PR Team for OpenMW

[ElderTroll]

sir_herrbatka and OpenMW team,

Thank you for the weekly updates. I love hearing how the project's developing. With the release of version 0.12.0 approaching I would like to offer my help to the PR effort. I could compile a press list (websites like linuxgametome, freegamer, etc) of contacts or places to post. I could develop a template message about the project that includes both new and old features of the project.

If anyone knows websites or forums who would appreciate hearing about a new version of openmw please reply to this topic and we can create a master list so version releases are consistently known around the web. Our press release would include old and newest features, links to the new website, to the Openmw Youtube page (we should create one) with videos showing off the new features. This video is a good example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58aVKVPqpJ8

Hopefully us non-coders can help raise awareness of the project and attract more developers. Another PR related task non-programmers can eventually do is make videos of the project, but while the project is still in alpha it would make more sense for one of the developers or power users to make videos showcasing and explaining what the current version is capable of.

To reiterate:
Does OpenMW have a Press list already?
Does it have a template Press release?
Does OpenMW have an official Youtube page?
Reply with websites or forums that we could advertise the project.

Let's brainstorm to figure out what works best for you all. Thanks so much for all your hard work!

[Zini]

We have a release manager (raevol), who is also responsible for PR IIRC. I guess he has some kind of list on what sites to post about new releases. If you want to help with PR you should coordinate with him.

We don't have a YouTube channel. These videos were made by a guy who is no longer with us (lost interest in the project). Didn't do all that much development wise, but his videos were really great. I would love to get those rolling again, but they would need to be of similar quality. I doubt we have anyone else with the required skills on the team.

[jvoisin]

There is a dedicated page on the wiki : http://openmw.org/wiki/index.php?title=Web_Presence

[raevol]

ElderTroll: I've been doing most of the PR stuff related to releases, though most of it has just been updating the BethSoft forum post. I also poke the guy who runs our ModDB page, though he's usually on it before I need to.

If you have connections/experience connecting with more newsy websites, that'd be awesome. While I was at one point technically coined our "PR" guy, I haven't had too many tasks to do for it, and don't mind handing some or most of it to you. Or you can run your stuff by me and I can give any feedback you'd like. For my release manager duties I'll still be updating the Google Code page, posting to Oloh, etc. but if you want to do press release stuff that'd be cool.

However you want to work it, just let me know. Feel free to take the reigns of PR stuffs, while of course still getting approval from the team on anything you do, or if you don't want to assume that much work, run stuff by me and we can work on it together. I'm open to new ideas and flexible on how to implement them. I am more than happy to direct/approve/implement things if you want, I'm also more than happy to hand over direction to someone who has more time/resources available to put into it.

[ElderTroll]

@Raevol it sounds like fun. Are you a coder? I definitely want OpenMW's team to have the time to improve the engine. The materials developed for the internet presence are well written. The challenge will be to get information on more sites and keep and keep it current. I'm not well connected to news sites, but I'm willing to do the leg work to become so. Once 0.12.0 is released an interview with the team on freegamer would be useful to explain the current state of the project and the next major hurdles.

@Team regarding an official youtube page.

I can create this, but it would be nice if someone could make a customized background. I won't create it until I have the team's approval. Unfortunately youtube channels don't allow multiple users to upload to the same page, but what we can do is create a dropbox account that team members can upload videos to, then I'll download them and upload them to the youtube page.

@Zini Regarding the demo videos-
There are several reasons why I think someone else than myself should make the videos. First, my computer expertise is so limited that it'll probably be a struggle for me to get openmw running on my computer, but that is a threshold I must cross.
I currently don't own a copy of morrowind for the pc (played it on xbox)... I'm biding my time for a sale on steam. Next issue is I own a netbook and I expect low fps while recording with fraps. Having a better system record videos would produce higher fps and thus give a better impression to the audience of you work. It would also be more interesting for users if the narrator could explain a little more deeply what is being showcased. I definitely think that someone should be volunteer for this task and who knows, maybe that will be me.

[raevol]

I'm not a coder, but I also have pretty limited time to devote to the project, hence me taking some pretty sasy tasks, and slacking even on those. I was supposed to do a theme for this forum for ages, but I haven't been able to get around to it.

Please do anything and everything that you are willing/able! Consult me on whatever you like, or just do your own thing, just be sure to double-check it with the rest of the team.

I actually am in a good position to do videos for OpenMW, excepting 2 things: I'd need to find time, and I'd need someone to get a .deb to me, as I am pretty helpless when it comes to compiling things... Our new build automation should help with that?

[psi29a]

I actually am in a good position to do videos for OpenMW, excepting 2 things: I'd need to find time, and I'd need someone to get a .deb to me, as I am pretty helpless when it comes to compiling things... Our new build automation should help with that?

According to Zini, once 'alpha' status is a go for 0.12 I will pull from his master branch and try to get deb packages out the door. 32 and 64bit

[ElderTroll]

Here is what I have written up for the 0.12.0 PR release. It is mostly taken from existing sources around openmw.org and the internet. Let me know what you think.

