Open Source Part Dare 3 Interest Check (interest check poll is now closed)

[passinglurker]

ATTENTION: The poll's closed, probes won, and you can find the official contest thread here

For those who don't already know the Open Source Part Dare contest is a simple competition where a host picks a part making challenge for participants to submit single part solutions to. After a fixed amount of time of minimally one week the general public then votes for their favorite submission and the winner of this vote picks the willing host for the next iteration of the contest (typically but not necessarily themselves)

I've got the pleasure of hosting the Open Source Part Dare competition this time around (first order of business I'm changing the name from "week" to "dare" because dare sounds cooler, and so far every one of these has taken longer than a week. The next host can change it back if they want) as some of you may have noticed this competition has struggled to garner participation (we are presently averaging 2 submissions per week ). So in an effort to attract participants I've decided to take a few days to throw some potential challenges up on a poll and see what people are most interested in all while using this thread to take in ideas and suggestions people have on how to improve the competition before I go and kick off the next iteration of the contest for reals.

Heh actually I may be pushing the whole "contest" line a bit hard. Really open source part dare, and the old open part mod at their core are about helping people develop and polish basic modding skills by encouraging them to release their art work's source files for others to take apart and learn how they work. On top of that the contest also cures writers block as it does most of the "what do I make?" thinking for you and since its a simple one part contest you are under no real or imaginary obligation to make a big ole over ambitious parts pack. Not only that with other people working on similar stuff at the same time its a great place to ask questions.

Do note that if you vote in the poll I am going to assume you are saying "Yes I would totally take time out of my life to make a part fitting the challenge I have voted for some time in the month of January"

The challenges are presented in the form of a problem that needs fixing and are as follows...

Probes!

Projected Difficulty: about as easy as it gets...

The Problem: With Squads new SAS mechanic you don't pick your probe cores based on aesthetics anymore. You pick them based on what level of SAS they have even if you don't find the probe core to be ascetically pleasing in anyway. Your challenge is to fix that by making a probe core with the look and form factor you want with the SAS level you want at the tech level you want.

Science!

Projected Difficulty: still pretty easy...

The Problem: Ever build a compact lander or rover and wish material bays weren't so bulky, that you didn't need two goo pods cause they only attach radially, or have you ever built a sleek new jet only to have to mar it by taping thermometers to the outside in the name of science? Your challenge is to show science who's boss and make a science experiment that fits with the look and function of your ship for once and not the other way around.

Early Airplanes!

Projected Difficulty: you can push yourself with this one...

The Problem: Aerial survey's over kerbin are a great way to make money early game and pay for those new facility upgrades... if you have airplane parts or are a master at traveling via ICBM that is... The problem is for those who are not sub orbital hopping rocket wizzes the earliest airplane parts are at the end of the tier 1 r&d building techtree. You don't want to grind and wait that long do you? You wanna soar like the majestic Keagle before it crashes and explodes that you are right now! Your challenge is to make a part that you feel will make early game aerial survey contracts easier (well not so much easier as more possible and/or economical, but you get the idea)

Modder Love!

Projected Difficulty: worth it...

The Problem: You have a favorite mod with a cool plugin that does a cool thing written by a brilliant coder guy that unfortunately doesn't have the art to do it justice? ever want to make a part for them to help'em along or show your appreciation for maintaining such a cool improvement on the stock game? well what are you waiting for!? You don't need some contest to tell you to get off your butt, but since you're here your challenge is to show another modder some love and make a part to go with one of your favorite mods you play with that isn't your own.

Previous Open Source Part Week threads

Week 1 discussion

Week 1 voting

Week 2 discussion/voting

Inspiring Open Part Mod threads

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Edited January 12, 2015 by passinglurker

[hab136]

First I've heard of it. Do you have links to previous rounds?

Ever build a compact lander or rover and wish material bays weren't so bulky, that you didn't need two goo pods cause they only attach radially, or have you ever built a sleek new jet only to have to mar it by taping thermometers to the outside in the name of science? Your challenge is to show science who's boss and make a science experiment that fits with the look and function of your ship for once and not the other way around.

I think this is already pretty well covered by Universal Storage, but diversity is always good. There's also at least one standalone inline Goo.

For hiding stuff inside generally, there's all sorts of cargo bays and also 6S service compartments

You have a favorite mod with a cool plugin that does a cool thing written by a brilliant coder guy

You forgot "good-looking" and also "modest"

I don't know how to model and don't need any parts, so won't be taking part, but this could be fun to watch.

[passinglurker]

First I've heard of it. Do you have links to previous rounds?

Edited them into my first post at your request and included links to the even older "open part mod" threads which proceeded this (and then died out so basically opensource part dare is an attempt to revive "open part mod" without the authority to steal the name )

I think this is already pretty well covered by Universal Storage, but diversity is always good. There's also at least one standalone inline Goo.

