FreeOrion

Hi!

According to the Forum-Activities, CVS-logs, sourceforge-Stats and number of releases freeorion is dying away. So please stop it now. FreeOrion wont be completed. Not in near nor in far future. All facts are speaking against freeorion. Sometimes it is better to give up than to be inhonest to the visitors of this site and yourself.

So what were the reason for the slow end. Similar to german OpenOrion there has been a lot of talk at the start. Everyone has a different idea of how a real MoO-like game should look like. Too much talk, less progress is the problem. Perhaps ist would be best to reprogram MoO2 or MoO1. No Design Issues, Brainstorming and the like. This could be a start for improvements for a game that is still played after 9 years (years right?).

A second point may be the techs uses. FreeOrion is/was being developed with GiGi and xml. Could there have been an easier way? What about more common libaries and less libaries? Ok, I´m not an expert in programming but that was my thought.

Perhaps the Team should be smaller and the aims should not be pointed less high.

FreeOrion wan´t a failure. It brought fun in discussion and programming. There is a lot of art that could be used in other projects. And when another MoO-Project starts I will be very interested.

Greets

This is getting repetitive, from people who don't help with the project much and have no clue.

FreeOrion is not dead, even though there is not much activity going on. We know where we're at. If you want to help contribute to make *this* project work, do it. Otherwise you're only being a hindrance.

Evidently. I think their programming choices have been very good so far (speaking as someone who has dealt with many of the same issues).

If you want to hop on another space TBS homebrew project, there are plenty to choose from for sure. But none of them are succeeding (with one notable exception, which is on vacation for the summer). FreeOrion is probably the most developed of all the 4x startups.

first a post "Unify for a bigger project"
the a post "You are death"
Looks like unlawful competition...
Is there some new Project starting?

Fatal Universe also looked like death, but there was and is much activity behind the scene.

_________________
Wer die Welt gezielt verändern will, muss sie zuerst einmal verstehen!
One of your german brothers: http://www.fatal-universe.de

Quite a few of us are on vacation this time of year. I'd be adding more sound effects and music and whatnot, but unfortunately for myself I had to put my keyboard and musical equipment away until my arm heals.

For those who think the project is dying away, please visit the audio forums - if you have a talented voice or whatnot, perhaps you may be able to contribute in some form.

Or, if you are much better with photoshop, perhaps contact Obiwan about creating random pictures for use in F.O. The more images / animations that are available, the better the quality we can choose from.

_________________
There are three kinds of people in this world - those who can count, and those who can't.

I think that conclusion is a bit premature. The problem is not that the project is dead. The problem is that the people who are doing the work are not making any VISIBLE progress. However, I have no doubt that they are still doing a lot of work "under the hood".

I can see why a lack of visible progress may look like the gradual death of the project, especially when so many other projects have died under similar conditions. For that reason, I tend to think that a rapid release schedule of "development snapshots" of a project is a good thing because it helps to reassure people that the project is not dead, and because it allows features to be tested and critiqued rapidly.

I'm guessing that the reason development snapshots are not being publicly released at this point is the desire to make sure that the 0.3 release is "good enough" to make a very big spash when it is fianally announced on slashdot and other prominant public forums. As a result, the developers are attempting to keep a low profile for the project untill it reaches that stage of development.

I Don't think that I would have chosen to do it that way, especially considering the great popularity of the game Battle for Wesnoth, which started out very modestly, and has very gradually and steadily become a true masterpiece of a game. Nevertheless, I have great respect for those who may have other opinions and methods. The important thing is results, not appeasing the masses.

Invisible Progress? Where should that happen? If progress was made in Design there would be posts in the Design threads. If something was being programmed the last changes wouldn´t be five weeks ago. If you told a software team leader about progress that is absolutely invisible he wouldn´t believe you. A software development process is hard to evaluate. But here the facts seem so strong.
Believe me, I would be glad if i was wrong. I still love MoO2 and would like to play a well designed sequel. But it does´nt seem to be realistic. If people are on vacation at least some people would have more time for this project. I program for fun only during the semester break.

