[Scummvm-devel] Parallax/Parallaction engine

[Max Horn]

Am 22.11.2006 um 00:08 schrieb Eugene Sandulenko:

> On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:33:27 +0100
> Nicola <nicola.mettifogo at inwind.it> wrote:
>
>> Even though the games' scripts interpreter is the same, at the moment
>> only NS is playable, with no music and some graphics issues. BRA is
>> not yet supported because of notable differences in graphics
>> management but its analysis is well underway.
>>
>> I'd be glad if I could count of ScummVM team's support now, since I
>> never had a project reaching this size and complexity.
> I've looked into the code. It is written as ScummVM module and already
> works. Of course, it requires cleanup and completion. My estimate is
> that about 90% of the engine is recoded.

I haven't seen the code myself, but if you think it is good enough,  
that shall be enough for me.

What concerns me more is whether the module will eventually be turned  
into something that adheres to our standards, and is actually usable.  
We have an aweful lot of modules already, and in some cases I am a  
bit concerned in the speed of development (or lack thereof). In other  
words, I think we should be careful not to spread out to thinly.  
Sure, new members work on "their" project. But what if they loose  
interest / time ? As has happened countless times (think of the MT32  
emu code in there, which is mostly unmaintained now). Is there  
somebody else to pick up the work or will it just linger there? Is  
the code even in a state where somebody can pick it up.

This is something we should consider in general, something which is  
not specific to this particular engine (which I haven't seen at all  
so far). In particular, Nicola writes:

> I'd be glad if I could count of ScummVM team's support now, since I  
> never
> had a project reaching this size and complexity.

So, what does that mean? What kind of help do you expect, Nicola? Do  
you hope for others to help you develop that engine? Well, they might  
be out there, but it's not automatic to get this kind of support just  
by joining the team. Or do you hope for general help with the usage  
of the OSystem etc. APIs? Those you can get w/o being part of the  
team, too...

Folks, don't get me wrong, I am *not* trying to argue against this,  
but rather I'm seriously not quite sure what the expectations here  
are. From both sides, Nicolas and ours...


Bye,
Max