What I'm inferring, and my op pinions: Summary:
While 2.0 should be a significant release, the majority opinion is that it should not take years. This makes it difficult to implement what everyone wants, etc. I think 2.0 should be the point at which most issues that we have known about, but haven't fixed, should be fixed. Additionally, the game should be made easier to use (more graphical interfaces on the client side instead of typing in commands constantly), and have a significant amount of balance issues fixed IMO. Another thing is that, I think we should do something to encourage developers to join the project. Finally, a stronger community of players could help this game gain popularity, which would result in more developers. Gaining developers: To get new developers, we first have to have them gain interest in the game, this would fall under building a stronger community. Second, I think reorganizing/restructuring the code into a more logical form, as it is been discussed, and revising/creating more documentation will make it easier for anyone interested in contributing to the project to contribute. Strengthening the community: On the community side, we need to encourage player interaction, both in and out of the game. One way to boost in game interaction would be bolstering the player economy. However, that will probably not be done in time for cf2.0. For the community out of game, make it easier to find resources like the forums, and the wiki. Additionally, make it easier to join irc channels, possibly by putting a java applet somewhere. Another thing that could be done to aid the community, both in-game and outside of the game, would be to setup a method to connect to servers, just for the purpose of chatting with people who are playing (oldsocketmode uses food iirc). Another topic of communication between players, would be the inter-server chat discussed a while ago. My opinion on release numbers: Once we have more developers and enough are willing to volunteer, it may be a good idea to appoint some people to maintain the stable branches. Micro releases: bug fixes, and addition of small features Minor releases: Features involving significant changes Major releases: Huge changes in game play, major overhauls, milestones in development Finally, i just want to note that our next release could be 1.10.0 instead of 2.0 if we need more time for cf2.0. -- Andrew Fuchs _______________________________________________ crossfire mailing list crossfire@metalforge.org http://mailman.metalforge.org/mailman/listinfo/crossfire