Topic: The future of AGS - part two

[Wyz]

I'm going to open a new topic for this since the discussion in the old one is still pretty much continuing.
CJ said in his talk at the AdventureX he will most likely not have time to lead AGS any more. That sucks, but we have to try to keep things moving. That is the reason for this topic:


There are two functions to fill in:

Community leader
You will be the new face of AGS. You need to be a common figure in the realm of AGS for this, but you don't need to have any technical knowledge, nor do you need to know how to program. You do need to be fair to everyone, reliable and generally a likeable guy. You will partake into making the wishes of the community concrete. You will delegate this wishes possibly to the technical lead (see below). You will be the go-to guy. Be there to talk to the press, but also resolve issues in the community. You'll need to be around on the forums, make announcements, have a motivational speech at the AGS awards, and generally more events. You can not have a hidden agenda, or "do your own thing" obviously. This position is all about the community.

Technical lead
You will be the vector in AGS development. You need to have a affinity for computers and know how they work in a broad scheme. You'll need to know how to program but more important, know how to keep code bases tidy. You need to know about all the platforms out there and not be restricted to just the one. You need to be able to recognise a good design and a bad one even before it is in production. Also you will be in charge of keeping all code consistent, deciding what is best to be left to plugins or what should be put in the engine itself. Also mind naming and coding conventions. The direction the project should go you will hear from the community and more likely from the community leader. This position is about maintaining an active code base.

Lets all do two things:
1. Are you available for this postion: Yes/No, to what extend
2. Are there any persons you like to nominate

This is by no means a vote, it is simply making an inventory.

[Sslaxx]

Community leader
1. Are you available for this position: Not if I can help it. I really, really doubt I have the (especially people) skills for this one. So I'd do this only as the "extreme last resort". If, by a universe-destroying level of improbability I did get this, it would be only for exactly long enough to find someone - anyone - who could do a better job.
2. Are there any persons you like to nominate: Well, anyone would be better than I really, but especially Calin Leafshade, Wyz, Monkey_05_06, Dave and Janet Gilbert.

Technical lead
1. Are you available for this position: Yes, I'd be up for this one. I admit my knowledge on Mac OS X is minimal, and not helped by not owning a Mac, but I'd certainly be keen to pick this one up. My primary coding interests lie within Linux, but Win32/Win64 wouldn't be impossible either. Done some tinkering with Allegro (3.x, 4.x) and SDL, certainly keen to take those forward. No knowledge of C#, but I'd go learn it if it would help.
2. Are there any persons you like to nominate: Monkey_05_06, GarageGothic, AJA, tzachs, JJS, Wyz.

[Calin Leafshade]

Community leader
1. Are you available for this position: Technically yes but I feel others (including sslaxx and monkey) would be better suited.
2. Are there any persons you like to nominate: m0ds, GarageGothic, Khris, Monkey_05_06, sslaxx

Technical lead
1. Are you available for this position: No, my skills are not to an acceptable level.
2. Are there any persons you like to nominate: Wyz, Sslaxx, Bero, JJS

[Peder 🚀]

Community leader:
1. No.
2. Monkey_05_06, Ponch, dualnames, m0ds.

Technical lead:
1. No.
2. Wyz, Bero, Sslaxx, JJS

[qptain Nemo]

Community leader:
1. No.
2. Dualnames, m0ds, bicilotti

Technical lead:
1. No.
2. Wyz, Sslaxx

[Chicky]

Community leader:
1. I'd love to but, no.
2. Dualnames, Monkey_05_06, Bicilotti, m0ds, Ghost, 304, Darth.

Technical lead:
1. No.

[Snarky]

Mmm... I envisioned the "community lead" (or project lead) post to be more organizational, less figurehead-y. I'm not sure we need a separate person to just wave and smile at the AGS Awards, you know? Especially since the website and forums are still run by CJ, so the scope of this role seems rather limited if it's mainly focused on outward-facing communication. I thought the project lead would handle the internal communication, make sure contributors worked towards a common goal (essentially staying on top of the developers, resolving disagreements etc.), possibly run the source repositories. I don't think this person needs to be hugely technical, but he or she should be able to, for example, build AGS from source, no?

So I would suggest having a project lead who is mainly organizational (not promotional), defining the overall design goals for AGS based on input from the community and developers, and then technical leads for the various aspects: editor, engine, Mac/Linux/Android/iOS ports. (Though one person could in principle be responsible for multiple aspects.)

Anyway, as the poll now stands:

Community Lead: Dave Gilbert, monkey_05_06, Calin, Ali, ThreeOhFour, Ponch
Technical Lead: Wyz (and I'm sure many others, but I have no idea about their technical skills)

(Edit: Added Dave Gilbert since he's a candidate again)

[Babar]

community leader:
1. No
2. m0ds, bicilotti, Wyz, Sslaxx, DaveGil

Technical Lead:
1. No
2. monkey, dkh, sslaxx, Wyz

[Dualnames]

Community leader:
1. No
2. m0ds, bicilotti, Wyz, Dave Gilbert, monkey_05_06, Ben304, Gilbetv7000a

Technical Lead:
1. No
2. Wyz, dkh

[miguel]

Community Leader:
1.No
2.mOds,Khris,Darth Mandarb

Techical Lead:
1.No
2.whoever from the list of tech guys around that has more time in hands, I think it should be a team, not a person.

[RickJ]

Selecting a community leader, I fear, is somewhat akin to selecting the leader of the universe.  Anyone smart enough to do it really wouldn't want to and anyone who wanted to is therefore unqualified. 

