(Translated from Spanish by Google)
Hi all, I write these lines because I feel abandoned by our beautiful PakSets
Pak96.comics. Since the release of version 0.4.10 on 18 October 2011 the 96th Comic stopped growing.
Worst of all is that the design of new non-stop, after the official release of October 18 designers of old and new ones (including the person who writes these lines) have continued to create new deliveries for PakSets.
We can cite the Magle train design for designers (Bergente and The Transporter), the system of air transportation by aircraft of passengers, cargo and mail by (An_dz and Reytm2) elements that are not yet present the official pakset . New industrial chains, tourist attractions, homes, buildings, among others.
We all know that a project can become stagnant, mainly due to lack of development, but development has continued pak96.comics and new deliveries have stopped.
The packset pak96.comic is a closed source, which ties the hands and feet of developers who could help bring forward this fun project, so it is necessary that our chief designer put batteries in order to stay back or I call to consider releasing the code to maintain pakset development.
Awaiting response from the community of simutrans ...
Reytm2
True, I actually noticed that after a time of frenzy development Pak96.comic kind of stalled. This is true for most of paksets, save Pak128.Britain.
Although I am a vanilla Pak128 guy, i've always been a fan of Pak96.comic, probably the cutest pakset around and I wish I could see it further developed. Keep on going, folks!
The last post on pak96.comic in the German Forum is old too. From April.
I would like to work more on new objects, but I have other personal projects, some other professional projects and my finals are coming.
I agree. I play pak96c the most and want to contribute to the pak more.
Is there any reason pak96c is not open? are the graphic creators not permitting others to use and edit their graphics? or is there some other reason?
I was working on a new factory chain today for pak96c. I have to take screenshots of the game and cut out graphic pieces to re-use in my new art. Also I think there are many graphics that could be improved, but lacking sources makes this job more complicated.
I haven't seen any new art from A.brose lately either...
Right now I have several projects on the drawing board, but I prefer not to continue the job if pakset is stagnant, it's like you're working without results. Do not know which is the reason that the pak96.comic is closed source, I imagine that its creators have their reasons, I'm not against it either, so if it is not good is that it stop working on the project because there are many fans waiting pak new deliveries.
Nobody (I hope) stops you in creating a new version, which means: collect suitable paks and bundle it to a new version.
Yeah, there have been some problems lately. I have been super busy over the last few months so that there was no time left for me to participate. The Transporter focused on helping the guys from pak128.german and other developers who once were supporting pak96.comic also halted participation for various reasons.
Recently Alexander Brose who was one of the main developers in the earlier stages of pak96.comic indicated that he might continue with his work.
@reytm2: I would recommend you to contact Sojo who is the head of the pak and ask him if there are plans for a new release.
Here is a general question, that might help out this pak. The graphics are the only thing stoping the pak from being open, right?
If we had the source files stored in a SVN repository, with access limited to a select number of maintainers, would we need to worry about copyrights of the graphics still?
I assume that the graphic authors for 96c provided/licensed their art for use in simutrans (obvious, no?). If this is true, trusted sources should be allowed to recompile the graphics into paks as long as it is for use in simutrans. So as long as the access to graphics were restricted to a few pak maintainers, the pak could start growing faster as more maintainers have the ability to generate a new version. Maybe even have a nightly pak build?!
Sojo gets busy with other things, just like everyone else. More maintainers of the pak seems like a good foundation to keep it moving forward.
Personally, I want to see 96c progress. I think the comic style BEST FITS Simutrans the game ;D . The actual limitations of the game are forgivable when the graphics are trying to be realistic (like rendered).
...also, I attached a sample of the industry chain I'm working on. Hopefully it will inspire some more progress in the pak. The industry is parking lots, auto shops and an auto crusher. A new road vehicle is part of this set also.
You have a point there.. have you tried to contact sojo and ask him for his opinion?
Very nice graphics! :) Keep up the good work!
@checksumdigit, Very good idea, that way the pak and user acceptance continue to grow.
The opinion of Sojo is important in this issue.
pak64.german and pak128.german are also in closed source SVN at assembla.com. Might be indeed a viable alternative.
It is up to Sojo since he has all of the sources. I think it would be a good idea if he is interested.