Fatal Univers seemed to be dead for some time. But it´s harder to estimate because it is programmed by one person. Programming progress is therefor invisible. But here we have public cvs, sourceforge stats (ok, not saying too much) and forums for developers.
It is remarkable that Fatal Univers is that far with only one programmer. Perhaps it could atract more people if it was C++ and open source.

Greets

i can just speak for myself but i know that others are in a similar sitiuation as i am.
i was participating at freeorion for some time, but have quit doing so(for now), because i have a lot other stuff to do, which is more important(yes, work!). after all this project is based on the contributors' freetime.

believe me, when i say that motivation is there, it's just that i can't affort the time at the moment.

should we call freeOrion dead for this reason? i will come back and contribute again some day. so,.... no - i won't give up freeOrion. there is great work done already - in all categorys(design, programming, sound/graphics). it would be wasted.

TheEdge, please state what you hope to achieve by this thread or drop it.

FreeOrion is still being actively developed. The lead programmer is also the creator of GiGi, which I still believe is an excellent choice for FO. Not through stubbornness, but a genuine belief. GiGi was updated 26 hours ago, and development on that should be considered development on FreeOrion, since the two go hand in hand. Zach works on the two simultaneously.
We know where we're at, and your messages of gloom add nothing productive to this project. Don't waste our time.

First let me say that I have also wondered and worried about the status of Freeorion from time to time, but the recent amount of posts lamenting the death of Freeorion has just proven to me how alive this project is.

It is easy to see from the responses of the development team to these posts that development is continuing as fast as it can. And while it may not be as fast as some of the die hard MoO fans would like, forward progress is being made whether or not we see it.

As someone who understands the development process while possessing none of the talents of it I would like to let the Dev team know there is at least one person who appreciates their efforts and time given to this project, and will be waiting patiently (as best I can) for any and all updates to Freeorion

Thx, at least someone who understand what's going on. I don't think fo will die. But to say the truth, to me coding is much more fun than actual playing. I guess this is also true for the other artists. Maybe thats why all the lurkers are this disappointed. Join us and have fun too

_________________
Press any key to continue or any other key to cancel.
Can COWs fly?

I think the same in fact. A lot of times I have thought that FO is aiming too high too prematurely. Sure, there is a lot of people interested and involved in the proyect but also that people's available time is not much. I would start with a simple game that plays almost as RISK in space and them make it grow steady. I saw many of my personal proyects fail because I tried to do and include everything at once. Now I plan for smaller proyects while keeping thinking on the "big picture". You get more visible results and steadier advancement (and, belive it or not, more fun since you see your proyect alive and working).

Don't be so picky... after all, we have said over and over that this is a community effort, that we accept feedback and that there is free speech in this forums. Since this is not an offensive thread and isn't empty of meaning I don't see a reason for droping it. It address some real concerns of people involved and it even serves as reasurance that things aren't in fact dead. Accept open criticisms is almost alwais useful given that it's done in a decent, objective conversation and not a petty fight.

_________________
My proposals for: Resources - Spies

I tend to agree that the best way for a public project of this sort to progress is to start simple, make many small chages and improvements over time while keeping the "big picture" in mind, and make many public realease versions as these changes are made so that both fans and developers can see the growth of the project. This keeps enthusiasm for the project very high, helps to recruit new talant to the project, and stimulates new ideas for how the project can be improved.

I like the version numbering system used by many projects such as the Linux kernel and the GCC compiler collection. I would like to see FreeOrion use the same system. With the Linux version numbering system, there are three numbers separated by periods like this: 2.6.12 . The first two numbers are the version number, and the last number is the release number of that version. Furthermore, there is a difference between even and odd version numbers. Even version numbers are "stable" releases which are not being developed except for bug fixes, and odd version numbers are "development" versions which are being actively developed with new and improved features.

So, in summary, my opinion is that the FreeOrion project would be better off if it made more public releases more often because doing so would maintain a high level of entusiasm and public interest, which would translate into more motivation to contribute to the project, more and better recruits for the project, and more ideas for improving the project.