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BZFlag is participating in the 2007 [http://code.google.com/soc/ Google Summer of Code].  Under this program, Google allocates and funds students to write code for BZFlag during the northern hemisphere summer timeframe on specific projects.  Those projects are proposed by students and sometimes following the suggested "proposal areas" section shown below or are ideas entirely of the student's own design.  Student proposals are reviewed and evaluated by participating mentors.  Google allocates a certain number of slots out of a total of 800 amongst approximately 135 participating mentoring organizations which then determines how many students may be approved by a given group such as BZFlag.
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__NOTOC__
  
Adhering to specified [[Google Summer of Code Acceptance|development requirements]], selected students then work on their projects through the summer. If the student successfully completes what they proposed, they are ultimately paid $4500 for their work.  In all, the program is a decent deal for the students, great publicity and marketing for Google, and a great opportunity for BZFlag development initiatives.
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=Overview=
  
= Preparing an Application =
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Starting in 2005, Google has run an open source software development program specifically for students called the [http://code.google.com/soc/ Google Summer of Code] (GSoC).  Under this program, Google funds students to write code for open source projects during the northern hemisphere's summer timeframe.  The student efforts are focused on projects that they themselves propose to projects such as BZFlag, sometimes catering to ideas that the project suggests or ideas entirely of the student's own conception.  Student proposals are then reviewed, evaluated, and ranked by the project.  Google allocates a certain number of slots to each participating project/organization which in turn determines how many student developers we get to work with.
  
There was no specific format to applications, but they were told that they should be detailed in their approach and background information about themselvesThey were supposed to state specifically what they intend to deliver and any implementation details they felt relevant such as what language they intend to use.  C/C++ proposals were preferred though others were considered.  Students that just submitted the summaries contained below did not do very wellIf you talked with us on IRC about your SoC proposal, you were supposed to include your IRC nickname somewhere in your proposal.
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Students that participate with the BZFlag project are required to adhere to specified [[Google Summer of Code Acceptance|development requirements]], selected students then work on their projects through the summer.  Students are expected to be fully integrated with the BZFlag development community throughout the program, actively engaged in their work, and intently working ''with'' the other BZFlag developers throughout the design and implementation of their projectsIf the student successfully completes what they propose, they are ultimately paid $4500 for their work and the BZFlag community hopefully gains a new long-term developerIn all, the program is a pretty darn good deal for many students, great publicity and marketing for both Google and BZFlag, and an excellent opportunity for attracting new long-term BZFlag developers.
  
Early proposal submission were encouraged as it gave us more time to review your proposal in detail, comment on them, and potentially ask for additional input. Submitting closer to the deadline wasn't a negative consideration as all submissions were be predominantly judged on their merit, but submitting and discussing early was an advantage for submissions that were similar to other submissions.
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'''''Attracting and mentoring new long-term developers is our primary goal.'''''  If this interests you, please let us know and submit a GSoC application.
  
Students were asked to propose what they actually want to work on, how they intend to work on it, what they intend to DO, what they know about that task, some details about themselves, etc.  Their ability to perform the task is outright presumed, so they are supposed to propose a task that they are comfortable and knowledgeable with performing.
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=2010=
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BZFlag will not be applying to SOC 2010 in order to concentrate on the release of V3.
 +
==Past years==
 +
See
 +
[[Google_Summer_of_Code/2009|2009 GSoC page]]
  
= Program Evaluation =
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[[Google_Summer_of_Code/2008|2008 GSoC page]]
  
We received a total of 45 proposals for the 2007 program that were then reviewed, evaluated, and critiqued.  Of those applications, only '''four''' could be selected to work on BZFlag.  There were about 20 really good proposals overall, making the selection process very competitive and difficult. 
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[[Google_Summer_of_Code/2007|2007 GSoC page]]
  
Submissions were selected according to the overall impact that they can make to the game, feasibility of implementation within '''two or three''' months, and overall interest in having such modifications made to BZFlag. While there's never any guarantee that work on any code will be integrated, this is very much the desire and intention of our participation in the Summer of Code.  Students are expected to interact on the [http://my.bzflag.org/irc/ #bzflag IRC channel] on the Freenode network, abide by the [http://bzflag.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*/bzflag/bzflag/DEVINFO DEVINFO] rules, agree to the [[Google Summer of Code Acceptance|development requirements]], and focus on providing a clean maintainable implementation.  The projects that were accepted are as follows:
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for past projects.
  
