FreeOrion

I've contacted him and am currently waiting for a response.

Yes, this is why I asked about our current audio situation. The recruitment posts can wait until we have something like the Audio Work page set up, or at least a decent understanding of what kind of sounds are needed and where. I can do the recruitment posts when the time for them is considered right, or if someone else feels that he/she should do them or is just eager to do so, the links to those two forums and posting rules (which might however change over time) can be found from this topic.



Could/should sound recruitment posts be about something else too than asking for sound contributions?



This doesn`t sound very promising. I hope that we can at least keep the current FO music track. And I wouldn`t mind having more of his tracks to be considered for FreeOrion, since if I can still remember right some of the other music tracks that he made sounded quite good.

_________________
What is your favourite alien species and WHY?
Preliminary thoughts about diplomacy
Some unfinished ideas for specials

Probably not...

We will eventually need someone to decide what sounds and music to use, in addition to contributing some of their own. This would be an audio lead, essentially. We can't really recruit for such a position directly, though, as such authority would only be acquired by demonstrating competence and sticking around long enough to make it apparent that someone is worth paying attention to.

for sound effects, look into sfxr, its free, and generate basic bleeps bloops and blips all day long. a quick high-pass over rough ones and a little reverb in audacity or what have you and they are good enough for laser fire. It output 44khz wavs, that you can do whatever you want to. I think it should more than adequate to get something n place for the time being. I can put together a pack of a dozen sound effects ion an afternoon if you give me a list.

I was looking for some programming forums a while ago that could be good places to do some recruiting, and found these two forums that seem at least some what promising:

http://cboard.cprogramming.com/

http://www.programmingforums.org/forumindex.php

The first one of those linked forums, C Board, at least advertises itself as a "resource for C and C++" so it might be a place where herds of C++ programmers gather during their coding seasons. The down side of this forum seems to be that although it has a "Projects and Job Recruitment" section it doesn`t allow updates to be posted to the recruitment thread. And major updates apparently should be announced in an all new thread. I was unable to contact the moderators of this forum, but at least I couldn`t find anything that could prevent FreeOrion to be advertised on it.

The second forum is a more generic programming forum. It has an “Existing Project Development” section, which can be used for recruitment posts. This forum also allows updates about the project to be posted to the original thread.

Again, if it is considered to be a good idea to make recruitment posts to these two sites, I could make the posts. Unless of course someone else wants to make them or feels that he/she should make them. And if I will be the one making these posts, I will follow tzlaine`s example and post my drafts here first, so that they can be reviewed by others and if necessary corrected.

_________________
What is your favourite alien species and WHY?
Preliminary thoughts about diplomacy
Some unfinished ideas for specials

Sounds good to me.

Draft number 5

Subjects:
FreeOrion seeks C++ programmers willing to learn. (C Board)
FreeOrion seeks programmers (mostly C++) willing to learn (Programming Forums)

Body:
Hello! FreeOrion is a non commercial community game project that aims to create a new high quality 4X space strategy game. The project is already well under way, and at the moment version 0.4, which deals primarily with space combat, ship design and tech tree additions for both of the above, is being developed. Future stages include things like diplomacy, AI, ground combat, espionage, governments (SMAC-style) etc.

FreeOrion is being coded primarily with C++. Python is also used for AI scripting. The project uses modern C++ features, makes extensive use of the Boost C++ libraries, and uses the Ogre 3D library to handle rendering in the client. FreeOrion can be built on Windows, Linux or MacOSX. The project tries to keep the quality of the code to a very high level. This is necessary for an enterprise as big, complex and ambitious as FreeOrion.

The development speed of the project is mainly slowed down by the lack of dedicated and skillful programmers; if you are interested in working with talented individuals on an open source game project such as this and don`t mind learning new things, FreeOrion is a project for you.

You can find more info about the project from here:

http://www.freeorion.org/index.php/Main_Page

… and more info on how to contribute to the project can be found here:

http://www.freeorion.org/index.php/How_to_Help

If you have any specific questions about some areas of the game or want to contribute to the project, please register to our forum:

http://www.freeorion.org/forum//

FreeOrion also has an IRC channel: #freeorion at irc.freenode.net.
This channel isn't always monitored however, so if you don't receive a reply to your post within a few minutes, please redirect your post/posts to the forums of the project.

A good summary of the game’s current situation (note the date of this post) can be found here:

http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2009/08 ... ach-laine/
This page contains an interview with FreeOrion`s programming lead tzlaine.

And finally, here are some screenshots from the game (including a composite picture of preliminary space combat material):





Personally, ever since Master Of Orion 3 turned out to be a disappointment for me, I have hoped for a project like this. The core team behind the FreeOrion project isn`t very big, but consists of highly talented and motivated individuals that all share a common goal.

