dev workflow professionalisation?

[mana]

hi guys

beeing just a little trem noob with little posts, this particular posting might seem inadequate but who cares ..

Doing teambased developing for a couple of years (php, not c) i got to love the benefits of a good infrastructure.
Doing a brief research i found out you (the obviously existing inner circle of developers) switched to SVN, which is a great plus. But i want to politely suggest you to implement the following:

-a bugtracker that knows to handle versions
-an official wiki
-developer counsel
-roadmaps

Implemented right and filled with life and heartblood like the code (hopefuly) is filled *g* these instruments could:

-attract more (professional) developers and art-workers
-give feedback to the community
-help to focus and prioritize
-increase quality

If you like me to, i can go into detail but i dont want to blubber arround when everybody allready had this ideas or wants to get things done more the anarchic way . its just .. that i have the feeling there is a lack of information (and thus much fantasizing about the oh so great next features hopefully to come) while development progress seems slow.
Can we fix this up?

I'll provide help if wanted.

in respect
Mana

p.s.: please keep this thread clean of OT comments, or at least think twice before answering if you are not a mod/admin/dev can you?

[gareth]

Heh, as long as they continue slowly working on 1.2, i dont care how they do it, I assume they are perfectly happy with things the way they are though, and as they arent advertising for more people to help, they probably dont want any.

 

[mana]

Sure, thats perfectly legit . Though taking principles of community driven development into account it may seem a little bit selfish.
No confusion: I am all for "growth", using the business-mans speak . Growth in value for the user, beeing it fun while playing, having a release earlier than expected, feeling integrated by knowing whats going on, recognized by seeing "his" bug dissapear in the bugtracker .. and for the developer who might gain productivity through structure,getting to know new contributers, growing in knowledge and skill while mentoring.
I am talking about possibilities because i think you can always do better then you'd done before.
Don't get me wrong, the work done here is a tremendous luck for all the thousand tremulous players.
Using that number i might state the well known quote of power and responsibility. The contributers founders, workhorses of the community stand up to that responsibility, and 90% of the server admins do as well, no?

So, I see not a problem but chances. Discuss those?

[techhead]

If you let people know more specifics about a project, it makes it seem like it goes quicker to the outside viewer.
I know they wish to retain some control over the processes involved, and as secretive as the inner workings of the development team are, I respect that, as there a great many other dev teams like that.
However, I think that the community would be more willing to lend a helping hand if you told them what needs helping.
So far, any help you seek falls mostly in 4 categories:
1. Donations from those that can.
2. Feedback on the current game, and tjw's server.
3. Skills and expertise in a wide variety of categories, from codding to modeling to mapping, but no specifics on what the work entails once one signs up.
4. Custom mapping and modding that may or may not be incorporated into the official game.

[Paradox]

There is actually a bugtracker, its bugzilla.icculus.org or something like that.
As for all those things, a trac installation could be set up to run them, as it offers SVN management, wiki, roadmap, bugtracking, and tons of other stuff.

[mana]

There is actually a bugtracker, its bugzilla.icculus.org or something like that.
As for all those things, a trac installation could be set up to run them, as it offers SVN management, wiki, roadmap, bugtracking, and tons of other stuff.

Ha, i searched for the bugtracker but didn't find the URL. thank you and activly used, nice.

A centralized thing like trac seems like a good instrument though it might be too early discussing specific products as the devs are the once to decide how they like to work.

I agree to techhead though i dont think the community actually wants control if thats what you meant. Just a way of "how participation works" or that.

things like "When i send in a patch what happens?" "Which kind of changes will be rejected, what is appreciated?", "Is work on models for a third Race needed?" *g* .. especialy for those that are not within the core group or read every post on the forum. this shouldn't be neccessary regarding all the crapp and necroying

In "control" are and ever will be those who write code and distribute. I doubt things becoming less controllable with more people involved, if done right, eh?