[Kde-games-devel] Possible GSoC project

[Ian Wadham]

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:48 am, Mauricio Piacentini wrote:
> Eugene Trounev wrote:
> > Sure, why not? I did hear some complaints (quite a few really), that
> > KDEGames has no Pocker game any more, but no one has actually take the
> > time to see into porting an old one over (did we even have Pocker
> > before?)
>
> Just fyi, KPoker by Andi was present in the collection for a long time,
> and it is now in playground. It has received some commits over the past
> year, so it will probably come back eventually. Not that this prevents
> other poker games from getting in, but as a SoC project idea it would
> probably be better to assist Andi (maybe as a mentor?) to ressurect our
> KPoker instead of porting a different game from Java. I would first
> contact him to see if he is interested in help, of course.
>
KPoker is alive and well and still living in KDE 3.  I just played a few
hands.  The last thread on KPoker and KDE 4, on KDE Games list, was
on 6 May 2007, between Martin Heni, Inge Wallin and Andi Beckermann.

It looks as though not much development has happened to KPoker
since then.  OTOH, it is early days yet.  KDE Games development for
KDE 4 is way ahead of most KDE application areas and I would hazard
a guess that most KDE users, world-wide, are still on KDE 3 and unable
to play our latest games, unless they build their own KDE 4 testbed.
So KPoker would probably be still there for most KDE users.

Looking at the CSPoker website, it appears that CSPoker is still at
a fairly early stage in its life-cycle (first Beta) and has already had quite
a long development period.  There is nothing wrong with that.  It is
quite normal and to be expected.  But what I ask is whether it is realistic
for Guy to expect to complete very much within the time-frame of a
GSoC project?  Might you be biting off more than you can chew, Guy?

I think KDE 4 Games definitely needs a Poker game, but to produce a
really good one, engineered to KDE standards, could take quite a lot
of effort and involve several people.  If we were to start such a project,
what would be the best starting point?  KPoker, CSPoker or something
else?  How do we decide?

I think we should compare features, what is under the hood and how
easy/hard it would be to build upon either KPoker or CSPoker, as
opposed to starting from scratch.

For example, KPoker only plays 1 or 2 players, is not networked, plays
only standard 5-card draw-poker, has an AI but perhaps not a good
one, would like to be able to play Texas Hold 'em, has nice KDE Games
card decks which have been taken over into KDE 4 and (KPoker) is
already a KDE application, written in C++.

CSPoker plays any number of players, is networked (but perhaps not yet
reliably), plays only Texas Hold 'em, has no AI (yet) but might have robot
players, would like to play other kinds of poker, has only one card deck(?),
but nicer graphics otherwise, and (CSPoker) is written in Java, is in a Beta
state and is not a KDE application (yet).

BTW do KDE applications really *have* to be written in C++?  Whether
they have to or not, I know from personal experience that it is quite a lot
of work to KDE-ize an application.

Please correct me if I am wrong about any of the above and I am sorry
if it appears negative (I would say it is realistic ;-)).  I would really like
to see a revival of poker in KDE 4, but I think it is more than a short-
term project.

All the best, Ian W.