website/sotc/2000/0318

<!-- 18 Mar 2000 -->
<H2>How are things going?  Your SotC update is late again.</H2>
	<P>Yeah yeah, I know.  Okay, first the quick news:  Palisade is
	back.  The website is still under construction but it got a lot
	easier to construct since now it updates immediately after a CVS
	commit.  With Palisade back, it seems that everyone who planned to
	vote on the logos has now done so and we should hopefully have a
	result soon.

	<P>I promised I would keep the crap not related to the technical
	aspects of the project short and at the top where they were easy to
	skip, but a very important issue needs to be discussed whether it
	fits the usual content of this page or not.  Here it is:

<H2>Will QuakeForge be able to run Mega2k?</H2>
	<P>How many poeple can ask that in two weeks' time?  I lost count,
	but there were a lot of inquiries.  Unfortunately, I have bad news
	for you.  MegaTF says they're quite loyal to QuakeLives, despite any
	legal or other problems the engine team has had or may have in the
	future.  Ambush says on his radio show that he hopes all of the
	engines will support MegaTF though, so we didn't really expect any
	problems.

	<P>I've been trying for several weeks now to establish a regular
	dialogue with Ambush, but people close to the project have told me
	that most likely my emails wouldn't be seen, much less answered.  So
	I mentioned something about trying to connect with him durring or
	after the 17 March 2000 MegaPhone show.  Several other people from
	the team as well as from other teams came as well to help show the
	players of MegaTF that indeed we are serious about supporting the
	mod fully.

	<P>Things remained civil until some of the QuakeLives guys came in,
	and things started falling apart then.  Attempts to calm the fires
	weren't terribly successful until not long before the show's start.
	Things remained sane throughout most of the show.  Ambush asked for
	another small feature to be added durring the show (the console
	version string gets in the way and he'd like to get rid of it) and I
	wrote and committed the feature he asked for on the spot.

	<P>Fires started burning again shortly after the show ended.  I'm
	not unsurprised, but eventually I did manage to wind up talking with
	DyerMaker out of the view of the main channel so there was actually
	a chance of talking.  The results?  I am now aware that MegaTF's
	loyalty to QuakeLives extends as far as deliberately shutting out
	any engine but QuakeLives from being able to run Mega2k.  They've
	decided that since Slade will not take part in creating an open and
	secure standard for all engines, they can only support his.  In
	order to do that and do it well, they have to ensure that we can't
	run Mega2k.  Nothing personal against QuakeForge or anything, it's
	just how the politics have played out.

	<P>So from where I'm sitting, it looks like Ambush isn't interested
	in other projects and engines supporting MegaTF.  Or at least, he's
	only interested in seeing QuakeLives-endorsed projects support
	MegaTF.  Nothing personal and no offense intended toward us, but
	they seem to be intending whether they say so or not to be
	exclusively QuakeLives.

	<P>Well, nothing personal, but I have no intention of playing these
	silly one-must-win-and-everyone-else-must-lose games.  I'm quite
	sick of them by now - but I'm surprised nobody else seems to be.
	We'll do the best we can to support Mega2k whether they want it or
	not.  Why?  For one, some of us play it.  For another, and more
	importantly, many of <EM>YOU</EM> play it.  I lost count somewhere
	not far before 150 people who have asked in recent weeks if
	QuakeForge intended to support Mega2k's new features because you
	don't run win32 and aren't interested in starting.  <I>Yes</I> we
	will.  It may not happen until after Mega2k's release if the needed
	information to do so is going to be withheld from us, but you better
	believe it will happen.

	<P>Am I being a bit harsh here?  Quite possibly.  As I write this,
	it is now merely 24 hours after what we can all agree was a rough
	night for a lot of people.  From my perspective, it looks like
	MegaTF is refusing to allow Mega2k to run on anything but QL dispite
	Ambush saying he wants all the engines to be able to run it and to
	work together or interoperability standards.
	
	<P>It seems that's what's going on here, but that doesn't mean it is
	what's happening.  Chances for misunderstandings have not been
	infrequent and it's not unlikely that MegaTF would be absolutely
	thrilled to see a project dedicated to compatibility and open
	standards like QuakeForge working to make sure not only that we
	support Mega2k, but that every project out there can.  And even more
	importantly, that the user doesn't have to worry about whether or
	not project foo's client is going to work with project bar's server.

	<P>If that's the case, then all of the above is essentially moot.
	We'll do our best to make sure we support Mega2k right out of the
	archive the moment it and that whatever it takes to make sure it
	does work has already been made available for and incorporated into
	every single project we can find, whether they're affiliated with us
	or with QSG or MegaTF or the abominable snowman or not.  Lack of
	standards can only hurt the game.  Since that's obviously a very bad
	thing, hell yeah we'll do everything we can to keep it from
	happening.

	<P>So what are you, the players of MegaTF who don't want to be tied
	to a single engine and a single operating system, supposed to do
	about any of this?  Make some noise!  And I don't mean go around
	accusing MegaTF and QuakeLives of trying to quash all the other
	engines either---that's the wrong kind noise to be making.  It also
	is quite likely not true.  The noise you should be making is for
	Mega2k to run on your preferred engine.  And I do realize for a lot
	of you, the engine you prefer happens to be the only one that even
	runs on your platform.  If that's the case, make sure you're heard!
	You can write to me until the cows come home but I'm not the one who
	needs to hear from you!

<H2>The actual technical stuff</H2>
	<P>If you're still here after all of that, I'm impressed.  Release
	of 0.1.2 hasn't happened yet, but could really anytime now.  Mostly
	I have just had other issues on my mind.  Plus I don't want to give
	too much false hope here, but I really think a release of 0.2.0
	isn't all that far off.  I've been focusing my efforts in that
	direction.