Author Topic: Little update and announce!!! [Mod title edit: Q-gears fork]  (Read 12173 times)

Akari

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 766
    • View Profile
Announce will come the first! =)

I will stop working on Q-Gears as it is today. I never has too much interest in creating just an engine for single game. Nor I has interest in creating exact copy of engine.
I will work on Q-Gears RPG Studio if I may call it this way. An RPG engine which will allow you to create you own RPG with engine that has functionality of Square rpg engines on PS One (like RPG Maker allow you create old style rpg). It will play ffvii and others game data via exporters. So as you see it's not q-gears as you know... so maybe it needs another name (although I like that one).
It will be open source and everyone welcome to join.

I will continue add something to q-gears cause I need to do some experiment to make data work, but it will not takes first priority.

I think it will be ready to be shown in early autumn.

And now small update to Q-Gears... not the 0.14 yet.

It takes only 30 minutes to implement this:





It is today's result I write reader for BSX file and this is result (not every model works corectly though):





And there are no animation enabled yet and no texture on model.
« Last Edit: 2007-06-30 20:10:18 by halkun »

halkun

  • Global moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 2097
  • NicoNico :)
    • View Profile
    • Q-Gears Homepage
Re: Little update and announce!!!
« Reply #1 on: 2007-06-30 20:04:16 »
I was talking with G about a fork a while ago. Honestly, I think a fork is a good idea. I only ask two things.

1) I would like you to change the name a little. Even though the code is derived from the Q-gears base, they are two programs going in different directions. I don't want them to be confused with each other. Calling it QRPG Studio or Q-RPG Studio is fine. "Gears" was originally my reference doc for FF7.

2) As Q-gears is GPL, and by extention your RPG Studio, you need to release your changes so we can work on them. I can give you Shell/FTP access to the Q-Gears project Sourceforge so you can upload your work via FTP and we can take it from there. I can do several things for you. I can create a new sourceforge project for you, and make you an admin. I can manage the SVN imports if you just want to upload your code via FTP. This will also give you a FTP spot for your own project and a website. I think you are making out like a bandit in this deal. ^_^

To the other programmers:

Forks are a healthy part of the Open Source ecosystem. It is by that way code can evolve down different branches, and create better code for all.There is no reason to fear the the code is fragmenting. If anything forks often fold back as good ideas are created and bad ones are discarded. One branch will only damage the system when it does not participate in the ecosystem (i.e. code becomes closed).

I have anticipated this for a while. Akari has done so much for the Q-gears project. In the beginning, Q-gears was just a simple summer project of mine. I just wanted to make a simple script parser and see what would happen from there. (My script dumper, by the way, is in SVN under the /util directory) Akari took the idea and made it really shine. For that I'm am eternally grateful.

To G:
I know you are most likely disappointed with this and this most likely came about because of the Linux/Windows cultural gap and the AKAO support. We have a treasure, and we can watch with interest as Akari polishes the work further.

If anyone has any questions, PM, email, or post in the thread. I'll be around.
« Last Edit: 2007-06-30 20:09:23 by halkun »

Cyberman

  • *
  • Posts: 1572
    • View Profile
Splits are good, in this case.  Have you begun migrating the system to Ogre for the objects?  I heard this was too happen?

Cyb

yoshi314

  • *
  • Posts: 318
    • View Profile
Quote
Forks are a healthy part of the Open Source ecosystem.
only if each fork has enough manpower to evolve and survive.

i mean, if q-gears forks into two parts and existing developers split into two parties, and nobody new comes to help with each fork - this can be bad.

Xenobond

  • *
  • Posts: 35
    • View Profile
    • My Portfolio Site
Cool news! I tried to get one of my programmer friends to try and write something like that, once. Good lulck with it all.

FF7ExpNeg1

  • *
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: Little update and announce!!!
« Reply #5 on: 2007-07-01 00:28:11 »

2) As Q-gears is GPL, and by extention your RPG Studio, you need to release your changes so we can work on them. I can give you Shell/FTP access to the Q-Gears project Sourceforge so you can upload your work via FTP and we can take it from there. I can do several things for you. I can create a new sourceforge project for you, and make you an admin. I can manage the SVN imports if you just want to upload your code via FTP. This will also give you a FTP spot for your own project and a website. I think you are making out like a bandit in this deal. ^_^


Not trying to nitpick here, but technically, the GPL is a distribution license, so Akari only has to release his changes under the GPL when he distributes his fork in either binary or source form.

halkun

  • Global moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 2097
  • NicoNico :)
    • View Profile
    • Q-Gears Homepage
Re: Little update and announce!!!
« Reply #6 on: 2007-07-01 02:31:41 »

2) As Q-gears is GPL, and by extention your RPG Studio, you need to release your changes so we can work on them. I can give you Shell/FTP access to the Q-Gears project Sourceforge so you can upload your work via FTP and we can take it from there. I can do several things for you. I can create a new sourceforge project for you, and make you an admin. I can manage the SVN imports if you just want to upload your code via FTP. This will also give you a FTP spot for your own project and a website. I think you are making out like a bandit in this deal. ^_^


Not trying to nitpick here, but technically, the GPL is a distribution license, so Akari only has to release his changes under the GPL when he distributes his fork in either binary or source form.

True, for example there is no source for .014 yet as it hasn't been released.
However once he releases his RPG Studio, if the source uses a part of Q-gears, then he needs to release the source too.

An example from me. I'm working on "Pineapple Chronicles". A lot of stuff I'm using takes ideas from Q-gears, but I'm taking no code and rewriting from scratch. The code is mine, and will not be releasing it as Open Source.

