Require Irrlicht expert for Q&A session

Amiga4Eva · Post by **Amiga4Eva** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:36 pm

Hi guys,

I'm currently doing the groundwork for a magazine article detailing how interested users can get a foot into the world of amateur game development, through using everything from basic 'Game Maker' to more advanced engines and frameworks.

I'm after someone - or several people - who know the irrlicht engine well enough to discuss its structure, pros, cons, and development.

Please reply here, or email cmeyers1 at optusnet.com.au and we'll work something out.

Thanks in advance

- James

omaremad · Post by **omaremad** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:04 pm

Its best if you login onto #irrlicht on freenode.net.
State your login time here,and im sure people will be there for you (i will if i can hehe).

Amiga4Eva · Post by **Amiga4Eva** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:09 pm

I'm happy enough just to email those involved with a list of questions/topics for discussion... that gives them time to go over it, rather than anything that requires real-time interaction, like IRC.

So yeah - if people can express interest, and email me at the address provided, that'd be great.

Cheers,

James.

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:32 pm

If you don't want to get an interactive discussion, why not just asking *specific* questions here? It is the best way you can get other than IRC. E-Mail is suboptimal due to its limitations.
Remember: If you want others to do something for you, then make it as easy as possible for them. Easiest is to follow omaremad's advice or just post your questions here qhere they can be seen by a wide audience.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:22 am

also a blanc profile (no webpage, no email, no nothing) doesn't look really serious to me, especially in this case of subject...

Amiga4Eva · Post by **Amiga4Eva** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:30 am

No offence guys, but you're sounding a little elitist here.

Saturn, email Q&A is how I've conducted information gathering sessions for articles ranging from sexuality & video games through to the development of CGI for game cinematics.

These have all taken the form of solid magazine and online articles/features and it's never failed me in the past. I think I know what works best for the information I need, in the format I need it.

And as for the assumption that a lack of some sort of 'profile' means I'm not serious, it's more that I have never needed to flaunt 'credentials' in the past in order to get some helpful people on board. Should it really matter if this was appearing on website (a) or website (b) or magazine (c)? I figured enthusiasts within the Irrlicht community would welcome the chance to discuss the engine, especially if it's going into online and/or print form with other notable engines/game making software.

If I wasn't serious, I wouldn't have asked - but I can get the information I need with minimal community involvement, if that's what I have to do.

Just a shame, that's all - you guys are the front line, the people with your finger(s) on the pulse of Irrlicht.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:59 am

I just said it doesn't look to me serious, that's all I can say about your thread as far as we can't get any informations about you or the works you already made...

it simply looks like you're hiding something...

btw this forum is one of the helpfulliest I have seen so far and all people here are very willing to help anybody...

and I really think the "Project Announcements" forum is not the right place for this thread, so this thread should be moved to the "Open Discussion" forum !!!

Amiga4Eva · Post by **Amiga4Eva** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:09 am

Acki,

In three years of writing IT articles freelance I've never been required to link to or 'prove' previous works in order to get help from a community, and I'm a little shocked that anyone would think I'm trying to 'hide' anything.

For what purpose would I hide something? Really? If you helped me with Q&A, and nothing ever came of it - what have you (or anyone) really lost? What possible sneaky reasons could I have for gathering the thoughts of people who are well versed in the engine?

But - seeing as you really feel as though I'm 'hiding' something, my name is James Matson, I write a regular monthly column for an Australian tech & gaming magazine, here is a link to a cover story I wrote for both the magazine and the website here,

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp ... CIID=92510

Here is a recent game review I did on Unreal Tournament 3,

http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Home/REVIE ... 2acf545ad3

If this is the wrong forum section, I'm more than happy to have it moved - I simply browsed here and figured this was as good a place as any.

I'm willing to entertain the notion this is a friendly and helpful forum, but so far what started as a very simple and straight forward request (one I've made many times in the past few years) has turned into quite a bit of work for minimal return!

sRc · Post by **sRc** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:35 am

wow people, cut him some slack!

