[James Ross]

This is a notice that ORMT are currently working on a plan for Open Rails 1.2 and beyond and we will soon be requesting everyone's input.

The input will likely be in the form of specific feature requests as well as general ideas for the future. Each item need not be more than a few words, but may contain a detailed explanation if desired. We will then organise these in to releases/themes, prepare blueprints for the near-term work, and developers will then be able to choose what to work on from the blueprints.

More details on how you can submit your input will follow - so start gathering your old and new ideas for Open Rails now!

[James Ross]

The Open Rails Roadmap is now up! Copied below are the introductory instructions so we know what to expect and can even contribute before you visit. :)

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Welcome to the Open Rails Roadmap!

This Trello board is for collecting and sorting ideas for future versions of Open Rails, and voting on those ideas.

The board consists of:

• Cards are the white boxes containing each idea
  
• Lists are the vertical columns grouping the ideas by timeline

How can I contribute?

You can:

• Email open_rails_input+uggop60ykb1hstlww1my@boards.trello.com to add new ideas, which will appear below this one. The subject is shown on the card and the body inside the card.
  
• Vote on ideas in any timeline (except those already released) by opening it and selecting "Vote". You'll need to be logged in to Trello for this.

The Open Rails Management Team will read new ideas sent in, and decide whether they are new and interesting, a duplicate of an idea already on the board, or not something being planned for right now and move them appropriately.

What do the timelines mean?

The timelines are:

• Not planned is for proposed ideas which we (ORMT) do not feel are good for Open Rails.
  
• Future is for proposed ideas which we (ORMT) feel are good for Open Rails, but which have not been selected for a particular timeline yet.
  
• 2.x and 1.x are for proposed ideas which we (ORMT) feel should be done during the respective major version timelines, but which have not been selected for a particular version yet.
  
• 1.2 is for proposed ideas which we (ORMT) feel should be done for this particular version.

[cjakeman]

James Ross, on 22 April 2016 - 12:14 PM, said:

This Trello board is for collecting and sorting ideas for future versions of Open Rails, and voting on those ideas.

Trello boards are really neat.

We've not tried this method of collecting your views before, so it's something of an experiment and open to everyone with an interest in the Open Rails project.

Please give it a try.

[edwardk]

One important question. What type of mid term to long range plans do we have when it comes to recruiting more developers? As much as I would like to, there will be areas that I will not be able fix, let alone create. For this project to remain strong, we at least have to make sure we have not only the bodies to get the work done(you noticed I used the 4 letter word :) ), but we have to have the right bodies to make sure the critical areas(such as graphics) are covered.

Edward K.

[James Ross]

edwardk, on 23 April 2016 - 08:16 AM, said:

One important question. What type of mid term to long range plans do we have when it comes to recruiting more developers? As much as I would like to, there will be areas that I will not be able fix, let alone create. For this project to remain strong, we at least have to make sure we have not only the bodies to get the work done(you noticed I used the 4 letter word :) ), but we have to have the right bodies to make sure the critical areas(such as graphics) are covered.

We cannot "make" people do work, but the following is the general approach I am taking right now:

• Make the project attractive to work on:
  • Moving to git
    
  • Source code on GitHub as well as Launchpad
    
  • Documentation in ReStructuredText
    
  • Cleaner architecture
    
  • Cleaner code generally
• Make it obvious what we want/don't want done:
  • The Trello board from this thread

Once things are looking good on the board (which they are already starting to), I will look at publically linking to/including the headline information on the main website and ensuring everyone's aware of it.

Anything to suggest yourself?

[Genma Saotome]

You've got many months of wishlist ideas that provide many, many ideas. Are they to be forgotten entirely?

I'm afraid to say it... having reviewed the current cards they have a "small ball" feel to the collection. Whiffle ball small. It's worrysome. I expected to see bigger topics, like replacing AE -- the objective for 2.0.

[James Ross]

Genma Saotome, on 03 May 2016 - 02:36 PM, said:

You've got many months of wishlist ideas that provide many, many ideas. Are they to be forgotten entirely?

You are welcome to contribute by seeing what people have suggested in the past. I may have a look myself if I get the time, but it's hard work going through and organising things from forum threads, unfortunately. That's partly why we have the Trello board.

Genma Saotome, on 03 May 2016 - 02:36 PM, said:

I'm afraid to say it... having reviewed the current cards they have a "small ball" feel to the collection. Whiffle ball small. It's worrysome. I expected to see bigger topics, like replacing AE -- the objective for 2.0.

For the initial run, I thought I'd let people work from a blank slate, so to speak, to see what they came up with without any prompting. There are a few big items I've already placed - e.g. dispatcher mode, turntables and in game editing - and some more that I haven't - e.g. "Upgrade Track Viewer to an OR activity editor".

Just yesterday I added in some of the existing blueprints to the board, and I will be making sure that we have the larger goals covered, but it's worth noting that some of them have already been added, just with a different view or focus (e.g. the AE is "Upgrade Track Viewer to an OR activity editor").

[Genma Saotome]

James, I do understand the difficulties in leading the OR project -- you certain deserve a hearty thank you for what you've accomplished and I should have conveyed that in my last post.

My reference to "small ball" in the previous post can and should be rephrased into a more constructive POV, specifically, there isn't anything architectural there. In my own experience of running projects over the years I learned that if you don't get the fundamentals done up front they'll never get done because over time most of your resources will disappear and those that are left are busy with bugs and modest feature expansion within the structure that's present. IOW, small ball stuff.

Perhaps there is a need to two lists: architectural and run of the mill features where the former is trans-formative and the later can go in where and whenever. Consider timetable mode -- it wasn't a simple extension of something KUJU had already done nor was it filling small feature gap they had left open. Instead it fundamentally altered how one thinks about scheduling. The core still need to be addressed.

[Jovet]

I, for one, wouldn't consider offering suggestions to improve the Track Viewer since I see that as a separate product by a separate author. Am I mistaken in that notion?

[cjakeman]

James Ross, on 04 May 2016 - 11:34 AM, said:

There are a few big items I've already placed - e.g. dispatcher mode, turntables and in game editing

I noticed the dispatcher mode, which James has placed in 2.x.

What are the benefits we might get by packaging the multi-player mode as a dedicated server? Would they help to support tasks which are not driving, such as dispatcher, signalman, brakeman, fireman etc.?