Introduce yourself

Anything related or not related to the project.
Haxaco
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:07 pm

Re: Introduce yourself

Post by Haxaco »

Welcome Xylander!
User avatar
Trilarion
Founder
Posts: 845
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:27 pm
Location: Central germany

Post by Trilarion »

For Xylander and all others - let me summarize where we stand right now:

Game design
  • We have a game design document openoffice
  • We have a Content forum section
  • We need to complete the design, balance and merge ideas through discussions in the content forum and keeping the design document uptodate.
  • We need to find a name at some point.
Artwork
  • We have terrain graphics and a start screen and ideas for units, flags, ...
  • We have a background song and many ideas for sound effects
  • We have a shared Dropbox space where all artwork is stored
  • We need to get an overview what graphics will be needed
  • We need to define a common style
  • We need to elaborate on the existing graphics
Programming
  • We have a working code base playing sound, featuring the editor window and showing the map with elements like provinces...
  • We have an ingame help browser, an option window, basic network stuff, saving and loading of scenarios
  • We have instructions how to get started (in less than five minutes)
  • We need to enforce good coding practices even more than it used to be (writing tests, documentation)...
  • We need to plan more, break down the work in tasks, ...
  • We need to attract more programmers, otherwise this might become a bottleneck...
Project management
  • We have a forum, a blog, download space, a source code repository
  • We have threads in several other gaming communities, open source project sites. (see Promotion thread)
  • We need to improve the visual design
  • We need to complete the collection of useful software that we use (task board, issue tracker, ...)
  • We need to advertise and promote the project effectively
User avatar
Trilarion
Founder
Posts: 845
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:27 pm
Location: Central germany

Sending reminders

Post by Trilarion »

Some days ago Xylander introduced himself here. He has several qualifications that this project would need badly. However there has been a break in activity since then. In order not to waste any potential resources I will send him a PM asking for any direction from him how we can make it easier to come here again.

I will also do so for other inactive members in the future. For example upon the next release I might send a short summary about the progress to inactive members. But I will also take care of not spamming the email adresses provided by the registered users, so ideally you'll get one to two messages when no longer active and if there is no feedback then I'll leave it.
Primogen
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon May 27, 2013 4:21 am

Re: Introduce yourself

Post by Primogen »

Hello all,

Read about project while clicking through reddit and decided to stop over. About me... Currently, I am a full time java developer having finished grad school in 2005. Also a hardcore gamer, mostly MMOs these days but I started with text based MUDs even programmed for one while in school. My duties mostly revolve around Front End design & documentation, project management, standards and code review and of course actually coding. Looking to work on my first graphical gaming project on my personal time. I have experience with Java, C++, Phython, SQL ... just picked up C#/XNA. Hate talking about myself so there. Hope to talk to you guys more.
User avatar
Trilarion
Founder
Posts: 845
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:27 pm
Location: Central germany

Post by Trilarion »

Hi,

welcome on board or whatever you say on these occasions. :) It's good to see a seasoned programmer here because we are in need of such experiences. Whatever you decide you want to do, please don't hesitate to say something in case something is unclear or just doesn't feel right. The graphical part of the game project isn't very difficult, we use the standard ways and performance mostly isn't any issue. Just recently we recreated the original look of continuous terrain in Imperialism by a clever mixing of two tile graphics.

We already have a demo version showing some of the artwork and a bit of the graphical user interface. In case you haven't seen it, maybe you should test it. You could also look at the source code if you want. Downloads

Then we are currently finalizing the game rules. So you could take part in that or at least say what you liked most about Imperialism (if you played it). I would also love to hear what you expect from an 'Imperialism remake' game? What should be the major challenge? Which features would be the absolute must-haves?

For programming jobs I hope that in the future I can make a detailed plan of what needs to be done. We could also discuss it now but it depends on the game rules a bit. Currently I am thinking about the server-client communication, but we could discuss it together.
Veneteaou
Posts: 280
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:23 am

Re: Introduce yourself

Post by Veneteaou »

Primogen,

Welcome to the team. Trilarion tends to not mention it in his welcomes, but he is the main programmer and in general the best guy to take questions to. I'm Ven, and I'm an artist, composer, and general stick-in-the-mud. We don't a large team currently, but the people we do have are very dedicated and very open to suggestions - two of the reasons I chose to be here instead of working on a straight Imperialism clone.

Good to have you, and your impressive set of skills.

Veneteaou
Timbuktu
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:12 pm
Location: Ohio, USA

Re: Introduce yourself

Post by Timbuktu »

Hi everyone -
Stumbled across this project while looking for any new info on Imperialism. I've been playing it since 2000 or so, and actually still have a small group that plays over a network from time to time, usually ending in a crash or corrupted game. We've thrown the idea of a remake around every time this happens, and I'm thrilled to see an active attempt to make it work. They just don't make games like they used to.

Background on me - I'm a mechanical engineer, and consider myself very computer savvy, but my programming experience is pretty limited (a small amount of VB, and C++/Matlab from college). That said, I'll do what I can to contribute!
Veneteaou
Posts: 280
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:23 am

Re: Introduce yourself

Post by Veneteaou »

Hello Timubktu, it's good to have you. If you feel like learning Java to help out Trilarion and the rest of the programmers, knock yourself out. Otherwise, we are also constantly looking for more people with basic GIMP/PS or art skills, someone who wants to get their hands dirty and do some work with game mechanics or the tech tree, or sound effects. Imp1 had a good 117 sound effects IIRC, so we need someone to record (or more likely find on the internet) sounds to be used in their place. If you have Paint or AniFX skills, we could always use someone working on cursors. More music is always welcome. We could probably use a webmaster as well, someone to manage/upgrade the site/forum so Trilarion can spend more time coding.

Essentially, there's room to contribute wherever you'd like. I'm a composer by trade, but I learned to draw for this project. More than anything else, we just need people who want to see it done and are willing to do whatever it takes.

Welcome to the project.

Ven
User avatar
Trilarion
Founder
Posts: 845
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:27 pm
Location: Central germany

Post by Trilarion »

Welcome Timbuktu, If I remember right you should be the second engineer here. :) Only I don't remember who was the first one. It's also good to have people around just to chat about Imperialism and our remake. So even just hanging around and telling us your opinion to everything that you find interesting is valuable. For example by testing versions once they become playable.

I am afraid we are not yet there, the current version is mostly just a technology demonstration but in no way playable. But I'm working on it. 8-)

Good Night everybody!
User avatar
Andrettin
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:09 pm

Re: Introduce yourself

Post by Andrettin »

I am a great fan of the Imperialism series, and know a decent amount of C++ and Lua programming.

I used to participate a lot in the old Daily Imperialist messaging list, and created a few simple scenarios as well (such as a German unification one).

I am attentiously following this project :)
Post Reply