Increasing traffic on PGD...

[LP]

Also if we want to atract more newbies we should start writing some tutorials about how to start a game developement preferably for both Delphi and FPC and write tehm in a way so that they would be understod by newbies. We also have to take into acount that there may be many newbe programers wich might be interested in game development from start. What does this means? Our tutorials must sometimes even explain some programing language technics.

Actually I think teaching programming by itself is not a very useful tactic here because newbies have many options to choose from: C# and XNA, C/C++, Perl, Python, Lua, Java and so on. This is what institutions are for, and dealing with institutions, I think, is quite out of scope for PGD commuinity.

My posts were about luring *existing* Delphi developers in here as in Language Stats which I've mentioned earlier it is clear that Delphi is still quite popular. It is not that difficult as you just need to provide interesting stuff to motivate people visiting this site; eventually, they may decide to participate in forums.

Specifically for the forums, I would recommend joining together all graphic's libraries forums as well as compilers since there have not been much activity (some had no posts since 2007!) but together they will appear quite populated to outside public. Honestly, right now with so many forums and very low activity, it is counterproductive: I only use "What's New?" button as scrolling through entire forums takes quite some time and is confusing. You may want to get rid of forums with less than 10 posts and join them together as well. This type of hierarchical navigation is not needed: Search option exists exactly for cases where you need to find something specific.

P.S. I've been trying to get my hands on writing tutorials for some time now, but since I also work on scientific articles, which is quite stressful (especially when dealing with reviewers), you get tired and at the end of day writing more text is the least thing you want to do.

[WILL]

Specifically for the forums, I would recommend joining together all graphic's libraries forums as well as compilers since there have not been much activity (some had no posts since 2007!) but together they will appear quite populated to outside public. Honestly, right now with so many forums and very low activity, it is counterproductive: I only use "What's New?" button as scrolling through entire forums takes quite some time and is confusing. You may want to get rid of forums with less than 10 posts and join them together as well. This type of hierarchical navigation is not needed: Search option exists exactly for cases where you need to find something specific.

I had been thinking of archiving and slimming down the forums lately. You are right it's becoming more like a ghost town in the Forums section of PGD. I have most of them collapsed, but still they are all open by default. Another motivation for this was how long and hard it was for my to move it all from the old server to here. The database in raw SQL was 500MB large. I had to break it up into 46 pieces to run it all for the import.

Rather than simply merge libraries, I'd rather archive them and take them off the forums page altogether. Noone cares about the XCESS library at this point it's been dropped ages ago for example.

Some other forums like Writing, Technical and all the other non-programming stuff probably could be merged and trimmed down. They are somewhat excessive. I can slim down the forums quite a bit just with these.

P.S. I've been trying to get my hands on writing tutorials for some time now, but since I also work on scientific articles, which is quite stressful (especially when dealing with reviewers), you get tired and at the end of day writing more text is the least thing you want to do.

No review process here at PGD! If that helps...

[WILL]

...and let us not forget to welcome new members! http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com...irst-post-here

[WILL]

Reorganizing the forums as per some of Lifepower's ideas...

[SilverWarior]

Actually I think teaching programming by itself is not a very useful tactic here because newbies have many options to choose from: C# and XNA, C/C++, Perl, Python, Lua, Java and so on. This is what institutions are for, and dealing with institutions, I think, is quite out of scope for PGD commuinity.

I disagree with you. I myself am stil a newbie in game development (hasn't published any game jet) and my programing skils also arent very advanced.
When I found first article wich suposinlgy would teach me how to make my fist game in Delphi I hardly understood it. Reason for that is that at the time my programing skils were still quite bad. I still hasn't understand some basics at the time (namely classes and class inheritance). So even after reading that article for few times I still didn't knew how to make my own game. I only figured that out about a year later when I was reading another article about creating custom components (components heavilly rely on classes). Actually at that time I had no intention for writing games, becouse I thought they are out of my reach becouse of me lacking knowledge. If someone would have told me then that I requre proper knowledge of handling classes, today I might have already some game finished.
That's why I'm including this knowledge in my article becouse I suspect, that many potential game developers are turned away on the start, becouse they don't understand neccesary basics, and noone tels them that they have to.
Anywhay it is not neccesary that you always write about programing basics in your article, but atleast do point the readaer to another article wich would help him understand yours.

Also if we don't take atleast some time for teaching some programing, pepole might turn to other programing languages instead, becouse they might find other forums who do so.

The main reason why I decided to become programer becouse I wanted to make my own game similar to some other but much better (don't recal wich one). So basicaly if I wouln't be so stuborn by nature I would have already given up long time ago.

[Eric]

Actually I think teaching programming by itself is not a very useful tactic here because newbies have many options to choose from: C# and XNA, C/C++, Perl, Python, Lua, Java and so on.

I disagree, this is because they still have choice that you can capture new recruits.Though in that reguard Delphi starts with a severe disadvantage as there is no "free" option anymore besides Lazarus.

