I was very excited by the project and some people worked hard on getting it together but there were large disparities in skill level that were I factor I think - the seasoned engine devs difference in opinions aside, there was so much to do and so much to plan and design before it reached a level where there was something for every skill level to contribute to.

It would of been a tiny handful of people working on an engine for ages - a tiny handful who already had engine project of their own.

So the experienced drifted away onto their already working engine projects - the less experienced drifted away because there wasn't much for them to do other than learn how to make game engines - which is what they were doing anyway.

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I think upon reflection the project needed a working and established engine core to build around, some part of that engine developed enough that there were jobs for people to do at any skill level and somebody to maintain a list of tasks that people could pick up according to size and skill.

In effect we needed gamification of the process of creating a game engine.