Bringing more (and less sporadic) junior devs
Posted: 21 Jul 2016, 04:48
So we need more devs. With so few devs as we have now, we'll probably never be done. So I'm proposing a few steps to get more devs.
[*] Do regular public consultation between devs and peeps interested in developping the ES, as forum posts. Regular forum activity will make the ES seem more active, and in turn bring more people to developping it, which will effectively make it more active. This also includes showing some activity on reddit and twitter (it can very well be only a bot, so long as there is activity), and making a facebook page. I will manage some of those, if you so desire.
[*] Showcase stuffs! This is essential to make the project seem alive, and to show off progress to lesser interested people. Obviously, this means regular (I'm thinking monthly) videos and weekly livestreams, weekly forum post showcasing models, animations, and game logic, and completing demos as quickly as humanely possible. What this means is lesser quality but faster development.
Unrelated note: I'm remaking the boat, it looks like crap because I didn't make the sides round...
[*] Change the ES Title to an actual game name. Why this is important is that it will make the ES seem more official, and a little bit more separated from OpenMW. While it is true that we are a subproject of OpenMW, our development team is vastly different from the one of OpenMW, as much as for individual goals as for simple personal opinions of the devs. The Example Suite (from my experience, at least) is mostly developped by junior game devs wishing to eventually cash in on the experience they had developping the ES, and having a general love for Bethsoft's games (Arena to even, yes, Fallout 4), while the OpenMW developpers seem to be more passionate about Morrowind than any other Bethsoft's titles. The ES development team seems to be a lot younger than OpenMW's, too.
Short thing short, the individual goals and types of people working on those two projects are different, and they should probably be marked as such, permitting to differenciate the two projects but also to make an easier comparison between the two. We must not mistake shorthair libertarians for longhair hackers.
The sole negative point I see in this differenciation would be the wouldbe lack of collaboration between the two project, which is already very present, since the ES' team wanted features rarely, if ever, get implemented first. Which bring me to the next point I have.
[*]: The ES must seem as sexy as possible to companies, indie or not, as the example suite, even if now differenciated, will also be a modern game example made with OpenMW, which in turn will increase interest into the very engine and will benefit us all. The GPL license chosen by the OpenMW team is certainly less attractive to big budget companies, and the only way to attract them is to showcase a big improvement over the proprietary competitor, which OpenMW by itself never will be able to do. This means that we must showcase features Morrowind never had, and this might include making a few pull requests.
As said a little bit back, I stated that the ES is a different project from OpenMW because of the different intents of the developpers. However, the differenciation made will have the symbolic meaning that the two project must collaborate in some way, which is already done for the side of the OpenMW team. Some OpenMW developpers do invest some time making us some models, which does further our goal.
However, the features we must definitively need to showcase (a new dialogue interface, snap to grid in the CS, dehardcoding skills and classes) will need some code to be done from our part if we want to move forward quicker. And while this is great for the ES, it is even greater to fulfill our own individual goals, wheter it'd be making a game or becoming a professional game modeler (unless you're just there for fun, it can happen...), and it is most necessary to do some of the heavylifting.
While this all sound cool, I expect very few of us to go as far as to do this, and I fully understand why. Learning to program is a dauntling task, and it certainly isn't for everyone. I can program, while I don't understand what I do at all.
And so, it is time... to make OpenMW-ES great again!
[*] Do regular public consultation between devs and peeps interested in developping the ES, as forum posts. Regular forum activity will make the ES seem more active, and in turn bring more people to developping it, which will effectively make it more active. This also includes showing some activity on reddit and twitter (it can very well be only a bot, so long as there is activity), and making a facebook page. I will manage some of those, if you so desire.
[*] Showcase stuffs! This is essential to make the project seem alive, and to show off progress to lesser interested people. Obviously, this means regular (I'm thinking monthly) videos and weekly livestreams, weekly forum post showcasing models, animations, and game logic, and completing demos as quickly as humanely possible. What this means is lesser quality but faster development.
Unrelated note: I'm remaking the boat, it looks like crap because I didn't make the sides round...
[*] Change the ES Title to an actual game name. Why this is important is that it will make the ES seem more official, and a little bit more separated from OpenMW. While it is true that we are a subproject of OpenMW, our development team is vastly different from the one of OpenMW, as much as for individual goals as for simple personal opinions of the devs. The Example Suite (from my experience, at least) is mostly developped by junior game devs wishing to eventually cash in on the experience they had developping the ES, and having a general love for Bethsoft's games (Arena to even, yes, Fallout 4), while the OpenMW developpers seem to be more passionate about Morrowind than any other Bethsoft's titles. The ES development team seems to be a lot younger than OpenMW's, too.
Short thing short, the individual goals and types of people working on those two projects are different, and they should probably be marked as such, permitting to differenciate the two projects but also to make an easier comparison between the two. We must not mistake shorthair libertarians for longhair hackers.
The sole negative point I see in this differenciation would be the wouldbe lack of collaboration between the two project, which is already very present, since the ES' team wanted features rarely, if ever, get implemented first. Which bring me to the next point I have.
[*]: The ES must seem as sexy as possible to companies, indie or not, as the example suite, even if now differenciated, will also be a modern game example made with OpenMW, which in turn will increase interest into the very engine and will benefit us all. The GPL license chosen by the OpenMW team is certainly less attractive to big budget companies, and the only way to attract them is to showcase a big improvement over the proprietary competitor, which OpenMW by itself never will be able to do. This means that we must showcase features Morrowind never had, and this might include making a few pull requests.
As said a little bit back, I stated that the ES is a different project from OpenMW because of the different intents of the developpers. However, the differenciation made will have the symbolic meaning that the two project must collaborate in some way, which is already done for the side of the OpenMW team. Some OpenMW developpers do invest some time making us some models, which does further our goal.
However, the features we must definitively need to showcase (a new dialogue interface, snap to grid in the CS, dehardcoding skills and classes) will need some code to be done from our part if we want to move forward quicker. And while this is great for the ES, it is even greater to fulfill our own individual goals, wheter it'd be making a game or becoming a professional game modeler (unless you're just there for fun, it can happen...), and it is most necessary to do some of the heavylifting.
While this all sound cool, I expect very few of us to go as far as to do this, and I fully understand why. Learning to program is a dauntling task, and it certainly isn't for everyone. I can program, while I don't understand what I do at all.
And so, it is time... to make OpenMW-ES great again!