Application Formats & Information

[Cael_Aislinn]

General Information for contributors

Halo Space Station Evolved is an open source modification to Baystation code. Additions you make to the project are considered open source, meaning anyone can access, use, and distribute them from https://github.com/HaloSpaceStation/HaloSpaceStation13. We share the same licence as Baystation12 which is the Affero General Public Licence v3

• It's a requirement that all contributions to the server be made under our open source licence AGPLv3 as well as all downstream forks, or anyone using our code. 
  
• Code is done in the DreamMaker language which is fairly unique. Knowledge of object oriented languages will be advantageous but DreamMaker/Byond has many quirks
  
• Sprites are mostly done in 32x32 pixel PNG format, with some (rare) sprites as large 512x512. 
  
• Audio is primarily in .ogg format and to be as small as possible. 
  
• Knowledge of Javascript/YAML/XML is advantageous for NanoUI. 
  
• Knowledge of shell scripting is advantageous for Travis. 
  
• Familiarization with GitHub is necessary as that is where contributions are managed. 
  
• Coders are generally expected to be a jack of all trades with a technical understanding of all aspects of DreamMaker and Byond
  

Questions in the application are all optional (especially age, any personally identifying information etc), but please answer them if you feel comfortable. Our server has the following contributor roles available:

• Developer: code contributors (note that other responsibilities apply) (overseen by head developer)
  
• Spriter: contributors who want to focus on spriting (overseen by head developer)
  
• Mapper: contributors who want to focus on mapping (overseen by head developer)
  
• Collaborator: new contributors who are still learning or only want to make casual contributions
  
• Loremaster (see above)
  
• Wiki maintainer (see above)
  

Please apply to be a collaborator before applying for developer, spriter or mapper. 

Discord information for contributors

We use the discord chat channels to plan, discuss and collaborate. It is important that everyone understands the roles of the different channels and puts discussions in the right channels

• #gitbus is for help with Git/Github, Travis, or discussion of issues and pull requests
  
• #coderbus is for general code help and discussion. Most discussion about game development should go here
  
• #mapperbus is for help with mapping (including code or technical discussions) or discussion of map issues and map work
  
• #spriterbus is for help with spriting (including code or technical discussions) or discussion of sprite issues and sprite work
  
• #wikibus is for discussion of the wiki
  
• #lorebus is for discussion of the lore preferably as it pertains to our server
  
• #devbus is the private channel ONLY for discussions that specifically need to stay private. It is not your personal code or Github assistance channel, that goes to #coderbus or #gitbus
  
• Examples of things that are discussed in #devbus: admin verbs or perms, SQL integration, host console, security vulnerabilities, Byond security vulnerabilities, secret development plans
  

Developer Roles and Responsibilities

The following does not apply to mappers or sprites, although it is heartily encouraged. Being a developer for Halostation13 involves more than writing code for the server. It is expected that developers: 

• Be impartial when it comes to administration and staffing policy. 
  
• Be unbiased towards any particular faction. Focussing dev work on one or two factions is fine so long as the faction balance is maintained. 
  
• Seek feedback from players on your ideas or changes and be mature about the feedback. 
  
• Carry out dev work as much or more than you talk about ideas. 
  
• Log on to the game server and follow player conversations on Discord in order to stay familiar with the state of the server from a player perspective (actually playing is even better). 
  
• Be comfortable with directing your own skill development. The DreamMaker Guide contains official tutorials to develop your skills with the language and the DreamMaker reference provides complete language documentation which even veteran coders refer to constantly! It's ok to ask questions or for help though. 
  
• Understand the role of the relevant Discord channels so discussion goes to the right place. 
  

Developers also have a variety of jobs other than writing code. Their main jobs include: 

• Monitor the Discord and game server to identify problems, report those problems as Github issues, and encourage other players to make Github accounts to report issues. 
  
• Perform issue triage (label new Github issues), then seek feedback about them from players, developers or staff. 
  
• Resolve issues to try and keep our backlog of issues low. 
  
• Contribute to discussions about game development, roadmap and features. We are a team so we should try to engage with each other. 
  
• Understand how to implement sprites
  
• Understand basic mapping
  
• Sometimes technical assistance may be needed on the server. You'll get R_DEBUG perms along with other ones as needed to do live testing, debugging etc. 
  
• Writing code! It's good to work on new features, and rewarding when they go live. Try to focus on getting something completed and playable for testing rather than working on megaprojects. 
  
• Assist admins or other staff where necessary (including advice, new admin tools or verbs etc). 
  

Coding and Git/Github standards

• When developing new features, remember to have a plan and talk to other developers (particularly if they are large features). 
  
• Test your changes locally, and perform a test with other players if it is a large feature. We can arrange to do a private test on the test server, or a test on the live server if your feature is stable. 
  
• Maintain a high quality of contribution including inline comments, documentation of new features (either block comments at the top of the file or a _readme.dm in the folder). 
  
• Maintain a high quality of git usage including atomic commits (each commit only contains files for a single change), minimal "meta" commits (merge, revert, "oops i fucked up" etc), ensure your commits are properly named and descriptive. 
  
• Make high quality pull requests which include a summary of the changes, a changelog, has as few unrelated changes as possible, is properly labelled. 
  
• Try to be professional (or at least polite) in all communication including documentation, code reviews, issues, pull requests, comments etc. 
  

Developer Format

• Are you over 18?: 
  
• Do you have experience in a professional software environment?: 
  
• Ckey: 
  
• Discord Name: 
  
• Time Zone: 
  
• Active github account/s (preferably SS13 related... if you wish to remain anonymous you may PM this to a senior staff):
  
• Contribution to SS13 codebases: 
  
• HS13 codebase familiarity: 
  
• How long you have been developing in Dreammaker and how would you rate your experience level: 
  
• Have you read and agree with the roles and responsibilities of being a server developer?: 
  
• Are there any parts of the roles and responsibilties you are unsure about, or will need to learn more about?: 
  

Spriter Format:

• Are you over 18?: 
  
• Have you done paid art work before?: 
  
• Ckey: 
  
• Discord Name: 
  
• Time Zone: 
  
• Active github account/s (preferably SS13 related... if you wish to remain anonymous you may PM this to a senior staff): 
  
• Contribution to SS13 servers: 
  
• How long you have been spriting: 
  
• Examples of prior work done: 
  

Mapper Format:

• Are you over 18?: 
  
• Ckey: 
  
• Discord Name: 
  
• Time Zone: 
  
• Contribution to SS13 servers: 
  
• HS13 codebase familiarity: 
  
• How long you have been mapping in Dreammaker and how would you rate your experience level: 
  
• Active github account/s (preferably SS13 related... if you wish to remain anonymous you may PM this to a senior staff): 
  

Collaborators

• Demonstrate a willingness to contribute to the server
  
• No forum application is necessary, just request the collaborator tag on Discord
  
• Please become a collaborator before applying for one of the other contributor positions