Re: Let me introduce myself.

[Christian Reiniger <warewolf@mayn.de>]

Rob Kaper wrote:

>> Well, I'd like to see comments from Henti and Rob, as they are propagly
>>the ones mainly affected.
>1) Content comes first, definately. But even more important is the underlying
>code. We need a database for developers and for the projects. Something
>based on Freshmeat's lounge might be a good idea. SQL? Some weird CGI?

This is not important for now. Initially the content won't be very
voluminous and setting up that kind of stuff simply takes too much time.

But for later we'll propably use a mix of these - some database for the
toolkit overviews, CGI (customized versions of faq-o-matic & co) and
server side administration scripts (e.g. automatic mailing list mirroring).

>2) Is there a definate name yet? Frankly I think "Linux Game Developers HQ"
>is a bit dull. It's a great description for the opening page, but not a
>catching name for press releases and word of the mouth.

I personally like "Linux Game Development Center" (note the "Center"
instead of "HQ" - it's IMHO nicer). Mainly because it quite
precisely describes the purpose of the site. And if you want it short, LGDC
is fine.

>3) The opening page is most important to start with. The menu links and
>intro text is what makes people stick at the site longer.

Ok, as for the intro text, this is my suggestion (it's more or less the
thing I already suggested some time ago):

--------------
Welcome to the Linux Game Development Center (LGDC), a site aspiring to
be the headquarters for all Linux game development. This includes:

Linux Game Programming Resources 
	First of all it this site tries to provide a comprehensive
	overview of the available programming resources like game SDKs,
	image manipulation/generation software, special documentation,
	programming tools etcetc.

Communication between developers 
	Development of Open Source game SDKs has to be coordinated to
	reduce duplication of efforts and to ensure interoperability of
	their code, game developers want to stay in contact with the
	authors of the toolkits they use, game developers new to Linux
	need help from experienced Linux developers and so on. This project
	tries to provide all neccessary facilities for this communication.

Cooperation between SDK projects
	This site gives the Linux Game SDK developers an effective medium
	for communication and takes care about proper
	interoperability of their code, so that you (as a game developer)
	can freely choose almost any combination of libraries from our
	projects without having to care about compatibility. 

What is this site not?

Finished ;) 
	This site is relatively new and it will take some time until it
	really can provide a comprehensive overview of the available
	resources. Until then, it will focus on giving an impression of
	what's happening in this area right now.  
A Site for game players
	This site is targeted at developers, so if you are mainly
	interested in information concerning playing games,
	http://www.linuxgames.com will suit your needs much better. 
------------------------------

It might be too long for the title page, though.

>4) We need a sharp writer. Indeed no use of "Windoze" and "blind and
>arrogant" (although I still think that is true in many cases). Yet strong
>texts that will do the following three things:
> - make software houses aware of Linux
> - recruite developers
> - inform the users of the progress and makes them understand that things
>   won't change over night, but that there is indeed a lot going on.

Excellent list. Apropos "make software houses aware of Linux": I'll contact
the LGA (www.linuxgames.org) guys about joining.

>I guess that would result into a "General Info", "Developers Lounge" and
>"User Zone". This kind of split has been made by Gnome and KDE as well, and

Well, see the intro text above. It's actually "For Game Developers", "For
SDK Developers" and "General Discussion".

>for a reason. I understand that the user part will go to the .com site while
>the developer stuff is at .org? I still think there should be some overlap

Yes, I think it's best to clearly seperate the stuff for gamers and the
stuff for developers, mainly because most gamers will have little interest
in the developer stuff.

>to make sure we can promptly redirect people who are at the 'wrong site', or

This is easy with cross-linking both sites (see the last paragraph of the
intro above). 

>even interest users to develope anyway.

Part of this will be solved automatically if we can use the linuxgames.org
domain, as it is quite likely to confuse ".com" with ".org" ;)
And I think that most people interested in development will find their way
to the "developer" site anyway. IMHO.

>Oh, I placed a new logo based on the Lava theme. It's not on the LGB site

Ah, I'll have a look at it soon.


Cu
	Christian
--

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