Let's make a TOTQ Game Project group page.

[Yuoofox]

I've noticed that we're running into problems as to what files we can include on the "Put your Game Art/Music Here" thread.

I think it'd be a good idea if we created a TOTQ Game project page on something like MSN Groups or Yahoo Groups. That way, we could have our own message board there, as well as a file repository.

The question is, what service should we use? The options I can think of are:

AOL Groups (aol username)
MSN Groups (hotmail account)
Yahoo Groups (yahoo account) <-- my personal favorite

Question: Which one of these do the most people already have an account for?

Question: Which service offers the best (free) benefits, such as a good message board and file service?

Question: Should we make the files we post accessible to the public, or only members of the group?

[Gizmo]

What about using something like Sourceforge? It has forums, source control, which is used by groups of people to collaborate on programming projects.

I have no experience using MSN/Yahoo Forums for projects. What features does it have?

I don't have the time to set up and manage forums/wiki for the TOTQ game project, but I am up for contributing to it.

-gizmo-

[Yuoofox]

I have no experience using MSN/Yahoo Forums for projects. What features does it have?

Well, here is an example of a group page. (one that happens to be geared toward my personal preferences :P)

What about using something like Sourceforge? It has forums, source control, which is used by groups of people to collaborate on programming projects.

That's a good idea. I think that's probably the way to go. But, I don't know how the whole open-source thing works. Question: If we make this project on Sourceforge, could it possibly have any negative effects on Mr. Ralph's ownership? I mean, when it's just "his loyal fans" working on a game, Mr. Ralph has more control of the game. But, if we make this a Sourceforge project open to the world at large, does that change the situation? (Sorry, I'm not trying to be paranoid; I just want to learn about the situation.)

[UncleMonty]

I've already got a Yahoo Groups membership, so since I'm lazy, I'll vote for that.
I got it many years ago... Under the name Punchan_Djudi. It's a pun.

[StrangeWulf13]

I'm a member of several groups already myself. Yahoo would be my preference, but they do have a limit on file space. We'd have to delete old files to make room for old ones.

People might want to save copies for backup purposes, so if the group or whatever crashes or is deleted, we'll have everything saved. However it works, I'm sure we'll figure something out.

[Mook]

Greetings, all. I'm a fairly new graphics coder, but not new to programming in general. That aside, this sounds like a great tribute project, very interesting, and something that I'd like to involve myself in.

That aside, might I propose a wiki? The tech is stable and proven, the hosting is free, and it's based around collaborative projects. And a pre-existing engine makes for less work for whoever winds up being webmaster.

[Yuoofox]

That aside, might I propose a wiki? The tech is stable and proven, the hosting is free, and it's based around collaborative projects. And a pre-existing engine makes for less work for whoever winds up being webmaster.

What is this Wiki you speak of? Eager to learn more, I am.

[Mook]

Root unknown; I suspect it to be a neologism, although I'll probably be proven wrong. The most visible example is Wikipedia

(http://en.wikipedia.org/Main_Page)

The primary property of a wiki of any variety is that it can be edited by whoever wishes to do so. The central idea is similar to that of open-source software: if someone gets something wrong, someone following after will probably catch it and can easily correct it. Implementation-wise, it's usually based around Perl, Python, or PHP scripts.

It just occurs to me that a wiki, broken up into the various natural divisions of a game (art, music, logic, area design, etc.) might be the most effective way of creating an online repository for the various game data.

[UncleMonty]

At a guess, the wiki is hosted on a user's computer, instead of on a commercial server?

[Mook]

Can be, although I think most are on centralized servers. To put it into Unix terms, everyone who accesses the site has read and write permissions to all of the articles, i.e., s/he can edit them at any time, in any way. There's usually a change log kept, and some varieties keep the older pages even after updating.

A quick search reveals that there are multiple free wiki hosting services online.

[Cuerden]

How about a Livejournal Community? The abilty to put important posts into "Memories" might be very useful for finding things again.

[Yuoofox]

How about a Livejournal Community? The abilty to put important posts into "Memories" might be very useful for finding things again.

Would we be able to store files there? (WAVs, MP3s, MIDIs, BMPs, source code, executables)

[TMLutas]

If you post IP on sourceforge that doesn't belong to you, it destroys no rights unless we're talking trademarks at which point RH is going to have to defend his marks and write a stern warning not to mess with them. OTOH, he could just as easily provide a limited right to use his trademarks for the purpose of the project if he so chose.

Sourceforge allows many different types of licensing and I've seen commercial projects hosted on it so I don't see why it couldn't be used for something like a fan inspired game.

[Cuerden]

Hmmm... couldn't store files on livejournal, but I do have a Gmail account, a couple invites available, and 50 megs of webspace I could clear out of junk. Might be useful to have the community for discussion of the project, though

[Yuoofox]

If you post IP on sourceforge that doesn't belong to you, it destroys no rights unless we're talking trademarks at which point RH is going to have to defend his marks and write a stern warning not to mess with them. OTOH, he could just as easily provide a limited right to use his trademarks for the purpose of the project if he so chose.

Sourceforge allows many different types of licensing and I've seen commercial projects hosted on it so I don't see why it couldn't be used for something like a fan inspired game.

Okay, that sounds like it's worth looking into. Unfortunately, the school week has just started, and I have some books to read. I'll look into SourceForge this Friday. But, before we create anything on SourceForge, let's figure out exactly how it works, and let's make sure that Mr. Ralph agrees to it.

I don't mean to discount anyone else's suggestions about Yahoo Groups or MSN Groups. It's just that the SourceForge idea sounds good to me, since it's software-oriented and probably has a good amount of filespace. If SourceForge doesn't work, then we'll try Yahoo Groups or MSN Groups. What do you think?

[Dapple]

This is the third game relaited post. Any resolutions people.