Community leader:
1. No
2. Dave Gilbert, m0ds, Gilbetv7000a/IcebotyV7000a, AJA, Khris, Darth

Technical Lead:
1. No
2. Wyz, dkh, sslaxx, JanetGil, monkey,  Bero

[Ponch]

Community leader:
1. No
2. Dave Gilbert, Darth, m0ds, Tzachs, SSH, Monkey, Ben, Bici, Limpingfish, Duals, Peder

Technical Lead:
1. No
2. DaveJan, Gilbet, Darth, Wyz, RickJ, Tzachs, Kweepa

I second RickJ's sentiment. Anyone who wants the stress and thankless nature of either of these jobs shouldn't be allowed to have them.

[Guybrush Nosehair]

I think we all know who'll best fit both jobs here... S3 (aka Iceygames)...

[Wyz]

Community leader
1. No, I lack the social skills.
2. m0ds, bicilotti, gilbetv7000a, Atelier, Babar, ghost, Ponch, Darth, ben304, Baron, Dualnames, abstauer... I might have forgotten people.
I'm not sure about Dave yet, because it is just as important for AGS that he does a good job running his company and the community should not become a burden for him.

Technical lead
1. Yes, but I don't think I'd be able to pipe out code as much as others, I'm simply already very busy and that is not likely to change soon. But then again, if there are people supporting me I might be able to do it.
2. It is hard to really make a list since I don't really know what skills people posses but here goes:
gilbetv7000a, kweepa, subspark, ProgZMax, monkey¹, Sslaxx², Snarky, dkh, Monsieur OUXX, GarageGothic
Off topic but I feel to need to name a few people that I think would do a great job on different parts of development:
The editor: Calin, Tzach, helios123
Maintianing portability for certain platforms in the main branch: JJS, bero, timofonic, clarvalon, Denzil Quixode

¹) You might not be comfortable with C++ yet but hey you'll be eventually, and if you need help just ask me. Actually that offer holds for everyone.
²) Though I hope you agree it is all about pleasing the community and not nesscesary the technical staff.

[tzachs]

There are so many good candidates available, I tried to narrow down my list to a few selected people that proven to me the most that they're capable at co-ordinating big projects while remaining team players (for the "Community Leader") and people which have technical knowledge, devotion and an ability to see the big picture (for the "Tech Leader").

So:
Community Leader:
1. No.
2. Baron, Ponch, Dave, Ben

Technical Leader:
1. No.
2. Snarky, Wyz, Khris, Monkey, Calin

[Secret Fawful]

I nominate monkey_05_06 for everything.

[LGM]

I see a lot of votes for m0ds. If he's elected, we'll never get ANYTHING done...

I just came here to make that joke. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. I'm curious to see where this all goes!

[m0ds]

Oh a FoY joke? Hilarious Andrew. Never heard one before  But thank you... and good to see you!

Community leader
1. Yes, I'm happy to give it a shot, at least in the short term. I'd certainly be interested in forming a team & a strategy at least whilst we sort out CJ's previous responsibilities and find folks to fill them for now, get things well oiled etc.
2. Bicilotti, Ponch, Grundislav, but in terms of a team there are 30 people I could mention maybe more who I know would bring something great to the plate.
I'd certainly give Dualnames a biscuit

Tech lead
1. No, beyond me, but I can certainly help prioritize and push the demands.
2. Gilbot, Wyz, Monkey, Calin, SteveMcRea, DaveGil, to lead another great team!

[monkey0506]

Fawful, your opinion doesn't count. You're a personal friend.

Community Leader:

1. Yes. I'm currently working near- to full-time position in a call center. My employment has no external obligation that would take of my time beyond my scheduled hours. I am willing to devote of my time regularly (at least 4-5 days a week) toward this role. I don't have prior experience in a role quite like this, but I am confident in my abilities.

2. Calin, Darth, and Dave already indicated that they don't feel they would really be the best fit for this position. Other than them I would say...m0ds. He hasn't turned it down yet.

Technical Lead:

1. No, I don't feel that I have the technical skill (read as: appropriate knowledge of C++, portability, endianness, etc.) to take on this role at this time. I'd certainly love to help out, but I don't think I should take the leading role here.

2. Wyz. And tzachs already turned it down.




Something I think everyone should probably be keeping in mind is we're just nominating/electing leaders not entire teams. Some people seem to be confusing that. Particularly with the technical lead, it's highly unlikely that one person is going to take on the sole responsibility of refactoring the code and updating it in a timely enough fashion to meet our current needs. Certainly with AGS remaining open-source anyone can help out with code, but the role of the technical lead, would be to organize the implementation, helping make decisions what gets built into the trunk, etc.

At least that's my understanding.

[LimpingFish]

As Snarky has said, the "Community Leader" position seems a bit vague at the moment (though thanks for the vote of confidence, Ponch!).

If it's in regards to maintaining the forums and such, then I'd certainly put myself forward for something like that. But if it means becoming the "public face" of AGS...man, that's a role I wouldn't envy anyone.

So, leaving aside "Community", I'm going to lay it out as such:

Project Leader (the person I would like to see in charge of organizing and running the development process): Dave Gilbert, Snarky, m0ds, Gilbet, Bicilotti, Andail...

Technical (people I would like to see take on significant roles in the coding of AGS): Kweepa, Calin, Monkey, Tzachs, 304, Ali, ProgZmax...