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LGDC Site stuff - part 1
Hi,
I looked through past posts, tried to collect all the stuff concerning
the LGDC site, untangle it a bit and fill in some gaps. Here's the first
part:
(1) LGDC goals
==============
We agreed on having this list on the front page with links to a
"Background" page giving an explanation of the items (more on that page
later). The list is:
* Give an Overview of the available Linux GameDev Resources
* Introduce Developers to Linux GameDev
* Supervise Coordination of the Linux Game SDKs
* Help People to start new (related) Projects
* Advertise Linux as Gaming Platform
* Provide Facilities for Discussion to Linux Game Developers
The explanations are:
Give an Overview of the available Linux GameDev Resources
First of all this site tries to provide a comprehensive
overview of the available programming resources like game SDKs,
image manipulation/generation software, special documentation,
programming tools etc and to aid developers in choosing the right
tools.
Introduce Developers to Linux GameDev
Some developers visiting this site will be familiar with game
development on and for other platforms but are new to Linux,
others will start with game programming and are looking for
guidance. We try to help these groups to avoid the traps of Linux
game development and guide them through its (few) dark places.
Supervise Coordination of the Linux Game SDKs
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.
Help People to start new (related) Projects
The actual development of a game starts only after a vast amount
of prelimenary work. A special LGDC department called Game
Breeding gives a helping hand. You will find project concepts
here, as well as information you need to set up a mailinglist for
your development team. This is also the place were you can call for
programmers, artists and creative minds to join your team.
Advertise Linux as Gaming Platform
Commercial computer game companies are hesitating to port existing
games to Linux or write new ones for Linux as main platform,
vendors of game-critical hardware (e.g. grapgics cards) hesitate
to support Linux many people still don't see Linux as good
platform for games. We try to make these people aware of Linux's
potential and existing capabilities, the ongoing great efforts to
make it even better and its loyal users just waiting for quality
games to appear.
Provide Facilities for Discussion to Linux Game 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.
(2) Site structure
==================
The main structure for now will be like this:
--- Info for developers ---
* Tools (Resource overview)
* In Practice (Comparing the tools, GameDev issues examined in detail, ...)
* Examples (Example games/demos, tutorials)
* How To Start? (starting new projects / starting with Linux GameDev)
--- Linux Game SDKs ---
* Projects (existing and needed game SDKs)
* Compatibility standards (how do they interoperate?)
--- general ---
* News'n'Thoughts (Press clippings, editorials, ...)
* Discussion (Mailing list, notice-board, IRC summaries, ...)
* Links (Related sites)
--- This Site --- (???)
* Background (History, Philosophy, detailed "Goals" info)
* Supporters (Sponsors etc)
(The "This Site" part is my approach to find a good place for the
"Background" and "Supporters" links. I'm not quite sure about it however.
Comments?)
As to the details:
*Available Tools* (one fixed (non-dynamic) page for each of the categories
or perhaps just one page at all for now as we don't have that many tool
overviews yet - Comments?)
- Platform dependent SDKs
- lowlevel Platform independent SDKs
- Highlevel Platform independent SDKs
- Applications etc (TheGimp, egcs, jdk, ...)
Existing overviews (check past posts): CrystalSpace, ClanLib, PenguinFile,
PPlay GameSpace, Penguin2D, PenguinGUI, PPlay Event manager, SDL
*In Practice*
(one static site for now simply giving an overview over the
Projects' goals; division into the detailed parts is for later)
I'm not sure what to place on this page for now - perhaps just a general
intro ("The purpose of this section is to help you, the game developer, to
become familiar with the quirks of Linux Game development and the strengths
and weaknesses of the tools") as most of the stuff in there will simply have
to grow with time, but on the other hand I fear that it looks silly if
nothing concrete is there. But on the third hand <grin> - it's a completely
new site...
And a link to the mailing list page is important here - it will be the main
source of help especially in the beginning
*Example games*
IIRC ClanLib and GAMES both have example games. It would suffice
for the start if we place some screenshots and links to their homepages
here. Quite little work. Jeff, Magnus & Co - your job.
*How To Start?*
Pretty much the same as for the "In Practice" part. Will have to grow with
time.
*Projects*
- What Linux game development projects exist now?
Little into of the projects. Should be easy to modify Magnus' proposal
(http://dark.x.dtu.dk/~mbn/right_libs.html) for this. Or we make it just a
simple link collection for now.
*Compatibility standards* (Specifications of common code etc)
We don't have anything in this area yet -> nothing to place there. Just some
"This section will focus around the compatibility agreements and common
code of the Linux Game SDK projects" intro text.
*Discussions*
- The Mailing list
Henti, you still have the mailing list intro text I wrote, right?
-> almost done
- irc meeting summaries (moved here from the PPlay site)
-> some conversion work (spartanic ->
looking-like-the-rest-of-the-site)
*News'n'Thoughts*
We don't have anything here yet -> just some "This section will host
collections of press clippings, editorials etc related to Linux Game
Development" text
*Links* Links that don't fit into the other categories, like
- www.linuxprogramming.com/
- Scene Zone (http://alumina.universation.net/)
- www.xwindows.org/
Just a simple link collection for now. Comments on the links can be added
later.
*Background*
- detailed explanation of the LGDC goals (see above)
- Project history (I'll post a reworked version later)
*Supporters*
Logos of Loki Entertainment, tudols.com and whoever supports us
plus perhaps some notes about what they're doing etcetc. Ryan,
you're the marketing guy ;)
Ok, later the site structure will grow to something like that:
Available Tools
- Platform dependent SDKs
- lowlevel Platform independent SDKs
- Highlevel Platform independent SDKs
- Applications etc (TheGimp, egcs, jdk, ...)
In Practice"
- the general FAQ
- list of known bugs and their workarounds
- Strengths and weaknesses of the individual libs examined
- List of especially promising combinations (+analysis on the "why")
- Tips & Tricks
- "My first time" (where/how to start)
Example games
- Tutorial games
- games in versions for different SDKs (for comparison)
- fancy demos
How To Start
- setting up a project infrastructure (homepage, mailing list, cvs,
...)
- finding developers
- ...
Projects
- What Linux game development projects exist now?
- What projects are still needed?
Compatibility standards (Specifications of common code etc)
- List of known incompatibilities and their workarounds
- White papers of compatibility standards + comments on them
News'n'Thoughts
- Editorials and comments on them (collected from the mailing list)
- collected news items (== articles) about Linux GameDev
- archive of older news (== what was happening in Linux GameDev)
Discussions/Contacting
- The Mailing list
- irc meeting summaries (moved here from the PPlay site)
- List of (positive) comments we got
Links (Links that don't fit into the other categories, like)
- www.linuxprogramming.com/
- Scene Zone (http://alumina.universation.net/)
- www.xwindows.org/
- ...
(3) Some notes about the front page
===================================
Ok, the main page should, as noted somewhere above, contain the brief
listing og the LGDC goals, the list of recent news (perhaps of the last
month or the last 20 items or something) plus a link to the news archive
(well, later ;) and perhaps some little "Thanks to our beloved sponsors"
paragraph. Yep.
Ok, It's 03:00 local time and I'm tired. The remaining stuff will come
tomorrow. Good night :)
Christian
--
REALITY.SYS corrupted ... reboot Universe [Y,n]?