Re: GNOME Mastermind 0.3 string freeze (fwd)

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Thu, 24 May 2007, Filippo Argiolas wrote:

> Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 08:01:46 +0200
> From: Filippo Argiolas <filippo argiolas gmail com>
> To: Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>
> Cc: gnome games <games-list gnome org>,
>      "Andreas [ISO-8859-1] Røsdal" <andreasr gnome org>
> Subject: Re: GNOME Mastermind 0.3 string freeze (fwd)
>
> Il giorno mer, 23/05/2007 alle 23.04 +0100, Alan Horkan ha scritto:
> > On Wed, 23 May 2007, [ISO-8859-1] Andreas Rsdal wrote:
> >
> > > Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 21:04:06 +0200 (CEST)
> > > From: "[ISO-8859-1] Andreas Rsdal" <andreasr gnome org>
> > > To: Filippo Argiolas <filippo argiolas gmail com>
> > > Cc: games-list gnome org
> > > Subject: Re: GNOME Mastermind 0.3 string freeze (fwd)
> > >
> > > I'm forwarding this to the gnome-games mailing list to see that others
> > > think about gnome-mastermind. Take a look at the bugzilla link for my
> > > opinion.
>
> Hi, I'm the author of the game. First of all thanks for this forward :P.
> I have to say that I didn't propose my game for gnome-games yet for many
> reasons, much of whom are the same that you list here :)
> So lets answer to this points:
>
> > The quit button on the toolbar would have to go for starters.  (Quit is a
> > destructive action you cannot easily get back from and something you dont
> > want to do accidently and we have the window decoration for that.  Or if
> > you don't like that then the simpler reason is none of the other gnome
> > games do it that way.)
>
> Did you take a look at the game on the svn?

Nope.  Only did a very quick review.

> I'm going to release soon the new version so critics about the old one
> are not so useful :).  In the new release the quit button on the toolbar
> has been removed and replaced with undo-redo buttons.

(Direct any and all complaints to the departement of "Release early
release often" ;)

> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)
> > The game is licensed to Hasbro.  Would we get stuck by the usual issues of
> > naming and copyrights if we held on to the name "Gnome Mastermind"?  I
> > would hope the developers would - and all Gnome developers - have cleanly
> > abstracted out the name so that it could be changed without any messing.
>
> I've talked so much times with everyone about this point.
> I'm ready to change name at any time if Hasbro or other trademark holder

Just so long as you realise there are many pitfalls to a straight find and
replace and when you say ready you mean more ready than that.

> > Themes use colour but no texture or shape which makes it not very friendly
> > for users with visual difficulties.
>
> It's not so difficult to add an accessible theme with for example
> numbers instead of colors. So this is a pretty simple to solve issue.
> I've already asked to a friend of mine that designed the icon to draw
> this theme but he's a bit busy at the moment.

Numbers bring in internationalisation issues and I had my themes rejected
in the past even though the numbers were only incidental to the theme.
Textures or shape markings or decorations on the buttons (like x + o | or
something) would be better so that even the default theme would be
reasonably accessible would be a good idea.

> That's the main reason because I didn't proposed me for an inclusion yet
> (if you look at bugzilla I'm not the author of the post).

Again, very very quick review.

> At the moment I'm intentioned to maintain the game at least until it'll
> become quite stable and I'll have no more ideas for features :)

Most developers plan on maintaining their software but as time passes
other things come up and the Gnome Games maintainers have to step in where
needed.  Eventually are forced to drop certain games when the maintaince
burden gets too much which someone will always be unhappy about.

> > Good looking program though, may well earn a place in Gnome Games at some
> > later date.
>
> Thanks, I agree that the game still have to grow to enter gnome games,
> but if you want I'll try to make it more contributor friendly for the
> 0.4 release.
> But what do you think about asking for a svn account at gnome svn on my
> own to give to translators and documenters a more friendly platform?

If you can get into Gnome SVN that would be a great step and likely the
gnome internationalisation and documentation teams would step in and help
with the work too.

> PS. But what would happen if it will be included (even in -extra-data)?
> Will i lose the role of main maintainer?

No.  It would very much be the goal to get you to continue to maintain
your code and possibly take on co-maintainers if you get too busy.  Before
getting included in Gnome Games you would probably have a good sense of
the kind of things that would be expected and you would be asked to
reach for very high standards but I doubt you would ever be forced to
do things you didn't want to do.

-- 
Alan