--- title: Open source or it didn't happen! | daily.dev description: An indie game studio (Carbon Games, makers of AirMech) explains why they removed the last closed-source library from their codebase, relying entirely on custom... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-or-it-didn-t-happen--nxwwebjnw twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Open source or it didn't happen! | daily.dev og:description: An indie game studio (Carbon Games, makers of AirMech) explains why they removed the last closed-source library from their codebase, relying entirely on custom... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-or-it-didn-t-happen--nxwwebjnw og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/NXwweBJNW.png og:image:alt: Open source or it didn't happen! og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Open source or it didn't happen! **[Overview — bgfx 1.146.9292 documentation](https://daily.dev/sources/bkaradzic)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An indie game studio (Carbon Games, makers of AirMech) explains why they removed the last closed-source library from their codebase, relying entirely on custom in-house code and open source software. The author argues proprietary middleware often creates platform lock-in and licensing friction, and shares criteria for picking open source libraries: prefer small single-purpose libraries, favor C over C++, avoid exceptions/RTTI, and choose the simplest tool for the job (e.g., js0n over JSON_Spirit for client-side JSON parsing). The team also plans to eventually open-source parts of their own code under a permissive BSD-style license. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Beyond the engine: 10 open source projects shaping how games actually get made](https://daily.dev/posts/beyond-the-engine-10-open-source-projects-shaping-how-games-actually-get-made-v6kjvnfgo) · GitHub Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Avoiding vendor lock-in through an open-source approach: a developer’s perspective](https://daily.dev/posts/avoiding-vendor-lock-in-through-an-open-source-approach-a-developer-s-perspective-853qco9xy) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Eve Online's Carbon engine is now open source: Fenris Creations explains why](https://daily.dev/posts/eve-online-s-carbon-engine-is-now-open-source-fenris-creations-explains-why-du6pj0q0q) · GamesIndustry.biz · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development), [#c++](https://daily.dev/tags/c++) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-or-it-didn-t-happen--nxwwebjnw) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Open source or it didn't happen!","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-or-it-didn-t-happen--nxwwebjnw","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-or-it-didn-t-happen--nxwwebjnw"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T12:17:04.619Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T12:19:50.695Z","description":"An indie game studio (Carbon Games, makers of AirMech) explains why they removed the last closed-source library from their codebase, relying entirely on custom...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Overview — bgfx 1.146.9292 documentation","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Overview — bgfx 1.146.9292 documentation","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/logos/placeholder.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/bkaradzic"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-or-it-didn-t-happen--nxwwebjnw","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,game-development,c++","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Overview — bgfx 1.146.9292 documentation","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/bkaradzic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Open source or it didn't happen!"}]} ```