mvBarracuda
07-22-2006, 01:39 PM
Team name:
FIFE developing team.
Project name:
FIFE - Flexible Isometric Fallout(-like) Engine.
Brief description:
Just like the name of our project suggests we work on a new open source engine for isometric RPGs. The engine started as a Fallout-only project but we recognized very fast that it offers the potential to be used as a general 2d ISO engine for the development of cross platform RPGs.
The engine supports the assets of the original Fallout games but it is also suitable for creating even totally new 2D RPGs. We are focusing on the creation of an engine itself but will bundle it with an example mod; so modders have a starting point to create their own games based on our engine.
Since we do not focus on the creation of a complete game we will be working on comfortable and easy-to-use editing tools. Engine and editor are planned to run on all flavours of Linux, Win32 and MacOSX.
The FIFE project is about 10 months in development now and we have released three public pre-alpha versions of the engine on sourceforge / freshmeat in January and May 2006.
Target aim:
Open source GPL v2.0 (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php); non-profit
Compensation:
We are confident that advanced coders will find it quite exciting to work on the creation and the designing of a whole engine with other experienced and passionate open source coders. But as we're a non-profit project the only thing we can provide is a way to express your love for open source software and the satisfying feeling to work on an ambitious project.
Technology:
Linux, Windows, MacOSX
C++, Boost library
SDL, OpenGL (optional)
Warning:
It seems that we should have stated this earlier as a lot of coders seem to be overstrained with our style of coding. That is not meant to sound rude but the creation of a whole engine is a very complicated large-scale project that needs a different working approach compared to smaller projects. As our former lead coders heavily relied on advanced programming techniques we are searching for quite experienced C++ coders that are searching for a challenging project to work on. If you're not familiar with programming design patterns like the GoF singleton or the factory: this project is not for you.
The best way to find out if you want to take the challenge, is to have a look at our current code base. You can either get the most recent code from our Subversion repository or download a fresh engine snapshot from our homepage (if you're not familiar with SVN yet or don't have the needed tools installed).
SVN sourcecode checkout:
svn co https://svn1.cvsdude.com/fife/engine/trunk/core
HTTP sourcecode download:
FIFE 2006.1 src package (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/fife/FIFE_2006.1_src.tar.bz2?download)
Talent needed:
Engine core designer & coder
Our first lead coder stepped down from his position because he felt burned out and wanted to focus on his real-life activities. His successor had to pause working on FIFE as he's currently writing on his final papers for university. We hope that he returns at the end of 2006 / beginning of 2007. So there is currently nobody on the team who got the experience to make the needed design decisions for the future development of the engine. We know that it's highly unlikely that we find a coder who got the experience to be a lead coder and has serious engine design knowledge. However we're confident that our current code is quite well designed and if somebody intends to start working on his own open source RPG engine FIFE would be a great chance to get involved in an already running project with an established codebase in our opinion.
We build on the existing code so it is not comparable to starting a project from scratch. The project organization structure encompasses IRC meetings, a development wiki, a public Subversion sourcecode repository and a quite active mailing list.
Advanced C++ skills and engine design knowledge are required for this position as you will need to make design decision about the architecture of the engine. Experience with SDL or OpenGL would be really appreciated but isn't a must. It is far more important that we find someone who can invest a serious amount of time to improve the engine design and give the development a direction.
If you're still undecided if it's worth giving FIFE a try: just take a look at our sources from SVN; this should ease your decision. Sourcecode related questions should be asked @ our mailing list:
FIFE developer mailing list (http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Public_mailing_list)
Team structure:
ismarc - editor core designer & coder
Cheesesucker - editor developer
Skybound - XMLmaps & script integration developer
RogerWilco - sound engine developer
GIR - script integration developer
chewie - lua scripter / mod developer
kefrens - gfx engine developer
Phoku - engine core designer & coder (inactive till end of 2006)
stro - engine core designer & coder (inactive ATM)
mvBarracuda - project manager
My job as project manager is to keep the team together and to ensure that the communication structure inside the team works so everyone enjoys working on the project. Among other things I'm responsible for the news updates @ FIFEngine.de (http://www.fifengine.de) and I organize our bi-weekly irc meetings.
