Re: AudioGame Collaboration: Should We Do It?
I'm 80% sure this will blow up in your face completely.
Sorry to say it, but I'm surprised no one has already...
It's been proven time and time again by failed projects that some serious selectivity, common sense, a tough attitude, proper communication, and good code security is needed in this community to get anywhere with a collaborative project made up of randoms.
You will have people telling you they can do things they can't because of ego. You will have people saying they have time when they actually don't, or flaking on responsibilities they've taken on out of laziness. You will have people asking how to do basic things with github or programming it's self so much that you can't work. You will have people arguing amongst them selves to the point of flame wars, so that you become a moderator first and a head coder second. You will have people sharing your Alpha builds and trying to steal code you give them to use in their own crappy projects. You will have people bitching at you constantly to do things faster.
On your end you need to A. Select your people carefully based on previous experience, communication skills, and demonstrated ability, not just what they say they can do. B. communicate with them consistently and clearly, even when that just means telling them when you won't be working on the project. C. Never give them hard dates for anything, only vague ones. D. When someone is assigned a task, keep them to that task, everyone can't do everything, or they'll just step on each other's toes. E. Be able to cut people out when it comes down to it, even if it's just because they haven't been around for a long time and they never told you they'd be gone (trim the tree to keep the rest healthy) and F. Never cave to pressure, it's your project, remember that.
And that's just a slice of the pie, you'll learn plenty more along the way I'm sure... But if you dive in head first than the results could kill your motivation to ever code audio games again, let alone collaborate with others.
I can't say that inviting everyone (with totally different levels of maturity and experience) to a group to talk all at once, is a good start.
Collaboration without preparation is never a good idea.
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