Also sites like turbo & Delphi3D did thrive a lot on "teaching", just not programming, but games, Ai, graphics, etc.

This is what institutions are for, and dealing with institutions, I think, is quite out of scope for PGD commuinity.

I disagree here too, institutions are in practice either universities (where they usually don't have any serious grasp of game programming) or work-sponsored (and bosses ain't gonna pay for game programming).

My posts were about luring *existing* Delphi developers in here

The problem is that a good deal of existing Delphi developpers are on old versions, sometimes very old (Delphi 7), and XE2 caters to just a niche of the Delphi users.
Even though I wrote some articles about XE2 during the time my trial lasted, I'm still primarily on XE.

XE2 doesn't have any free version, so the situation just isn't like in the turbo & Delphi3D days, when people that found something interesting could go test it.

IMHO this goes beyond any raw cost consideration as it affects mindset: people just don't have the same incentive/willingness promoting "for free" a tool that isn't free.

Specifically for the forums, I would recommend joining together all graphic's libraries forums as well as compilers since there have not been much activity

Agreed.

[Cybermonkey]

Sorry, if I barge in as I am rather new here, but please do not drop support for Freepascal. I am not interested in Delphi but searching for good tutorials for FPC. Most good libraries (e.g. Asphyre) seem for Delphi only. The only exception is ZenGL.
It was mentioned that in the Language Stats http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/conte...pci/index.html Delphi is quite popular but as far as I can read the item is named

Delphi/Object Pascal

which refers to Freepascal/Lazarus as well (Object Pascal).
Well, I am also interested in mobile developmet (Android/iOS) but again: if a tutorial is made please with Freepascal.
Just my two cents from a newbie.

[Carver413]

Educating new members is the best way to insure new members stick around. most of us don't have the luxury of school training. and what classes are out there for delphi/fpc users anyway. any good group takes care of it's own. what is really needed is a modern opengl code base to work from some sort of wikki to organize it. DGL has a nice setup but most of us don't speak German and goggle does a poor job of translating.

[Eric]

the item is named which refers to Freepascal/Lazarus as well (Object Pascal)

IIRC the FreePascal entry was merged not long ago, but there is still a "Pascal" entry, and I have no idea what it covers.

[LP]

Sorry, if I barge in as I am rather new here, but please do not drop support for Freepascal. I am not interested in Delphi but searching for good tutorials for FPC.

How did you infer from me suggesting to promote more materials for Delphi, to drop support for FreePascal? Seems like a irrelevant thesis fallacy.

I disagree, this is because they still have choice that you can capture new recruits.Though in that reguard Delphi starts with a severe disadvantage as there is no "free" option anymore besides Lazarus.

I don't recall that there was free version of Delphi before Delphi 6 personal and it was still popular. Also, you may wonder why many developers, myself included, are paying a thousand dollars (!) for a product, where they could have simply used a supposedly free alternative.

In addition, Embarcadero is offering (similar to what Borland did) Delphi versions to academic institutions at huge discounts (90%-97% discount).

I disagree here too, institutions are in practice either universities (where they usually don't have any serious grasp of game programming) or work-sponsored (and bosses ain't gonna pay for game programming).

This is a common misconception. There are many institutions, including the one I was in, that have a very strong software engineering program. This program makes you competent not only for game development, but for any software development in general. After you finish, you can also optionally opt for M. Sc and even D.Sc. degrees, which are highly competent as well. Yes, studying is not easy here at ITESM, you will probably have to study overtime, working on projects at night and so on, but it's totally worth it.

Sure, there are some universities where some teachers stink, but this is part of life. In one point or another, you will have a lousy teacher, a business partner that is a jerk, a boss that stinks or even a president that sucks. This, however, does not mean that you should put away the education.

Just by getting first university degree, you can get a work as software engineer for an average salary of $55,000 ($4500 per month for Software Engineer) in US. A higher position requiring more advanced degree gives $115,000 ($9500 per month for Software Architect). Average salary for Game developer is around $80,000.

Also, many universities worldwide have a scholarship program. In my own case, 12 years ago when I went to study Computing Systems Engineering, I've got scholarships from many universities in US, Canada and UK, many of which included 100% of study coverage plus staying expenses. This is still the common case for many students that are wiling to put all their effort to learn and build their careers.

Being a software engineer, learning new/different language is a trivial task, since programming language now is just a way to translate your architecture/design into code (and there are tools that can help you).

Educating new members is the best way to insure new members stick around. most of us don't have the luxury of school training. and what classes are out there for delphi/fpc users anyway. any good group takes care of it's own.

Sorry, but what you imply is simply laziness. If you have enthusiasm, interest and are wiling to learn, you can always get a scholarship in one of universities with a good computer science program. Here in Mexico, lower class students with family earnings of less than 1000 $MXN per week ($80 per week) can still get to the university almost for free and if they are talented, even get paid to study (!). [Granted, some prefer to consume drugs and shoot their neighbors instead, but that's another story]

Plus, if you get to study to university, you can always opt for Delphi Academic Program and pay roughly $100 for a Professional version.