PGD in 2009

[Ñuño Martínez]

I want to propose a repository of projects. I mean a list of projects created by the users, similar than Allegro.cc Depot. Allegro.cc offers also space to upload files but I think it's not necessary, just a link to the author's website or to mega-upload-like should be enough.

A template for a project:

• Name of the project
• Category (arcade, strategy, adventure, tool, library, ...)
• Author
• Brief description, license, version, etc.
• List with two or four screenshots
• link to project's website
• Link to download (i.e. from project's website)

I'm sure this will increase interest for the site and Pascal/Delphi, and will help to amateur and beginers to publicity its creations.

On the index page you can put a list with the latest additions and updates (and a RSS too, of course). A way to add reviews by the users would be great too.

Here you have an example from Allegro.cc.

[noeska]

yes that would be nice.

[Chesso]

Some serious user submitted articles too perhaps, updated ones I mean.

UnDelphiX seems to still be updated here and there, and GlScene apparently is updated quite often etc.

Some basic tutorials and ones that focus on changes in the packages too.

[De-Panther]

As a forum admin in another site, I can give you some little advices.

Arange events to gather some audiance(some people suggested contest before me, Maybe a meeting in real world could be helpful, we can meet in GDC or another special event for game developers)

Make noise! Make games! publish the site and the games!
People don't know that you can make modern games with pascal.

More discussions!
not just technical stuff. Some thinking together, some get to know eachother.
discussions about game design, about the world industry.
I guess for some of the people here it's not just an hobby. they can give tips for beginers.


But all of those discussions - the admins need to open, atleast at the begining.
Currently the forums are too much technical. and thats why I think people don't feel comfortable to write about new projects or ideas.



Also, google. as other people told before, add the site to google index.
And make quick link for the list of games in pascal - it can be very usefull.

[Brainer]

:arrow:About the repository idea
I like the idea of the repository of files, but I don't think it should be available to everyone, because people would register here just to get some space for their projects and that's all - they wouldn't be active on the forum at all. It should be available only to regular members. And to avoid new users replying to posts from the Middle Ages, we should have moderators (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there are any here now).
:arrow:About the meetings idea
Meetings are a cool idea, but well, let's say it, it's expensive. What'd you say to have an IRC channel instead where we could talk everyday? IRC channels aren't paid and most of teams over the Internet have them (e.g. http://www.zombiepanic.org).
:arrow:About the articles idea
Yes, it's a very good idea. I bet everyone has something he'd like to share with others. Some Wiki would be good for that.

Also, we could introduce rank points. What does that mean? Well, every user gains points if they write a post or an article. Let's say it's 0.2 point/post and 0.5 point/article. Then, at the end of a year admins would give a present for the most active user. And again, to avoid spammers there should be moderators active here.

Ok, enough rants.

[Chesso]

It's not so much a matter of sharing information at this point, as opposed to receiving it.

There isn't enough base/straight up from start to finish tutorials/articles.

UnDelphiX for example (seen as I have already used it previously), most material I am aware of is quite outdated and made for like D6 and 7, were nearly up to 2009, or 2007 at the very least, even I do not use D7 anymore.

That and despite it not being on the edge of it all, is still updated quite a bit and even some biggish changes from what most articles depict.

[De-Panther]

It's not so much a matter of sharing information at this point, as opposed to receiving it.

There isn't enough base/straight up from start to finish tutorials/articles.

UnDelphiX for example (seen as I have already used it previously), most material I am aware of is quite outdated and made for like D6 and 7, were nearly up to 2009, or 2007 at the very least, even I do not use D7 anymore.

That and despite it not being on the edge of it all, is still updated quite a bit and even some biggish changes from what most articles depict.

It's not the only unit for pascal.
Thers some new\still updateing units, like KAMBI VRMLENGINE, Andorra, and the one used for tower diffence.
But I don't see lots of commercial games made with pascal lately, It's just simpler to find C++ prgoramers to make games

[NecroDOME]

I like the idea of a repository/showcase on this site. We have a showcase delphigamer.com, but still new people don't know about this. It would be good to have a link 'games' on top that links to a PGD showcase site, not some 3rd party site (sorry, I have nothing against delphigamer.com, but its the idea of not leaving the site to view games made in pascal).

Also some people (including me) have an account on www.greatgamesexperiment.com, this can also be used as extra on a showcase page.

Meetings in real life?? I like the idea, but everyone is far, far away from each other, dunno if that gonna work..., but maybe worth a try

[Traveler]

Thanks again for the replies. It's good to see the discussion is starting to get off the ground. I like the repository idea a lot. Sort of like a portfolio system where people can add information about their projects or perhaps even files.

With all these ideas popping up, I was actually hoping to see savage appear here as well, so he could share his views on the matter. He is currently on a short trip to Spain, and while he mentioned he would be able to come online, I now think it's a bit more difficult than he originally thought.

[AthenaOfDelphi]

I would suggest using a paid for forum package... and I would also suggest (based on my own personal experience) that you use the default template that comes with it. Add on a portal.... as Lifepower has suggested, vBulletin + vBadvanced = a very nice forum and portal setup that can be customised quite easily.

The reason I suggest out of the box templates is maintenance... thats one reason PGD has suffered, because of the heavy customisation... makes maintenance a bit of a nightmare. Sticking with the out of the box template makes your life easy as you don't have to worry about making your templates work with the latest versions.

As for the library articles... can we ditch the current system and move to wiki based system? Something like mediawiki or dokuwiki?

Just my thoughts.


ps. Merry Christmas