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Making Contributions

Jonathan Chung edited this page May 7, 2013 · 5 revisions

Introduction

We're glad to know that you're interested in contributing back to Stencyl. Here are a few guidelines we've got before you submit a contribution.

Use a Pull Request

All contributions are made in the form of pull requests. It's the universally accepted way of contributing code on GitHub and makes it so much easier and faster to accept code.

If you're unfamiliar with Pull Requests, view this page.

What should an ideal pull request include?

  • Clean code. Respect the way we format things and write reasonably clean, efficient code. This is a game engine, after all.
  • Thoroughly tested code. Stencyl is used by many people, and they'll find the strangest ways to break things. The more critical the portion of code you modify is, the more thoroughly it needs to be tested.
  • A good description. Say what your change does, link back to an issue (here or on Stencyl) if it's relevant and tell us what you've done on your part to address that problem.

Will contributors be credited?

Contributors whose pull requests are accepted into the main branch will be credited on our Github page. At our discretion, prolific contributors may be gifted with licenses, mention in the application's own credits and other perks.

How can I help?

Read this page

Legal Stuff

Prior to accepting a pull request, we'll ask you to sign (over e-mail) a CLA (Contributor's License Agreement). This only needs to happen once. CLA's are commonly used in popular projects or those with commercial components.

The CLA gives us license to use the contribution as part of the project. It also warrants that the contributor isn’t knowingly including code to which someone else has a copyright, patent or other right. In other words, it protects Stencyl and the community from mishaps over code contributions. Thanks for your understanding!

Contact us if you have a question.

Contributor License Agreement ("Agreement")

[May 7, 2013]

This license is a document that clarifies the terms under which You, the person listed below, may contribute software, bug fixes, configuration changes, documentation, or any other materials that you send to us related to the Project (each a "Contribution") to the project. This license is for your protection as well as the protection of Stencyl and its licensees; it does not change your rights to use your own Contributions for any other purpose.

  1. You grant us the ability to use the Contributions in any way. You hereby grant to Stencyl, a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicenseable, transferable license under all of Your relevant intellectual property rights (including copyright, patent, and any other rights), to use, copy, prepare derivative works of, distribute and publicly perform and display the Contributions on any licensing terms. You reserve all right, title, and interest in and to the Contribution.

  2. You are able to grant us these rights. You represent that You are legally entitled to grant the above license. If Your employer has rights to intellectual property that You create, You represent that You have received permission to make the Contributions on behalf of that employer, or that Your employer has waived such rights for the Contributions.

  3. The Contributions are your original work. You represent that the Contributions are Your original works of authorship, and to Your knowledge, no other person claims, or has the right to claim, any right in any invention or patent related to the Contributions. You also represent that You are not legally obligated, whether by entering into an agreement or otherwise, in any way that conflicts with the terms of this license. For example, if you have signed an agreement requiring you to assign the intellectual property rights in the Contributions to an employer or customer, that would conflict with the terms of this license.

  4. We determine the code that is in our project. You understand that the decision to include the Contribution in any project or source repository is entirely that of Stencyl, and this agreement does not guarantee that the Contributions will be included in any product.

  5. No Implied Warranties. Stencyl acknowledges that, except as explicitly described in this Agreement, the Contribution is provided on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.