From The Mana World
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So you want to join this project, but you have little or no idea how to get into? The Mana World development team is not a closed circle like other projects. You needn't apply to anyone or ask for "being taken into the team". You don't have to ask for permission to work on something or wait for someone to assign a task to you. A team member is basically everyone who volunteers to do something for the project.
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But keep in mind that we do have a quality standard and will not add game content that isn't good enough in the teams opinion. Also it might be good to ask what is needed and what is being worked on to make sure that you aren't wasting your time.


This page should provide you with the necessary starting points. It can always be rather difficult to know what to start with, especially when you're just jumping in. However, any help is most welcome and with some time you should be able to decide what you want to work on yourself.
So you want to help this project, but you have little or no idea how to get into it? '''The Mana World development team is ''not'' a closed circle''' like many other projects. You don't need to apply to anyone or ask for "being taken into the team". You don't have to ask for permission to work on something or wait for someone to assign a task to you. A team member is basically anyone who volunteers to do something for the game.


== General organisation ==
==How-to Contribute==


To know what is currently happening or what could be worked on, we have a few important pages on the wiki. The [[roadmap]] provides a planning for upcoming releases, where sometimes tasks are assigned or listed to be picked up by somebody. There is a [[bugs|bugs page]] holding a list of known problems which are generally free for anybody to look into. Finally there is the [[suggestions|suggestions page]] where anybody can put his wishlist for the game, and where anybody can look for inspiration when looking for something to do.


These pages and others are linked from the organisation section on the [[Main Page|main page]].
The Mana World uses Git. A list of tasks that need to be completed is available at [https://gitlab.com/evol/evol-all/milestones GitLab]. In order to contribute please see these tasks and coordinate with the team either on the forums or IRC. We will be happy to assist you.


It is very important for you to be available for discussion with other developers on [http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopic.php?t=747 our IRC channels] from time to time, as we do most of our discussions there. We also have two important mailing lists, one for development discussion and one that shows all changes made to the source code, that you should subscribe to:
If you need to practice more before contributing directly, feel free to create anything you wish and submit it to the appropriate [https://forums.themanaworld.org/viewforum.php?f=27 development forums], there you will receive feedback and ideas for improvement.


* http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/themanaworld-devel<br>The developers mailing list where discussion about the project happens.
* http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/themanaworld-commit<br>The commit mailing list, so that you can easily stay up to date about the latest change to the source code.


Finally, although not required, you are invited to visit our forums:
==How-to Develop==


* http://forums.themanaworld.org/


== Programmers ==
* Instructions to set-up a TMW server are at [[How to Develop]].
* [[Dev:Main| Development Documentation]] contains more detailed information than the short summaries below.
* TMW uses git. [[Dev:Working With Git|how to use Git]]
* TMW staff is available for further information, assistance or help in our [https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#evol-dev IRC development channel] or on the [https://forums.themanaworld.org/ forums].


Our current projects include the existing client which is used with eAthena (a Ragnarok Online server emulator), and a new client/server combination which isn't used yet but is being worked on. For the currently used eAthena client, check out <code>tmw/branches/0.0</code>. For the new client/server combination, check out both <code>tmwserv/trunk</code> and <code>tmw/trunk</code>. See our [https://sourceforge.net/svn/?group_id=106790 Subversion project page] about how to do this. Try to browse the source to see if you can get a bit familiar with them.
==How-to Help==


When you are searching for something you could do you should check our bug- and task tracking system on http://mantis.themanaworld.org. It lists a lot of small and large problems on many different areas. Just pick one that interests you.
Any player can at any time help us in various ways other then development
* [[Things to do|Help edit wiki]]
* [[Translators]]
* [[Reporting Bugs]]
* [[Testing Server|Testing]]


Your first contributions could be in the form of patches submitted to the SourceForge patches tracker or the developer mailing list. If it turns out you like the project and you want to keep contributing for a long period, we'll consider giving you write access to subversion and from then on you can commit your changes to the source yourself.
==Parts of TMW==


== Artists ==


Our graphic design team can always use help. May it be just an inventory icon, a [[Monsterset development|new monster]] or a [[Tileset development|complete Tileset]]. Improving existing graphics is also always welcome. When you want to do a task, then you should announce it on the [http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewforum.php?f=8 Graphic Development Forum], post regular updates there and add yourself to the [[Assignments]] Page. But be sure to read our [[Guidelines|style guidelines]] first.
===Evol-Hercules Server===


You should also hang out on our graphic design channel #tmwart [http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopic.php?t=747]. It is good for a little brainstorming session or for showing small pieces of work you don't want to show to the whole community yet.


== Mappers ==
Until recently TMW used TMWA an MMORPG server that forked from eAthena, a Ragnarok Online clone, in early 2004.
The Mana World (Athena) server originated as a snapshot of [http://eathena.ws eAthena]. It has since been extensively kludged, purged, optimized, and strictened, to the point that it will usually bitch at you if your scripts or config are wrong instead of silently doing the wrong thing.
During the summer of 2016 the devs decided to move on to the  [http://herc.ws/board/ hercules] server, an active developed fork of the original eathena. They wrote plugins to support the TMW specific bits.


