[Kde-games-devel] Kapman

[Matthew Woehlke]

Mauricio Piacentini wrote:
> Also, I think you guys need to implement at least KGameTheme and 
> KGameThemeSelector. All games in KDE 4.1 are themable, so you should 
> have this even if you have only one team right now. You can have a look 
> at KMines (or KBlocks in playground) if you need help in the 
> implementation, but it should not be too difficult.

I'm mostly worried about the "oxygen" theme... I already have walls done 
for a "retro" theme, and the current ghosts (sorry, forget who 
contributed them) should work well with that. So at least two themes 
should be possible. (The pills, energizers, and player artwork are all 
trivial, i.e. the current artwork is basically good.)

> We will then have a couple of months to tweak and improve these 
> features. Personally, I would like to act differently this time compared 
> with the 4.0 freeze, and this was something we discussed in the IRC 
> meeting last month: we should attempt to plan the features and move 
> games to the module so they have at least a CHANCE of being included in 
> 4.1, and not just arbitrarily cut 4-6 months before the release while 
> other modules are still adding stuff at the last minute. Of course, we 
> need to be reasonable, and do not force things upon ourselves or the 
> translators: if something is really not ready, and there are basic 
> features missing, then it can not be considered for kdereview. But 
> Kapman is almost there, I think it can make it.

Speaking of translation, it would be good if someone can go over what is 
and what is not i81n-ready. The score, for example, currently looks like 
i18n(string+int+string) which I am pretty sure is a no-no.

> IMO, before the release we should also work on a Oxygen-style default 
> team, one that does not resemble the commercial game that inspired the 
> development so much. This does not have to be in place right now (next 
> week), but we should have it ready for April 22th, the first alpha. I do 
> not think it is wise or desirable for us to release a game in our 
> collection with the default artwork that is so close to one that might 
> be protected in some countries. Notice that I am talking about 
> specifically the artwork (player and ghosts), not the game mechanics or 
> other non-patentable stuff.

How much "not like the traditional game" are we talking? I was going to 
at least put hats on all the actors (which would be a diversion). Note 
that there are also a bazillion clones on the net with unchanged 
artwork; I doubt many of them are licensed in any way... (I'd also note 
that I don't think the KGr artwork is 'notably different' from that of 
the game that inspired it.)

I'd be open to ideas... I do want to use unique hats for each actor, in 
some way.

-- 
Matthew
"The government is not trying to destroy Microsoft, it's simply seeking 
to compel Microsoft to obey the law. It's quite revealing that Mr. Gates 
equates the two." -- A government official