== [TO BE ANNOUNCED] ==
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= Getting started =
  
= Proposal Ideas =
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* Read this page
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* Read our [[Google Summer of Code/2009|proposal ideas]] page
 +
* Read our [[Google_Summer_of_Code/Application_Guidelines|application guidelines]]
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* Read our [[Google Summer of Code Acceptance|requirements]]
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* Read our [http://bzflag.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/bzflag/trunk/bzflag/DEVINFO DEVINFO] file
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* Join our [[BZFlag on IRC|#bzflag on Freenode]] IRC channel
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* Formulate a proposal idea, communicate with devs
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* [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=3248&atid=303248 Submit a patch]
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* Apply!
  
While there are lots of [[Ideas]] floating around of varying utility to the game, the ideas listed below were the specific areas that we were predominantly interested in seeing worked on as part of the GSoC.  Please note that students were also welcome to apply with their own original ideas.  They should have run those ideas by one of the developers beforehand, as there are some ideas which will not be accepted regardless of the quality of the application and applicant, due to desire to preserve the scope and focus of the project.
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= Preparing an application =
  
Ideas marked with an "*" indicate entries where we received at least two or more submissions for that idea.
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There is intentionally no specific format to our applications. '''BUT'''... students are '''strongly''' encouraged to be detailed, creative, and interactive with the BZFlag developers throughout the application process.  Proposals that are detailed in their approach and contain useful background information about the individual's abilities and their ideas will generally receive more attention.  Applications should specify what you intend to deliver, a reasonable development timeline, and any implementation details that are relevant such as what language(s) you intend to use.  C/C++ proposals are generally preferred since that is our predominant codebase and developer expertise though others are considered.  See our '''[[Google_Summer_of_Code/Application_Guidelines|Application Guidelines]]''' for more details.
  
