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Arianne ALPHA 2 Released
Miguel continues: This release of Arianne is a major milestone on our goal to get a working framework for simple online games creation. It features a new working and playable 2D Client with new gfx, music and sfx.
This release features also a working RP system on C++ with the next actions: Move, Chat, Attack, Spell, Get, Put, Consume, Look.
Arianne allows now a hardware limited number of connections to the server so you can have as much players as your hardware allow.
All files on Arianne features XML syntax.
Go to Arianne and get it.
Report problems with Arianne to Sourceforge Bugs Tracker
P.S:
We need binary packages for BeOS and MacOS X.
We need reports about BeOS, MacOSX, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, IRIX, QNX,
Linux and Windows NT.
We need new GFX ( don't ask what are them, look and do ).
We need new SFX ( _.wav )
You mean, like that slashdot poll: favourite business game :)
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It's when you get distracted by the politickers that they sideline you. The tireless work that you perform keeping the system clean and building is what provides the platform for the obsessives and the prima donnas to have their moments in the sun. In the end, we need you all; in order to go forwards we must first avoid going backwards.
To the paranoid conspiracy theorists - yes, I work for Apple too. No, my resignation wasn't on Steve's direct orders, or in any way related to work I'm doing, may do, may not do, or indeed what was in the tea I had at lunchtime today. It's about real problems that the project faces, real problems that the project has brought upon itself. You can't escape them by inventing excuses about outside influence, the problem stems from within.
To the politically obsessed - give it a break, if you can. No, the project isn't a lemonade stand anymore, but it's not a world-spanning corporate juggernaut either and some of the more grandiose visions going around are in need of a solid dose of reality. Keep it simple, stupid.
To the grandstanders, the prima donnas, and anyone that thinks that they can hold the project to ransom for their own agenda - give it a break, if you can. When the current core were elected, we took a conscious stand against vigorous sanctions, and some of you have exploited that. A new core is going to have to decide whether to repeat this mistake or get tough. I hope they learn from our errors.
Future
I started work on FreeBSD because it was fun. If I'm going to continue, it has to be fun again. There are things I still feel obligated to do, and with any luck I'll find the time to meet those obligations.
However I don't feel an obligation to get involved in the political mess the project is in right now. I tried, I burnt out. I don't feel that my efforts were worthwhile. So I won't be standing for election, I won't be shouting from the sidelines, and I probably won't vote in the next round of ballots.
You could say I'm packing up my toys. I'm not going home just yet, but I'm not going to play unless you can work out how to make the project somewhere fun to be again.
= Mike
--
- poopbot: information likes to be narrow
HcOVIAQELS
Miguel Angel Bin Laden writes "Arianne is a Holy War to destroy the western world. You can use it to create your own germs, from Polio to Smallpox, nuclear or conventional weapons." We noted Arianne two years ago.
which means of course another troll bath... :(
seems the topic of the day is free game development.... first Freeciv, then the article on "mods" and now a game engine
now every genre has been covered that I like - "civ games", FPS and now RPG. I hope someone makes a RPG of high quality with this engine, perhaps a rewrite of an old console classic *hint* *hint*
- HeXa
I would like to draw everyone's attention to something.
Recently, the slashdot editors changed the rules for people with low karma.
Now, people with negative or "terrible" karma can only post 2 comments per day, which is blatantly censorship.
This has forced all the negative users to post anoynmously, which creates more noise at higher levels, and drowns out legitimate AC's. I find this needlessly foolish, as I cannot listen to genuine anonymous posts due to pwp and random crapfloods. IP banning is pointless, because it is so easy to use proxies.
Please, allow the negative users no restrictions, so they move back to -1.
Thank you.
Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
( don't ask what are them, look and do )
With a name like that, im not surprised about the grammer and spelling.
Oh man you have no fucking clue, right?
No, the UK and the US are NOT the center of the world....
There are actually other people living on earth that speak other languages.
REALLY!
I'm with you Anonymous. Here's hoping the Jihad is 1/2 as devastating the Crusades were. Die Capitalist pigs!
No, the UK and the US are NOT the center of the world....
There are actually other people living on earth that speak other languages.
REALLY!
Why are you trying to speak English then? Can't you just talk in your own language?
Why do you feel compelled to torture us ?
Hanging: Two problems with this... First of all it's boring. I mean, God, there's no excitement in just hanging there! Second, it could be somewhat painful. Choking to death doesn't exactly turn me on. Of course, I could auto-erotically asphyxiate myself to death, I suppose.
Shooting: This seems to be the way I will likely go. It's quick, it's (hopefully) painless, and very messy which means very exciting! The only problem I have with this is that everybody seems to go out this way these days. Kurt Cobain, Vincent van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway... the list goes on. Do I really want to be known as just another guy who shot himself?
Jumping: Again, two problems... It's not certain unless I jump from something really high, and in my area, the tallest buildings are only two stories. Second, even though I am clearly highly suicidal, what if I suddenly change my mind right after I jump? At least with the other two, I don't have time to think about it!
Please, give me your suggestions, and I will take them to heart. Then, I will finally have a happy and successful suicide.
Regards,
klerck
DTABN
err..
no ?
cx stands for christmas island, which is a very nice domain if you think about it.
friend of mine has his nice linux box out there too
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
here is another nice box, just for you.
-klerck
DTABN
He was referring to the infamous goatse.cx link that is often posted here.
slashdot!=valid HTML
oh come'on, it's a joke for bill's sake !
/. is full of this kind of snearing. keed in mind that, if each of the few hunderdthousand /. readers were to post such a remark ,only once, you'd have hundreds per day. So all in all, /. is a fairly tolerant place it seems.
And anyways, I wasn't laughing at the poster in person. Just the coincidence of yoda-speak. I found it quite funny. If you don't, don't moderate a post of +2 as 'overrated' because your sense of humor differs. And I definitely wasn't overrated since I wasn't even rated !
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
Yessitwaz...
"Call It A Night, Cowboy!
Slashdot only allows a user with your karma to post 2 times per day. You've already shared your thoughts with us that many times. Take a breather, and come back and see us in 24 hours or so.
If you think this is unfair, please email jamie@slashdot.org with your username "Adolf Hitroll". Let us know how many comments you think you've posted in the last 24 hours."
can't believe they are so dumb...
I take a week holiday and then I am asked to take one more night...
Jamie, I won't mail you (2KB for a private "fsck you" is too small), I prefer burning your bandwidth an exponentially higher way by just posting some text here that a few thousand people will also load... several dozen MB gone...
Slashdot yourself, you moron.
... to ban Anonymous Coward posts ... I'm not exactly sure how this was meant to go anyway
First it was the Trolls, no-one said anything cause well.. They are Trolls
Then it was the Anonymous Cowards, no-one said anything.. cause they were mostly Trolls now
Then