Objective for releases

[Andrek]

I would like to see objectives for upcoming releases.

I have used search and did not find a thread asking for this.  If it is in the wrong place I appologize.  Though this is the \'Wish List\'.

I would like to see a list of projects we can expect to see in the next release so we know where the game is going.  As well updates every fortnight would be great, or at least bi-monthly.  This would allow those of us with no technical skills to know what is happening and quite frankly allow for more appreciation.  There was a thread posted by a Dev that showed us the code he was going through to find problems.  It raised the appreciation of the DEVS by leaps and bounds.

I know programming is hard work.  Though I would like to know what the direction is.  This way we all have one goal and those who are whining that nothing gets done will now need to be creative and pick specific points that they wish to see accomplished.

I would like to see a list like:

double /unstick no longer takes you to DR.
Shields all provide same protection
New Spell \"Slave Monster\"
4 new skins
fix error \"X032BS\"  (This is not a real error, but you get the point)
Skeleton of new town
testing PVP area
Fix bum slide bug (Which I like)


This is not the proposed list, only a type of list that may be used.

This would allow all of us to know what is being worked on and somthing to look forward to.  As well if tenative dates could be tacked on that would be great, but not most important.

[stfrn]

Perhaps you are thinking of something like http://planeshift3d.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=18867&boardid=23&styleid=2 ?
Unfortunately, only acraig was updating that thread, and it is too much work for one person You can also check the CVS history file, but that goes into a little too mcuh detail sometimes.

However, I must stress there is a huge downside of publising all the developments- what happens after two weeks of activity when there are no new updates? The develpoers are worried enough about things without feeling rushed to accomplish things

[Andrek]

That is one of the points I should clear up.

However, I must stress there is a huge downside of publising all the developments- what happens after two weeks of activity when there are no new updates?

If there is no progress oh well.  As well thre is no need to have an new update every 2 weeks, just progress reports.

I do not see how devs would be pressured.   We are playing their free game, it is a great enviroment and I love it.  In fact I am surprised that they have a wishlist section.  This section is what makes this MMORPG the greatest IMO.  I would just like to see which parts of the wish list are being worked on and what the hang ups or progress is whith them.

[goland]

I\'m not sure if I agree with the idea completely but it could help get more contributors in on some of the smaller development tasks.  Or if bigger tasks are broken up into smaller parts then someone who\'s skilled in the area but not an expert may be able to help moreso.

Right now I\'ve been playing around with modifying the gui.  I\'ve already changed some things I didn\'t like about the stock one but I have no idea if I\'m doing work on something that\'s already been fixed or is being worked on by someone else.  A current task list may be nice.

[stfrn]

Well, current tasks would be http://planeshift.oodlz.com/bugtracker/index.php . Any bug assigned there is being worked on by that dev, not necessarily for the next update however. Anyone is free to try to fix a bug listed there, contacting any dev assigned to the task first. In this case, Aryhann is currently responsible for assessing the usability of the gui. That doesn\'t mean you have to talk to her, but it would make things easier

[DaveG]

The community can see far more of what we\'re doing than they think.  You just have to learn how to read the CVS history.  As stfrn has already pointed out, it would drive us insane to have it fully open; we have a list of tasks to do, but we don\'t have a fixed schedule for them.  Everyone works on this part-time, and people need to understand that.  The art being worked on tends to come out in waves, and you won\'t see what new skins/areas/etc are being worked on until they\'re released.  (deal with it )  However, when it comes to the programming, that\'s far more open; read the  CVS history and feel free to come to irc://freenode/#planeshift-build and ask us about it.  It can sometimes be a bit hard to understand to the average person, but stfrn, I, and others are perfectly willing to translate it for you, from time to time.  Come next release, we\'ll try to have a little Q&A on IRC or something, and we always have a brief summary of new features.

Just to reiterate:  Read the CVS history

[Induane]

I would like to see a list like:

double /unstick no longer takes you to DR.

Wow is like your a mind reader!!!


From the first lines of the CVS history today:

?*** 2005-12-28 by Dave Garrett
- Disabled double /unstick death.  It can be problematic, and players can just use /die if needed.

didn\'t know about that page but now its bookmarked for me.

Also I have a suggestion.

It seems that random code commits are taken by the dev team easily, while art is not.

The PS community has a lot of people who aren\'t coders but artists.  Sadly this is backwards for the community contributing.  The community has the ability to contribute beautiful art, but its not used unless they become a dev.  

Afaik the best way to keep your work out of PS ever is to post it in the fan art section.

