Make this an Open Source project?

[krj12]

I've seen lots of good ideas in this forum, however, given the limited number of people working on homecoming - the pace of development is necessarily slow.

 

I wonder if it would make sense to make this open source,  allowing other people to contribute to the project and speed things up a bit.   Perhaps some kind of shared repository

that all the different servers could benefit from, along with branches to allow servers to pick and choose which changes to include.

[Alchemystic]

It is open source, Homecoming is just one of several development teams that have emerged from the SCORE project that were working on the CoH code.

The reason why development is slow in this particular instance is because the main priority has always been game health, and so new features are only ever implemented after a great deal of brainstorming and testing.

 

To my understanding, much of what Homecoming implements isn't always in-house, and can often be co-opted from other shards and servers (like the unofficial predecessor to this server). That being said, things may progress at a steadier pace if Homecoming's own beta shard was used more often to trial things in lieu of vetting them through third party shards/servers.

[MunkiLord]

15 minutes ago, Tyrannical said:

It is open source, Homecoming is just one of several development teams that have emerged from the SCORE project that were working on the CoH code.

The reason why development is slow in this particular instance is because the main priority has always been game health, and so new features are only ever implemented after a great deal of brainstorming and testing.

 

To my understanding, much of what Homecoming implements isn't always in-house, and can often be co-opted from other shards and servers (like the unofficial predecessor to this server). That being said, things may progress at a steadier pace if Homecoming's own beta shard was used more often to trial things in lieu of vetting them through third party shards/servers.

Is it open source? I don't recall the source code being available anywhere.

 

[Alchemystic]

15 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

Is it open source? I don't recall the source code being available anywhere.

 

After the private server was leaked, the source code was released to the public.

I'm not too sure about the particulars of where to find it, but the main one seems to be called "orouboros i24", which is the original code for the game preserved before the game's closure. There is also i25, which is what Homecoming started with based on the efforts of it's predecessor, and I think i26 which is the version of the code we have now.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Tyrannical

[FoulVileTerror]

@krj12, you are not alone in your hopeful aspiration!

Regrettably, as it stands, the version of the code which the Homecoming Team is working from can not be shared without rather severe risk of litigation.  As we've seen (or at least inferred) from the decidedly limited information surrounding the rules related to no streaming or video uploading, there are things which the Homecoming Team are not expressly stating.  This is very likely related to a non-disclosure agreement, ideally with ncsoft (or disturbingly unrelated to ncsoft . . . we just don't -know-).

However, as we've seen with new members being inducted in to the Homecoming Team, they -are- working on some things.  I've made efforts to encourage as much disclosure related to their selection process, design philosophy, and intentions for the game . . . but the Team has been largely quiet on all of that as well.  Something which is personally disconcerting.

Frankly, I am confident that if the Homecoming Team gave some clear direction and delegated, then yes; we would absolutely be able to make immense strides in development as a collective community.  If that's ever going to happen . . . I lose a little more hope every day.

 

The best we have at our current disposal is to consult OuroDev or other sites where other versions of the source exist.  It's even been implied that an early branch of I26 was leaked months ago, but as far as I'm personally aware, that could just be rumour-mongering.

If you have the free time available to you, I strongly recommend getting as much learning from OuroDev as you can.  Lard knows that if I wasn't involved in a protected series of very severe issues related to my current career, I'd be dedicating more time to chewing through that repository myself.  Instead, when I get home from work, I barely have the mental and emotional wherewithal to even log in to -play- the game these days.

 

But the short of it:  Yes.  Open source is an ideal worth striving for!  It's unclear if the Homecoming Team agree, but that shouldn't stop you or any of us from picking up a copy of the source ourselves and  trying to contribute.  Maybe the work you do won't be accepted by Homecoming, and that's frustrating and demoralizing to be sure . . . but maybe one of the other servers will at least appreciate the work you do.  

[MunkiLord]

7 minutes ago, FoulVileTerror said:

Frankly, I am confident that if the Homecoming Team gave some clear direction and delegated, then yes; we would absolutely be able to make immense strides in development as a collective community.  If that's ever going to happen . . . I lose a little more hope every day.

 

But the short of it:  Yes.  Open source is an ideal worth striving for!  It's unclear if the Homecoming Team agree, but that shouldn't stop you or any of us from picking up a copy of the source ourselves and  trying to contribute.  Maybe the work you do won't be accepted by Homecoming, and that's frustrating and demoralizing to be sure . . . but maybe one of the other servers will at least appreciate the work you do.  

I'm betting how the HC team feels about this project going open source doesn't matter at all, I'm going with the assumption that NCSoft will never allow it so long as they hold the rights to the original code. I wouldn't even be surprised if NCSoft were to put some crazy demand like the HC team handing over the copyrights to any code they contribute to the game. That last part would be rather extreme, but we've all likely seen crazier.

[krj12]

2 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

I'm betting how the HC team feels about this project going open source doesn't matter at all, I'm going with the assumption that NCSoft will never allow it so long as they hold the rights to the original code. I wouldn't even be surprised if NCSoft were to put some crazy demand like the HC team handing over the copyrights to any code they contribute to the game. That last part would be rather extreme, but we've all likely seen crazier.

 

That would pretty much be the death of the game if it were to become completely static.   To keep any game going long-term requires new content.

 

[FoulVileTerror]

You're absolutely right, @MunkiLord.  I've worked for some right sodding bell-ends in this industry, and the sheer amount of disregard that people at, or near, the top have for those who are actually DOING THE WORK is inexcusably despicable. 

I just hope the spirit of the Rogue burns strongly in the hearts of the Homecoming Team, and that they won't let that worst case scenario come to pass.

 

 . . . but I already mentioned in this thread what's been happening to my idealistic optimism as of late . . . 

[Alchemystic]

I think the Homecoming team are keeping orou i26 under lock and key because they intend to use it to showcase their legitimacy as a development team, so I can understand why they're protective of it.

 

though there are plenty of i24 and i25 servers out there using more accessible versions of the code.

[Troo]

Homecoming no.

 

setup your own server and have at it:

https://ourodev.com/