Meridian 59

Broodhill

Member

Registered: 2009-07-25

Posts: 105

Meridian 59 going open source!

Zandramas and I are happy to announce that we've decided to release Meridian as open source. We've been running the game for almost 3 years, and while we've made a lot of infrastructure improvements (client and server stability and performance, security, installer, update system), we clearly haven't had as much time for gameplay improvements. We're both busy with careers and families, and rather than have the game rust under our semi-negligence, we thought we'd give everyone a chance to make the game better.

We're working to clean up the build system, remove legal obstacles, and make things a little bit more user friendly. It will take another month or two to get all of the details figured out. While we haven't decided on the licensing terms yet, most likely we'll share the code but keep rights to the assets (art, etc.) to avoid blatant commercial exploitation. You'll be able to run your own free server and make modifications to the rules.

What will happen to the current servers? Read the next announcement!

Z

http://www.gilcon.net/m59forum/forums/t … p?tid=4121

This will be awesome, I'm really looking forward to get my hands on the source and whatever tools we will be handed by Z&Z

MicroHaX

Member

From: Russia

Registered: 2012-08-30

Posts: 61

Re: Meridian 59 going open source!

What will happen to the current servers? Read the next announcement!

I can't create account. Can you said 'What will happen to the current servers?'

Broodhill

Member

Registered: 2009-07-25

Posts: 105

Re: Meridian 59 going open source!

For the last few years we've been relying on donations to cover day-to-day costs of Web hosting. Your generosity has made some cool things possible, like being the oldest game with a booth at PAX in 2011 (by far!), MP3 music playback, shutting down pirate servers, and a Web site for automatic account creation. Donations have covered almost all of these expenses (we're a tiny bit in the hole).

Some of you may not know that Oz and his father have been providing hosting for the game servers at their own expense this entire time. This has allowed Meridian to live for the last few years. Starting in September, though, it's time for us to start paying our fair share. We looked at a few options, and our total costs are going to be about $250/month---unfortunately Windows hosting is relatively expensive. There are enough players that donations should be able to cover it if people are still interested in playing.

We considered selling items or other benefits in the game, but ultimately decided not to. We don't have the time to do it, and we don't want to deal with all of the customer service problems that come with selling things. Zandramas and I have committed to keeping the servers up through the open source release (see the previous announcement). If you'd like to see the servers up past that, please consider donating, especially if you haven't before.

Thank you to all of the many people who have donated in the past to get us this far!

Basicly, as long as people donate money to keep the server running 101 and 102 will be up, if people dont donate, it will not be up.