When you buy a game from Jason Rohrer, you get the source code too. (It's also on GitHub.) What you're actually buying is an account on the official multiplayer server (which is also open source).
I thought this was a really interesting model.
Maybe it wouldn't work so well with singleplayer games. However, there's a similar example with the sprite editor / animation software Aseprite, which is open source but you have to compile it yourself, so it's cheaper for most people (in terms of time and effort) to just buy it for $15.
Yeah, exactly. I think the real risk seems to be unofficial precompiled versions, or clones/derivatives, but the same risk exists for redistributing/cracking (and to a lesser degree, modding) closed source software.
Jason Rohrer's game One Hour One Life has a few community spin-offs, which is also really interesting. There are also blatant clones, of course, but it seems to be a worthwhile tradeoff on the whole.
Thanks for the correction. In FSF terms, it has the first two freedoms (run the program, inspect/modify), but not the second two (redistribute program freely, redistribute modified versions).
Still, the latest version is on GitHub? But it's only for "personal use" according to the EULA (and not making your own fork for example).
I thought this was a really interesting model.
Maybe it wouldn't work so well with singleplayer games. However, there's a similar example with the sprite editor / animation software Aseprite, which is open source but you have to compile it yourself, so it's cheaper for most people (in terms of time and effort) to just buy it for $15.