Is QuakeSrc.org ever coming back up?
I'd be inclined to say skip the engine specific stuff, and add three more forums: General Programming, OpenGL Programming and Tutorials. The current Engine Coding can be retained as is, perhaps with a rename to reflect it's narrower focus.
The General Programming forum on QuakeSrc was not directly related to Quake, but it was a mine of useful information, and was justified by the fact that we had a group of programmers from the same culture collaborating on ideas, which you wouldn't get in a more general-purpose forum.
OpenGL Programming was great for exchanging OpenGL tips and comments in a real-world environment. A lot of the other OpenGL tutorials and forums out there tended to deal with idealised situations and were designed to show a particular effect. The old QuakeSrc forum provided info and advice on how to do good effects in a real-world situation where there was lots of other stuff going on in addition to the specific effect.
The Engine Coding (I'd suggest Engine Programming, to keep with the "programming" theme) forum could then be realigned to focus more on other aspects of the engine. I'm thinking sound, network, server, physics, etc. These by their nature don't get the same audience individually as OpenGL would get, so they could be grouped together. I'd definitely keep the 3 engines together under Engine Programming. I think it was a mistake for QuakeSrc to separate them, as good things came up in the old Quake 2 and Quake 3 forums that could have been used in Quake 1, if only Quake 1 programmers were reading and participating in those forums. The fact that there are strong similarities between the 3 engines would support this proposal.
The General Programming and OpenGL Programming forums may appear to be not specifically Quake-focussed, but this would be intentional. It provides a means for useful things to come up outside the bounds of the engine, that could in time end up feeding back into the engine. One example: a new coder could ask some questions about a project they're doing for college that uses OpenGL light. The resulting discussion would provide a lot of useful discussions and examples of practical implementations. Someone (maybe the original person, maybe someone else) could then take that information and write an excellent OpenGL light implementation for Quake. The same could apply to linked list theories, memory management, state machines, the list goes on. This was one of THE really great things about QuakeSrc, and it would be wonderful if it could be born again here.
Finally, the Tutorials section seems pretty self explanatory, but I'd also propose adding (as Stickies) the basic "how to get started" stuff, as well as information on standards and suchlike.
The General Programming forum on QuakeSrc was not directly related to Quake, but it was a mine of useful information, and was justified by the fact that we had a group of programmers from the same culture collaborating on ideas, which you wouldn't get in a more general-purpose forum.
OpenGL Programming was great for exchanging OpenGL tips and comments in a real-world environment. A lot of the other OpenGL tutorials and forums out there tended to deal with idealised situations and were designed to show a particular effect. The old QuakeSrc forum provided info and advice on how to do good effects in a real-world situation where there was lots of other stuff going on in addition to the specific effect.
The Engine Coding (I'd suggest Engine Programming, to keep with the "programming" theme) forum could then be realigned to focus more on other aspects of the engine. I'm thinking sound, network, server, physics, etc. These by their nature don't get the same audience individually as OpenGL would get, so they could be grouped together. I'd definitely keep the 3 engines together under Engine Programming. I think it was a mistake for QuakeSrc to separate them, as good things came up in the old Quake 2 and Quake 3 forums that could have been used in Quake 1, if only Quake 1 programmers were reading and participating in those forums. The fact that there are strong similarities between the 3 engines would support this proposal.
The General Programming and OpenGL Programming forums may appear to be not specifically Quake-focussed, but this would be intentional. It provides a means for useful things to come up outside the bounds of the engine, that could in time end up feeding back into the engine. One example: a new coder could ask some questions about a project they're doing for college that uses OpenGL light. The resulting discussion would provide a lot of useful discussions and examples of practical implementations. Someone (maybe the original person, maybe someone else) could then take that information and write an excellent OpenGL light implementation for Quake. The same could apply to linked list theories, memory management, state machines, the list goes on. This was one of THE really great things about QuakeSrc, and it would be wonderful if it could be born again here.
Finally, the Tutorials section seems pretty self explanatory, but I'd also propose adding (as Stickies) the basic "how to get started" stuff, as well as information on standards and suchlike.
We had the power, we had the space, we had a sense of time and place
We knew the words, we knew the score, we knew what we were fighting for
We knew the words, we knew the score, we knew what we were fighting for
Alright we have three new forums: OpenGL, General Programming and Tutorial Help.
I added the tutorial help forum, which will probably see little traffic, but it is something I wanted to be more newbie friendly and to re-emphasize our tutorial section. The big list of programming forums now looks a bit intimidating to an outsider.
I didn't add a tutorial forum for people to post tutorials directly to the forum as I feel the discussion forums can easily fill that role. And it would probably detract from tutorial submission to the main site. Speaking of which, the main site needs a more expanded focus for the engine stuff.
I added the tutorial help forum, which will probably see little traffic, but it is something I wanted to be more newbie friendly and to re-emphasize our tutorial section. The big list of programming forums now looks a bit intimidating to an outsider.
I didn't add a tutorial forum for people to post tutorials directly to the forum as I feel the discussion forums can easily fill that role. And it would probably detract from tutorial submission to the main site. Speaking of which, the main site needs a more expanded focus for the engine stuff.
ohhhh boy there's been a change!!!?!
Being part of a community for so long that doesn't really change or like change.... this is MIND BLOWING
Being part of a community for so long that doesn't really change or like change.... this is MIND BLOWING
Benjamin Darling
http://www.bendarling.net/
Reflex - In development competitive arena fps combining modern tech with the speed, precision and freedom of 90's shooters.
http://www.reflexfps.net/
http://www.bendarling.net/
Reflex - In development competitive arena fps combining modern tech with the speed, precision and freedom of 90's shooters.
http://www.reflexfps.net/
Nice! I really like it ![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I think having engine coders around is really great and mixing the two "sub-communities" (for lack of a better word) is bound to spark interesting conversations.
Now all we have to do is hope that Celephais crashes and that all mappers end up coming over here... (j/k)
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I think having engine coders around is really great and mixing the two "sub-communities" (for lack of a better word) is bound to spark interesting conversations.
Now all we have to do is hope that Celephais crashes and that all mappers end up coming over here... (j/k)
Neurotic Conversions - New location: Update your bookmarks!
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