Website:
Homepage (http://www.fifengine.de)
Development wiki (http://wiki.fifengine.de)
Development blog (http://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/engine/blog)
Getting started guide for interested developers (http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Getting_started)
Doxygen code documentation (http://docs.fifengine.de)
Design documents (http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Category:Design_Documents)
Current release:
FIFE 2006.1 pre-alpha Win32 (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/fife/FIFE_2006.1_win32.exe?download)
Contacts:
IRC channel: irc2.beyondirc.net | port: 6662 | #fife
eMail: mvBarracuda@web.de (mailto:mvBarracuda@web.de?subject='Interested in FIFE')
icq: UIN -> 98600423 (http://www.icq.com/whitepages/wwp.php?to=98600423)
Important:
You can either use our free XMLmaps with the engine or access the original Fallout maps with it. If you want to use the Fallout maps you will need a legit copy of Fallout 1 or 2. The FO 1/2 maps are far more advanced compared to our own XMLmaps; basically we just set some placeholder textures on them to have something that lets you start the engine without having to own Fallout. So if you want to experience the full beauty: give the Fallout maps a go.
To give you an impression about the status of the project we took sample screenshots of the current release (using the Fallout maps):
http://members.fifengine.de/skybound/screenshot_walking.jpg
http://screens.fifengine.de/editor_002_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/editor_002.jpg)
http://screens.fifengine.de/gui_001_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/gui_001.jpg)
http://screens.fifengine.de/pre-alpha_002_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/pre-alpha_002.jpg)
http://screens.fifengine.de/prototype1_015_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/prototype1_015.jpg)
Feedback:
Feel free to add whatever feedback you like :-) Critics will help us to improve the project.
FIFE developing team.
Project name:
FIFE - Flexible Isometric Fallout(-like) Engine.
Brief description:
Just like the name of our project suggests we work on a new open source engine for isometric RPGs. The engine started as a Fallout-only project but we recognized very fast that it offers the potential to be used as a general 2d ISO engine for the development of cross platform RPGs.
The engine supports the assets of the original Fallout games but it is also suitable for creating even totally new 2D RPGs. We are focusing on the creation of an engine itself but will bundle it with an example mod; so modders have a starting point to create their own games based on our engine.
Since we do not focus on the creation of a complete game we will be working on comfortable and easy-to-use editing tools. Engine and editor are planned to run on all flavours of Linux, Win32 and MacOSX.
The FIFE project is about 10 months in development now and we have released three public pre-alpha versions of the engine on sourceforge / freshmeat in January and May 2006.
Target aim:
Open source GPL v2.0 (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php); non-profit
Compensation:
We are confident that advanced coders will find it quite exciting to work on the creation and the designing of a whole engine with other experienced and passionate open source coders. But as we're a non-profit project the only thing we can provide is a way to express your love for open source software and the satisfying feeling to work on an ambitious project.
Technology:
Linux, Windows, MacOSX
C++, Boost library
SDL, OpenGL (optional)
Warning:
It seems that we should have stated this earlier as a lot of coders seem to be overstrained with our style of coding. That is not meant to sound rude but the creation of a whole engine is a very complicated large-scale project that needs a different working approach compared to smaller projects. As our former lead coders heavily relied on advanced programming techniques we are searching for quite experienced C++ coders that are searching for a challenging project to work on. If you're not familiar with programming design patterns like the GoF singleton or the factory: this project is not for you.
The best way to find out if you want to take the challenge, is to have a look at our current code base. You can either get the most recent code from our Subversion repository or download a fresh engine snapshot from our homepage (if you're not familiar with SVN yet or don't have the needed tools installed).
