Re: Libre games jam - a proposal

[Roberto Sánchez]

   Hello.
   Just a few short things...
   Godot can make both 2D and 3D games, it also uses (among others) a
   scripting language similar to python called Gdscript.
   Also, for this purpose, maybe the people at gdquest (  who provide
   Godot training materials whichI think are under free licences) could be
   potentially useful partners.

   Hope this is somewhat useful.
   Roberto
   On 6 Jan 2022 18:20, Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss
   <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org> wrote:

     Hi all
     Following on from the thread
     LibreJam - FSF* should host a Libre Game development tournament!
     I think the general consensus is, that this is a good idea.   The
     question is, how do we pull this off.
     Firstly I appreciate the tech team are busy :)
     I would suggest putting together some infrastructure first, so that
     maybe there is a specific mailing list for this project.
     We need to work out what the aims are,  so lets say we want to take
     someone (any age) who is using scratch, they want to either
     1. Write their own games
     2. Help maintain / contribute to existing free software games
     We need to try and help them along that path.
     Assuming people are pretty good with Scratch,  then we can take that
     as
     a starting point.
     1. I think a general rule is that you should let the project dictate
     what you use. So by that python, love2d, etc are good for 2d games,
     where as GoDot, castle engines are designed for 3d games.
     I don't think 3d games in python would work.
     Making games
     2.  Help people learn the basics, so find some tutorials to teach
     writing games in python for example
     http://inventwithpython.com/#scratch
     is perhaps a good starting point.
     Contributing to games
     Start simple,  Rocks n diamonds I think is free software, just that
     some
     level sets are not.   This is fine just install the free level sets.
     Start by making levels and contributing them back to the project.
     This
     is not about self promotion but I have made lots of videos on this
     topic.
     https://personaljournal.ca/rocksanddiamonds/
     So hopefully they are helpful,  ideally you need someone who you can
     meet face to face to test them,  make sure they are playable,
     identify
     any major problems (just as you would with writing / testing
     software).
     This also teaches collaboration,  if rename levels in such a way
     when
     uploaded to git repository they all sit nicely together.  This can
     be
     done if you create levels 1-10 in the game and someone else creates
     levels 11-20,   when merged you end up with 20 levels.
     What you also learn here is collaboration, communication team work
     etc
     Contributing to games 2
     Perhaps a step up from the above is to make mods for Minetest, again
     lots of info on this, so it is a case of finding a team to you.
     I have tried to collate information in to a blog post
     https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/minetest-foss-minecraft-clone
     I appreciate that I have used the term FOSS which is depreciated, it
     is
     a blog post, can be reposted with a better title / content.
     Writing 2d games is then perhaps the next step
     then creating levels for 3d games (say assault cube) can we write
     mods
     for the game, if so how.
     Finally then move on to 3d games (if people want to),  perhaps a
     step
     before that is to cover programs such as blender to learn about 3d
     graphics, lighting, etc and using x,y,z axis
     We have all the free software tools we need for this
     git/gitlab
     etherpads
     bigbluebutton / jitsi
     IRC, mailing lists
     We could use a shared nextcloud for the rocksndiamonds levels, and
     other
     resources.   If people are not very confident with git. (Lets not
     put
     barriers in place) bend any barriers, so that eventually people can
     be
     confident with tools like git.
     Perhaps make lots of use of Decentralised platforms too (helps to
     promote) for example mastodon, peertube etc.
     If people see positive activity on these platforms it encourages
     their use.
     I think suggesting people create a specific e-mail for lists using
     for
     example disroot (which then gives you other tools like nextcloud,
     pads
     etc) or protonmail also helps keep your game creation activities
     seperate, it also means your normal inbox doesn't get swamped with
     messages.
     People such as the https://techlearningcollective.com/ who did a
     talk at
     Libreplanet,  could also be promoted to provide some of the
     training.
     Perhaps set up the infrastructure, then launch the idea at
     LibrePlanet,
       so we can get people on board, to help at least, then figure out
     what
     we are able to teach people to get them started.
     Hardware such as the Raspberry Pi may not be fully RYF BUT it is
     very
     popular, very common and the support structure is there,   this is
     important if things go wrong they can usually find someone locally
     who
     can help.    The RYF issue becomes a talking / education point at
     least.
     Just a few thoughts
     Paul
     --
     Paul Sutton, Cert Cont Sci (Open)
     https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/
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