Hi.

After spending some time looking at Stency, I can say pretty conclusively that we won't be able to accept it.  Here are the relevant rules:

• License:  Code entries must be free and open source, and must be available under the GNU GPL 3.0.  You may optionally release the code under any additional license(s) that you choose.
• Source code:  You must provide the complete source code for your entry.  Any code you have written for your game prior to the beginning of the contest must be made available at the beginning of the contest.
• Platform:  Your code must be able to be compiled and run on a 100% free-as-in-freedom platform. [...]

Meaning: If your game is distributed with Flash player, we would need the source code for Flash Player under a FSF-approved free software license, and that's something that Adobe would have to agree to.

If it's distributed without flash player (and instead assumes the existence of Flash or its libraries, or iOS) those would still need to have the source code available under an FSF-approved license.

I noticed on the site that in the future Sencyl might create native executables and/or HTML5 code.  Depending on how everything works, there might be a chance that would fit in with the rules (it would depend if there are other dependencies on proprietary code, etc), but I can't make any sort of guarantee about that without getting some technical and licensing details and speaking with the other judges.  I'm responding now because since those features aren't available yet it may be a moot point (if html5 and native executables will become available before July 31st, let me know and I'll check around some more).

For what it's worth, the idea isn't to exclude people -- it's just that the purpose of the contest is to create more 100% free and open media.  Also, as the admin of OpenGameArt, I'd like to point out (so as to avoid any confusion) that much of the art we have on this site is perfectly fine for use in Stencyl games, and I'd be happy to answer any licensing questions that people have to the best of my ability.

Bart

I need to revise my statement.  Even if Stencyl produces HTML5 or native code, we can only accept it if the version of Stencyl being used to generate the code is also 100% free and open source.

The point of this contest is to promote FLOSS games and make people aware that it's possible to create great games without using non-FLOSS parts .. It makes sense to be 'zeolous' with the rules of such a contest, doesn't it?

It's not a religion, it's just using non-FLOSS tools is the opposite of what this contest is trying to promote.

It would be like allowing the CEO of Green Peace to drive a fat Cadillac with a V12 (fuel consumtion: infinite gallons per mile) around during a promotion of Green Peace.. It wouldn't make sense at all!

@DoctorMikeReddy

I admittedly differ from the position of the FSF on this, as I don't personally take any issue with proprietary software.  It's just that the contest is about Free (as in speech) Software.  That was intended to be clear as part of the rules, and I'm sorry if it wasn't.  I've updated the About page to be clearer about this too.

If a Flash games contest refused to accept non-flash games, would you feel that they're being zealous or inflexible?

@DoctorMike: The contest is about making and promoting Free and Libre Software. Like it or not, Stencyl isn't, and therefore, it can't be used in this particular contest.

You'd be more than welcome to use any other Libre game engine though like jMonkeyEngine, and enter the competition :-)

@Nushio:  That really comes off as kind of a blatant plug, particularly since jMonkeyEngine isn't really meant for 2D stuff. :)

On the plus side, you can still take advantage of the graphics generated for the contest.  So there's that.

@Bart? Blatant Plug? I do not work on jMonkeyEngine nor *with* jMonkey. Sorry if it sounded like I did, but nope. Just a fan. :-)

I disagree to your statement, because Stencyl is just a framework.

If you would ban Flash, you would need to ban all other frameworks, which are not completely opensource.

@Anon: These lists might help:

Free,_cross-platform_game_engines

Free, cross-platform, real-time_3D_engines

https://github.com/bebraw/jswiki/wiki/Game-Engines (only the ones with open source licenses like GPL, BSD, MIT, zLib)...

That's pretty much agreed and done. This contest is about making Libre games using Libre frameworks. :-)

If you would ban Flash, you would need to ban all other frameworks, which are not completely opensource.

The rules say that any code that can't be compiled and run on a 100% free and open source environment aren't allowed.  This does effectively ban all frameworks that aren't completely open source as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong).  We're certainly not banning Stencyl specifically -- it just doesn't work given the rules of the contest, much like XNA or Unity.

@DoctorMike:

What would make me feel less "hair shirted" would be a definitive list of suitable engines that would be accessible to some of my students; they want to get behind this, but want showcases for professional (i.e. commercial work) as well as being exposed to FAIF! It's about winning the hearts and minds!

I'm actually going to be blogging about suitable (and production-ready) engines in the LPC blog.  The one I've already touched on is Frogatto, which is definitely worth checking out.

You can see a list of the engines and tools that I'm planning on highlighting, here:

http://opengameart.org/forumtopic/future-enginelibrarytoolkit-highlights...

You can consider everything that I listed in the top post to be verified as acceptable (note that I can't necessarily vouch for suggestions people bring up in replies to the post, as I have no control over those).

Bart