Introduction: Developer Team

Welcome

to the third blog. This week we want to introduce you to the Dev Team and their projects. Before that, however, there is a small review of the progress of the last week.

An update has been released for the Signalmod, which includes a variety of signal boards. We are currently still working on some of them to implement them in the mod. In addition, an optimization follows. The move to the new server provider has been successful and all our services are available again. Now some performance problems should also be fixed. The builders had organized a small Speedbuild event on Friday to adapt the landscape around Singwitz. In addition, a new construction phase and a new route were started.

Everything fixed no problem at all!

Under the motto "Everything fixed no problem!" the current 8 developers of the GIRC Dev Team gather. Under the leadership of head dev MrTroble [MrTroble#8051, @TherealMrTroble] , a number of projects have been advanced over the past few months. This resulted in well over 500 commits and more than 70 automatically generated and usable versions of our software.

We are also very proud to support the next generation of developers. So we have 3 junior developers who we help to gain new knowledge and expand their existing skills.

Where it makes sense, we have a project-based approach to work. Therefore, each developer can work independently on an independent part of a project. The assignment takes place at the weekly developer conferences and is usually an overall decision.

The following projects are currently being maintained or developed by our team:

Signal Mod

The main project of the Dev Team is currently our own Signal Mod. This implements some German signal systems, as well as some signal boards. Our focus is on ensuring that the signals have easy handling. The performance also plays a very important role for us, which is why we have already optimized the mod a lot. In one of the following blog posts, we will introduce the mod in more detail.

Launcher

Since the manual update system seemed a bit inflexible to us, as well as the restrictions and the data collection frenzy of the technology launcher disturbed, we used the code of an old project of the Head Dev to quickly set up a new open-source launcher. The systems were primarily outdated and were renewed over the last few months by our UI specialist Der_Zauberer [Der_Zauberer#5590, @DerZauberer_DA] .

Since then, our launcher offers a modern and clear interface to receive updates and make settings quickly, easily and automatically.

Plugins

Plugins are also specially developed for the server, so the individual requirements of the functionalities for the server can be taken into account. At the moment, the development of an administration plugin for servers is taking place, which is responsible, among other things, for the permissions and adds new security functions. For example, since certain blocks and rails are often accidentally dismantled on the server, the plugin protects the dismantling of predefined blocks. Thus, only certain people can dismantle these blocks. Which has happened especially with rails. 😀

The plugin also offers other options such as a welcome message and other notifications in the tab list. In order to give the roleplay on the server more depth, the development of a shop plugin is also in prospect.

No-blame culture

We all make mistakes. Developers also do this (crass insight!). It is important how to deal with mistakes. Criticism is just as important as finding and fixing mistakes. Nevertheless, it always depends on how you say something. It is therefore not desirable in the development team that people do not dare to make mistakes or to bring them up because they are afraid of hostility or unnecessary criticism. The sound makes the music, everyone involved does this incredible work in their free time and it is therefore very important that the work of the team members is treated respectfully.

So if you enjoy programming or maybe you are a junior developer yourself and want to support us, you are welcome to join us. The Dev Team is always looking for support. Because we don't run out of ideas so quickly.

Next week, the Modeler Team will follow in the round of introductions.

Until then, and had you well,

The GIRC Team