RFR (Request For Review ;)

[Christian Reiniger <warewolf@mayn.de>]

Hi all, I reorganized the "How to Start" docs a bit (most notably merged
the website/mailinglist ones into one) and added some stuff. Please have a
look at it (I'm sure there are at least some weird expression errors in 
it ;)


	Christian

--

Drive A: not responding...Formatting C: instead

Title: How to Start a new Project

How to Start a new Project

So you have that great idea, the skills to make it work and enough spare time to actually do it? You are fascinated by the bazaar model of development, by those groups of people who have never seen each other yet work together to create something really great, by the cooperative and helpful spirit in them? You want to turn your great idea into an open project aimed at creating the single most wonderful game(1) ever? Welcome aboard, let me take your hand and guide you around the traps and pitfalls to the promised land :-)

We'll look mainly at the infrastructure your project will need: a website, one or more mailing lists, a CVS repository, FTP space etc. There is also a collection of generic project management tips available.

Ok, let's start with a very basic thing:

Internet Service Hosting

If you have your own big server connected 24/7 to the internet with a T1, including a tape streamer of at least the same size (for the daily backups) and well-trained staff administrating that setup, well, then you are very lucky. But unfortunately most people have to go out and find someone to host their website, mailing list and all the other stuff.

But where to look? Getting free high quality hosting can't be easy, right? Wrong! There are quite some organizations provide free projects (the free is important) with hosting of the most common services. Here's a list of some of them:

• The SunSITEs. Located in major universities all over the globe, equipped with big servers donated primarily by Sun Microsystems and with capable and motivated staff, these sites have already become a kind of legend. Have a look at SunSITE Denmark (the one hosting this very project) for in-depth information and links to the other SunSITEs.
• www.linuxgames.com. Besides being an excellent source of news related to Linux gaming, linuxgames.com also offers hosting for projects in the Linux+Games area.

All of the above organizations offer (almost) unlimited disk space, web hosting (including at least basic CGI), mailing list hosting, FTP space, CVS access and a top speed connection to the internet. Sounds good, doesn't it? ;-)

(Note: If you know other hosting organizations offering similar quality, please tell us. Thanks.)

Ok, on to the next topics:

Setting up a Website

A decent website is a must-have: it allows you to inform the (potential) users of your project about your goals, new releases and practically any news item related to the project. Also, it allows direct feedback from the users.

Web site design

Go for simply, classic, readable and not for high-tech state of the art. First of all, you want to put most of your efforts in developing a game, and not in creating a superb website representing a vaporware project.

A few items your website cannot do without (in random order, some apply to open source projects only):

• A background page with your goals and motivations.
• A contact address for e-mail feedback.
• Screenshots. As soon as you can make snapshots, do so and post them. Users seem to love screenshots and site visitors with graphical talents might be aspired to join development when they see screenshots that are below their personal standard.
• A "news" list, informing visitors of the important changes. This also servers as a good indicator of the progress you make and, of you keep the "old news", as a detailed history of your project.
• A detailed list of features and storyline. Show that you have more than an idea, that you have a plan!
• A wishlist for future releases and a description of the current status of the project. This will clarify why certain things don't work (well) yet. Also, it will allow your project team to remind all the brilliant conceptial ideas without having to scroll back through mailinglist archives.
• A list of required hardware/software/libraries, complete with links on where to get those requirements.
• An HOWTO-Compile document, not only answering the most common questions to the compilation of your project's sources, but also of the required software/libraries. Your website needs to be a one-stop solution, most users like to get the answers at one place.
• Download locations of your binaries and source codes (possibly using CVS).

And always remember: A website needs to be maintained, the information on it (most notably the status information and news list) has to be up-to-date. If people see a website that hasn't changed in months they usually take it as a sign that the project underneath has died.

Setting up a Mailing List

The mailing list is where the project's action takes place. Here plans and decisions are made, designs are discussed - everything important happens here. The mailing list is every (distributed) project's main home. To put it short: You need one.

Things to consider

Fortunately a mailing list setup is a relatively simple thing, there is not much that can go wrong and there are only a few "optional features" to care about:

• Some sites offer automatic archival of mailing lists. This is a very useful feature. For one, it means that every single mail that was ever sent to the list is stored at a central place and can be accessed from anywhere. Secondly, people new to the list can retrieve the mails of the past some days to get up-to-date quickly.
• A less common service (offered for example by SunSITE Denmark is the mirroring of a mailing list as newsgroup, making it possible to read and write mailing list posts both via mail (like with any other mailing list) and news (like with a normal newsgroup). This is especially useful if you are subscribed to the list with your home email address yet want to read and post from uni or work.
• Have detailed instructions on how to subscribe/unsubscribe to/from the list on your website. If people visit your site and become interested in your project they tend to subscribe to the list to learn a bit more about what's going on. These people are your main source of new developers, so treat them well and try to attract as many of them as possible.

CVS

The intro of the CVS manual by Per Cederqvist does a pretty good job of explaining ahet CVS is and why you should use it. And as I am a pretty lazy person I'll simply quote it for a starter ;-) :

CVS is a version control system. Using it, you can record the history of your source files.

For example, bugs sometimes creep in when software is modified, and you might not detect the bug until a long time after you make the modification. With CVS, you can easily retrieve old versions to see exactly which change caused the bug. This can sometimes be a big help.

CVS also helps you if you are part of a group of people working on the same project. It is all too easy to overwrite each others' changes unless you are extremely careful. Some editors, like GNU Emacs, try to make sure that the same file is never modified by two people at the same time. Unfortunately, if someone is using another editor, that safeguard will not work. CVS solves this problem by insulating the different developers from each other. Every developer works in his own directory works in his own directory, and CVS merges the work when each developer is done.

Of course it takes a little time to learn how to use CVS, but it is actually quite simple and it makes maintaining your sources much easier. Have a look at the CVS manual (it's really good), play with it on your own computer for some time and then ask your host about a proper setup. Soon it will become an indispensable part of your development work.

(1) No, this text of course does not only apply to game projects. Referring to them just makes it fit better into this site ;) [Back]