Hellgate: London

Hixxy · 11 Jul 2006 at 23:41

Looks like someone stole the source code :eek:

http://hellgatecentral.rpgplanet.gamespy.com/ hope it doesn't delay the release too much, it's one of the games i've really been looking forward to playing.

Psymonkee · 12 Jul 2006 at 00:17

OK now this is just ****** up.

Valve apparently had this happen to them with HL2 as we should all remember.

Now Flagship Studios.

I want 1 answer:

Why the **** is any machine that has the source code on it connected to the internet in anyway whatsoever if they want it to remain secure?

Surely the programmers/artists/sound folk could all work on the game on a network completely disconnected from the outside world if they are that bothered about it being leaked/stolen?

Psyk · 12 Jul 2006 at 00:51

Psymonkee said:
I want 1 answer:

Why the **** is any machine that has the source code on it connected to the internet in anyway whatsoever if they want it to remain secure?

Surely the programmers/artists/sound folk could all work on the game on a network completely disconnected from the outside world if they are that bothered about it being leaked/stolen?

tbh the benefits probably seriously outweight the risks. The internet is an incredibly useful resource and I imagine developing without it would significantly decrease productivity. Maybe they could have 2 PCs in their offices, one for the net and one that is connected to a seperate network but then they are stuck using disks to get development files from the net.

Down1oader · 12 Jul 2006 at 10:00

hint look at all the free publicity, I had never heard of this game until now.

Darkwave · 12 Jul 2006 at 10:06

Firstly; You would think that developers would learn from Valve's mistake with Half Life 2 and not connect their main development storage servers to an outside network, that's just idiotic in the nicest way I can possibly phrase it.

Secondly; If this hacker did steal the source-code, there is no way in hell he would have gotten all of it. Source-code is gigantic to quite an extreme in its raw form, and with the fastest of internet connections he would've been caught with his pants down long before getting it all, so what we're probably looking at is a very small segment being stolen (as was the case with Half Life 2) and not the entire game.

Thirdly; Down1oader is possibly right to an extent, any publicity is good publicity.

Psyk · 12 Jul 2006 at 13:30

Úlfhednar said:
Firstly; You would think that developers would learn from Valve's mistake with Half Life 2 and not connect their main development storage servers to an outside network, that's just idiotic in the nicest way I can possibly phrase it.

Secondly; If this hacker did steal the source-code, there is no way in hell he would have gotten all of it. Source-code is gigantic to quite an extreme in its raw form, and with the fastest of internet connections he would've been caught with his pants down long before getting it all, so what we're probably looking at is a very small segment being stolen (as was the case with Half Life 2) and not the entire game.

Thirdly; Down1oader is possibly right to an extent, any publicity is good publicity.

Firstly: As I said an internet connection on a dev workstation greatly increases productivity and if that workstation is connected to the central server then it is going to be connected to the internet even if it's indirectly.

secondly: Yes it's quite a lot but I would have still thought it's going to be less than a gigabyte (after all it is just text, just a lot of it) so it would be feasible for someone with a fast internet connection to download it in an hour or so.

thirdly: Yep you're probably right.

Darkwave · 12 Jul 2006 at 13:53

Psyk said:
Firstly: As I said an internet connection on a dev workstation greatly increases productivity and if that workstation is connected to the central server then it is going to be connected to the internet even if it's indirectly.

I really don't see how having a workstation used by a games programmer connected to the internet could increase productivity. If there is a reason it would, I don't see how the risk could possibly justify it, since we're quite clearly talking about corporate secrets and massive financial investments here. See: Valve.

Psyk said:
secondly: Yes it's quite a lot but I would have still thought it's going to be less than a gigabyte (after all it is just text, just a lot of it) so it would be feasible for someone with a fast internet connection to download it in an hour or so.

As far as I am aware, pure uncompressed and uncompiled source-code is a heck of a lot more than one gigabyte. Possibly over a hundred times that if not more. Not to mention that they will have many copies of that code, many different versions and backups to refer to if needed.

Loki · 12 Jul 2006 at 14:38

Maybe it was leaked on purpose so that the developers could get some "unnofficial" feedback on game play and performance. Although the article did say that it was unsubstantiated.