I've seen a few more posts by Java Coders looking for projects to join lately, and I've gotten by now enough feedback from my previous post that I feel it worth following up.
First, please read or at least scan the previous post before you read on. While many thought it came across with attitude, ignorance, or delusions of grandeur, it nevertheless includes vital information about the project. Here are some questions asked followed by my answers:
"Please indicate that you are providing a useful function to the project yourself." This makes sense, since it may seem I'm some "designer" who wants all the work to be done by other people. That not being true, here's what I've done: 1) Found a reliable host for the code, website, and database, all of which are live and running 2) Installed, configured, and wrote custom shell scripts for upgrades and mods to the codebase, 3) Designed, mapped, and built the rooms to be used for (so far) one of the game's cities (more planned), 4) Wrote a few simple mud scripts, 5) Modified parts of the Java code, 6) Installed, configured, maintained, and populated the Content Management System used for the game. Honestly, I'll do anything that needs doing. And until I find a capable coder, I'll continue doing everything myself.
"Do you have a reasonable sense of urgency?" This is an interesting point... Some are scared off by deadlines, having only small amounts of time to invest to such projects. Others would like to see that things are progressing, otherwise will not want to be a part of such projects. I'm open to both types. I can find time to work on the project as needed, roughly a minimum of 1 hour per day. I would love to see this project gain momentum ASAP, however I'll not ask too much of those who might be interested in only minor contributions. So the definite answer would be that the sense of urgency is entirely dependent on the availability and preference of the coder who steps up to the task.
"Please be more open about your game's theme." I'd love to! But I prefer to do it privately. Indeed I'll answer any questions you want and even show you the CMS hosted design documents if you're *really* interested. I am confident in the quality of the game's theme, and can honestly tell you that those who I have shown it to (some experienced mudders and gamers) have all commented on how great a game they think it will eventually be. If you have specific questions, why not ask??
"How hard is it going to be to get access/permissions to complete tasks, given that you're so worried about others stealing your ideas?" Surprisingly easy! Once you've decided that you want to participate, you'll get access to everything you want! I make frequent backups of all web/code/db so I'm prepared for the occasional data loss. Any participants (coders or otherwise) are welcome to contribute to the design docs through CMS driven site. Feel free to login and create a testing area on the game to use as a sandbox. Go ahead and log in via SSH to the game host if you're comfortable with that level of administration. Ideally, I'd like to set up SVN (yes I know how) for the coder that takes the job to make such updates easier.
"How do I know your game isn't going to vanish a few months after I've started working?" I've worked on this game idea for a very long time (years). In my spare time I compose writing, art, and music to the theme of this world. I love it, honestly, I'm proud of it, and I want to see it succeed. I have absolutely no intention of letting the idea die and will continue to work by myself at a snail's pace if required.
"How many staff members are there now, or have you had in the past?" Some readers of the original post assumed that I had unsuccessfully worked with others in the past, hence my attitude. This is actually not true. I've never had a coder other than myself, nor any other serious staff members. However, I do have some collaborators who like to pop in and out at their own leisure and provide feedback when asked: Graphic Artist- a talented person who has done a number of creature designs, vehicle designs, and other graphics for the game. He loves a challenge and a unique idea for a composition. Builder- she is a very experienced builder with her own mud resume to back it up. She contributes when she has time and would like to see this game take off almost as much as I do! Tester- one software qa professional who is interested in helping out. So far there has been no coder on hand to take his suggestions so his talent has not been used to it's potential.
One thing I'd like to say is a point I've found I disagree on with most other MUD Admins/Designers. That is with regard to the opening of the game and website before necessary preparations are made. The idea of throwing up a stock version of the codebase and inviting players even though you've done no real work, or only bad, low quality work. I don't believe in this. Before opening the game I'd prefer to have a good public site for collecting feedback, some player Archetypes completed (see below), and specifically, a prototype to test (such as combat and a quest or two).
And finally, here are some of my priorities for the interested coder to tackle:
1) Combat Prototype. Partially designed, but needs to be prototyped and tweaked.
2) Character Creation. Help in modifying the stock creation, as well as tailoring it for web based delivery (more on that by request).
3) Bug fixes. The primary CoffeeMud programmer does not have time to address everything. There are a handful of small bugs that need fixing to allow specific features of this world to succeed, I'd have you do this rather than wait for the next official release to deal with it.
4) Player Archetypes. 3 race/class combinations have been selected as the first to be created and tested in the world. These require some custom code to work properly.
Thank you for your time and if you made it to the bottom of this post, I'm impressed. :P
-Bunabiros