Meeting 2006-09-23

Agenda

Please clearly label who suggested each item on the agenda.

Primary topic is the organization of the website contents.

1. Quick inquiry about the latest developments. (Demitar)
2. How do we properly direct newcomers? (Demitar)
3. How is the "new" frontpage coming along? (Demitar/Kai) (Perhaps related to http://wiki.worldforge.org/wiki/Worldforge_System_Overview ) Updated CSS version: http://demitar.homelinux.net/~demitar/worldforge_front_css/
4. Wiki for all non-static content? (Demitar/Kai)
5. Should we update wiki layout to look more like the main site? (Demitar)
6. One key tool currently lacking is a good/easy/... editor. Can we muster someone to work on a world editor (equator?, ember?)? (Demitar)
7. What is lacking in the content creation toolchain? (Demitar/Kai)
8. Update the http://worldforge.org/media/documents/media_standards and http://worldforge.org/media/documents/artist_orientation, come up with an artist-compatible explanation of the GPL. (Kai)

Summary

In an effort to keep tri-weekly meeting a meeting was held on saturday 2006-09-23, the meeting summary can be found below.

The next meeting is scheduled for 2006-10-07, 1900 GMT. Agenda avaliable at http://wiki.worldforge.org/wiki/Meeting_2006-10-07

IRC log can be found at http://brenda.worldforge.org/info.php?file=forge200609171634.irc

1. We began with a quick look at recent development (although none of the lead developers were present during this part).
   • cyphesis has among other things an improved admin console and now supports stacking of objects (see separate blog entries).
   • zzorn has written a java lanscape rendering engine wich is becoming quite capable, it will most likely get onto sourceforge after a minor glitch is fixed.
   • ember has had a new release which includes a terrain editor (see the separate blog entry). In cvs there already exists a much improved item editor.
   • WFmath and mercator have also been updated.
2. To properly direct newcomers we came up with the following:
   • A wiki page will be created listing who coordinates work on what part of the project. http://wiki.worldforge.org/wiki/Coordinators (Go add yourself already.)
     • For artists and media zzorn graciously volunteered. He will also try to keep relevant information up to date on the wiki.
     • For the software a mapping from the projects (along with a description of what it is) to the coordinator / lead developer will be provided.
   • It was also noted that to get a good grip on what needs to be worked on someone (not one of the current developers, they have enough to do already) should create a game.
3. Then the idea of a "new" frontpage with easy to reach sections for Players, World Builders, Artists and Software Developers was brought up. It was decided to keep the idea in ming and when we see how the rest of the website develops implement it appropriately.
4. The idea to move non-static content to the wiki was deemed to be a good idea. A group to work on moving things over was formed, to begin with Demitar, Kai, zzorn and MaxRandor. Kai contacts infra regarding the frontpage and moving things to the wiki.
5. An idea to change the wiki layout to match that of the other sites was brought up. It would be too much work right now. And could possibly be made as part of a future revamp of all the sites.
6. On the subject of world editor it was thought that it was best left to the ember client for now (seeing how it is already getting quite capable and noone else has time to work on a dedicated editor). The question of wether this might require server side persistence again was brought up. This should be checked in on again during later meetings.
7. The content creation toolchain was inspected and an effort will be made to make sure the instructions on how to get media into the game would be made easily available (along with the general media coordination). Erik will add instructions on how to get content into ember to the wiki. Instructions for sear already exist at http://worldforge.org/dev/eng/clients/sear/media they will be moved to the wiki eventually.
8. Finally, two pages containing media information ( http://worldforge.org/media/documents/media_standards and http://worldforge.org/media/documents/artist_orientation ) was suggested to be updated and that it would be good to come up with an artist-compatible explanation of the GPL. zzorn will look into this. They have been moved to http://wiki.worldforge.org/wiki/Media_Guidelines