Licensing and Contributions

License

GameVault is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License with the exception of the some components, like extensions and plugins.

This means you are free to use, adapt, and share the work as long as you give appropriate credit, do not use it for commercial purposes, and distribute any derivative works under the same license.

This also means that GameVault is not considered open-source.

Why is GameVault not open-source?

While GameVault is often confused with open-source software, it falls under the category of "source-available" software, providing access to its code for exploration and modification without fully meeting the criteria of open source. This decision is made to balance transparency and protection against unauthorized commercial exploitation, ensuring sustainability and revenue generation to support its development. See here for more details.

Contributing to GameVault

Everybody can contribute to GameVault.

We welcome all contributions, whether it's a comment, a feature request, a bug report, or any other input. Share your thoughts on your blog, news article, forum, social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), or online communities and discussion boards. Engage with others through videos or podcasts, create content to show how GameVault has positively affected your life, or write a detailed review highlighting its benefits. Your words and actions will bring us joy.

Besides rating GameVault on the Microsoft Store or recommending it to a friend, you can also spread the word through different channels. Take part in relevant technology conferences or events and mention GameVault during discussions or presentations. Collaborate with fellow developers or tech enthusiasts in online coding communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, or Reddit to promote GameVault and demonstrate its features.

As we constantly strive to enhance GameVault's performance and features, your assistance is crucial. If you're a developer, please consider opening a pull request on our GitHub repository to contribute directly to the codebase. Alternatively, if you encounter any issues or have suggestions, feel free to create an issue and provide detailed feedback. Your expertise and insights will greatly support our ongoing development efforts.

Before contributing any code, please read and accept the terms outlined in the CONTRIBUTING.md file of each project you want to contribute to. These terms include recognizing Phalcode as the owner of your contribution and transferring all rights and responsibilities to us. This ensures everything is legally clear and simple for everyone involved. This also means we can monetize your contribution, so that we can keep this project alive.

Publishing Adaptations of GameVault

Commercial adaptations of GameVault are not permitted due to licensing restrictions. However, we encourage the creation of derivatives for non-commercial projects under certain conditions.

GameVault is developed commercially, and any third-party software using our trademarks GameVault™ or Phalcode™ without our consent is unauthorized. We take measures to protect our intellectual property rights and brand integrity, preventing any unauthorized products from being associated with us.

To maintain our reputation and protect our customers' interests, it's essential for third-party developers to avoid creating misleading products. Users may mistakenly believe these products are endorsed or developed by us, posing potential issues for safety and support. As a German GbR (Partnership), we hold full personal liability for our products, underscoring the need to retain control over our brand and software.

We welcome creativity from third-party developers, encouraging them to create derivatives with distinct names like "GameVaulTux" or "GameVault Snake Edition". However, it's crucial to clearly indicate these as unofficial versions in the product description.

For those intending to publish an official product under our brand, acknowledgment of Phalcode as the sole rights holder and the transfer of all associated liabilities, rights, and responsibilities to us through a formal agreement is required. This aligns with our approach to handling contributions, ensuring clarity and legal compliance for all parties involved.

Community Forks

Here you can find an incomplete list of community-driven forks of our Projects. You can add your fork here by submitting a pull-request.

gamevault-app

gamevault-backend

Github	Container Image	Description
https://github.com/Ben2303/gamevault-backend	https://hub.docker.com/r/ben2303/gamevault-backend	Fork that eliminates sharp server-side image compression to make it compatible with older CPUs lacking AVX or SSE 4.2 support

Contributors to this Documentation

If you contributed to these docs, feel free to append your github username to the list below.

• @Alfagun74
• @Yelo420
• @46620
• @xstar97
• @Ronald-Diemicke
• @FletcherAU
• @Toylerrr