Goon leak announcement copy

PUBLIC RELEASE: 6th March 2016

On Tuesday 1st March 2016, a Goonstation developer’s account was compromised by an outside attacker, using a password made available in a database dump from 2013. The attacker was able to access and download the main branch of our repository, and subsequently released it online.

While the attacker did make some effort to conceal their identity, we were able to obtain various pieces of information. We are working with the relevant authorities, and are now verifying and cross referencing this information with several available sources to confirm their identity.

We appreciate the support from the community during what has otherwise been a disheartening week for our developers, who put so much of their time and effort into the game.

This past week, we have been deliberating how we would like to move on from here. Those of you who’ve examined the inner workings of the leaked code know that it was not in the best state for release. This is  the nature of an internal codebase, which featured various workarounds to fit our architecture.

Taking all of this into consideration, we have decided to publicly release a new revision of the Goonstation codebase, effective immediately. Goonstation 2016 is an up-to-date, official release of our internal code that we’ve taken additional time and effort to refine, so players can fully enjoy the experience we wanted to craft. To clarify, Goonstation will not become open source.

There are several reasons for having an internal codebase. For those of you who may not be familiar with the platform, BYOND doesn’t provide the greatest of tools to ensure a consistently fun experience for the playerbase, especially with those who actively seek to ruin the fun of others. Additionally, it’s our view that the nature of the game mechanics warrant some secrecy, without which there’s little sense of mystery or discovery.

Space Station 13 has been a labour of love to many of us for years, for some it’s more than a decade. Aside from the occasional donation drive, we pay all of the server and development costs out of our own pockets, and we spend our time working on the game with the full understanding that we will probably never see any money as a result of it. We just want to make a fun game about space.

We would like to personally thank /TG/Station, Paradise Station, Yogstation and the countless others who publicly supported us in their denouncement of this leak. These are the moments in our community’s history that matter. They rise above the server wars, the mud slinging, the occasional power struggles and the many flavours and varieties this game now comes in. Together, we are the Space Station 13 community.

Thank you.