Winter: No need to get hostile! It was only a point that I kind of agree with. I can see that you have a goal in mind, but it doesn't seem apparent to the "users" of your great game. If they look through the forums there is very little in regards to a "project plan". I also know that you are working on version 2.2 with eyes to version 2.3. What I feel the other members are looking at is that there are no distinct milestone points in your development cycle. I was going to suggest that after the release of v2.2 that an assessment of the project be made to get set up for v2.3. This would probably move the project along faster and employ more help from the community that supports yours and the others efforts in bringing this game to fruition. And one more item.... responding in a defensive manner and 'suggesting' to contribute or leave, will not earn the support from others. This is just my observation.
BTAxis: I want to say thanks for answering the questions that I have posted here in the forums. It has helped shape my ideas on how to support this game. I too played the X-Com series and really enjoyed them. I consider this game project an extension of that series without being that series.
Now, if I don't get ousted for speaking my mind, I am offering my skills as a Project Manager, Model Designer and Programmer to this project. If it is not welcome, than I will continue to enjoy the game and its future incarnations.
Regards,
Sean E
All of our project plans, feature outlines and TODO lists are kept on our wiki, readily available for anyone to see from a clear link on the main website. Why would we put them on the forum? The forum is just for communication, trying to use it as a project archive (especially when we have a wiki full of all the information you're telling me is not available) would be a bit silly and inefficient.
I'll point out that I never suggested anyone to leave, I only told them that if they want to speed up releases, they should contribute -- not exactly unreasonable. No disrespect, but I think you're being overly touchy in this case. I don't know why, but people on the internet seem to equate disagreement with hostility.
We get criticism from all sides about our design choices, but if we tried to please everyone who posted about how wrong we are in everything, THEN the game would never get done. Thousands of people are playing and loving UFO:AI, and the project is moving faster than ever simply because we have a clear and unified vision. So when we get comments about how we're mismanaging the project, or how dare we to still not be finished, or how somebody wants to fit round pegs into UFO:AI's square hole, we're not required to listen or smooth their ruffled feathers. Similarly we're very happy to hear from people who have good ideas that fit into the gameworld as we've made it so far.
If you're serious about wanting to contribute, Sean_E, please join our IRC channel and drop me a private message (my nick's Winterslice) and we can hash out the details. You'll have to register a nick of your own though, unfortunately, Freenode doesn't allow PMs from unregistered nicks.
Regards,
Winter