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Comment by qwertyuiop924 | Hacker News Reader

Because it is a video game, which are usually not OS, and is available on all platforms. It it was OS, you would know, and the maker wouldn't be charging for it on Steam.

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Thank you for your response. I know open source games aren't the norm, but they do exist and are something to be encouraged and discovered. For example, consider Quadrilateral Cowboy[0], which is a recent game made available on all platforms, for sale on Steam, and open source. In particular for SHENZHEN I/O, this is a game all about coding! It's seem reasonable to consider that it might be open source and if not, to want strongly for it as a natural extension of the game and so to wonder what similar games exist that are modifiable. Regardless, I do disagree with discouraging discussion around open source software, original or alternative, commercial or otherwise, and was a little saddened to be downvoted for it on Hacker News. I appreciate your civility and consideration.

[0] http://blendogames.com/qc/

I wouldn't read much into the downvote. People tend to get tired of what has been coloquially termed the "middlebrow dismissal" which plagues HN a bit. No doubt your comment was misinterpreted as such.

If we're lucky, we'll see some open source on this, but probably only in as far as it directly makes the game more fun. Or harder. You can likely mod the game quite a bit though, as the Content folder is full of plain text code. (I'm assuming .cso files are compiled glsl code?)

And thanks for the reminder for Quadrilateral Cowboy; I have no idea why I don't have this in my library yet. I don't think I've heard anything negative about it from anyone, and it looks like an absolute blast!

I'm assuming we'll get a level creator and community levels, just like all of Zachtronics' other games.

Somebody might build an OS emulator of the "hardware," as did happen with TIS-100

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