posts 1 to 3
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Do people share their codes from games openly here? i would like 2 read them all 2 improve my skills!

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It is unusual to share the source code, even if the game is free.

But those that do, probably used one of those two tags

https://itch.io/games/tag-open-source

https://itch.io/games/tag-sourcecode

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hey thanks for sharing the links! i just dont understand why its so unusual...

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Is that a serious question?

What use is the source code to a normal user? They do not have the knowledge, nor the tools to create the game from the source code. And even if they have some of it, chances are the game might not work, because of slight oversights or technicalities.

Users are here for the game, not the source code.

And this is not even considering that some developers might not want to share their code.

It is also kinda the name giver for open source. Everything not open source could be called closed source. And you do not share code from closed source in general. So it is unusual to see source code outside of open source projects.

i like playing games and reading the code afterwards! its a very efficient way for me to learn so yes its a serious question

Well, my answer was of course just my take on why source code is not typically released. It makes no sense for a typical user computer. The necessary development tools to compile the code are missing.

It is a bit different on Linux. There you could have dependencies and all and a makefile to actually distribute your game as source code. And there were times when this actually made a lot of sense, since there are different architectures and such, so you would have had to compile for each target architecture - or just distribute the source code.

It also depends on the type of source code you are interested in. Unless you code your basic stuff yourself, you will probably use an engine or another.

(1 edit) (+1)

In response to your reply to the other commenter, I think it's unusual to share source code ( anywhere in tech, not just here ), for two reasons:

1. Exporting all that code would be difficult

2.Some people spend years learning their craft, and how to program functions, they might not see it as fair to give it away for free. 

3. Beginner programmers ( especially self-taught ones ), probably don't have to best code to begin with. 


If you want to learn to code, I recommend purchasing a book that will teach you your game engine, and/or watch some YouTube tutorials.

Follow Me , please btw. Trying to build a following! :)

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fair but huge W to them if they share it :) i hope i get to a lvl where i can share my stuff