Creating maps is a task that does not require much experience but is a great way to add more value to the game. More information about how to map can be found on the article [[Mapping Tutorial]]. Be sure to check out our [[Map development|Map development guidelines]], too.
===Content===
 
 
Content means: new monsters, new equipment, new maps, new NPCs, new quests, new anything into the game.
Content does not mean: GFX, SFX.
 
Before anything can get into the game, it should be designed. After that it should be implemented server-sided. Then GFX and potentially also SFX can be requested for it and it can go into the game once they're done. Currently visioning ideas is a collective process anyone can take part in and the people doing scripting are cherry-picking whatever ideas they want to get into the game. Scripting stuff is also a free for all process. Once there is a good idea to expand the world, in general new maps can be requested. Reading the forums thoroughly and asking publicly usually gets you answers rather well.
 
===Graphics===
 
 
Graphics development could currently use a few pixel artists going about and retouching old mistakes in tilesets and sprite sets. Also if the content development crowd picks up and starts to provide concepts which would require new GFX work to be done, then there is going to be a demand for new equipment work, tilesets and sprite sets. Please remember to pay attention to our [[guidelines]].
 
Also do hunt for unfulfilled REQ topics on the forums if you're looking for something to do. Newbie pixel artists or people doing their first pixel art piece ever are also very welcome. The community can be pretty harsh at times, but there are also people around who actually do know what they're talking about. It is up to you to distinguish between these two.
 
===SFX / Music===
 
 
PLACEHOLDER
 
===ManaPlus Client===
 
 
Originally just a fork of the official Mana client, ManaPlus is now the official client for The Mana World, it is actively developed and supports various operating systems.
 
[http://manaplus.evolonline.org/ Site and downloads], [http://bugs.evolonline.org bug tracker].
 
=See Also=
* [[Dev:Main| Development Documentation]]
* [[Testing Server]]
* [[Reporting Bugs]]
* [[How to Develop]]
* [[Projects and Teams]]
 
[[Category:Development]]

Revision as of 14:40, 20 August 2017


So you want to help this project, but you have little or no idea how to get into it? The Mana World development team is not a closed circle like many other projects. You don't need to apply to anyone or ask for "being taken into the team". You don't have to ask for permission to work on something or wait for someone to assign a task to you. A team member is basically anyone who volunteers to do something for the game.

How-to Contribute

The Mana World uses Git. A list of tasks that need to be completed is available at GitLab. In order to contribute please see these tasks and coordinate with the team either on the forums or IRC. We will be happy to assist you.

If you need to practice more before contributing directly, feel free to create anything you wish and submit it to the appropriate development forums, there you will receive feedback and ideas for improvement.


How-to Develop

How-to Help

Any player can at any time help us in various ways other then development

Parts of TMW

Evol-Hercules Server

Until recently TMW used TMWA an MMORPG server that forked from eAthena, a Ragnarok Online clone, in early 2004. The Mana World (Athena) server originated as a snapshot of eAthena. It has since been extensively kludged, purged, optimized, and strictened, to the point that it will usually bitch at you if your scripts or config are wrong instead of silently doing the wrong thing.

During the summer of 2016 the devs decided to move on to the hercules server, an active developed fork of the original eathena. They wrote plugins to support the TMW specific bits.

Content

Content means: new monsters, new equipment, new maps, new NPCs, new quests, new anything into the game. Content does not mean: GFX, SFX.

Before anything can get into the game, it should be designed. After that it should be implemented server-sided. Then GFX and potentially also SFX can be requested for it and it can go into the game once they're done. Currently visioning ideas is a collective process anyone can take part in and the people doing scripting are cherry-picking whatever ideas they want to get into the game. Scripting stuff is also a free for all process. Once there is a good idea to expand the world, in general new maps can be requested. Reading the forums thoroughly and asking publicly usually gets you answers rather well.

Graphics

Graphics development could currently use a few pixel artists going about and retouching old mistakes in tilesets and sprite sets. Also if the content development crowd picks up and starts to provide concepts which would require new GFX work to be done, then there is going to be a demand for new equipment work, tilesets and sprite sets. Please remember to pay attention to our guidelines.

Also do hunt for unfulfilled REQ topics on the forums if you're looking for something to do. Newbie pixel artists or people doing their first pixel art piece ever are also very welcome. The community can be pretty harsh at times, but there are also people around who actually do know what they're talking about. It is up to you to distinguish between these two.

SFX / Music

PLACEHOLDER

ManaPlus Client

Originally just a fork of the official Mana client, ManaPlus is now the official client for The Mana World, it is actively developed and supports various operating systems.

Site and downloads, bug tracker.

See Also