Feature request for those who wants to help megaglest

[Pizza90]

This is not a feature request for the developers ehe it's a feature request for everyone who wants to help megaglest because lkes it likes its community etc. Before to explain why everyone interested should help megaglest i will tell you what we people can continue to do:

we (im talking in a general way, me as many people have never said so) can continue to open 200 feature requests thread per day, we can criticze the developers because are not fast enough, we can say that mg is a crap because it doesn has putthennamehere feature and so on, the result of this (i think) will be that megaglest developers will stop the develoopment of this awesome game because they will be tired of all these not helpful criticism and megaglest will just become unplayable with no new features with new bugs etc. do you want it? I DONT! So this is my feature request for everyone who wants to help: help megaglest and the developers! How? These are some ideas:

1) Traslate megaglest in a new language
2) Make good maps that will be included to the main game
3) Make good factions that can be included in the main game
4) Report bugs in a correct and detailed way when you see them
5) Make constructive criticism and feedback
6) Test the alpha,beta etc versions!
7) If you compiled the development version please share it on the forum, so people (like me) that would like to help but dont know how to compile it can play it and help the testing
8- Donate money,time (moderating the forum, helping the wiki) and other things (like running an headless server) to megaglest
9) Open bounties for features you would like to see (i dont know if developers like this thing maybe it's better if you ask them before to open a bounty)
10) Tell to yor friends about megaglest so megaglest will be more played and maybe we it will get more developers

Ok these were just mine ideas to help megaglest, for those who may think "what did pizza do for megaglest?" i translated megaglest in itlalian, i keep the italian translation updated, i report bugs and as soon as someone makes a linux build of the development version i will test it

[-Archmage-]

Sometime in the near future I plan to talk to titi about making graphical improvements(data-wise, not engine-wise) to the megapack.

[tomreyn]

I think this is a nice summary of ways how everyone can contribute to MegaGlest. Pizza90. Would you mind me retitling it to "How anyone can contribute to MegaGlest" and make it a sticky?

What I think could be added is this:

• Community organising: schedule and announce game events, such as multi-player games for players in a given region in the world, tournaments etc.; think of other ways to create, possibly in groups, such as game data contests (who creates the best map in just an hour, the best tileset in a day, the best scenario storyline on a weekend etc.), think of new ways to encourage others to get more involved in creating a nicer game experience for all (change peoples' mentality from that of a consumer to that of a creator)
• Making tilesets
• Respond to game data requests (e.g. some people recently posted that they are in need of voice recordings with certain accents or in specific languages)

[Pizza90]

Sure you can do it tomreyn, but if it's possible dont delete the part where i try to make clear that if people just criticize and not contribute neither in a small way it's not good or nice especially for the developers that work on this game for free

[tomreyn]

Pizza: Actually I didn't do this, yet, because I would actually change quite a bit and I don't want to do this without your full consent which is only possible after you reviewing the changes.

Here's my suggestion on what you could change your first post to - please only do it if you're fully comfortable doing it. I tried to keep the original sense of what you said, just improving (I hope) the language  here and there and adding my own suggestions on how everyone can contribute...

Subject: How you and anyone can contribute to MegaGlest

This is not a feature request for the developers - it's a request to everyone who wants to help make MegaGlest better. Before telling you what everyone interested in the game can and should actively contribute, even if - like me - you are not a developer, I will explain why we need to do this:
 
We (I'm talking as a community voice here, since this has hardly been said before) can continue to open 200 feature requests threads per day, we can criticise the developers because they are, in our eyes, not fast enough, we can say that MegaGlest is crap because it does not have some feature and so on. But the result of this (I think) will be that the MegaGlest developers will stop the develoopment of this awesome game because they will be tired of all this inconstructive criticism and MegaGlest will just become unplayable with no new features, just newly discovered bugs etc. Do you want this to happen? I DONT! So this is my call to everyone who wants to not just be a consuming couch potato but an active contributor: help MegaGlest and the developers! How?
 
Here are some ideas:
 
Community organising

• Help gardening the wiki and improve the game documentation there
• Schedule and announce game events (yes, everybody can do this!), such as multi-player games for players in a given region in the world, tournaments etc.
• Think of other ways to further the community, discuss it, in a group, and do it! Think of game data contests (who creates the best map in just an hour, the best tileset in a day, the best scenario storyline on a weekend etc.)
• Think of new ways to encourage others to get more involved in creating a nicer gaming experience for all (change peoples' mentality from that of a consumer to that of a creator)
• Help moderate the forums
• Tell to yor friends about MegaGlest, and tell them to tell theirs, so there will be a broader player, and ideally, developer community around MegaGlest

Modding and translations

• Make quality maps, tilesets, scenarios and techtrees (can be single factions), then request them to be reviewed for inclusion in the game
• Respond to game data requests (e.g. some people recently posted that they are in need of voice recordings with certain accents or in specific languages)
• Translate MegaGlest to a new language or take over maintenance of an existing translation

Testing and Quality Assessment

• Report bugs in a correct and detailed way as you spot them
• Provide constructive criticism and feedback and make proposals
• Test alpha, beta and other development versions as they become available
• If you are knowledgeable enough to build MegaGlest yourself, please do so regularly, test the builds and provide feedback
• When you compiled a development version please share it on the forums (stating which revision this is and which system you compiled on), so everybody who would like to help but does not know how to compile can help testing these builds
• Proof read existing translations and provide corrections

Donations

• If you have a 24/7 (dedicated/virtual private) server with spare resources you can set up a gameserver there or provide trusted community members with access credentials so they can set one up and manage it.
• Offer bounties on features you would like to see implemented (I dont know whether the developers actually like this idea - maybe it's better if you ask them before doing so)
• Donate some money for hosting costs and game contests.

OK, these were just some ideas on how to help MegaGlest... For those who may now wonder "what did pizza actually do for MegaGlest?": I translated MegaGlest to Itlalian, I keep this translation up to date, I report bugs and as soon as someone makes a Linux build of the development version I'm happy to test it.


So that's it. What do you think, Pizza?

[Pizza90]

Sorry i answered late, even if you already posted and put it sticky i say that it is a good thing let's hope many people will read it and new contributors will help

[tomreyn]

Thanks for getting back to me on this. I share these hopes with you.

[victorj]

Sure you can do it tomreyn, but if it's possible dont delete the part where i try to make clear that if people just criticize and not contribute neither in a small way it's not good or nice especially for the developers that work on this game for free

Here I am practicing and learning how to edit maps in Map Editor MegaGlest for me is an easy way to do it is a good way for me to contribute to the game?

[-Archmage-]

Making or editing maps is a good way to contribute. Yes.