Difference between revisions of "Summer of Code/Application/2013"

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= <span style="color:red">DRAFT, BRUTAL COPY OF 2012, DO NOT USE WITHOUT FURTHER MODIFICATIONS!</span>=
== <span style="color:red">DRAFT, BRUTAL COPY OF 2012, DO NOT USE WITHOUT FURTHER MODIFICATIONS!</span>==
- <span style="color:red"> Questions have been updated. </span>


== Introduction & overview ==
== Introduction & overview ==
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= Please address all items in <span style="color:red">RED</span> ;-) =
= Please address all items in <span style="color:red">RED</span> ;-) =
= Application organized according to program FAQ =
= Application organized according to program FAQ =
=== Description ===
=== Description of the Organization===
ScummVM is a collection of Virtual Machines for playing classic graphical point-and-click adventure games on modern hardware. Supported games include favorites such as Monkey Island, Simon the Sorcerer, Space Quest, and many more. To this end, the Virtual Machines (called Engines) are complete reimplementations in C++ of the engines used in the original games. The development team works either by reverse engineering game executables (usually with the permission of creators of the game), or by using the original source code of the games provided by the creators. The number of engines is constantly growing thanks to a very agile and diversified development team.
ScummVM is a collection of Virtual Machines for playing classic graphical point-and-click adventure games on modern hardware. Supported games include favorites such as Monkey Island, Simon the Sorcerer, Space Quest, and many more. To this end, the Virtual Machines (called Engines) are complete reimplementations in C++ of the engines used in the original games. The development team works either by reverse engineering game executables (usually with the permission of creators of the game), or by using the original source code of the games provided by the creators. The number of engines is constantly growing thanks to a very agile and diversified development team.


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ScummVM has a highly productive team of about 44 currently active developers (out of an all-time pool of over 110), working together on a codebase almost 1,500,000 lines of code. In addition ScummVM has many non-developer contributors, and a huge and highly active community. ScummVM is among the top ranking projects hosted on sourceforge.net with over 100,000 monthly downloads and ~10 million project web hits per month.
ScummVM has a highly productive team of about 44 currently active developers (out of an all-time pool of over 110), working together on a codebase almost 1,500,000 lines of code. In addition ScummVM has many non-developer contributors, and a huge and highly active community. ScummVM is among the top ranking projects hosted on sourceforge.net with over 100,000 monthly downloads and ~10 million project web hits per month.


=== Why is your organization applying to participate in GSoC 2012? What do you hope to gain by participating? ===
=== Why is your organization applying to participate in Google Summer of Code 2013? What do you hope to gain by participating? ===
Each year since 2007, the program gave us the opportunity to have talented and motivated students working with us. We also love the GSoC mentor summit where we have the opportunity to share our knowledge with mentors from other projects and to learn a lot from them. That's why we wait impatiently, each year, for the announcement of a new GSoC program!
Each year since 2007, the program gave us the opportunity to have talented and motivated students working with us. We also love the GSoC mentor summit where we have the opportunity to share our knowledge with mentors from other projects and to learn a lot from them. That's why we wait impatiently, each year, for the announcement of a new GSoC program!


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We've been successful in the past five years, and we're really looking forward to great results from the program this year too.
We've been successful in the past five years, and we're really looking forward to great results from the program this year too.


=== Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. ===
=== Has your organization participated in past Google Summer of Codes? (Yes / No)
Yes
 
===  If you answered “yes” to the question above, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. Please also list your pass/fail rate for each year. ===
We have participated in the GSoC program for five years running, in 2007-2011.
We have participated in the GSoC program for five years running, in 2007-2011.


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All in all, we maintain that we are refining our method of student selection these past three years and this refinement leads to better results each year.
All in all, we maintain that we are refining our method of student selection these past three years and this refinement leads to better results each year.
The discussions, testimonials and proposed actions which the mentor summit has brought up -and which we have participated in these five years- have helped us a great deal, during this refinement process as well. Our new management organization has also proven its efficiency during these last 8 months, and we expect much of it in the future.
The discussions, testimonials and proposed actions which the mentor summit has brought up -and which we have participated in these five years- have helped us a great deal, during this refinement process as well. Our new management organization has also proven its efficiency during these last 8 months, and we expect much of it in the future.
=== If your organization has not previously participated in Google Summer of Code, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? ===
N/A


===  What Open Source Initiative approved license(s) does your project use? ===
===  What Open Source Initiative approved license(s) does your project use? ===
GNU General Public License version 2.0 (GPL-2.0)
GNU General Public License version 2.0 (GPL-2.0)


===  What is the URL for your ideas page? ===
===  What is the URL for your Ideas list? **This is the most important part of your proposal. Please make sure we can access it and it is complete when you submit this proposal. “Placeholder” or inaccessible ideas pages will be grounds for an automatic rejection for participation in Google Summer of Code 2013.** ===
* [http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/GSoC%20Ideas http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/GSoC Ideas]
* [http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/GSoC%20Ideas http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/GSoC Ideas]