_________________
What is your favourite alien species and WHY?
Preliminary thoughts about diplomacy
Some unfinished ideas for specials

Haven't read the rest yet, but *please* don't use that bit of "vision statement" text in a recruiting post. It's poorly written, is quite misleading about the current state of the project, and reads like bad marketing text.

Do we currently have anything that could be used to easily summarize the project? Or should I use a similar free description that tzlaine used in his recruitment posts?

I also started to wonder, if it is appropriate to say that we are “currently in stage 0.4, which deals with space combat, ship design and tech tree additions for both of the above” ? 0.4 is the stage currently being coded, so this way it might make sense. But will saying it like that make the reader think that 0.4 is already complete?

_________________
What is your favourite alien species and WHY?
Preliminary thoughts about diplomacy
Some unfinished ideas for specials

Presumably saying something like: "Version 0.4, which deals with space combat, is currently under development," shouldn't be too misleading.

_________________
Warning: Antarans in dimensional portal are closer than they appear.

This needs to be rewritten. Note that FreeOrion is coded mainly with C++, but AI is scripted with Python. Modern C++ features are used, including numerous Boost libraries, and the client is built using the Ogre 3D library. Rendering is done with OpenGL. FreeOrion can be built on Windows, Linux or MacOSX.

* No need to list libraries twice
* Graphviz isn't important
* Don't need to mention my or tzlaine's names or aliases or our jobs
* Don't mix in first-person style "ours" in with otherwise third-person "The FreeOrion project"
* no , after like


Could use some rephrasing, but basically OK.


Might want to mention http://freeorion.org/index.php/How_to_Help


Not really a reccomendation for contributing... (Rather, is a requirement)

You might also mention the IRC channel, with a note that it's not always monitored, and to fall back to the forums if no reply is given within a few minutes.


OK to mention tzlaine in this context.


Not keen on the "worthy of the Orion name" part...


The last two combat renders are too similar, and aren't very interesting regardless. Could probably stick with just two or three images total.


Works for me. Could say "deals primarily" and "being developed".

I have updated my recruitment post based on the feedback that I received.



If you don`t want that I mention your names or jobs I certainly won`t do so. However we could possibly use your and tzlaine`s jobs as a sign of quality that this project has, since tzlaine is a professional C++ programmer after all (don`t really know what kind of a job description grad student is). These job descriptions together with screenshots from the project could hopefully make more people interested in FreeOrion, as they could set FreeOrion apart from thousands of other hobbyist programming projects, which don`t have as professional members or the kind of quality that FreeOrion has.



Changed it to: "to create something that will hopefully carry on the Orion legacy."



I will change the Ogre screenshot as soon as I find a good one to use.

Also, I am having some problems with my internet connection, so the progress of this recruitment post can be quite slow for a while.

_________________
What is your favourite alien species and WHY?
Preliminary thoughts about diplomacy
Some unfinished ideas for specials

First of all hi, i was a big fan of MOO1 back in the day and would like to help your development if i could, i am most suited to the graphics end of things with 3d modeling being the focus of most of what i really enjoy doing.

also as a added bonus i kno the basics of C++, java, html, and some assorted scripting languages.

as far as some past experience ive developed aircraft (ww2) for cfs3 and have recently released a bata map for Wallenstein:ET,

not sure how much 3d modeling is involved in this game, but i would be willing to work on most anything of that nature as well as contribute somewhat to the C++ code, my experience with that involves a course i took this summer at college on C++, got an A by the way im by no means an expert at it but i pick up on programing very fast and in fact working on a project such as this is more inline to further my computer abilities and do something i enjoy with them so let me know if u'd like me to help.

There will be quite a lot of 3d modelling to do very soon. I'm in the process of preparing the concept art for ships(hulls) and some related things. What exactly are you capable of doing? High/low poly modelling? UVs? Normalmap creation? Texturing? All of it? Do you have some kind of portfolio? Please see this thread to get a rough idea of what will be needed.

If you want to help out with programming, you should first grab the latest code from SVN and compile it.

very nice, looks like about a million poly's (lol), that is just slightly better than what i can do. currently my only portfolio to speak is on myspace, username (Biohazard422) most of that stuff is fairly old but there are a few newer ones mixed in there, the ones that look way better lol, alot of it also is posts for my map i just did, not very organized at the moment, im learning flash at college and have to do a portfolio for that class that i plan to build off of for a personal one of that and some artwork but as of yet haven't gotten around to it.

i can do hi-med-low poly, UV and texture and haven't used normal maps, but i can pick it up, in fact looking it up now seems like a more advanced form of bump mapping which i have done, just never ran across normal mapping before.


p40 apx 7500 polys, has 4 lod's effect helpers, animated gear, control surfaces etc, painted by me all from scratch did this about a year 1/2 ago. also i like to make the mesh mostly 1 piece cant stand all these intersecting shapes i see in some meshes (pet peeve)




This is a work i just started yesterday, more in line with what you'll be looking for i imagine