== Dead Reckoning and other Networking Enhancements ==
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Early proposal submissions are encouraged as it gives the mentors more time to review the proposal in detail, comment on it, potentially ask for additional input, and iterate with the student on your ideasIn the past, submitting closer to the deadline hasn't been a negative consideration, as all submissions are predominantly judged on merit, but submitting and discussing early do tend to be an advantage if there are others applications that have similar goals.
The basic idea is to improve BZFlag's networking by performing dead reckoning on the server along with context-sensitive packet delivery culling.  Much work has gone into the game towards moving more and more of the game state to the server, but there is additional migration and protocol changes requiredSimilarly, network utilization can be optimized by not relaying certain packets (like miniscule position updates to distant players) based on the current game state.  Some useful background reading for this task include "[http://www.research.ibm.com/netgames2005/papers/aggarwal.pdf Fairness in Dead-Reckoning based Distributed Multi-Player Games (pdf)]" and "[http://www.sigcomm.org/sigcomm2004/workshop_papers/net610-aggarwal.pdf Accuracy in Dead-Reckoning Based Distributed Multi-Player Games (pdf)]".
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== Graphics Engine Integration * ==
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Students should propose what they actually want to work on, how you intend to work on it, what you intend to DO, what you know about that task, some details about yourself, etc. Be detailed and articulate. Brief proposals do not generally do very well. Your ability to perform the task is outright presumed by the nature of submitting a detailed application. Students should propose a task that they are comfortable and knowledgeable with performing within the timeframe of the program and considering any extenuating circumstances.
One of the long-standing desires for BZFlag is to improve the graphics capabilities in the game by integrating with an existing rendering engine.  This task would be to integrate BZFlag with a graphics engine like [http://ogre3d.org/ OGRE], [http://www.crystalspace3d.org/ Crystal Space], [http://www.openscenegraph.com/ OpenSceneGraph], or [http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/ Irrlicht].
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== Headless Artificial Intelligence Agent * ==
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You may submit more than one application (one application for each project you would enjoy working on) if you so desireThis can help us when we receive more than one strong proposal for a single project, as generally speaking we will accept only one application for each project. However, please do not submit proposals for work you will not enjoy doing, and please do not sacrifice quality for quantityOne good application makes a much better impression than two half-baked applications.
This task involves creating a clean stand-alone version of the game client that is headless (i.e. requires no GUI to run), programmable, and scriptableIdeally, a programming interface that is compatible with an existing framework such as the [http://robocode.sourceforge.net/ Robocode] [http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-robocode/ API] should be made available for controlling AI tank players so that collaboration with other AI efforts can be leveragedA scripting interface (perhaps using [http://www.swig.org/ SWIG]) should be provided on top of that API to allow dynamic control of the AI agents from a scripting language like Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, or Perl.
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== Global authentication daemon ==
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If you talk with us on IRC about your SoC proposal, be sure to include your IRC nickname somewhere in your proposal.
The goal of this project would be to provide global account management system daemon that the client and servers would communicate with for account, group membership, and profile information.  This effort preferably be written in C++, would need to talk to an LDAP server for persistent storage on the backend, and allow chaining across multiple daemons for data replication and failover service.  The daemon would need to provide a well structured simple communications API that the game client and game servers can securely talk to.
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== Enhanced server listing ==
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You should also [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=3248&atid=303248 submit a patch] before you submit your application, and be sure to include a link to the tracker item in your proposal submissionSee the [[Google Summer of Code Acceptance|development requirements]] for details.
The game client includes a simplistic listing of publicly available servers.  This task would involve significantly enhancing the listing section in BZFlag to allow for various sortings (e.g. ping time, country, name, etc), favorites, recently used, specific additional information on specific servers, and all existing information.  The task would involve coming up with a user-friendly design that it fully keyboard-accessible.  It could leverage external gui toolkits, use BZFlag's existing gui library, and/or extend the existing capabilitiesThe focus would be on creating an intuitive and informative listing enhancement within the constraints of the gaming interface.
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== World file layout and editing application * ==
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Students are expected to interact on the [http://my.bzflag.org/irc/ #bzflag IRC channel] on the Freenode network, abide by the [http://bzflag.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/bzflag/trunk/bzflag/DEVINFO DEVINFO] rules, and agree to the [[Google Summer of Code Acceptance|development requirements]] before submitting an application.
This task should produce an application for the creation/modification/arrangement of [[BZW]] map files and objects in a visual manner. The application should be designed in a cross platform compatible manner (ether some existing cross platform framework, or a built in platform system). The application should be able to manage all the existing structures in a [[BZW]] world file.  Ideally, the application should also be able to import 3d meshes from other design applications.  It would not be required to be able to dynamically edit meshes in the application.
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== Two-player tanks * ==
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Thanks for your interest and we look forward to seeing you apply!
Make modifications to the game such that it is optionally possible (e.g. via a server configuration) to allow multiplayer tanks where one player can only drive and the other can control the turret.  The implementation would have to be some simple/intuitive interface to join and depart tanks as well as implemented in a fashion that preserves the "spirit" of BZFlag's operational simplicity.
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== Enhanced cross-platform multiple display support ==
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= The application review process =
Add the ability to effectively manage multiple display environments from within the game allowing for the detection, alignment/orientation specification, and resolution parameters for each display via menu options as well as proper full-screen and/or windowed support.  An additional feature could involve allowing the user to dedicate a display to the various primary gui elements (the 3D environment, the radar, and the chat console).  BZFlag's current context management is mostly handled by SDL or other platform-specific modules, so this could be taken into consideration.  There's also the possibility of our move to an integrated graphics engine would similarly impact how multidisplay contexts are created and managed.
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== In-game profile management ==
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Just about every participating GSoC organization receives considerably more project proposals than can be accepted.  All the applications are reviewed, evaluated, and critiqued individually.  Of those applications, only a few can be selected to work on BZFlag.  We expect to receive many good applications, making the selection process very competitive and difficult (so make sure your application is excellent)''This cannot be stressed enough.''  It is rather hard for most projects to narrow down the submissions but in the end there are only so many slots to work with and the line eventually has to be drawnEvery application gets read multiple times and reviewed in detail.  We thank '''everyone''' that submits a proposal and hope to see many of you become involved in BZFlag software development regardless of acceptance.
BZFlag allows players to specify a callsign and team in addition to other player characteristics and preferences.  This enhancement would focus on allowing the user to specify and manage multiple profiles from within the gameProfiles could be linked together and should be presented in an intuitive manner (proposal should highlight how you'd go about achieving that)The profiles would need to associate with global account information as well.
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In the end, submissions are selected according to the overall long-term impact that accepting the proposal can make for the game, perception of the submitter's abilities to complete the task within the program timeframe, general consensus on the technical approach being proposed, how well the student communicates with other developers, the perception that the individual is interested in being a long-term BZFlag developer, and our overall interest in having the proposed modifications made to BZFlagParticular notice is made of students that are responsive to questions and readily interactive in the IRC channel.  Communication is one of the most important criteria.
  
