Quadrilateral Cowboy's source code has been released to the public

Quadrilateral Cowboy is a retro-hacking heist game in which you dial into security systems with your trusty 56K modem to open doors, disable security, and perform other feats of digital derring-do in the service of the highest bidder. It's quite good, “a smart puzzle game, overflowing with personality,” and now developer Blendo Games is giving players the opportunity to hack it up for real by releasing the source code. 

“Quadrilateral Cowboy uses the idTech 4 (Doom 3) engine. The source code is written in C++ and includes the solution files for Microsoft Visual C++ 2010,” the studio said in a note on the FAQ, which includes the download link. “The source code is released under the GPL license.” 

Putting out the source code like this is unusual but not actually unexpected—at least for those of you who were paying attention three-and-a-half years ago, when developer Brendon Chung committed to doing so. He also offered a pretty good idea for what someone with the appropriate expertise might want to do with it:  

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Chung also recently committed to providing “deleted scenes” from the game as extra levels, which will be available for free via the Steam Workshop.  

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.