diff --git a/app/flatpages/help/featured.md b/app/flatpages/help/featured.md index 04875f1..babf8d3 100644 --- a/app/flatpages/help/featured.md +++ b/app/flatpages/help/featured.md @@ -1,6 +1,137 @@ title: Featured Packages -Editors can choose packages to feature on the homepage. -This is done using the Featured tag. +

+ Note: This is a draft, and is likely to change +

-We are still deciding on a policy for choosing Featured packages. +## What are Featured Packages? + +Featured Packages are shown at the top of the ContentDB homepage. In the future, +featured packages may be shown inside the Minetest client. + +The purpose is to promote content that demonstrates a high quality of what is +possible in Minetest. The selection should be varied, and should vary over time. +The featured content should be content that we are comfortable recommending to +a first time player. + +## How are the packages chosen? + +Before a package can be considered, it must fulfil the criteria in the below lists. +There are three types of criteria: + +* "MUST": These must absolutely be fulfilled, no exceptions! +* "SHOULD": Most of them should be fulfilled, if possible. Some of them can be + left out if there's a reason. +* "CAN": Can be fulfilled for bonus points, they are entirely optional. + +For a chance to get featured, a package must fulfil all "MUST" criteria and +ideally as many "SHOULD" criteria as possible. The more, the better. Thankfully, +many criteria are trivial to fulfil. Note that ticking off all the boxes is not +enough: Just because a package completes the checklist does not make it good. +Other aspects of the package should be rated as well. See this list as a +starting point, not as an exhaustive quality control. + +Editors are responsible for maintaining the list of featured packages. Authors +can request that their package be considered by opening a thread titled +"Feature Package" on their package. To speed things up, they should justify +why they meet (or don't meet) the below criteria. Editors must abstain from +voting on packages where they have a conflict of interest. + +A package being featured does not mean that it will be featured forever. A +package may be unfeatured if it no longer meets the criteria, to make space for +other packages to be featured, or for another reason. + +## General Requirements + +### General + +* MUST: Be 100% free and open source (as marked as Free on ContentDB). +* MUST: Work out-of-the-box (no weird setup or settings required). +* MUST: Be compatible with the latest stable Minetest release. +* SHOULD: Use public source control (such as Git). +* SHOULD: Have at least 3 reviews, and be largely positive. + +### Stability + +* MUST: Be well maintained (author is present and active). +* MUST: Be reasonably stable, with no game-breaking or major bugs. +* MUST: The author does not consider the package to be in an + experimental/development/alpha state. Beta and "unfinished" packages are fine. +* MUST: No error messages from the engine (e.g. missing textures). +* SHOULD: No major map breakages (including unknown nodes, corruption, loss of inventories). + Map breakages are a sign that the package isn't sufficiently stable. + +Note: Any map breakage will be excused if "disaster relief" (i.e. tools to repair the damage) +is available. + +### Meta and packaging + +* MUST: `screenshot.png` is present and up-to-date, with a correct aspect ratio (3:2, at least 300x200). +* MUST: Have a high resolution cover image on ContentDB (at least 1280x768 pixels). + It may be shown cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio, or shorter. +* MUST: mod.conf/game.conf/texture_pack.conf present with: + * name (if mod or game) + * description + * dependencies (if relevant) + * `min_minetest_version` and `max_minetest_version` (if relevant) +* MUST: Contain a README file and a LICENSE file. These may be `.md` or `.txt`. + * README files typically contain helpful links (download, manual, bugtracker, etc), and other + information that players or (potential) contributors may need. +* SHOULD: All important settings are in settingtypes.txt with description. + +## Game-specific Requirements + +### Meta and packaging + +* MUST: Have a main menu icon and header image. + +### Stability + +* MUST: If any major setting (like `enable_damage`) is unsupported, the game must disable it + using `disabled_settings` in the `game.conf`, and deal with it appropriately in the code + (e.g. force-disable the setting, as the user may still set the setting in `minetest.conf`) + +### Usability + +* MUST: Unsupported mapgens are disabled in game.conf. +* SHOULD: Passes the Beginner Test: A newbie to the game (but not Minetest) wouldn't get completely + stuck within the first 5 minutes of playing. +* SHOULD: Have good documentation. This may include one or more of: + * A craftguide, or other in-game learning system + * A manual + * A wiki + * Something else + +### Gameplay + +* CAN: Passes the Six Hour Test (only applies to sandbox games): The game doesn't run out of new + content before the first 6 hours of playing. +* CAN: Players don't feel that something in the game is "lacking". + +### Audiovisuals + +* MUST: Audiovisual design should be of good quality. +* MUST: No obvious GUI/HUD breakages. +* MUST: Sounds have no obvious artifacts like clicks or unintentional noise. +* SHOULD: Graphical design is mostly consistent. +* SHOULD: Sounds are used. +* SHOULD: Sounds are normalized (more or less). + +### Quality Assurance + +* MUST: No flooding the console/log file with warnings. +* MUST: No duplicate crafting recipes. +* MUST: Highly experimental game features are disabled by default. +* MUST: Experimental game features are clearly marked as such. +* SHOULD: No unknown nodes/items/objects appear. +* SHOULD: No dependency on legacy API calls. +* SHOULD: No console warnings. + +### Writing + +* MUST: All items that can be obtained in normal gameplay have `description` set (whether in the definition or meta). +* MUST: Game is not littered with typos or bad grammar (a few typos are OK but should be fixed, when found). +* SHOULD: All items have unique names (items which disguise themselves as another item are exempt). +* SHOULD: The writing style of all item names is grammatical and consistent. +* SHOULD: Descriptions of things convey useful and meaningful information (if applicable). +* CAN: Text is written in clear and (if possible) simple language.