Taymo · Post by **Taymo** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:08 am

The Anaconda wrote:wow people, cut him some slack!

Seconded! No one else thought this was an exciting opportunity?! Major bummer because I was looking forward to this.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:59 am

The Irrlicht website contains the names of all dev team members. You can contact Niko via the Mail link on that page, he's the project leader and hence the person in charge for interviews etc. He will also forward your requests to the other team members in case you'd like so.
In case you want community members to participate you should explicitly say so, but I guess it's a little weird to discuss structure, pros, cons, and development, without asking the developers.

rogerborg · Post by **rogerborg** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 4:02 pm

Amiga4Eva wrote:No offence guys, but you're sounding a little elitist here.

Ooh, hark at her. Everyone's a journalist now, you know. It must be true: I read it on my fat promiscuous mother's blog, so less of the Billy Big Balls, please.

Also, I bet when she's not busy giving the clap to sailors, she'd do a better job than you of finding the Contact: Author link right on the project's front page. Tell you what: once you can demonstrate a modicum of competence at the basics of your ostensible day job, you can come over all condescending. Fair enough?

Oh - no offence.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:54 pm

Amiga4Eva wrote:In three years of writing IT articles freelance I've never been required to link to or 'prove' previous works in order to get help from a community

sometime is always the first time...

well, sometimes I like to provoke...

ok, seriously, if you really want to discuss the engine than the best choice would be to contact the developers (like mentioned before by others)...

In my opinion it's also pretty strange when an author (like you seem to be) wants to discuss something and doesn't do this with the creator of this thing (regardless what it is) !!!

I mean if I want to write an article about (for example) a racing team, then I talk to the members of this team and not to the spectators of the races...

This are all things that makes my curious about you and your goal/attempt...
and it also doesn't look really professional to me, especially after more than 3 years doing this job...

Amiga4Eva · Post by **Amiga4Eva** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:03 pm

Thanks to those that have responded to email, I'll sift through now and start firing off some questions if I go ahead with using this engine as an example in the article, also cheers for the dev team information.

For those that think this is unprofessional, I think you'd need to take a step back for a moment, and examine what we're talking about here.

This isn't an interview with Bill Gates, or ID Software, or a ground breaking exclusive about the latest Nvidia architecture.

It's an open source 3D engine, one of several. What's the need for protocol when all I'm after is an informal chat about an architecture that rarely - if ever - gains widespread media attention? Also, as it's open source, the community IS really the heart of the project. I'm totally interested in the angle of the Dev team, but as I understand it community members also make additions to the engine, use it construct games etc.

Acki, your analogy is flawed - are you all just 'spectators'?? No - you're drivers! You use the engine yes?

Anyway, I have what I need now, and have probably spent more time justifying myself and my methods than the original post warranted. I've linked you to my work - at least some of it - and if that's not enough for you, then there's nothing else I can do short of somehow appearing in person with a copy of Atomic magazine or something.

But really, should it have to come to that? If you treat all people who have an interest in giving the spotlight to the engine all you're doing is choking its potential growth.

And that's a sad thing to do to an open source project.

I don't get paid a fortune to write, I do it because I enjoy it and because it allows me to often give a voice to projects and scenes (like homebrew apps) that otherwise wouldn't get mainstream exposure. Fighting this hard just to politely ask the community for a few volunteers for information - a little time, zero cost - is just bizarre.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:27 pm

Amiga4Eva wrote:Acki, your analogy is flawed - are you all just 'spectators'?? No - you're drivers! You use the engine yes?

well, this is something similar to someone who watches TV, yes he uses this machine an he knows how to handle it, but he doesn't know nothing about how it works internally...

in fact I know the engines internals very well, as you can see on my web page I enhanced the engine prety much...

now you got what you're after...

and I wish you good luck with your work !!!

maybe we can see the results of your work soon ???