Looking to contribute

[dmw88]

Ive been playing TDM for a few weeks and working on a FM for the last week or two. Id love to contribute to the project or other users FMs. Im still getting experience with the game but I plan on delving into the source code when I get a little further into the game.

 

My skills include:

Programming - I am a professional SW engineer at a major aerospace company. Been coding since about 02. Got a CS degree last year.

Photoshop/textures - I have taken a few years worth of photoshop classes and done professional graphic design in the past. Started classes in 03.

Writing/worldbuilding - I started gamemastering pen and paper RPGs in the late 90s; I also have a degree in ancient history, focusing on ancient languages, and read a ton of nonfiction about the middle ages and renaissance period.

Mapping - I have been using Radiant since tthe quake 3 days, so I am very familiar with editing for idtech, altho this is my first foray into idtech 4.

3d modeling - I took some classes in the early 00s, I am rusty but could try to brush up if there is a specific need.

Voice acting - Ive never done it before but Im open to giving it a go. Im American and have a neutral NA accent, but grew up with a Northern Cities accent I can still activate to some extent.

 

If anyone has any specific needs post below or PM me; beyond that as I said I hope to look at the code in the coming weeks. I have a lot of free time in general and I am going out of town for Christmas, so these next two weeks I have almost unlimited free time. Im looking forward to getting to know the rest of the community; merry Christmas to everyone here.

-Clinton

Edited December 22, 2018 by dmw88

[duzenko]

What do you _want_ to do?

[jaxa]

What do you _want_ to do?

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/19779-physics-puzzles/?do=findComment&comment=431584

[STiFU]

Very nice and welcome! Right now, we have the 2.07 beta running and playtesters are always welcome. Other than that, you can find a lot of things to do on our bug tracker (which does not only contain bugs but also some feature proposals etc.). I for one would love to see SSAO implemented in the engine, and if noone else does, I might consider trying myself at that after the 2.07 beta. I don't have any experience with graphics programming though, so we'll see how that goes! ^^

[dmw88]

My experience with 3d graphics extends only to implementing basic shaders, and that was a year ago.

 

I think Id like to work on physics, Ill see if theres anything in feature requests dealing with that.

 

I saw a thread about pressure plates being hard or impossible to implement as things stand now, that might be a good way to get my feet wet? Ive noticed FMs dont seem to have a lot of traps or puzzles and I think thatd be a really great way to improve the game.

[grayman]

Welcome!

 

If you're inclined toward coding (to get started), go ahead and grab something that's unassigned out of the bugtracker list (make sure you're looking at "The Dark Mod" and not "Dark Radiant" bugs).

 

Give it a go, ask questions, and start a new thread if you want, focused on the bug and its fix.

 

I suggest you mark your changes with your nickname and the number of the bug you're fixing. That way, others following behind you know whom to ask if they run into something they don't understand. (Search for "grayman" in the code to see how I handled this.) I've found this to be handy for tracking down my own work after a year or so, since I probably will have forgotten what I did after a while.

[grayman]

Btw, stgatilov is our lead coder, so you'll prolly find him taking a look at suggested changes, as a peer review.

[duzenko]

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/19779-physics-puzzles/?do=findComment&comment=431584

I was just trying to say, if there's a particular fix or a feature that you would like to do then it makes sense to start with that

 

It could be something in the bugtracker or in your mind - if the latter then it needs a forum discussion beforehand

[stgatilov]

Hello!

It seems that I'm the last one to the party

 

It is always great to have new coders!

I am myself working in CAD / geometric modelling domain, and it's probably close to yours

 

Going down to business:

1) 2.07 beta has just started. The team is busy with fixing upcoming release, the code is in some sense "frozen".

So it is not a very good time to start coding, because the contributions are unlikely to get accepted right now

Of course, this can in no way stop you from checking out the code, building, experimenting, etc.

2) I suggest against doing something ambitious (like OMG: replacing physics engine) for the first time.

You can easily get overwhelmed with amount of subtle problems that you changes cause, or with sheer amount of work required.

Better start with looking at bugtracker issues or doing some well-localized improvements. And switch to harder stuff later.

 

[dmw88]

Yeah revamping the whole engine would be outside of my abilities right now. I will probably start experimenting with it though. Ill have a look at the bugtracker this afternoon.

 

I am myself working in CAD / geometric modelling domain, and it's probably close to yours

I mostly work on satellite radio systems, software for the ground stations and satellites especially. Im currently leading a machine learning project. Ive actually never worked with CAD.

Edited December 23, 2018 by dmw88