== Integrated BZFS web interface ==
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= BZFlag participation in GSoc =
The BZFlag game server, BZFS, could benefit from having a browser-accessible http/https interface for viewing server statistics, setting various parameters, and otherwise controlling the server daemon while it is running.  Similar to how your network router has a web interface for changing configuration parameters, this idea is simply to create this interface in a maintainable and portable manner.  Please go into detail on how exactly you'd go about doing this.
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== Network Testing and Simulation Environment ==
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== [[Google Summer of Code/2009|2009 (more details here)]] ==
This task should provide a controlled testing environment for simulating network behavioral characteristics, including the ability to change virtual network parameters to induce different network conditions of lag and packet loss.  This environment should provide a viewer capability to observe interactions of BZFlag clients being tested from the perspective of the player, the server, and third-party observers.  This simulation framework should work with the client and server directly so that testing of actual changes may be performed in a stand-alone environment.
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== Cross server communications system * ==
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'''''We've been accepted.'''''
This task would be the design and implementation of a server spanning chat system. It would allow players from one server to send chat messages to players on other servers. It should also be able to be used to allow players to know where there friends or "buddies" are playing if they are online. The system should tie into the central user name registration system. Added benefits would be the use of existing protocols or applications, such as Jabber or IRC, if they can be integrated cleanly. Support for using off-line apps for chat and friends list access as well as server management would be a plus.
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== <INSERT YOUR IDEA HERE> ==
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We intend to only accept at most three student slots this yearOur focus this year is on quality and cleanup so we can make a major releaseCleaning up and refactoring existing code is much more important to us this year than writing new code.
BZFlag is always open to new development ideas and is under constant improvementIf you are familiar with BZFlag's current capabilities and would like to propose some new enhancement, we'd be happy to hear aboutPlease discuss any new ideas with the existing core developers (on our IRC channel), if only to make sure the ideas are in-line with the spirit and constraints of the game.
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= Promotion Flyers =
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== [[Google Summer of Code/2008|2008 (more details here)]] ==
 +
{|align="right"
 +
|[[Image:BZGSoC2008_small.gif |thumb|left|128px]]
 +
|}
  
[[Image:BZGSoC2007 small.gif]]
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The Google Summer of Code 2008 was announced on February 25, 2008. Given the substantial successes and opportunities provided by the program, BZFlag continues to participate in the program.  We accepted six students, five of whom were integrated into our development community.
  
