When should a free software game project be considered dead?

[Jastiv]

I understand in the proprietary world that a project can die, and then all the assets can basically be thrown out never to be used again in anything (or reused if the company owning them decides to but I understand a lot of times they are just thrown out.)
On the other hand in the free software world, even if no one has worked on a game for years and years and the original developers are actually dead, it doesn't follow that the project can never be brought back, and assets, and even code can be reused.
So, what exactly distinguishes a "dead" project from a "live" one.

I have tried to come up with some guidelines that arn't always useful.
Projects that have no commits within a certain time frame and have no active forum community where one can receive help are dead.
Live projects have at least one active developer.

I'm not exactly sure what the time frame should be to be considered for an active project, I've considered anything from one month (might be too short) to one year (probably way too long) to be considered inactive.

[eugeneloza]

I guess that every game project needs "two legs" to live - players (feedback) and developers (commits). Take away one and the other will fail soon too.

[dulsi]

If the project can't be built it is dead. It can be revived but until that is done no one can experience the game (unless binaries are available and still work).
A project that is complete and not developed further does not count as dead to me. For example I got Ostrich Riders up and running with current libraries. I'm not currently doing work on it but I wouldn't consider it dead even if I do nothing because it is a complete and usable game.
Otherwise it needs a certain level of activity. I don't have suggestions for what that level should be. I will say I think an active developer is more important than an active community. While a developer can improve a project and attract a community, it is a lot harder for a community to acquire a developer.

[mdtrooper]

Never. If somebody can find a game source code (although this source code was not the last), she/he could resurrect it.

There was a old post in this forum, it is similar to this post: What FLOSS game do you want that it returns from cemetery?

[Wuzzy]

A free software project is dead when all copies of its code and data have been erased from the universe. Not before.

[Julius]

Very idealistic responses

I think a project is dead when the main developer stops contributing and there is no-one to take up the task (example Stunt Rally).
Yes, it could be revived, but as it stands the project is dead.

[Jastiv]

I've just recently given this more thought. Stable (that is not alpha or beta) projects don't necessarily need any more commits and can be still considered "live" as long as they still compile and run. What happens, if no one is around to maintain it when a library, language or os "upgrade" breaks compilation, then I guess its dead unless some one does the necessary maintenance to make sure it compiles and runs on newer set ups.

(for reference the project in question was Gridarta, but I wouldn't consider it dead just yet, although I do think if you have any old Java Projects, if they have an usage, you should go make sure they compile and run with Java 11. One of mine doesn't (Javaeditor) but I am in the process of figuring out how to fix it.

[cynicfm]

it's dead when it's bad
popular games who are played by lots of people are dead too.. because they're being played by zombies not by humans.

[dulsi]

I was looking at Shippy 1984. The website link from the fedora rpm is no longer valid. Using wayback machine, it appears to have disappeared at the end of 2009. The last release was 2004. I'm think I may update it to SDL2 and maybe add a two player mode.

[XGenGamer]

We can consider a free software game dead in the following ways -
The company that developed/published it no longer exists.
The developer/publisher canceled the project but it was released as shareware.
The IP’s copyright/trademark/patent was not renewed and thus expired.
The IP is ignored by its owner with no support for it. The owner does not track copyright violations.
The game requires hardware considered obsolete to play.
The product is no longer available for legal purchase.

[dulsi]

We can consider a free software game dead in the following ways -
The company that developed/published it no longer exists.
The developer/publisher canceled the project but it was released as shareware.
The IP’s copyright/trademark/patent was not renewed and thus expired.
The IP is ignored by its owner with no support for it. The owner does not track copyright violations.
The game requires hardware considered obsolete to play.
The product is no longer available for legal purchase.

Free software on this forums refers to the Free Software Foundation's freedoms. The really important feature is that source code is available so you can modify the program. What you are describing seems to be more about software that is available at no cost. Free software or open source software has the advantage that anyone interested can come along and take up the project.

[drummyfish]

Yep, free as in freedom SW doesn't die in the traditional sense that we see in the proprietary world where a game can no longer be accessible and still be missed by many people at the same time, just as when a person dies. I think it is even confusing to refer to free SW projects as dead, since when someone mourns for it, they can bring it back to life. I would maybe suggest rather calling it abandoned, or something similar. I could see a project whose source code has been lost called dead, but I don't think this has happened many times since the early Internet has been around.