Source Code

[vms_reboot]

I know the source code for the server is available in several iterations, but I'm wondering if the actual game client was ever made available? How is the programming team at The Tain making new versions?

[vinylrake]

magic.

[Myrd]

The source code to Myth was never made publicly available.

[vms_reboot]

So Take 2 gave it to the small group(3 or so?) of developers who makes updates/patches with the promise that no one else can ever see it, learn from it, or tinker with it?

So have the same few people stayed on this project the whole time? Has anyone left the group...has anyone come on board later? Does the group of developers work together professionally as well or only via Myth related projects?

Thanks...

[Graydon]

Considering how long Myth 2's been around, and how long Bungie left it alone, I'd have a pretty good wager you can guess the answers (and already have, as per the phrasing of the questions) to those questions.

-Yes
-Yes some have stayed
-Yes some have left
-Yes some have joined
-No, just myth



FTR, I'm not a dev. I just hang around a lot.

[iron]

What Gray said.

FWIW, no-one in the dev team or @ magma has a formal agreement to work on the myth sourcecode & make updates. No-one at all in the myth community has an agreement like this anymore - there were a few, but they only had explicit permission to work on Myth 3, and iirc their agreements only lasted for 1 year & hence are long expired.

So what, you might ask, gives the Magma developers the right to (a) make updates and (b) keep the sourcecode to themselves?

Well, we started making updates because we didn't want changes to MacOS and Windows to kill the game, which they certainly would have done; we saw immense scope for improvement and expansion in the game, and it was fun. That's why the dev team keeps working on the game even now.

The sourcecode is not released publicly as, firstly, if we don't have an explicit right to work on the code and create updates, we have even less right to distribute it to the world. Such an action could gain the attention of Take 2, who have tolerated our updates all these years, and they may decide to issue cease & desists. Even if they didn't, distributing the code would create two unpleasant possibilities. Firstly, people could introduce cheats to the game - one simple one that springs to mind is showing all units on the overhead regardless of visibility. That would not go down well in tournaments, and there'd be no way of detecting it. Secondly, some people could decide to implement changes in Myth that aren't compatible with ours, and you'd end up with forked versions of the game, fragmenting what is already a small and dwindling community.

So we keep it to ourselves, inviting new developers to the team as needed once we're satisfied that they're both competent and trustworthy. I hope that answers your questions

[vms_reboot]

I completely understand and have no problem with this approach. I am truly just brand new to the Myth community as it is now having been away since Bungie actually ran their servers and am just getting the lay of the land. So, in all earnestness, what can I as a software engineer do to work my way towards gaining the trust to work on something? I have no interest in doing something else with Myth other than playing and learning about it/working on it if possible.

Thanks!!!

[iron]

Well, these days Myrd (see reply above) is the head honcho developer. I'd suggest sending him a PM and see where it goes from there

[GodzFire]

Such an action could gain the attention of Take 2, who have tolerated our updates all these years, and they may decide to issue cease & desists.

And by tolerate, Iron means completely forget about the Myth series and not even know it exists anymore or they own it.

EDIT: vms_reboot, you can also speak with Melekor and PunkUser, as they also both work on the code itself, and could at least give you an idea of what it's all about.

[Gleep]

I'm glad the source code has been protected. As for Take 2 or Bungie, lol at Glen Cook for not suing them.