FormulaAISoC2009Dragonking

Introduction

• Basics

• • Write a small introduction to yourself.

My name is Bartek Waresiak and I'm from Poland. I'm 22 years old male interested in programming, computer science and gaming. I have been Battle for Wesnoth player for more than 5 years, and developer for about 4 years (coder since Summer of Code 2008).

• • State your preferred email address.

either dragonking_ATTT_o2_D0T_pl or b.waresiak_ATTT_gmail_D0T_com

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

Dragonking

• • Why do you want to participate in summer of code?

By participating in Google Summer of Code I want to significantly increase amount of time that I spend working for Battle for Wesnoth, have some fun and earn some money.

• • What are you studying, subject, level and school?

I'm studying Information Technology, 3nd year at AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland.

• • 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 Wesnoth. If you have gained commit access to our SVN (during the evaluation period or earlier) please state so.

I have access to SVN. My recent contributions to Wesnoth:

• • • Before 1.6 release 'bugfixing-time':

• • • Directly before Summer of Code application period:

• Experience
  • What programs/software have you worked on before?
    • I've been one of Battle for Wesnoth developers since September 2005 and I have been working on FormulaAI language since Summer of Code 2008. Besides that, I wrote various projects for my university (algorithm-testing, training projects, optimalization tasks, etc...).
  • Have you developed software in a team environment before? (As opposed to hacking on something on your own)
    • I'm one of Developers in 'Battle for Wesnoth' project and I have experience in group decision making.
  • 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?
    • I had been participatin in Google Summer of Code 2008, workin on Formula AI for Battle for Wesnoth project. My project was successful.

• Open Source
  • Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes, please describe the project and the scope of your involvement.
    • As Developer for Battle for Wesnoth project I've been responsible for developing, improving, testing and documentation of the FormulaAI language. Besides that, I've been supporting people trying to use this language in their scenarios/campaigns. Previously, as a Multiplayer Developer I've been one of people responsible for unit balancing (unit statistics tweaking), multiplayer server moderation and basic administration.

• Gaming experience
  • Are you a gamer?
    • Yes, I like to play various types of games: strategy games - both real time and turn-based, role-playing games and some of the first person shooters. I'm rather patient and calm player and I enjoy difficult games which require some amount of 'hard thinking'.
  • What type of opponents do you prefer?
    • I prefer human opponents much more than AI, but they have to be polite, civil and mature. I really enjoy games against experienced player, though I don't mind also tutoring new ones.
  • Are you more interested in story or gameplay?
    • I value both - IMHO to bring a game to someone's attention, it must have a decent gameplay. If it has a nice storyline as well, then chances that players will keep playing and won't leave increase.
  • Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long and whether you lean towards single player or multiplayer.
    • I have been playing Wesnoth since about 0.7 version, mainly multiplayer because I enjoy Wesnoth players community and recognize it as polite and mature one. Also, like I mentioned, multiplayer games against human opponents are for me much more enjoyable than single-player campaigns.

• Communication skills
  • 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 have no problem with understanding written English, and describing my thoughts to the others in this language.
  • Are you good at interacting with other players? Our developer community is friendly, but the player community can be a bit rough.
    • I think I know Wesnoth developers and players community well, and I've always been trying to always be on good terms with everyone. I know whom to talk to about different issues and who can give me needed advice or support. I also have quite a lot experience with interacting with multiplayer community.
  • Do you give constructive advice?
    • When giving advice, I try to be as detailed as possible, and make sure that people who I direct advice to understand me well. I am aware that during the internet chat you can be misinterpreted and your advice may instead be received as a negative criticism, I'm trying to avoid it by being friendly towards others.
  • Do you receive advice well?
    • I know that I can be wrong and that around me many people are far more experienced than me, I consider advices from others as a good thing which helps me improve and develop my skills.
  • Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?
    • I have to admit it is hard to receive bad criticism - if someone is telling you that you are plain wrong, but is not providing any arguments to back up his opinion, then usually this kind of criticism is a useless one. If someone can criticize what I am doing providing examples what is wrong and how it can be improved - it is definitely an example of useful and desired criticism.

• Project

Described below.

• Practical considerations
  • AAre you familiar with any of the following tools or languages?
    • Subversion
      • Yes, about 3-year experience.
    • C++
      • I have more than 2 years of C/C++ experience.
    • Python
      • No.
  • Which tools do you normally use for development? Why do you use them?
    • I'm working on Debian Linux.
  • What programming languages are you fluent in?
    • C/C++ and Java.
  • What spoken languages are you fluent in?
    • Polish - which is my mother tongue, and English.
  • At what hours are you awake (please specify in UTC)
    • Usually I'm awake between 8 and 23 UTC, and available on IRC betweeen 17 and 23 UTC.
  • 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.
    • I wouldn't mind.

Idea Description

WIP