FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

So, one thing I was thinking about is it would be nice to have minetest on iOS. It has been talked about for a long time, and largely dabated and many other things. My question is this: could we figure out a way to be able to get minetest to iOS and implement a way to reward someone who undertakes the task?

As for making it available through the appstore, one possibility is to dual-license future releases in such a way to enable the legality of Minetest on the appstore. Also, we would only need to have the engine, and simply set up a way to download games/mods through the app, that way only the engine needs a dual license.

As for a reward implementation, I don't think the app should be sold, but what about having a "support" tab where you can make an in-app purchase or watch a video add to give the developer a little bit of return for spending the time to port it to iOS?

So, what do Y'all think?

The minetest copyright is not just held by one person, and thus it's probably impossible to dual-license it. Some of the default mods are licensed under multiple people, though if you get all those people to agree on the license, then it might work. If it can be built, we do not necessary have to put it on the app-store, it can just be put on the MT downloads page.

Mainpage wrote:If it can be built, we do not necessary have to put it on the app-store, it can just be put on the MT downloads page.

This would probably require those who want to install it to jailbreak their iDevice, since iOS does not allow downloading random apps from the Web, unlike Android.

Novacain wrote:So, one thing I was thinking about is it would be nice to have minetest on iOS. It has been talked about for a long time, and largely dabated and many other things. My question is this: could we figure out a way to be able to get minetest to iOS and implement a way to reward someone who undertakes the task?

As for making it available through the appstore, one possibility is to dual-license future releases in such a way to enable the legality of Minetest on the appstore. Also, we would only need to have the engine, and simply set up a way to download games/mods through the app, that way only the engine needs a dual license.

As for a reward implementation, I don't think the app should be sold, but what about having a "support" tab where you can make an in-app purchase or watch a video add to give the developer a little bit of return for spending the time to port it to iOS?

So, what do Y'all think?

Honestly I totally agree. Having minetest for iOS wouldn't work though, because Apple blocks of some parts of the minetest website in order to insure that you phone doesn't get viruses, and those parts of the website are needed...even through the App Store.

Novacain wrote:Honestly I totally agree. Having minetest for iOS wouldn't work though, because Apple blocks of some parts of the minetest website in order to insure that you phone doesn't get viruses, and those parts of the website are needed...even through the App Store.

Oh well it can't be that hard to jailbreak and iOS device....
Is it the mac osX build that much diffrent then iOS, ie how hard would it be to make an iOS build if we have osX builds?

Mainpage wrote:Is it the mac osX build that much diffrent then iOS, ie how hard would it be to make an iOS build if we have osX builds?

While iOS is loosely based on OS X, a lot of things differ, starting with the CPU architecture (ARM instead of x86_64) and 3D renderer (OpenGL ES instead of OpenGL). But we do support that architecture and renderer combination on Android, so it should be possible on iOS as well.

Calinou wrote:

Mainpage wrote:Is it the mac osX build that much diffrent then iOS, ie how hard would it be to make an iOS build if we have osX builds?

While iOS is loosely based on OS X, a lot of things differ, starting with the CPU architecture (ARM instead of x86_64) and 3D renderer (OpenGL ES instead of OpenGL). But we do support that architecture and renderer combination on Android, so it should be possible on iOS as well.

Oh yea, this is starting to sound like fun! who wants to give it a try, free chocolate for the first volunteer!
It can't be that hard....

yes, it's hard to port things.
and proof of chocolate or it doesn't exist

Well, it looks like somebody has already ported Minetest to iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/freewor ... d770577592 They are even using the MT icon.

Morn76 wrote:Well, it looks like somebody has already ported Minetest to iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/freewor ... d770577592 They are even using the MT icon.

I don't have an iphone so I can't check, but if the apple store is anything like google play, then that app is probably full of ads and the dev wouldn't publish the source code. This isn't the only version of minetest on the app store see : https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/buildcr ... 72768?mt=8

All of the recommended apps are also minetest

How is it that there is a lot more copies of minetest on the apple store where you have to play $99/year compare to google play which is a one time payment of $25?

red-001 wrote:How is it that there is a lot more copies of minetest on the apple store where you have to play $99/year compare to google play which is a one time payment of $25?

the struggle of nine year-olds trying to get minecraft for free on their parent's iPhone is real

programmingchicken wrote:

red-001 wrote:How is it that there is a lot more copies of minetest on the apple store where you have to play $99/year compare to google play which is a one time payment of $25?

the struggle of nine year-olds trying to get minecraft for free on their parent's iPhone is real

mmm....

Piracy isn't something good, for that reason, those "iphones" have so many viruses some times!

It's a good idea but will be his/her reward for doing it should we make him like mods/ admins in a few servers?

MagicMike wrote:It's a good idea but will be his/her reward for doing it should we make him like mods/ admins in a few servers?

How?
Explain yourself, please.

I think a legitimate porting of Minetest to the iOS is long overdue, even if it requires jailbreaking.

I only learned about Minetest as result of playing Buildcraft. Quite a few players on servers like "just test" and "Extreme Survival Minetest City" also played on an iPad. The same now seems to be true of Cash's World as well as Just Test II, in which a large proportion of players are tablet and phone users. I suspect there is a HUGE untapped market with iOS devices.

sorcerykid wrote:I think a legitimate porting of Minetest to the iOS is long overdue, even if it requires jailbreaking.

I only learned about Minetest as result of playing Buildcraft. Quite a few players on servers like "just test" and "Extreme Survival Minetest City" also played on an iPad. The same now seems to be true of Cash's World as well as Just Test II, in which a large proportion of players are tablet and phone users. I suspect there is a HUGE untapped market with iOS devices.

If you find a way to install without jailbreaking, having license issues or incompatibility, i guess it's possible.

According the U.S. Copyright Office, jailbreaking of tablets and smartphones has been deemed legal. So that should not preclude Minetest being ported to the iPad. The only holdup seems to be finding someone willing and capable of building an iOS compatible version.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/10/27 ... reak-ipad/

sorcerykid wrote:According the U.S. Copyright Office, jailbreaking of tablets and smartphones has been deemed legal. So that should not preclude Minetest being ported to the iPad. The only holdup seems to be finding someone willing and capable of building an iOS compatible version.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/10/27 ... reak-ipad/

https://www.xda-developers.com/google-t ... ps-to-ios/ then someone.compile

Anyways if you jailbreak you lose your warranty :/ That happens with some android brands too.

Also. That's possible, if there are 'TestMine' out there. Then it's possible

Problem isn't the legality of jailbreaking but the fact that few people do it, mean that only a small number of people will be even able to use minetest on iOS. On the other hand it will make creating adware filled clones even easier, something that most people would agree is a bad thing. Of course there is also the issue of finding someone willing to port minetest/ convincing someone to make their code public.