Other Release The Source Code

[Clockwork Alpha]

I am proposing that once 1.4 is released, as well as any bug-fix updates that follow soon after, the Terraria developers should make the decision to release the source code.

As Terraria would be a finished game and not likely to receive any future updates at this point, releasing the source code for everyone would have the following benefits:
* People would be allowed to use the source code for educational purposes and experimentation
* Programmers could use Terraria's source code in their own projects
* People could make their own versions of the game or develop it on their own
* While Terraria may be mostly forgotten in 5-10 years, its source code could remain indefinitely in future projects, positively influencing various future games and programs for more years to come.

"But will it encourage piracy/enable people to play without purchasing it?"
Compiling an entire game requires technical expertise and setup far beyond the average computer user or pirate. There are also much easier ways to pirate this game than compiling the entire thing from source, anyways.

 

[sharkman0101]

The game uses an outdated XNA framework anyway. The educational and applicable value from this isn't as great as you'd think, especially as other, superior coding formats and engines are available for use.

 

[Tunnel King]

The Source Code is already available, if this is what you mean.

link removed by staff

Please do not post links such as this on this forum. Terraria's source code is copyrighted and it is not permitted to distributed in this manner. We will be seeking to have this repository removed.

People can decompile the executable for their personal use, but distribution of the results is not permitted without explicit permission from Re-Logic.

 

[Clockwork Alpha]

The game uses an outdated XNA framework anyway. The educational and applicable value from this isn't as great as you'd think, especially as other, superior coding formats and engines are available for use.

I see what you are saying, however the educational value of the code isn't necessarily tied to whether it's outdated or not. There's an MMO that shutdown recently called Deepworld, and they decided to release all the serverside code for educational purposes despite it being a big outdated mess, far beyond what anyone would be willing to use in their own projects or otherwise. However they knew that ahead of time and released it anyways, because even outdated or outdated code can serve an important purpose or be useful to people. That's an extreme example, but even if Terraria's code is the same way, there's still tremendous educational value in it.