User:Vodkano

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This page is related to Summer of Code 2013
See the list of Summer of Code 2013 Ideas



This is a Summer of Code 2013 student page


Description

Vodkano - Mainline Campaigns Refactoring

See the proposed idea here:

http://wiki.wesnoth.org/SoC_Ideas_AI_in_Mainline_Campaigns_Refactoring_2013

I'm going to update and port all the mainline campaigns so they can use the new capabilities of the AI engine.

IRC

Vodkano

Questionnaire

1) Basics

1.1) Write a small introduction to yourself.

Hi, I'm Vodkano, a 4th year Computer Engineering.

1.2) State your preferred email address.

ferran[dot]mesas01[at]gmail[dot]com

1.3) If you have chosen a nick for IRC and Wesnoth forums, what is it?

Vodkano

1.4) Why do you want to participate in summer of code?

GSoC gives students the opportunity to get involved in Open Source projects in a friendly environment. It is the perfect opportunity to start collaborating.

1.5) What are you studying, subject, level and school?

I'm a student taking a degree in Computer Engineering at UPF in Barcelona. I'm currently in my 4th year as a univerity student.

1.6) What country are you from, at what time are you most likely to be able to join IRC?

I'm from Spain. I will be able to join IRC most afternoons and nights between 15:00-22:00 GMT.

1.7) Do you have other commitments for the summer period ? Do you plan to take any vacations ? If yes, when.

I will be fully available starting mid-july due to exams. I have no other commitments.

2) Experience

2.1) What programs/software have you worked on before?

I've worked on multiple software projects, including audio, image and video processing, a simple IRC-like chat server using my own protocol and a parser and compiler for a simple language.

2.2) Have you developed software in a team environment before? (As opposed to hacking on something on your own)

Yes, most of my school assignments have been done in groups of up to 4 people.

2.3) Have you participated to the Google Summer of Code before? As a mentor or a student? In what project? Were you successful? If not, why?

No.

2.4) Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes, please describe the project and the scope of your involvement.

I'm not commited to any open source project, but I have submitted some patches to Octave.

2.5) Gaming experience - Are you a gamer?

Yes.

2.5.1) What type of gamer are you?

I like theorycrafting and min-maxing both PvE and PvP games, but I enjoy PvE more.

2.5.2) What type of games?

I enjoy strategy games, both real-time and turn-based. I also like puzzle games and any kind of intellectual challenge. I also play League of Legends.

2.5.3) What type of opponents do you prefer?

I prefer playing vs smart and hard-to-predict AIs and/or playing against people I know (opposed to random opponents).

2.5.4) Are you more interested in story or gameplay?

It depends on the genre: A strategy game needs both: good gameplay to be interesting, and a story to keep you engaged. Other genres (like FPSs) need interesting stories: There aren't many variations of the FPS genre, so they all have roughly the same gameplay.

2.5.5) Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long and whether you lean towards single player or multiplayer.

Yes, i've played on and off since 1.8. I enjoy playing the campaigns. I have played some multiplayer matches against friends.

2.6) If you have contributed any patches to Wesnoth, please list them below. You can also list patches that have been submitted but not committed yet and patches that have not been specifically written for GSoC. If you have gained commit access to our repository (during the evaluation period or earlier) please state so.

Not yet!


3) Communication skills

3.1) Though most of our developers are not native English speakers, English is the project's working language. Describe your fluency level in written English. I'm fluent in written English.

3.2) What spoken languages are you fluent in?

I'm fluent in Catalan, Spanish and English.

3.3) Are you good at interacting with other players? Our developer community is friendly, but the player community can be a bit rough.

I try to be level-headed. Raging and being rude has never been helpful.

3.4) Do you give constructive advice?

Yes: Advice of the type "You should try to play better" shouldn't be considered advice.

3.5) Do you receive advice well?

I am open to new ideas and variations of my strategies, but I find it hard (or unfun) to completely adopt other players' strategies. Good and constructive advice is always welcome.

3.6) Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?

A good reasoning behind any criticism is the most important element. Advice without a reasoning is harder to understand. I rely on the "why should I do that" more than on "what should i do".

3.7) How autonomous are you when developing ? Would you rather discuss intensively changes and not start coding until you know what you want to do or would you rather code a proof of concept to "see how it turn out", taking the risk of having it thrown away if it doesn't match what the project want

I like testing new things and ideas, even if I have to throw them away, but always after a little discussion.


4) Project

4.1) Did you select a project from our list? If that is the case, what project did you select? What do you want to especially concentrate on?

I'd like to get to know the AI system of Wesnoth by porting the mainline campaigns to it. After getting knowledgeable with it, i'd like to get involved with the other AI projects.

4.3) Why did you choose this project?

AI development is a interest of mine. I chose this particular project because it lets me interact with the AI system and drive it to the limit, using all of its capabilities.

4.4) Include an estimated timeline for your work on the project. Don't forget to mention special things like "I booked holidays between A and B" and "I got an exam at ABC and won't be doing much then".

I have exams from late June to mid-July. I could work on the project from mid-July to early September. Discussions could start earlier without much trouble, but coding would have to wait.

4.5) Include as much technical detail about your implementation as you can

TODO

4.6) What do you expect to gain from this project?

I expect to gain insight in how open source development works, proficiency in Lua, and the feeling I did something for a better world, even if it's just a patch for a game.

4.7) What would make you stay in the Wesnoth community after the conclusion of SOC?

Meeting new people and challenges, the community itself, helping people.

5) Practical considerations

5.1) Are you familiar with any of the following tools or languages?

Sub­­version (used for all commits) Yes. Used in many school and particular projects.

C++ (language used for all the normal source code) Yes, even though i prefer C (but understand OOP concepts)

STL, Boost, Sdl (C++ libraries used by Wesnoth) I know STL and i'm willing to learn Boost and SDL.

Python (optional, mainly used for tools) I know and like python.

build environments (eg cmake/scons) I have used scons and make, and cmake ocasionally.

WML (the wesnoth specific scenario language) I have written simple scripts in WML.

Lua (used in combination with WML to create scenarios) No, I don't know Lua yet.

5.2) Which tools do you normally use for development? Why do you use them?

I use Eclipse for Java and Gedit, nano or Sublime Text for C, C++, Python and others.

5.3) What programming languages are you fluent in?

I consider I'm fluent in (in no particular order) Java, C, C++, Python, Octave/Matlab, bash and I have occasionally used Lisp and Prolog.

5.4) Would you mind talking with your mentor on telephone / internet phone? We would like to have a backup way for communications for the case that somehow emails and IRC do fail. If you are willing to do so, please do list a phone number (including international code) so that we are able to contact you. You should probably *only* add this number in the application for you submit to google since the info in the wiki is available in public. We will *not* make any use of your number unless some case of "there is no way to contact you" does arise!

No, I wouldn't mind. I'll add my number to the GSoC application.