Other Publish the source code for Terraria (minus assets) to aid modding

flarn2006

Terrarian
Some game developers have, despite their games being commercial products, published their source code in order to assist people who want to make mods. Two examples I've seen are the relatively popular Space Engineers, and a less-popular game called Eldritch. I'm sure there's more. Terraria is .NET-based and not obfuscated, so it's already easy to decompile, and that has certainly aided modding. But having the original source code with comments, rather than a computer-generated approximation containing errors, would be even better.

It's possible to do this without making the game a completely free product for two reasons. First, and most obviously, you can specify in the license something similar to the one for Space Engineers: basically, that the product is not free software just because the source code is available, and that you're only allowed to use it to make mods for Terraria. The second, more practical reason is that you don't have to include the game assets with the source code. That way you can't just download the source code and compile it without buying Terraria--well you can, but that wouldn't enable you to play the game--you'd need to copy the asset files from a purchased copy of Terraria. Someone could always download the assets from somewhere else to play the game without paying, but that would be the same as pirating the game, which is already possible.

Devs: is there a reason this wouldn't work for you?
 
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