SVN sourcecode checkout:
svn co https://svn1.cvsdude.com/fife/engine/trunk/core
HTTP sourcecode download:
FIFE 2006.1 src package (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/fife/FIFE_2006.1_src.tar.bz2?download)
Talent needed:
Engine core designer & coder
Our first lead coder stepped down from his position because he felt burned out and wanted to focus on his real-life activities. His successor had to pause working on FIFE as he's currently writing on his final papers for university. We hope that he returns at the end of 2006 / beginning of 2007. So there is currently nobody on the team who got the experience to make the needed design decisions for the future development of the engine. We know that it's highly unlikely that we find a coder who got the experience to be a lead coder and has serious engine design knowledge. However we're confident that our current code is quite well designed and if somebody intends to start working on his own open source RPG engine FIFE would be a great chance to get involved in an already running project with an established codebase in our opinion.
We build on the existing code so it is not comparable to starting a project from scratch. The project organization structure encompasses IRC meetings, a development wiki, a public Subversion sourcecode repository and a quite active mailing list.
Advanced C++ skills and engine design knowledge are required for this position as you will need to make design decision about the architecture of the engine. Experience with SDL or OpenGL would be really appreciated but isn't a must. It is far more important that we find someone who can invest a serious amount of time to improve the engine design and give the development a direction.
If you're still undecided if it's worth giving FIFE a try: just take a look at our sources from SVN; this should ease your decision. Sourcecode related questions should be asked @ our mailing list:
FIFE developer mailing list (http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Public_mailing_list)
Team structure:
ismarc - editor core designer & coder
Cheesesucker - editor developer
Skybound - XMLmaps & script integration developer
RogerWilco - sound engine developer
GIR - script integration developer
chewie - lua scripter / mod developer
kefrens - gfx engine developer
Phoku - engine core designer & coder (inactive till end of 2006)
stro - engine core designer & coder (inactive ATM)
mvBarracuda - project manager
My job as project manager is to keep the team together and to ensure that the communication structure inside the team works so everyone enjoys working on the project. Among other things I'm responsible for the news updates @ FIFEngine.de (http://www.fifengine.de) and I organize our bi-weekly irc meetings.
Website:
Homepage (http://www.fifengine.de)
Development wiki (http://wiki.fifengine.de)
Development blog (http://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/engine/blog)
Getting started guide for interested developers (http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Getting_started)
Doxygen code documentation (http://docs.fifengine.de)
Design documents (http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Category:Design_Documents)
Current release:
FIFE 2006.1 pre-alpha Win32 (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/fife/FIFE_2006.1_win32.exe?download)
Contacts:
IRC channel: irc2.beyondirc.net | port: 6662 | #fife
eMail: mvBarracuda@web.de (mailto:mvBarracuda@web.de?subject='Interested in FIFE')
icq: UIN -> 98600423 (http://www.icq.com/whitepages/wwp.php?to=98600423)
Important:
You can either use our free XMLmaps with the engine or access the original Fallout maps with it. If you want to use the Fallout maps you will need a legit copy of Fallout 1 or 2. The FO 1/2 maps are far more advanced compared to our own XMLmaps; basically we just set some placeholder textures on them to have something that lets you start the engine without having to own Fallout. So if you want to experience the full beauty: give the Fallout maps a go.
To give you an impression about the status of the project we took sample screenshots of the current release (using the Fallout maps):
http://members.fifengine.de/skybound/screenshot_walking.jpg
http://screens.fifengine.de/editor_002_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/editor_002.jpg)
http://screens.fifengine.de/gui_001_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/gui_001.jpg)
http://screens.fifengine.de/pre-alpha_002_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/pre-alpha_002.jpg)
http://screens.fifengine.de/prototype1_015_t.jpg (http://screens.fifengine.de/prototype1_015.jpg)
Feedback:
Feel free to add whatever feedback you like :-) Critics will help us to improve the project.