@nize when you say “people” I guess you mean myself, because most of the work has been done by me if I remember correctly. From 2001 to 2015 I was working on Aseprite in my spare-time, now it’s my full-time job.
@CST1229 Regarding the business model, there are no plans to make Aseprite free (we can keep the business going in this way). The source code is available because it was already available before I started doing a business from it, so it was a nice thing to keep. People that cannot afford the program will pirate it anyway, so having the source code is a way to access the program without viruses with a little of effort. (There are other reasons I would prefer to create closed source apps in the future, but this is not the case.)
I will say this: we are living with the income generated by Aseprite, this is no joke. It’s our only income, so if Aseprite is free again, it would be only because we found other business.