A project for the community, need approval

[desty]

Hello everyone, I'm quite new here, But I'd like to share an idea I am working on.

I've been in the modding scene for a while now, and I have to say, a lot of projects fail, due to poor management or leaders, not counting projects which aren't even serious. I am not talking only about half life, but also games like Warcraft III.

What I thought is, why not make an online system which would greatly facilitate the organisation and management of a dev team?
I don't know if this already exists, but I haven't heard of any. Let me give you a short example of how a small part of it could work:

There would be a long list, split into categories, of tasks which must be done. These would be set by the leader through an interface. Each task can then be assigned a team member, and a dynamic status on the task (ie: WIP, UNCOMPLETE, DONE...). It could also include a deadline, a target polycount and so on....
The user doing the task would be able to modify the status, following the completion of the task, or other progress.

Categories would be able to be created, like "Weapons", "Maps", and so on, and each would include a dynamic progress indicator, which would take its information from the task list and update constantly.

There would of course also be a team member system, with login/logout(and a hierarchy) because you wouldn't necessarly want everyone to see what's going on.

This is just a small sample of what you would be able to do with this. It would of course only be suitable for teams which are serious about their mod, and can lead it properly. I think it would greatly help organisation of the project in pre-production stages, and maybe later too.

I'm planning to code this in PHP, if I do code it, and I think it is perfectly achievable. I would like to know if you people think it is a good idea, and if it would be useful to have. Take in account this would be very customizable and therefore would suit all types of mods.

Just to clear stuff out, this will be in the form of a website addon, which wouldn't affect your current website, and would be controlled with admin panels, like forums.

If you think this is a good idea, and would like to help, I would especially like to have some 2D graphics in there, to make it more useable; you can reply on this thread or contact me with the following information.

email: [email protected]
msn: [email protected]
AIM: xasqmdx

Thank you,

DeSty

 

[Kon]

sounds like it would be a nice thing to use.. as long as it is easy to use..
Maybe you could leave notes on specific items and such..

 

[desty]

Yes, it will be easy to use, I want this to speed up development process, so it better be.

This will also replace the early private forums a lot of teams use, because you'll be able to post comments on every piece of work submited by members, there will be a simple news system, and there will be a section for members to post new ideas for the gameplay etc...

This should work like an all-in-one package to setup a team and start working on a mod, the only thing it won't cover is instant messaging .

happy you like the idea though, need more comments on this :farmer:

DeSty

 

[theGreenBunny]

This sounds pretty easy. Basically a bunch of sql database tables and a bunch of php. Not extremely hard, but probably quite a large amount of work because of the scale.

I don't think this would completely replace private forums though, unless you implement a way of simply discussing ideas, and more importantly, an interface to rival a forum's interface.

All in all it's a sensible idea. Not sure if a lot of mods end up using it (most have already started, and this kind of system is easier to use when used from the start), but I suppose it's worth a try.

 

[Wazzit]

I'm very excited about this project, I can't wait to use it.

 

[desty]

Yes, I don't think It's going to be particularly hard to implement. A lot of mods have started, but even more mods are going to start while half-life 2 is still around.

I think it can replace private forums, because as I was saying, every game content will be discussible: 2d artwork, weapons, character models, etc... The main game design will also be discussible.

If you think about it, to simply comment on something, you don't need an avatar, a signature, a post count, smilies, colors, ranks and so forth.

DeSty

 

[Majestic XII]

We're doing a system for that for my mod (Malin, www.malinmod.com ) It will also be a part of HL2 Mod Central later on when we got it up and working.

I think its a great idea

 

[Kon]

If you think this is a good idea, and would like to help, I would especially like to have some 2D graphics in there, to make it more useable;

oh, if it isn't too much (I have work of my own to do) I may be able to help you with 2d graphics.

How customizable will the design/skin be? Asking this because how something looks can really affect whether I'd use it or not. (I prefer a compact/easy/clean look..)

 

[chapel]

First of all, I would like to applaud you for your willingness to make something for the community.

Secondly, I would like to let you know we at ND are internally making something similar, but on a much larger scope. I would like to again thank you for your offering to the community, many people will be happy for it.

 

[desty]

Thank you for all the positive replies! I see that some people are doing this internally, infact, I wanted to do it internally for my mod, but then I thought why not do it for everyone, with a more customizable interface?

At first this will only be private, and not made for the public, therefore, the level of customization of the colors and layout will be pretty low. The interface will be as clean as possible, without useless things, I'm going for fast load times, small file size and if ever it had to be customized in the style, the user would be able to change the colors, not having to make too much extra graphics (maybe just a few icons).

Kon, I'd be happy to have you in, please drop me a line on msn or AIM. Most of the graphics will be very small sized, max 120*120, and I'll be doing some too, so you should be able to find a little time for a few of those.

Again, thanks for the replies, I'll start working on this soon.

DeSty

 

[Onions]

I was going to do this for my mod, but now that you mention it, keep me updated on how it goes
[email protected]

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Wow, so many people want this idea, you might as well charge for it!

Keep us posted - I could find it useful too.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[desty]

Haha, I'm hoping this increases the rate of completed mods by a small percentage :thumbs: .

I'm setting up the interfaces and panels for the different parts of the program. At the moment, I called it Mod Manager, if anyone has a better name, I'd be happy to hear it. I'm testing it on both Explorer and Firefox in parallel, thats what most people use I think, and anything that works on firefox should work on mozilla and netscape too so all good.

Kon is going to be helping me with the graphics :]. Once I get a working version, some mods to test it on would be good :E . If your mod fails, you can blame it on the manager!

Well, I'll keep you guys updated more soon.

DeSty

 

[Kon]

any updates/news yet?

 

[CatBOne]

Great idea, I'd go ahead with it!

 

[desty]

This past week I have been traveling, and been pretty busy, the project is well on its way and I think I can get a working version in a week and a half. I had some problems before concerning design, as some things just didn't fit together, I now know exactly how I want everything, so coding should speed up a bit :thumbs: .

Once I got a working version of this, I'll post a new thread, and maybe some people can beta test it, as there will probably be some bugs left.

cheers,

desty

 

[UnkY]

Well i think it's a great idea! Nice you spend so much time on such thing without even getting paid! thats a real heart for gamers i see

well GL!
And hope you get it all sorted out!