Open source
Orbium is going open source, through a public edition of its code published release by release. What that means, and why we do it this way.
View as MarkdownOrbium will be open source: the platform, One Beam and the engine under them, for anyone to read, learn from, run and build on. This page explains how the code will be shared, and why.
How the code will be shared
Orbium is developed in a private repository. From it, we generate an open-source edition: a separate, public repository on GitHub, under the OrbiumGames account. It is updated every time we ship a new release, so what you read there is what players are running.
The first edition is being prepared. It will be announced on these pages, on Discord and on Patreon, with more updates in the near future.
Why a separate edition
Keeping development private and publishing an edition with each release lets us open the code without putting the platform or its people at risk:
- Security. The private repository holds what keeps the live service running and fair: how the servers are deployed and configured, and the safeguards around them. Those details stay out of the public edition.
- Privacy. Day-to-day development carries things that are not meant to be public: internal notes, conversations with players and backers, work in progress. The edition contains the code, not the people around it.
- Releases you can rely on. Every edition matches a release that has been tested and runs. No half-finished work, no history to dig through: a clean starting point for reading the code or running your own server.
What the edition will contain
| Folder | What it is |
|---|---|
engine/ | The WebGPU engine: GPU resources, shaders, terrain, sea, sky |
shared/ | Code the browser and the server both run: the island, the rules |
server/ | The game server: one Durable Object per Hold |
client/ | The site and the game in the browser |
tools/ | Bot players and the sound pipeline |
test/ | The tests |
docs/ | These pages, in Markdown |
The developers' docs already explain how it all works. The file names they mention are those of the edition; once it is published, they will link straight to the code.
For our backers
Backing on Patreon pays for the servers, the games to come and the time it takes to prepare each open-source edition and these Docs. Nothing about playing changes: Orbium stays free to play, one Hold per player. See the backers.
Where it comes from
The engine started as Tidewater, Daniel Greenheck's WebGPU ocean and island renderer, and Orbium keeps it in step with it. Everything else Orbium builds on (the clouds, the sounds, the fonts) is named, with its licence, in the credits.