===  What is the main development mailing list or forum for your organization? ===
===  What is the main development mailing list for your organization? ===
* scummvm-devel AT lists.sourceforge.net
* scummvm-devel AT lists.sourceforge.net


===  What is the main IRC channel for your organization? ===
===  What is the main IRC channel for your organization? ===
* <nowiki>#scummvm on irc.freenode.net</nowiki>
* <nowiki>#scummvm on irc.freenode.net</nowiki>
===  Does your organization have an application template you would like to see students use? If so, please provide it now. ===
First off, we have a list of rules that all interested students should read: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Summer_of_Code/Project_Rules
The following was adapted from the FreeBSD [http://www.freebsd.org/projects/summerofcode.html Proposal Guidelines].
* '''Name'''
* '''Email'''
* '''Project Title'''
* '''Possible Mentor''' (optional)
* '''Benefits to the ScummVM Community''' - a good project will not just be fun to work on, but also generally useful to others.
* '''Deliverables''' - It is very important to list quantifiable results here e.g.
** "Improve X modules in ways Y and Z."
** "Write 3 new man pages for the new interfaces."
** "Improve test coverage by writing X more unit/regression tests."
** "Improve performance in FOO by X%."
* '''Project Schedule''' - How long will the project take? When can you begin work?
* '''Availability''' - How many hours per week can you spend working on this? What other obligations do you have this summer?
* '''Bio''' - Who are you? What makes you the best person to work on this project?


===  Who will be your backup organization administrator? ===
===  Who will be your backup organization administrator? ===
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* djwillis
* djwillis


===  What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. ===
===  What criteria did you use to select the mentors? Please be as specific as possible. ===
We want our mentors to have the following qualities:
We want our mentors to have the following qualities:
# Be able to commit to participating for the entire duration of the program. They first and foremost have to be available to their students and the mentor team.
# Be able to commit to participating for the entire duration of the program. They first and foremost have to be available to their students and the mentor team.
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For this year, and this holds for our previous participations too, our mentors have volunteered to work with GSoC. This means that they primarily want to be involved in the program and that they are not dragged in to participate. Moreover, they have all been contributors to ScummVM for a long time. They feel comfortable around the ScummVM code and can guide students to perform their tasks. The majority of the mentors have also participated in past ScummVM GSoCs so they know their way around the procedures and have also refined their mentoring style. Some of them are/have been part of academia, guiding real students. They have seen the student mentalité in-action and have experience helping people along. We are drawing the best available from our pool of developers to mentor GSoC students this year.
For this year, and this holds for our previous participations too, our mentors have volunteered to work with GSoC. This means that they primarily want to be involved in the program and that they are not dragged in to participate. Moreover, they have all been contributors to ScummVM for a long time. They feel comfortable around the ScummVM code and can guide students to perform their tasks. The majority of the mentors have also participated in past ScummVM GSoCs so they know their way around the procedures and have also refined their mentoring style. Some of them are/have been part of academia, guiding real students. They have seen the student mentalité in-action and have experience helping people along. We are drawing the best available from our pool of developers to mentor GSoC students this year.


===  What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students? ===
===  What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students? Please be as specific as possible. ===
We know that the students can do that. We learned this the hard way the first time 'round the GSoC ride :-) The measures we set in place during the previous years almost eradicated this problem.
We know that the students can do that. We learned this the hard way the first time 'round the GSoC ride :-) The measures we set in place during the previous years almost eradicated this problem.


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Based on our more negative experience last year, this year we will also make sure that internal project tensions stay internal and under control, since they were an identified cause of demotivation of our disappearing student. The new project management structure should make sure that it will not as easily happen in the future.
Based on our more negative experience last year, this year we will also make sure that internal project tensions stay internal and under control, since they were an identified cause of demotivation of our disappearing student. The new project management structure should make sure that it will not as easily happen in the future.


===  What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors? ===
===  What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors? Please be as specific as possible. ===
For the mentors, the risk is relatively low; our past experiences absolutely verify this claim. In order to be even more efficient this year, three of our mentors are project leaders, core team members or project administrators and are reachable virtually 24/7 (in case of emergencies). We all have exchanged sufficient contact information (including cell phone numbers etc.) to be able to discover our whereabouts. Should something really bad happen which precludes a mentor from fulfilling his duties (including personal reasons), we will attempt to shift students to new mentors among the existing mentors, or drawn from our backup pool of mentors. This will depend on the number of students we have to mentor. In any case, the students will not be left hanging for any reason at all, no matter what happens.
For the mentors, the risk is relatively low; our past experiences absolutely verify this claim. In order to be even more efficient this year, three of our mentors are project leaders, core team members or project administrators and are reachable virtually 24/7 (in case of emergencies). We all have exchanged sufficient contact information (including cell phone numbers etc.) to be able to discover our whereabouts. Should something really bad happen which precludes a mentor from fulfilling his duties (including personal reasons), we will attempt to shift students to new mentors among the existing mentors, or drawn from our backup pool of mentors. This will depend on the number of students we have to mentor. In any case, the students will not be left hanging for any reason at all, no matter what happens.


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