Re: [Metacosm-dev] Meeting 2002/10/13

[shinjisfriend]

Hi all,

Obviously we need to rethink how to handle the project : Metacosm started back 
in '99 and we had a lot of fun putting together a lot of new ideas in the 
mailing list and then in specifications and prototypes... This does not seem to 
be the case anymore.

Working together on the code was more difficult as we had limited experience in 
collaborative work (cvs setup, deciding who work on what, how everything  fits 
together, etc.), but now things are better now.

On the technical side, we should be proud of what we are doing : Metacosm is 
already quite big, and it is not that easy to work on such an unfinished system 
! The move to gcj consumed more resources than we wished, but is functional : 
This means we have solved the problem of the java license (and that it will not 
return as gcj continues to improve). We choose to use quite a bunch of advanced 
techniques (xml persistence & messaging, internationalization..) and it worked.

If we are not happy with the state of the project, it is not an issue with the 
way we work together or because the code is too complex. We probably have too 
many objectives, some of them are slightly  incompatible, and each of us do not 
agree on all of them. We must discuss them again, identify what is important 
for everyone, and the priorities we should follow.

Let's try :

incomplete liste of objectives we more or less have been following so far :

- build a free software in the Debian Guidelines sense.
- build a pure Java application
- Follow a clean design approach (specs before code, class framework should 
stay clean)
- Document everything, maintain an uptodate website.
- Democratic project management
- Design features in order to get theorically the 'best possible' game 
experience. (Is it unrealistic ?)
- Buzzword compliance (simulation everywhere, xml persistence, pure java)
- All type of users should be supported and get their choice of client / User 
interface (telnet, fat client, world editor, admin console...)
- Shorten the release cycle
- release software that 'does something interesting to show/play with'

After writing all of this I feel clearly that we have unrealistic objectives. 
We must discuss what our ressources and personal objectives really are (they 
probably have changed since '99 !) and probably Metacosm could become fun 
again..


Regards,


Horus

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