Wait, what? Was Arsenal gone?
Actually, it was gone. While you may not have heard, Katharos Technology had pulled the plug on Arsenal about a couple months ago. And that warrants an explanation.
The motivation to pull the plug stemmed from our conviction to our core beliefs. We love open source, and we love to give back to our community, but more than anything we love our Lord. When we established Katharos Technology, it was ultimately with the intent to bring glory to God by using our talents and abilities which He has blessed us with. And in short, we felt that pursuing Arsenal in the typical open source fashion, would subvert what He has called us to.
The whole idea behind Arsenal is to make it as easy as possible for people to make amazing video games. Great mission right? The issue we have is that the typical Open Source licensing model does not protect our company's vision, in that the software that we make publicly available, can be used just as easily to produce content that we ourselves are completely opposed to. And while we understand that we cannot prevent every opposing force to our ethics, the nature of the Open Source licensing as we understood it, meant that we have absolutely no say in how our software is used. And because of that, we decided to pull the plug.
It was a decision that was not easily made, and we knew that not all would understand why we made it. But we sacrificed Arsenal for God because if He didn't stand by it, then neither could we. We were confident that Arsenal was going to be successful and were on the brink of what we thought would be a product that sponsors could stand by and invest in. For Katharos Technology that meant we would be put on the map in the game dev community as well as make a mark in technology as a whole. But we were not willing to sacrifice our ideals for success, and we trusted that the Lord would bless us in our obedience. I know that sounds a bit preachy, but we don't hide from our faith, and anytime we talk, those listening are at risk of getting preached to. We make no apologies for that.
Now while this was a tough moment in the Katharos Technology timeline, we made the best of it. We re-grouped to find out how we could continue to pursue our dreams without the game engine of our dreams. We began looking into other engines that we could use, open source and otherwise. At the same time we started pursuing some other technology avenues and ways to generate revenue for our team. We came up with an idea that we are continuing to refine, and God willing we will see some success from that project.
But then we got a message from an old friend (Thanks @erlend-sh!) who is familiar with ethical open source topics. In short, there is somewhat of a movement (https://ethicalsource.dev/) for people who are struggling with similar issues when it comes to traditional open source licensing. And after a discussion with Erlend, we decided that we would pursue creating a license of our own for Arsenal. We've deemed it the "Katharos License". And with the "Katharos License", a work under it, is able to protect the use of that work from being used to produce other works that violate the code of ethics defined therein. This gives us the power to revoke the license to use Arsenal from any individual or group if their work with it, violates the terms of the license.
This was exactly what we needed, but didn't know it existed. And with it, we could and did re-ignite the Arsenal project. So...we're back! Even if you didn't know we were gone. What we are so blown away about, is the testimony that we have with this experience. We believe it was a test from the Lord, and I think we passed. And because of that He is blessing us with the means to pursue our dreams in a way that truly brings glory to God. We are proud to be part of His plan and are excited to see what happens next.
We have some tasks that we will be finishing up over the next month or so, but once those are done we will get back into developing Arsenal!
For posterity, the message below is the one that we were going to publish to announce Arsenal's end. We never got around to publishing it, although word did get around to some that Arsenal was dead. We just never had the chance to get this post out:
In a recent team meeting we came to the realization that building an Open Source game engine would indirectly fuel development of content that directly opposes the very purpose our company exists. And for that reason, we are cancelling the Arsenal project.
Anybody who has read about us at Katharos Tech knows that we are here to do the Lord's will. We founded Katharos Tech in order to produce content that was not offensive to the Lord, but rather would glorify Him. We wanted also to allow others to do the same.
Open source software has enabled us to do so much, with nothing more than passion and the talents the Lord has blessed us with. Open source also gave us the ability to give back to the community that enables us to do amazing things in collaboration with others of like minded people. But even with the best intentions, making an open source game engine with the expressed purpose of making it as easy as possible for people to make games, unfortunately does not prevent anyone from using this power for evil. And while we would be enabling ourselves and others to use it for good, it would ultimately allow some to use it for purposes that stand against everything we established our company for. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.
Not all will agree with our decision, or the reason we made it. But we answer to a Higher Power and not to popular opinion. We are called to follow our conscience when we believe the Spirit is guiding us elsewhere. And although it is true that anything we produce can be used for either good or evil, there is a line that must be drawn. And putting our name on something that could be used for the very thing we are fighting against, is where we are drawing it. We don't want to produce technology for the sake of technology. We want it to be for the glory of our God and Savior.
What does this mean for us? Well, our mission has not changed and we will continue to work towards making games that are not offensive to the Lord. And while the tough decision to stop work on a 3 year project has been made, we will continue to trust that God will bless us if we continue to do His will and that the work we have done has not been in vain. For now however, we are exploring other options such as proprietary engines like Unreal and Unity. We are also entertaining the idea of a closed source version of Arsenal. In short, we are seeking His guidance on this and will trust God with our future.
The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. - John 3:8
Glory to God, and, in everything, Praise the Lord.
Indeed, Katharos Technology! Praise the Lord indeed.