At the moment, I don't know what sojo does before he creates a 96c release. I would guess there is some fixing of DATs, balancing and maybe fixing some images. Of course, as a pak grows, it is more complicated to keep track of everything.
If moving to a SVN repository with multiple maintainers becomes a reality, it seems like a good idea to choose some delegates/maintainers who have done lots of work for the pak already.
Quayyum, Ad_nz, raytm2, Noel and Bergente all come to mind for additions of new factories and chains, as well as additional vehicles and the airplanes/airport additions. Of course Alex.brose also has contributed hugely with city buildings and many other additions. E-44 and luki haba also made great contributions to the pak. All of these people understand the pak very well and the graphic style. I don't know how much time they have, but some are very active with simutrans forum, so maybe it is the next logical step?
Alex. Broose plus Bergente also created the maglev project, that's available in the German Forum (http://www.simutrans-forum.de/forum/thread.php?threadid=6415).
And you forgot to mention The Transporter.
It is incredible, when join all content created in the last year for pak96.comics evidence that people are still creating.
my pak96.comics contains
- Airports and aircraft
- Maglev System
- A production of uranium-based nuclear electricity.
- A production line of sporting
- A production of car tires
- New construction of city
- New tourist atractions
almost all published in the international forum.
that is why these new creations should go to the official pack, as not all followers of simutrans access to the forum, I know many are limited only to play it. therefore do not get the new content unless someone makes them go.
Greetings ...
Maybe we can make 'pak96.comic expansion pack', which expands the objects in pak96.comic. Just like an addons, but contains a lot of objects and pak files.
Not only pak96.comic but can also be done for other pakset.
Quote from: An_dz on July 03, 2012, 02:41:59 PM
Alex. Broose plus Bergente also created the maglev project, that's available in the German Forum (http://www.simutrans-forum.de/forum/thread.php?threadid=6415).
And you forgot to mention The Transporter.
It was The Transporter and me who did the maglev, not Alex Broose. But no problem ;)
Anyway, I am sure that at some point a new version of the pak96.comic will be released. It might not be very soon, though. Has anyone tried contacting Sojo about this matter?
Whoever feels like providing some new content should feel free to do so! There still is a lot of work to do and we need every support that we can get.
Quote from: Bergente on July 04, 2012, 06:40:00 PM
It was The Transporter and me who did the maglev, not Alex Broose. But no problem ;)
Thank for the correction.
It was not my intent to leave anyone out who had contributed to pak 96c. I was just thinking of the members who I have seen active on the forum recently that have contributed and could be considered as a secondary pak maintainer.
Perhaps I have a different idea. Since most of the contributers to the pak are active, why don't we start an Open pak96 Comic. Many of us have the graphics on hand, and most likely a DAT also. We could then all work together to balance the pack and implement new things to keep the pak moving and fresh.
It may be possible to take any missing pieces from the current pak96c as compiled files until we are able to create open versions.
This was more or less the procedure used to create open Pak 128. I hope you guys can do the same for open Pak96.comic. :thumbsup:
If create a pak would be necessary to start again under another name, as the licensed pack96.comic is closed. therefore would not be possible either to use the compiled files in the pak Sojo.
however in the process of compiling an extension of the pak which includes the work of desarrollodadoes since the release of version 0.4.10. to present.
clear that we would need the consent of all developers to publish the sources, at least mine are open source, others just need to give your consent developers to make public their sources.
For a start, you can try to collect and release an addon archive for the latest pak96 comic version. This would not require permissions from original authors but only permissions from current contributors.
Such a release could as well be hosted at the simutrans sourceforge page for distributing downloads.
I would even think to incoporate such addon archive in the installer.
Very good idea:
expansion of pak96.comic publishing on sourceforge and adding them to the installer, the new pak can reach many more people.
Here is the first installment ... I hope that many contribute to this project ...
http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=10261.0
Quote from: Fabio on June 18, 2012, 09:53:28 PM
True, I actually noticed that after a time of frenzy development Pak96.comic kind of stalled. This is true for most of paksets, save Pak128.Britain.
Open sourcing is the key to a project's long-term future. Sadly, I don't think that undoubtedly the cutest Simutrans pakset, Pak96.Comic, is open sourced.