- Names interrupted by a non-word character
- Names that strongly imply an industry or location
- Very long names
- Names usually associated with other places (e.g., 'Moscow')
- Names with unusual spellings
- Names similar to another
- Generic names
Fred
There's another person involved here, who I'll call Fred, because he might not want me to use his handle. In fact, I don't think he wants to be associated with Pennsylvania Town Names at all. He is involved, though; and this ambiguity is the source of a lot of difficulty. This is the reason for this thread.
bigsig
See: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 0&p=908871
This project is completely unrelated to penntowns except that I started it and Fred wants me to do more work on it.
Background
Development of both penntowns and bigsig is stalled. I know very little about OpenTTD; I'm new. And I know next to nothing about NewGRF -- less. I don't have the tools to integrate with OpenTTD; I'm not even sure what's required. I'm an experienced graphic designer, with some work specifically in sprite art; and I do some programming in Perl. Back when, I wrote code in assembler and even in hex machine language. I don't ever want to do that again.
I had a hard time writing penntowns.nml and Fred helped me out. I also managed to write a lang/penntowns-uk file, also with some help from Fred. I found it helpful to check out other town name NewGRF's and I started mine by copying frenchtowns.nml.
I've had a different kind of hard time with bigsig; it's not easy to cram all necessary info into a 12x12 bounding box. I think that, with the 003 design, I've got it nearly right; but nobody else agrees or will commit to that project.
Why This Thread
I'm okay with both projects being stalled. These things happen. It's nobody's fault. I'm not happy about it but I'm not angry. This is a game and a free-time activity.
Others, including Fred, are upset, if not actually angry. I don't know why. They say, "You should..." or "Why don't you..." and so forth. I try my best to answer these seriously and politely but this just upsets them more. Soon, a whole hour of chat has gone into this black hole of irreconcilable viewpoints.
Nobody is right, here; and nobody is wrong. We just have different opinions on what we should do with our times. Since I'm not trying to tell anyone else what to do with his time, I don't think there's any reason to criticize me for my opinion -- or try to tell me what to do with my time. But the issues just will not go away.
My Opinion
Fred contributed materially to penntowns. He now repudiates this in chat but he did write code, specifically for penntowns.nml, that I copied out and used. He also gave me plenty of hand-holding throughout the writing and compilation. I consider him a co-author.
The author of frenchtowns does not get credit, though, because although I started there, nothing significant is left of his code in penntowns. You can't copyright a "{" and I don't owe anybody anything for following a public specification.
However, Fred disagrees. He says that penntowns is a derivative work and must be licensed under the same terms as frenchtowns. I prefer other licensing terms, namely CC-BY-SA 3.0. I'm open to other licensing; I really don't care much.
So, now it gets complicated. If I license penntowns wrongly, then I've done violence to the entire free open source community. It's not clear to me what weight Fred's claim has. As co-authors, I think we have equal, undivided control over licensing, meaning we have to agree in order to license it at all. Fred repudiates co-authorship but also advances a claim on behalf of the French.
This is too complex for me. I'm not a lawyer and I really don't care. So, I sent all the project files to Fred and told him:
Here it is. You can do what you like with it. I would prefer to see you keep your name on it because I feel you've put a lot of work into it. The license is unimportant to me and you may handle it however you think best. Credit the author of French Town Names if you think it right.
Thanks for your help,
... and that's where I left it. Fred now says he never got the email but he doesn't seem to want me to try again. He says he's not willing to write a license for it or upload it anywhere. That's fine! It works for me, on my machine; and I get the town names I want on my maps in my games. That's as much as I need. Anything else is about giving back to the community -- a good thing but not critical. I don't even know if anyone else wants a map of Pennsylvania.
Now comes the why-don't-you. Well, I think I've explained that. The licensing issue is complex and I'm not willing to figure it out. The project stalls, nobody is hurt. Fred is Fred; I'm not going to move him. He's not going to move me. Neither of us owes the other any more work.
However, this -- and the repeated insistence that I do something -- does tell me a little about how Fred handles collaboration, with me at any rate. Which brings us to bigsig.
Early in bigsig design, Fred suggested that if I came up with a complete sprite set, he'd code it into a NewGRF. Since then, Fred's made a few comments that suggest, to me, he thinks bigsig is a pointless idea. In light of his unwillingness to license penntowns, I don't think I can count on him for bigsig.
It may just be that Fred's notion of involvement is different from mine. I like strong, public commitment; perhaps he prefers a sort of shadowy, offhand boost.
I knew a guy like that when I was first learning to play banjo. He evaded any question I put to him but just once, he said, "Now you know how to make it go. Now you need to learn to make it stop." He took my banjo and did some very fast, very tricky work, stopping the strings occasionally with the heel of his right hand. I learned a lot from that one minute of instruction and I'm proud to rank that man among my teachers. But it's not my style of instruction, not at all.
I tutor high school math and sometimes, I spend a whole hour answering one question. Sometimes, it's the same question we discussed the week before. It's almost always the same question a dozen other students have asked. I don't mind; I like going into detail.
So, Fred and I may have different styles here; and that's okay. But it's clear to me that we don't work well together. That's okay too. I'll wait for someone else to come along.
When bigsig comes up, Fred says, "Why don't you complete an entire set of sprites?" Well, I think I've explained that. I don't know precisely how to make a complete set of signal sprites for an OpenTTD NewGRF. And my style is to get something figured out before I do it. My style is to make sure that I'm not wasting time going in the wrong direction. I'm not big on try-it-and-see; I'm big on plan-ahead and do-it-right-the-first-time.
Fred says he doesn't think I will ever complete the graphics for bigsig. He may be right. Nobody has joined the project and I'm not going to do more work on it until somebody does. Fred also suggests that I will never complete the graphics, even if somebody does join in.
Well, I don't know exactly how to answer that. I've done a lot of work over the years -- not just $work but real work -- and I've got a lot to be proud of. I've abandoned some projects, too; they were unworkable or, more often, the client pulled the plug on them.
The fact is, you just don't know, when you start to work with a person, whether he will follow through. I've committed to doing the bigsig graphics and if someone with the willingness to handle the code joins, I will complete my side. So I say; and I've made my commitment public.
Someone may commit to doing the code and talking me through the specific requirements of the sprite set. When I'm done, that Someone may drop the ball. I can't stop that from happening. But I can, reasonably, look for that willing, even eager, commitment before going any further. If nobody will even say he'll do it then quite likely, nobody will.
Summary
Pennsylvania Town Names is stalled, if not dead. Fred raised the licensing issue; Fred is the only one who can resolve it. I'm willing to hear from anyone who thinks he can talk to Fred; if he can straighten it out, I'll send the files. I'm not willing to do anything else.
The bigsig project is also stalled. If someone joins the project, I'll get back to work on it. I'll want to talk about some changes from 003; I'll want to discuss in some detail the exact format in which I will deliver the sprites to the next man. I'm not willing to do more without some interest.
I'm here to play trains and amuse myself. I don't consider the production of a NewGRF to be a test of manhood. It can happen or not. I've proven myself over far rougher ground. Anybody who wants to see what I've done elsewhere, let me know. I don't like to brag but I do like to get feedback on my work.
These topics have been beaten to the consistency of baby food. I think I've said everything I possibly can, here and now. If anyone has something fresh to bring, I'm willing. I won't repeat myself further.
Apology
I should have written this post a week ago.
Portuguese
Belarusian