Intro
Unusual for an FPS game, Terminal Overload is developed using the “Bazaar” model of open-source development, meaning there’s no formal organization working on the project behind closed doors, just a bunch of people working together over the Internet using public tools like the project’s Chat, Forum and GitHub Issue Tracker to communicate and coordinate work on the project.
Making Contact
The first thing you should do is letting main developer fr1tz and the other people working on the project know that you’re interested in participating in the project.
The chat is probably the best place to make first contact: Join the chat and say “hey fr1tz, I would like to participate”. Keep in mind that the chat is an IRC channel (#terminal-overload on irc.freenode.net), meaning it can take hours until you get a response, so be prepared to stick around.
Ways to Contribute
To get an idea of the many ways you can participate in the project, take a look at TOL’s Issue Tracker. Here are some example filters:
- Tasks that don’t require programming skills
- Documentation tasks
- Bite-sized tasks
- Tasks that require using Blender
- Tasks that require using TorqueScript
- Tasks that require using c++
Keep in mind that those issues don’t cover everything that needs or could be done. A great way to participate is finding issues that need to be addressed, regardless of whether you’re capable of working on them yourself.
Contributors’ Plans
People participating in the project are encouraged to maintain a personal TODO list. Having those lists publicly available makes it easy to see what people are up to: Contributors’ plans (wiki)