For hiding stuff inside generally, there's all sorts of cargo bays and also 6S service compartments

all the challenges are really just excuses to make simple parts(any of these challenges can be met with a textured cylinder and a config file, but are still open enough for people to get more fancy if they wish). For example science parts are great for first time modelers because if you are clever they can be made presentable using plain meshes and flat plastic textures and since all the functionality is just in the config file it isn't as hard to get working as say landing gear or an engine which are more picky about how they are put together

You forgot "good-looking" and also "modest"

I don't know how to model and don't need any parts, so won't be taking part, but this could be fun to watch.

Heh actually I may be pushing the whole "contest" line a bit hard. Really open source part dare, and the old open part mod at their core are about helping people develop and polish basic modding skills by encouraging them to release their art work's source files for others to take apart and learn how they work. On top of that the contest also cures writers block as it does most of the "what do I make?" thinking for you and since its a simple one part contest you are under no real or imaginary obligation to make a big ole over ambitious parts pack. Not only that with other people working on similar stuff at the same time its a great place to ask questions. So basically if one ever needed an excuse to make "learn to model" a new years resolution this would be it.

Anyway participating or not if you are watching a great way to help once the contest kicks off would be to take the participant's WIP parts out for a spin and provide some much needed feedback to them.

Edited January 6, 2015 by passinglurker

[moosefingers]

Hey guys, total forum noob here. Passinglurker directed me here from Reddit. I'm interested in learning how to create parts for KSP! Not 100% sure if I will have time to participate in this upcoming round, but given that I have no experience at the moment my vote would be for something simple like a probe core or a science part/module. But I would happily defer to everyone else, haha.

[hoojiwana]

Heh actually I may be pushing the whole "contest" line a bit hard. Really open source part dare, and the old open part mod at their core are about helping people develop and polish basic modding skills by encouraging them to release their art work's source files for others to take apart and learn how they work.

This is a better way of approaching things rather than the contest angle that might be offputting.

[passinglurker]

This is a better way of approaching things rather than the contest angle that might be offputting.

There tends to be two ways too look at it either that its a contest or a workshop. the contest angle is off putting to newbies because it seems intimating and high pressure, and the workshop angle is off putting to more experienced modders because it paints it as something they've out grown, but really there is a third angle I came across looking at the old openpart mod threads again when I was grabbing thier links to put in the first post.

I'm presently now of the opinion that the best angle to pitch this as is generating source art and advice snippets for people to use as references when learning to mod. pitched as this newbies don't feel as intimated (hopefully), experienced modders don't see it as something that's just for newbies as it has a higher goal they can contribute to, and the "contest" aspect merely exists as an attempt to make this self perpetuating instead of being reliant on a single tutorial making modder who could disappear one day. in other words the "contest" is just a way to regulate who's in charge in a larger collaborative effort... I kind of wonder if this is a viable way to run collaborations for other sorts mods and not just for getting people to post thier .blend's, .unity's and .xfc's

[-ctn-]

Definitely interested in the probe or science part, since I'm working on a part mod that includes both.

I can't vote for some reason (on my phone) but definitely love the aspect of an open source mod "contest."

[Helix935]

hmmm i will try to keep on eye on this mainly cause i don't want Open Source Part to end and also because there is already seems to be a lack of interest due to lack of posts....

[passinglurker]

That could just be because I put this thread in general addon affairs which if you check how many are viewing on the main page of the forums you will notice that this sub forum doesn't get a lot of traffic(also when this round nears its end I'm going to make a separate voting thread for this round and put it in releases because finished submissions count as releases and more importantly that subforum gets crazy amounts of traffic)

Really what I could use over thread bumps is more people besides me trying to promote this. Basically I'm finding the appearance of self promotion to be a bad thing when I try to point people who might be interested to this. well either that or some people honestly don't care and I'm taking their silence the wrong way, but my point is it's going to take more than one person asking for attention to get this "modding jam" to catch on.

[Robotengineer]

I would be interested in a probe challenge, with gold foil probes like real satellites.

[artwhaley]

I would suggest that if you do the 'modder love' challenge, everyone handle it with delicacy as to not offend the plugin makers... if they happen to like the model they're already using.

You could make generic 'flight computer' models that would be appropriate for a lot of mods - mechjeb, engineer, protractor, kos, etc. and set up a repository somewhere so the modmakers could come to you and use the open-source models if they want.

Or just suggest that people ask the mod maker if they'd like a new part before announcing 'so and so has an awful clunky ugly part, so I made this because it's better!' Or, as organizer, talk to a plugin-maker or two and get permission to use their plugin for the challenge... with the obvious understanding that what works for mechjeb would work fine for any other 'computery' mod later.

I only bring it up because i think supporting plugin coders is a great idea, but I can see the potential for someone to misunderstand and take it as insulting what they've done themselves.

[passinglurker]

Ok the development thread is up!

Probes won but don't feel discouraged if you voted for something else as long as the part you submit can function as a probe it fills the challenge no matter what science, flight, or mod features you build into it

Any way post you're WIP's there, ask questions, help each other, and like artwhaley said if you make your part for use in another mod that isn't your own be respectful make sure that mods author is chill with it and won't take the gesture the wrong way and feel insulted.