Feel free to use the below flyer to help spread the word about our involvement with the Google Summer of Code.  We'd love to hear about where all our flyer has been posted at through our [http://my.bzflag.org/irc/ IRC channel].  Flyers have been translated to other languages that we have mentors for, though please submit your application in English.  While many developers can converse (fluently) in other languages, we do ask that developer discussions be held in English where possible.
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== [[Google Summer of Code/2007|2007 (more details here)]] ==
 +
{|align="right"
 +
|[[Image:BZGSoC2007_small.gif|thumb|left|128px]]
 +
  |}
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BZFlag first participated during GSoC's third year in 2007.  A detailed after-the-fact discussion and analysis of BZFlag's first-year participation is included in the article ''[http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/bzflag_gsoc2007_post_mortem.pdf “Postmortem” Perspectives of a First-year Participant in the 2007 Google Summer of Code for BZFlag]''This article was given to Google in August 2007 as a final report, per se, of our involvement (you're only a first-year participant once).
  
* English ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007.pdf PDF]) ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007.png PNG])
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We accepted four students, three of whom were successful in their projects.
* Deutsch | German  ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007_de.pdf PDF]) ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007_de.png PNG])
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* Español | Spanish ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007_es.pdf PDF]) ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007_es.png PNG])
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<!-- * Italiano | Italian ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007_it.pdf PDF]) ([http://my.bzflag.org/gsoc/BZGSoC2007_it.png PNG])-->
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= Mentors and Credits =
 
  
Thanks to the following BZFlag developers for their participation as mentors:
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==== [[Google Summer of Code/2007#Promotion Flyers|Promotion Flyers]] ====
  
* Julio Jiménez Borreguero (aka jujibo aka Manu)
 
* Sean Morrison (aka learner aka brlcad)
 
**  interested in AI and authentication list server services
 
* Jeffrey Myers (aka JeffM2501)
 
** interested in game editor
 
* Daniel Remenak (aka DTRemenak aka Erroneous)
 
* Mark Thomas (aka menotume)
 
* David Trowbridge (aka purple_cow)
 
* Alfredo Tupone (aka c3po)
 
** interested in Crystal Space integration
 
* David Wollner
 
* Andrew McNabb
 
* Tim Riker
 
* Donna Crawford
 
 
Additionally, special thanks to others in #bzflag that have provided support and feedback including:
 
 
* a_meteorite and DTRemenak
 
** for proofreading and copy editing the GSoC submission
 
* JeffM2501 and DTRemenak
 
** for proof editing the promotional flyer
 
* Saturos
 
** for translating the promotional flyer to German
 
* quantumdot and Manu
 
** for translating the promotional flyer to Spanish
 
* others...
 
 
Thanks for your interest and we look forward to seeing students apply!
 
  
 
[[Category: Development]]
 
[[Category: Development]]

Latest revision as of 16:15, 12 March 2010


Overview

Starting in 2005, Google has run an open source software development program specifically for students called the Google Summer of Code (GSoC). Under this program, Google funds students to write code for open source projects during the northern hemisphere's summer timeframe. The student efforts are focused on projects that they themselves propose to projects such as BZFlag, sometimes catering to ideas that the project suggests or ideas entirely of the student's own conception. Student proposals are then reviewed, evaluated, and ranked by the project. Google allocates a certain number of slots to each participating project/organization which in turn determines how many student developers we get to work with.

Students that participate with the BZFlag project are required to adhere to specified development requirements, selected students then work on their projects through the summer. Students are expected to be fully integrated with the BZFlag development community throughout the program, actively engaged in their work, and intently working with the other BZFlag developers throughout the design and implementation of their projects. If the student successfully completes what they propose, they are ultimately paid $4500 for their work and the BZFlag community hopefully gains a new long-term developer. In all, the program is a pretty darn good deal for many students, great publicity and marketing for both Google and BZFlag, and an excellent opportunity for attracting new long-term BZFlag developers.

Attracting and mentoring new long-term developers is our primary goal. If this interests you, please let us know and submit a GSoC application.

2010

BZFlag will not be applying to SOC 2010 in order to concentrate on the release of V3.

Past years

See 2009 GSoC page

2008 GSoC page

2007 GSoC page

for past projects.