Soooo......  We should hold bimonthly or monthly competitions.  People could enter them as long as entries were mailed to a specific address and not posted on the forums.  In each competition, someones work gets committed as a grand prize.   so i.e.

Splash screen competition!

Members of the community we are in need of some alternative splash screens for a new dermorian themed skin.  

Contest rules:

Entries posted in the forums are ineligible

All art submited becomes the property of Atomic Blue coorporation.  

Work must be matching in style, etc...

Work must be emailed to contest@laanx.fragnetics.com


Good luck to everyone - grand prize winners art will be found in the next major update of PS!   After the major release, a thread will be posted with an example of the art ingame, and a credit to the author.



Something like that?  You could hold contests for things like, character customization - hair, etc...  this would help the PS community expand the world of Planeshift faster than it currently does, and also serve as a good recruitment for good art devs..


Anything wrong with something like that?  If its the time and effort required this is something that even I could do personally, though I may not be the best judge.... Talad would be probabily as this is his vision.

[steuben]

maybe we should dig up the \"fun with cvs\" thread.

[Andrek]

DaveG Thanks!!!!  Though a new question (cause I am a bum)

- A pet\'s character description will now state its owner. (bug #1357)

I CAN GET PETS!!!!!!  lol

This is a great list.  I really appreciate it.  Most of what I was asking for is on it actually.

So do specific Devs take bugs and fix them?  ie The list of probs are chosen by specific devs and when they are completed it gets on the list?

Thanks guys this clears up alot in my mind.

[Andrek]

Splash screen competition!

Members of the community we are in need of some alternative splash screens for a new dermorian themed skin.  

Contest rules:

Entries posted in the forums are ineligible

All art submited becomes the property of Atomic Blue coorporation.  

Work must be matching in style, etc...

Work must be emailed to contest@laanx.fragnetics.com


Good luck to everyone - grand prize winners art will be found in the next major update of PS!   After the major release, a thread will be posted with an example of the art ingame, and a credit to the author.


Anything wrong with something like that?  If its the time and effort required this is something that even I could do personally, though I may not be the best judge.... Talad would be probabily as this is his vision.

The only problem I see with it is that it becomes property of Atomic Blue.  This gives way to some one eventually selling this game and royalties are never paid.  A good way to be sure it is always free is to keep the ownership of all art in the names of the creators.  This way the game is owned by everyone, we all make PS what it is so we are all a part of the team (some much larger than others).

I actually think this is a worthwhile topic and deserves it\'s own thread.

[Bereror]

Originally posted by Andrek
The only problem I see with it is that it becomes property of Atomic Blue.  This gives way to some one eventually selling this game and royalties are never paid.  A good way to be sure it is always free is to keep the ownership of all art in the names of the creators.  This way the game is owned by everyone, we all make PS what it is so we are all a part of the team (some much larger than others).

I actually think this is a worthwhile topic and deserves it\'s own thread.

Art, music, dialogues, stories, names, 3d models etc... is the property of Atomic Blue and is covered by a different license. Read the license and reasons behind it here. The decision is made and is not going to be discussed. Software code is under GPL license and anybody can create its own story, art etc... to make a new and greater game .

[DaveG]

The reason we have a separate license for art, is so people can\'t just take all our stuff and go make a new game with it.  Our code is open source, but if our art was too, we\'d never be able to actually do anything.  We also don\'t want the possibility of being sued over a random contributor\'s art.  By becoming our \"property\" in a purely legalese sense, that protects us from various stupidities.  (the artists still can use their own work in a portfolio and such, so it\'s not as bad as it sounds; click here to read the license )   It has nothing to do with money; PlaneShift will always be free.

Originally posted by Andrek
So do specific Devs take bugs and fix them?  ie The list of probs are chosen by specific devs and when they are completed it gets on the list?

The CVS history is amended every time any of the programmers makes an alteration to the code, with the exception of code cleanups, typo fixes, and other minor things.  Every file on the CVS also has it\'s own changelog, as well.

Bugs are posted to BugTracker and may be assigned to different people to fix.  (though, assignment may or may not mean we\'re working on it right now)  Please read the  Guide to BugTracker that I\'ve been adding to.  Sometimes we just randomly pick a bug and go fix it, other times we are working on a certain area of the code and look up bugs related to it.

Originally posted by steuben
maybe we should dig up the \"fun with cvs\" thread.

Sure, sounds interesting.  

[Andrek]

I agree.  Thank you for the update.

[Induane]

Whats wrong with the art becomming part of the Atomic Blue property? I wouldn\'t have a problem with my art becoming property of AB, as long as I could use it for a portfolio.  No big deal, I\'d just like to be able to contribute without being a specific art dev.