The OpenMW team will shortly be releasing OpenMW version 0.12.0 and it's time to spread the word! Version 0.12.0 is the culmination of four years of work to create a new engine for 2002's Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. It aims to be a fully playable (and improved!), open source implementation of the game's engine and functionality.

You still need the original game data to play OpenMW. OpenMW will run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.To give you a better idea of what this project is about, here are some of the aims for the future of OpenMW:

-be a full featured reimplementation of Morrowind
-run natively on Windows, Linux and MacOS X
-support all existing content, including Tribunal,
Bloodmoon and all user created mods
-allow much greater modability: change game rules,
create new spell effects, etc through scripting.
-fix system design bugs, like the "dirty" GMST entries in
mods, and the savegame "doubling" problem
improve the interface and journal system
(possibly) improve game mechanics, physics, combat
and AI
(possibly) support multiplayer
(possibly) improve graphics to use more modern
hardware

OpenMW is released under the GNU General Public License version 3. It builds on various other open source tools, most notably OGRE for graphics and bullet physics library.
At this point in time we are looking for developers and game testers to help us achieve our 1.0 goals;
a bug free Morrowind that runs natively on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Website: http://openmw.org
Forum: http://openmw.org/forum/


Changelog

Need info for 0.12.0

0.11.0 - 2011 sept 26
- Launcher implemented
- Misc. code cleanup
- Some optimizations implemented, further optimizations are planned
- Fix to allow resource loading outside of BSA files
- Fix to search for openmw.cfg in the correct locations
- Added the TCL alias for ToggleCollision
- Added missing cfg file support for some command line options
- Added reporting of resulting state to Toggle-type script instructions
- Fix for some NPC IDs being interpreted as Topic IDs
- Implemented back-end for player journal
- Implemented MessageBox
- Implemented tab-completion in console
- Implemented handling multiple data directories
- Fix for accessing objects in cells via ID with mixed or upper case IDs
- Fixed unicode conversion issue to allow localized encoding of gui strings

0.10.0 - 2011 april 03
-NPC dialogue window (not functional yet)
-Collisions with objects
-Refactor the PlayerPos class
-Adjust file locations
-CMake files and test-linking for Bullet
-Replace Ogre raycasting test for activation with something more precise
-Adjust player movement according to collision results
-FPS display
-Various Portability Improvements
-Mac OS X support is back!

0.9 - 2011 jan 13
-Exterior cells - loading, unloading and management
-Character Creation GUI
-Character creation
-Make cell names case insensitive when doing internal lookups
-Music player
-NPCs rendering

0.8 - 2010 sept 10
GUI
-complete and working script engine (thanks to Marc Zinnschlag)
-in-game console
-sky rendering
-sound and music
-tons of smaller stuff

0.7 - 2010 june 22
This release is a complete rewrite in C++.
-All D code has been culled, and all modules have been rewritten.
-The game is now back up to the level of rendering interior cells and moving around, but physics, sound, GUI, and scripting still remain to be ported from the old codebase.

0.6 - 2009 mar 3
-coded a GUI system using MyGUI
-skinned MyGUI to look like Morrowind (work in progress)
-integrated the Monster-script engine
-rewrote some functions into script code
-very early MyGUI <-> Monster binding
-fixed Windows sound problems (replaced old openal32.dll)

0.5 - 2008 nov 5
-Collision detection with Bullet
-Experimental walk & fall character physics
-New key bindings:
t - toggle physics mode (walking, flying, ghost),
n - night-eye, brightens the scene
-Fixed incompatability with DMD 1.032 and newer compilers
(thanks to tomqyp)
-Various minor changes and updates

0.4 - 2008 aug 30
-switched from Audiere to OpenAL (BIG thanks to Chris Robinson)
-added complete Makefile (again) as a alternative build tool
-more realistic lighting (thanks again to Chris Robinson)
-various localization fixes - tested with Russian and French versions
-temporary workaround for the Unicode issue: invalid UTF displayed as '?'
-added -ns option to disable sound, for debugging
-various bug-fixes
-cosmetic changes to placate gdc -Wall

0.3 - 2008 jul 10
-built and tested on Windows XP
-partial support for FreeBSD (exceptions do not work)
-you no longer have to download Monster separately
-made an alternative for building without DSSS (but DSSS still works)
-renamed main program from 'morro' to 'openmw'
-made the config system more robust
-added -oc switch for showing Ogre config window on startup
-removed some config files, these are auto-generated when
missing. Separated plugins.cfg into linux and windows versions.
-updated Makefile and sources for increased portability (thanks to
Dmitry Marakasov)
-confirmed to work against OIS 1.0.0 (Ubuntu repository package)

0.2 - 2008 jun 17
-compiles with gdc
-switched to DSSS for building D code
-includes the program esmtool

0.1 - 2008 jun 03
first release

[raevol]

I would take out the (possible) features, *especially* multiplayer, because that one in particular is far from planned. Also, has it been 4 years!? Dang!

[ElderTroll]

Okay, is that how the rest of the team feels? That info was taken from the mod db page. If so, I can have them update it too. Oh yeah, facebook page. Does anyone have a good image I could use to create the background with?
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrOpenMW?feature=mhee