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by boondaburrah 3732 days ago
It's not free. The currency is your users' data.

Currently, your projects can only be stored on King's servers, not even github. When you finally publish your game, it will automatically include analytics that phone home to King, not you.
2 comments
SvenAndersson 3731 days ago
Both of those allegations are false.

Nothing is sent to any King servers, unless you actually want to use our analytics tools, which is an opt-in solution anyway. :)

The only reason why projects are hosted on our servers is due to the legacy of the engine, originally planned as a subscription service, long before being acquired by King. This is something that really wasn't a problem up until now, which is why it simply has stayed that way.

We want it to be easy for users to just create a project and start coding, not having to spend time on setting up development environment and code hosting. However, of course we see this is something people want to be able do as well. We will add the ability to more easily configure where projects are hosted (or even use local projects (already added to the new editor)).

But it's even possible right now to actually change your Git server to your own (or GitHub as you mentioned), I wrote a guide on it here: https://forum.defold.com/t/howto-alternative-project-hosting...

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simplify 3732 days ago
Interesting, can you provide a link to the source code that supports your claim?
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TranquilMarmot 3732 days ago
Closest I could find to boondaburrah's claim was: http://www.defold.com/about-privacy/

"We provide data collection and statistics of your players, if you want it – In order to provide Player Analytics, we need to collect data on your Players such as how they play Games and what device they used. If you choose not to use Player Analytics, we won’t collect any data relating to Players (except for errors directly related to the Defold Engine). Please see our Privacy Policy for Players http://www.defold.com/about-player-privacy/ for more information about what Player data we collect and what we do with it."

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boondaburrah 3732 days ago
Interesting. There wasn't any way to turn it off when I last checked, but that was last year (during beta). Hopefully they'll allow you to get rid of it completely, but it still feels too much like my game would be tied up with King in some way, and I'd never want that.
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sicher 3732 days ago
Currently you have to explicitly turn analytics on, so it it opt-in.

(I work for Defold)

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conceit 3732 days ago
Doesn't mean it doesn't collect data server-side, now does it? And even if, there's still a blatant amount of scheming involved.
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sicher 3732 days ago
No, we collect no data about your users unless you use our analytics service. If you need analytics and does not want to use ours you can roll your own.

What kind of scheming do you believe we are up to? I'm asking because we really want to do the right thing and be open about Defold. Maybe you have questions we have failed to answer properly?

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