Spring RTS Engine

I request that only mod and widget devs be allowed to post in this forum. There are now titles under their names so hopefully those titles can be linked to this enforcement.

People who ask for changes to healthbars and dgun ranges and creative ideas like specs voting will have no choice but to better explore the forum and post their requests in the BA (or other game) forum.

CarRepairer wrote:I request that only mod and widget devs be allowed to post in this forum. There are now titles under their names so hopefully those titles can be linked to this enforcement.

People who ask for changes to healthbars and dgun ranges and creative ideas like specs voting will have no choice but to better explore the forum and post their requests in the BA (or other game) forum.

I partially agree. I think it would make more sense to add more sub categories to better sort things out and make it clear. For example, split Lua Scripts into Widgets and Gadgets, then maybe split those into requests and releases.

Feature requests should be split into Engine Feature Requests, Lobby Feature Requests, and Other Requests or something similar.

I going to disagree with car on this one. Just because they don't have a bit of text under there name, It does not mean they lack good ideas.

On the flip side, Just because there is a bit of text under there name, it does not mean they have good ideas.

I consider myself to fall into the latter. For instance I can not for the life of me think of a better way to phrase my horribly awkward sentences above..

oksnoop2 wrote:On the flip side, Just because there is a bit of text under there name, it does not mean they have good ideas.

You missed my point. They can still post their wonderful ideas under the mod subforum of their choosing. They often request mod-specific stuff that the modder can implement.

Oh I see, Well in that case I agree that mod specific stuff should be posted in the mod subforum. Though there is the off chance that a person could have a good suggestion that is actually for the engine. In which case I think they should be able to post here, developer or not.

Let's take the example of the previous thread where someone randomly asked for "control of solar output." He is likely playing BA and sees this entire Spring forum as a forum for the game he's playing. Not his fault.

His request for "control of solar output" makes no sense here in the engine feature request, the engine has no knowledge of what a "solar" is. Thus it's against his interests to make such a comment here where it will be ignored.

It's in his best interests to be forced to post in the BA or other *A forum where this request of his can be discussed in the context of the game and maybe implemented by the developer.

It's for the good of everyone.

I see what you are saying and respect your opinion. I just don't see things the same way you do. Which is alright. I feel I've properly explained my opinion and anything further would probably be just repetition on my part. So i'll step aside.

So if I were to request a change to the engine path finder, which 'mod' *cough cough game cough* forum would it go under?

If there is no top level forum, then the most obvious place for a newcomer is to put it in general discussion. This already happens with BA threads and the like, and its the whole reason for having a dedicated forum in the first place

past experience shows that closed forums fails ( see mapping, subversion, etc ), they quickly become idle, not to mention, you'd force engine devs to skim trough all mod subforums to search for valid engine requests unless someone for each forum takes the duty to crosspost them here ( or get moved moderators )
so current situation dictates that mod developers check their own forum and this, while the situation that you propose would make engine devs check this forum and all mod forums ( because I doubt that a steady influx of proposal crosslinking could be kept over time )

in short, I think you're adding unnecessary complications, threads can simply be moved if unfitting here

AF wrote:So if I were to request a change to the engine path finder

You're an AI dev and I neglected to include that category in my first post where I said mod and widget devs. But the implication is there, you would obviously post here.

I don't think the whole forum should be closed, but a content dev subsection is something I've brought up a couple of times. It needn't even be closed, just give other members only read and reply rights, not new topic rights.

It could be expected etiquette for content devs to provide a full explanation of what they want and why, perhaps with an included example mod or unit for engine devs to use for testing purposes, where applicable.

I do think that improving content dev <-> engine dev communication is something we should focus on.

People misposting is solved by clear forum names and people reporting threads in the wrong place, not by locking the forum to certain people.

lurker wrote:People misposting is solved by clear forum names and people reporting threads in the wrong place, not by locking the forum to certain people.

Whatever works. I hope that the distinction between Spring and the mods/games is one day clear to all. Maybe Jazcash's site will further emphasize the point by labeling his link to here as Engine.

Stupid idea. Just because someone doesn't have some text under their name, it doesn't always mean they're ignorant.

JohannesH wrote:Stupid idea. Just because someone doesn't have some text under their name, it doesn't always mean they're ignorant.

Sure, you might think it's "stupid" but as we speak, a conversation is unfolding in parallel on this subforum about solar-powered Sumos. I'm just suggesting that something needs to be done. The solution I offer is not the only way. See:

lurker wrote:People misposting is solved by clear forum names and people reporting threads in the wrong place, not by locking the forum to certain people.

It would benefit both the developers and the players if such things were more organized.

FLOZi wrote:I don't think the whole forum should be closed, but a content dev subsection is something I've brought up a couple of times. It needn't even be closed, just give other members only read and reply rights, not new topic rights.

It could be expected etiquette for content devs to provide a full explanation of what they want and why, perhaps with an included example mod or unit for engine devs to use for testing purposes, where applicable.

I do think that improving content dev <-> engine dev communication is something we should focus on.

hey, this sounds ideal!

Topics about requesting solar-powered sumos could be moved to offtopic or something, no need to close down everything

+1 to op

The thing is that when a player makes a suggestion, 95% of the time it is a widget (that often already exists) or gadgetable, or something that has nothing to do with the engine at all. And when it does have something to do with the engine, the request isn't nearly as informed as a developer request would be.

The way it should work, is the player makes requests to the game developer (or lua or ai or whatever) for the features he wants, and then if the feature is not posssible than the developer makes the request to the engine developers for the tools he needs to make implementing the feature request possible.

So for example, a player notices that loadscreens are ugly, there is humongous flashing text that often extends past the edge of the screen, and thinks it would ne nice to just have a loading bar or something. He makes the request to the game developer, who then asks the engine devs for scriptable load screens. The game dev can go into more detail about what he wants to do with the load screens, instead of just saying, "loadscreens are ugly make more pretty plz."

The game developers requests are so much more useful because they expect to be getting their hands dirty making stuff possible, not expecting magic solutions.

And of course I say all this as a player.

My original approach may be a bit harsh. Barring anyone who doesn't have a title would exclude some people who have legitimate requests as Johannesh pointed out.

But overall the current situation is only a minor annoyance to me (having to sift through useless posts) whereas for the majority of players it's much worse. They are in the dark about the fact that they are posting small game/mod requests in the wrong place. You can't blame new people for not distinguishing Spring from BA, seeing as the playerbase uses this forum and has no other website. That's all I wanted to convey.

So why not just rename this forum Ëngine Feature Requests? If there were also a clear forum description, this would easily solve the problem of mod-specific proposals.