Re: decrypting bgt stuff?
As a prerequisite, I enjoy hacking/reverse engineering as much as the next guy. Give me a game and a code puzzle and I'll choose the code puzzle any day of the week without fail. Most every challenge comes with new knowledge to be had and that's what I live for.
Yet I think you might be looking at this from the wrong point of view. I personally don't really care if people get my sounds, if they do well good for them, have a cookie. but some do. It's my belief that since we're such a tight knit community we should do our best to respect the wishes of those who pump out content, in many cases without compensation. I suppose I'm not really a shiny portrayal of my own ideology, since I often find myself hyperfocused on pulling games apart, but I do my best to respect the license if such a thing exists. It just so happens, the majority of audiogames do not. Yet I never, never, under any circumstances, in any way shape or form, deliberately give myself an upper hand. Never once have I ripped unauthorized code or sounds or assets out of a project, going on to use them without consent. Yet were I 11 again and finding such a tool at my fingertips you can bet I probably would have. The only thing stopping me was determination and a crucial understanding of debugging.
As of the last uh, maybe 3 years or so, I've noticed a steady increase in people who really wouldn't bat an eyelash at the prospect of disrespecting our work. By this I mean circumventing encryption, difficulty or lack there of aside, and pulling content for use in their own projects. I know this after examining sounds and finding the exact SHA256 file hashes of custom made sounds. when confronted, I got no more than utter denial. I doubt I need to go over the virtually undeniable odds here. Suffice it to say, there are a host of forum members that couldn't care less. It could potentially be a minority or select age group, but regardless these types make themselves heard over everybody else. I have no sympathy for these guys, age included. This is the internet, and it's natural to find ourselves recognizing people for actions and actions alone. I had a small period of time when I was just like this. I was frowned upon with contempt, however, so began to take a look at what I had been doing.
I genuinely believe the majority of people here couldn't care less as long as they have games to play. I'm for helping people out, all anyone has to do is ask and I'll do what I can, but that comes at a cost. You just, don't, take advantage of my kindness and time by taking shit for yourself without a backward glance. that´s reprehensible, dickish, slimy, whatever creative words you'd like to use. I wish I didn't see it so much, no not just on this forum either. Imagine the world we could create if people weren't so willing to take the easy way out at the cost of others? Wishful thinking I know.
So what I'm really meaning to say here, there's a point when a simple PoC turns into happy catering for every less tallanted scriptkitty on the block, and that's how I see this mindset, unfortunately. In addition to snagging sounds, just took about 3 or so minutes, give or take, turning his script and logic into something more deadly by far. Suffice it to say, I can now get more than sound decryption keys but that's all I'll offer up. Everyone is well aware that BGT can be cracked wide open in other days, this being little more than an alternative. As Kyle pointed out, there are most certainly bigger aspects of the development process. But does that mean we allow the forum to be a medium through which tools are hosted that could give unauthorized access to assets? I quite frankly couldn't care less if you decide to keep these findings to yourself. Letting the world know it's possible with a brief explanation, food for thought so future BGT developers know what they might be getting into, fine as well. But outright posting a one-click solution? I'm surprised there's nothing directly prohibiting such in the rules but I can't remember seeing anything like this in the past.
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