Getting started

Preparing an application

There is intentionally no specific format to our applications. BUT... students are strongly encouraged to be detailed, creative, and interactive with the BZFlag developers throughout the application process. Proposals that are detailed in their approach and contain useful background information about the individual's abilities and their ideas will generally receive more attention. Applications should specify what you intend to deliver, a reasonable development timeline, and any implementation details that are relevant such as what language(s) you intend to use. C/C++ proposals are generally preferred since that is our predominant codebase and developer expertise though others are considered. See our Application Guidelines for more details.

Early proposal submissions are encouraged as it gives the mentors more time to review the proposal in detail, comment on it, potentially ask for additional input, and iterate with the student on your ideas. In the past, submitting closer to the deadline hasn't been a negative consideration, as all submissions are predominantly judged on merit, but submitting and discussing early do tend to be an advantage if there are others applications that have similar goals.

Students should propose what they actually want to work on, how you intend to work on it, what you intend to DO, what you know about that task, some details about yourself, etc. Be detailed and articulate. Brief proposals do not generally do very well. Your ability to perform the task is outright presumed by the nature of submitting a detailed application. Students should propose a task that they are comfortable and knowledgeable with performing within the timeframe of the program and considering any extenuating circumstances.

You may submit more than one application (one application for each project you would enjoy working on) if you so desire. This can help us when we receive more than one strong proposal for a single project, as generally speaking we will accept only one application for each project. However, please do not submit proposals for work you will not enjoy doing, and please do not sacrifice quality for quantity. One good application makes a much better impression than two half-baked applications.

If you talk with us on IRC about your SoC proposal, be sure to include your IRC nickname somewhere in your proposal.

You should also submit a patch before you submit your application, and be sure to include a link to the tracker item in your proposal submission. See the development requirements for details.

Students are expected to interact on the #bzflag IRC channel on the Freenode network, abide by the DEVINFO rules, and agree to the development requirements before submitting an application.

Thanks for your interest and we look forward to seeing you apply!

The application review process

Just about every participating GSoC organization receives considerably more project proposals than can be accepted. All the applications are reviewed, evaluated, and critiqued individually. Of those applications, only a few can be selected to work on BZFlag. We expect to receive many good applications, making the selection process very competitive and difficult (so make sure your application is excellent). This cannot be stressed enough. It is rather hard for most projects to narrow down the submissions but in the end there are only so many slots to work with and the line eventually has to be drawn. Every application gets read multiple times and reviewed in detail. We thank everyone that submits a proposal and hope to see many of you become involved in BZFlag software development regardless of acceptance.

In the end, submissions are selected according to the overall long-term impact that accepting the proposal can make for the game, perception of the submitter's abilities to complete the task within the program timeframe, general consensus on the technical approach being proposed, how well the student communicates with other developers, the perception that the individual is interested in being a long-term BZFlag developer, and our overall interest in having the proposed modifications made to BZFlag. Particular notice is made of students that are responsive to questions and readily interactive in the IRC channel. Communication is one of the most important criteria.

BZFlag participation in GSoc

2009 (more details here)

We've been accepted.

We intend to only accept at most three student slots this year. Our focus this year is on quality and cleanup so we can make a major release. Cleaning up and refactoring existing code is much more important to us this year than writing new code.

2008 (more details here)

BZGSoC2008 small.gif

The Google Summer of Code 2008 was announced on February 25, 2008. Given the substantial successes and opportunities provided by the program, BZFlag continues to participate in the program. We accepted six students, five of whom were integrated into our development community.

2007 (more details here)

BZGSoC2007 small.gif

BZFlag first participated during GSoC's third year in 2007. A detailed after-the-fact discussion and analysis of BZFlag's first-year participation is included in the article “Postmortem” Perspectives of a First-year Participant in the 2007 Google Summer of Code for BZFlag. This article was given to Google in August 2007 as a final report, per se, of our involvement (you're only a first-year participant once).

We accepted four students, three of whom were successful in their projects.


Promotion Flyers