New to MIT License
by sillytoon · in General Discussion · 08/12/2013 (12:15 pm) · 3 replies
I have a basic question about what I can and can not do with Torque 3D.
I just downloaded Torque 3D binaries and opened this garage games account for myself. Since Torque 3D is now under an MIT license, is the following true?
1. I can make a game and sell it and I don't have to pay anyone anything for doing so?
2. I can also download the source code and compile it, and make a game also to sell without having to pay anyone anything?
3. Is there anything I need to understand as far as a financial obligation is concerned regarding the use of Torque 3D.
4. In my profile, there is an open source license agreement. Do I have to go through that and agree, if I want to make games? or is that only for developers who are contributing to the game engines?
These questions, if someone can confirm it for me and maybe provide some advice on questions I might not know to ask, would be helpful.
I just downloaded Torque 3D binaries and opened this garage games account for myself. Since Torque 3D is now under an MIT license, is the following true?
1. I can make a game and sell it and I don't have to pay anyone anything for doing so?
2. I can also download the source code and compile it, and make a game also to sell without having to pay anyone anything?
3. Is there anything I need to understand as far as a financial obligation is concerned regarding the use of Torque 3D.
4. In my profile, there is an open source license agreement. Do I have to go through that and agree, if I want to make games? or is that only for developers who are contributing to the game engines?
These questions, if someone can confirm it for me and maybe provide some advice on questions I might not know to ask, would be helpful.
#2
08/12/2013 (12:41 pm)
This is absolutely great, thanks for the quick response. The MIT license is so short, I couldn't figure out if there was a catch. 
#3
Just like any other trademark you need to respect Torque 3D, Garage Games, Torque 2D, etc. So lets say you wanted to make a game engine and sell your solution for people to use. You cannot call it Torque 3D (you can give credit to GG and say where the code came from). You would have to provide your own name for the engine. I am sure GG won't mind if you have a Garage Games splash screen, but ask them for guidelines on how and when you can use their trademarks in a finished product. This would be the same for any other solution provider.
Now MIT is open source, but it has no obligations for you to share the code or your changes to the code. This is not a copyleft license like GPL or LGPL. You can make your changes, compile, and distribute how you please in any terms you want to use for your software. If you choose to give away your code that is your choice and nobody elses.
Since you sound fairly new to software development you might take some time learning about them by reading up on the MIT, GPL, LGPL, BSD, Apache, and Mozilla licenses. This will give you the knowledge you need when selecting libraries to use for your projects. It will also keep you out of trouble with various open source license projects.
Oh and welcome to Garage Games!
08/12/2013 (1:07 pm)
@sillytoon,Just like any other trademark you need to respect Torque 3D, Garage Games, Torque 2D, etc. So lets say you wanted to make a game engine and sell your solution for people to use. You cannot call it Torque 3D (you can give credit to GG and say where the code came from). You would have to provide your own name for the engine. I am sure GG won't mind if you have a Garage Games splash screen, but ask them for guidelines on how and when you can use their trademarks in a finished product. This would be the same for any other solution provider.
Now MIT is open source, but it has no obligations for you to share the code or your changes to the code. This is not a copyleft license like GPL or LGPL. You can make your changes, compile, and distribute how you please in any terms you want to use for your software. If you choose to give away your code that is your choice and nobody elses.
Since you sound fairly new to software development you might take some time learning about them by reading up on the MIT, GPL, LGPL, BSD, Apache, and Mozilla licenses. This will give you the knowledge you need when selecting libraries to use for your projects. It will also keep you out of trouble with various open source license projects.
Oh and welcome to Garage Games!
Torque Owner Lukas Joergensen
WinterLeaf Entertainment
2. yes
3. no
4. no that is if you want to contribute code to the engine on GitHub.
Basically MIT allows you to do anything, completely for free.
You don't have to worry about any licensing issues whatsoever.