Miniml Uni 05_53 font license terms don't allow redistribution

[akien-mga]

I've checked the license terms of the Miniml Uni 05_53 font you're using: http://www.miniml.com/fonts/license/index.html

As I understand the terms, provided you purchased a license for the font, you can have it on max 3 computers. Distributing on this git repo and a couple clones from interested users already mean that the license terms are exceeded.

[Bauxitedev]

I didn't purchase the font. The font is free, right? Does the license still apply to non-purchased fonts?

[akien-mga]

There's no such thing as "free" if it doesn't have a license that says under what terms you are free to use things. Unless mentioned otherwise, the free of charge fonts from this website all fall under the terms of the Miniml Fonts License.

But it might be worth asking the font author to clarify this. Maybe they'd be willing to relicense their free-of-charge fonts under a free license such as the SIL Open Font License.

[Bauxitedev]

I see. The game doesn't actually use the original .eot and .woff files from the website, only the bitmap representation I generated, in addition to a .fnt file. Do you think those are allowed to be distributed?

[akien-mga]

I wouldn't make any assumption without knowing what exact license terms apply to the original files. But the Miniml license does not allow derivative works (see (2)), which a bitmap representation of the font would be.

[Bauxitedev]

Alright, I'll make the game use the .ttf directly, and I'll remove all fonts from the repo so you need to download the .ttf yourself and place it in the fonts folder before running the game.

[akien-mga]

It would be simpler to just look for an alternative free font IMO :) Low res pixel art fonts are all over the Internet.

[akien-mga]

e.g. http://www.fontspace.com/codeman38/press-start-2p
More linked here: https://onextrapixel.com/25-free-pixel-perfect-fonts-for-8-bit-designs/
Or a google search for "8 px bitmap font" or "8 bit font" - just being careful to check the license terms for the actual font you'll choose (above Press Start 2p is SIL OFL).

[Bauxitedev]

I agree, the problem is I haven't managed to find a libre font that has similar dimensions. Main reason I picked this font is because it's very compact horizontally yet readable, and pretty much all text in the game assumes the dimensions match exactly. If I use another font now, chances are the text in the dialogs no longer fits on the screen.

This is a temporary solution for now, I'll keep looking for alternatives though.

[akien-mga]

What dimensions do you need exactly?

[Bauxitedev]

Seems to be roughly 4-6 pixels tall and 1-7 pixels wide, going to guess ~4 pixels wide on average.

[GithubSuckBigTime]

Why has this issue been closed? The font poses a problem, because only because of this tiny little asset the game, which is otherwise completely free as in freedom, cannot be considered free, and so cannot be put e.g. on libregamewiki or in Debian repositories.

@Bauxitedev could you please reopen this to help find a replacement? I believe it won't be that difficult, I have a few sources of such fonts I will check, and even if nothing is found, creating such font from scratch by someone seeing this issue wouldn't be that hard. It would be a shame if this awesome game was blocked from the free gaming community because of such a minor thing.

[GithubSuckBigTime]

Here are some worth taking a look at:

• Monogram, 7 tall, 5 wide, CC0
• Kenney mini: 4 - 5 tall, about 4 wide, CC0
• Gamebuino fonts, various sizes from 3x3 to 5x7, LGPL
• My own bitmap fonts are in this collection, various heights from 3 to 7, CC0
• UNSCII: 8x8, public domain
• a few hundred free fonts at OGA

[onpon4]

I'd just like to note that font faces cannot be copyrighted in the United States, so the bitmap version is completely legal to use there without a license. This is not the case in many other countries, though.

[Bauxitedev]

@GithubSuckBigTime The Kenney mini font looks promising. I'll re-open this issue, since I have to port the game to Godot 3.2 anyway, might as well change the font and check if the UI is still properly aligned. Unfortunately I'm currently bedridden with COVID so it won't be any time soon.