[Kde-games-devel] Restructuring KDE Games

[Stefan Majewsky]

On Donnerstag, 10. Juni 2010 03:34:22 Frederik Schwarzer wrote:
> I was planning to arrange
> another "Let's go over all of our games and see what problems we find"
> meeting, like Eugene did about two years ago, before 4.5.

"see what problems we find" include most importantly the question what is to 
be considered a problem. And that requires a vision: For example, the KDE 3->4 
switch included a paradigm change towards vector graphics. Before this switch, 
usage of bitmap graphics or non-scaling interfaces was not considered a 
problem at all.

Another example: As a programmer, I would consider it a problem that about 
every game has its own SVG -> pixmap rendering code which has most probably 
copy-pasted from some other application, with minor adaptations. (For example, 
KDiamond's renderer is loosely derived from the one from KLines.)

However, if I was not there, a non-programmer would never call this a problem. 
The question is where you draw the line. A vision document might be helpful in 
this process.

(The fine print: Please do not start a discussion about SVG rendering now. No 
bike-shedding, please.)

> > - Work on a "vision" and "goals" document for our project, so we would
> > know where we want to go, and how.
> 
> Hmm, sounds interesting. On the other hand, I could not think about
> something more reasonable than "let's do what we can" in a project
> structured like KDE. :)

Some immediate considerations:
* FLOSS games in general and kdegames games in particular are developed 
continuously (unlike commerical games, which are finished at some point).
* What sets kdegames apart from most other Linux games is the integration with 
the (KDE) workspace: the adoption of common user interface paradigms and 
technologies. This includes IMO a low resource footprint because, on a 
desktop, the game is usually not the only running application (again compared 
to most commercial games, but also many OSS games which run fullscreen by 
default).

> To conclude:
> Yes, I share that uneasy feeling of something being wrong. It might
> accrue from the fact that the games team mostly flies below the radar
> of Awsomeland with shiny new features and pink bunnies.
> However, I cannot pinpoint the problem. As a result, I am not able to
> see a solution either. I think it is safe to infer from the amount of
> action taken so far, that others see it similarly.

If there is a problem in communication, the reason is most probably that there 
is nothing to communicate. 99% of the kdegames-related Planet-syndicated blog 
posts are from my blog and about Palapeli, because feature development is 
actually happening there.

So is the problem really that we are in maintenance mode for most games? If 
yes, change for the sake of change is not going to help. But again, a vision 
document might be helpful in determining areas which could be improved. Once 
we know which tasks are to be done, this can be communicated, thereby possibly 
attracting new developers (using the popularity of our apps, which I consider 
big nonetheless).

Greetings
Stefan