FF7ExpNeg1

  • *
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: Little update and announce!!!
« Reply #7 on: 2007-07-01 03:18:49 »
However once he releases his RPG Studio, if the source uses a part of Q-gears, then he needs to release the source too.

I agree (and the source he releases must be under the GPL or a GPL compatible license).

An example from me. I'm working on "Pineapple Chronicles". A lot of stuff I'm using takes ideas from Q-gears, but I'm taking no code and rewriting from scratch. The code is mine, and will not be releasing it as Open Source.

BTW, what is Pineapple Chronicles?

Hades

  • *
  • Posts: 43
    • View Profile
Does Q-gears currently have enough man power to carry on moving forward?

Salk

  • *
  • Posts: 608
    • View Profile
Thanks Akari for taking Q-Gear to such extent! I am sorry to read that you no longer will work on the original project but I do wish you the best in your new endeavour.

I hope Q-Gear will see a constant development and reach its goals without a sweat but I am sure you will be missed.

Thanks again!  :wink:

Cyberman

  • *
  • Posts: 1572
    • View Profile
You know I forgot something (nothing new really).
  • Akari thanks for pushing the project forward so fast and far your effort work and dedication is appreciated by me. Especially the introduction of Doxygen, that rocked for examining what's going on where.
  • Now it's time to reorganize a bit I think.
  • Akari it would be good to coordinate efforts, right now mostly for Q-gears, as I have been really busy. I might also point out that Q-gears by inception had the idea of running more than just FF7.  So later on there may be a need / desire to perform 'colaboring' efforts so as we don't waste effort on our and your part.  Granted everyone else is slow compared to you.
  • Akari I see all character models are loading now this is great news.
The reason I said this is a good thing is now I can sit back and figure out what needs done in Q-gears by me.  I kind of got lost in the last year or so, mostly due to RL pressing matters eating time up.  Right now I have some work in the N64 emulation scene to finish up.
Erstwhile, halkun should there be a 'meeting of the minds' type thing where what we want to do next be discussed and beaten to death?

I am working full time as a EE these days, and doing some contract work (IE consulting) that MUST be finished, this all precludes the usual things life throws at you,  so I REALLY am busy.  I have just enough time to check on things do my cloths, think a bit and comment sometimes (which means this is a moment I am taking time to do so).  As soon as I finish the contract work (which sucks up all spare time), I can put some effort into Q-gears besides comments and suggestions.

So I'll be downing 0.14 source and running Doxygen on it as soon as it is up and out.

As I am one to work WITH people and not waste personal effort on things I think a quick discussion will be good so I can figure what is done what's to do and where I can actually contribute.

Cyb

Guspaz

  • *
  • Posts: 27
    • View Profile
Since my primary desire was to see a re-implementation of FF7 to the extent that I could play it again in a more stable state than FF7 on PC currently allows, I must admit I'm disappointed by this. I also don't think that the Q-Gears dev team is large or active enough to sustain two separate forks.

However, assuming that both forks do continue at a fair clip, this might be a good thing in the long run. It's just that big IF. With the development on Q-Gears already pretty slow and limited to just a few people, can both new forks succeed? I'm apprehensive, but optimistic!

EDIT: Should this thread be stickied?

Hades

  • *
  • Posts: 43
    • View Profile
There are probably hundreds of people that observe this forum experiencing similar feelings..
The Idea of playing Final Fantasy 7 on Linux (or indeed any other platform) is a dream of mine.

I would love to help with q-gears but I don't feel my skills would benefit the team at this point. I know C++ but have no OpenGL or reverse engineering experience.
Still there must be something I (or indeed anyone here) can do to help.

What are the options?
Would donations help?
Or would some of the senior programmers (with no free time) here consider holding the hands of less experienced devs in order to keep things moving (all be it slowly).
On this note would you encourage more people to download the source code and play around with it?
Halkun, as our fearless leader can you give us any words of encouragement?

Enough with the questions..

What ever it is that can be done, I'm sure I speak for most observers of this project when I say you have our full support.
« Last Edit: 2007-07-29 19:49:57 by Hades »

Terra

  • *
  • Posts: 17
    • View Profile
There are probably hundreds of people that observe this forum experiencing similar feelings..
The Idea of playing Final Fantasy 7 on Linux (or indeed any other platform) is a dream of mine.

I would love to help with q-gears but I don't feel my skills would benefit the team at this point. I know C++ but have no OpenGL or reverse engineering experience.
Still there must be something I (or indeed anyone here) can do to help.

What are the options?
Would donations help?
Or would some of the senior programmers (with no free time) here consider holding the hands of less experienced devs in order to keep things moving (all be it slowly).
On this note would you encourage more people to download the source code and play around with it?
Halkun, as our fearless leader can you give us any words of encouragement?

Enough with the questions..

What ever it is that can be done, I'm sure I speak for most observers of this project when I saw you have our full support.

I'm with that. The only thing stopping me from getting more involved in this project is that fact I have not enough skills. But I'm also with the fork, I think that Akira's decision is for the best because it's broadening the horizon. I think that Qgears could go far, it could go further than any other project like this before because we're not dealing with... Doom... for example, we're dealing with Final Fantasy for PS1. And to me, those were, and still are today, the best games ever made.

Akari

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 766
    • View Profile
I forgot to mention that I start blog where I write about development.

http://community.livejournal.com/q_gears

Today I switched to english so everyone can understand what I am doing )

Hades

  • *
  • Posts: 43
    • View Profile
This is great news Akari. I often wonder what you are up to.. (sad I know).  :roll: