Semi Secret's iOS Title Canabalt Now Open Source

Semi Secret Software said last week it would commemorate a $25,000 iPhone indie game charity sale by making its popular iOS "auto-runner" game Canabalt open source. Studio co-founder Adam Saltsman said in a blog post that the Canabalt source is now open, including the game's engine and the Flixel framework. The game released in 2009 and according to Saltsman, has sold 225,000 copies to date. Saltsman created a prototype for the game in five days, while the studio's Eric Johnson ported it to iOS in 10 days. Saltsman offered a disclaimer for those who plan to use the code: "We wanted to offer our condolences to everyone who downloads this and goes poking around in there," he wrote. "This was a rushed Flash game, ported, in a rush, to the iPhone, before iPads or iPhone 4s even existed." "We try very hard to stay up to date and do good work, but we're just two dudes -- it's possible if not likely that some of the way we do things is not ideal or optimal," he added. The indie developer plans on supporting the code as time goes on. The current code that's available isn't on the App Store yet, and provides 60 frames per second performance and iPad and iPhone 4 Retina display support. Saltsman clarified that while the source is open for Canabalt and users can copy-paste engine code and sell games based on the code, developers cannot redistribute Canabalt's specific game code, art or sounds. "Engine stuff is ok to distribute, Canabalt-specific stuff is not," he said. The announcement of the open-sourcing of Canabalt came as the Indie iPhone Holiday Sale passed $25,000 that will go to the Child's Play charity. Six indie games including Canabalt, Ellis, Drop7, Solipskier, Spider and Osmos went on sale for 99 cents, with one-third of the sales going towards charity. The sale ended January 2, and generated over $32,000 for charity.