I was taking a look through the forum the other day and was talking with Vash about some of the policy around ZFGC and he felt I should share my observations and ideas with the members.
In any case, the issue I'm looking at here is the for the most part horrendous track record in fan games. Not one full game has ever been completed or come even close for that matter. I'm not here to !@#$% about it, I'm here to tell you how to fix it from my point of view.
Vash and I both agree that fan game development is not an uncommon first step towards game development. However it seems most of the staff has the misconception that fan game development is the first step toward real programming. The thing to understand is that these are two very different things.
Game development is the process of forming a team of people with varied talents, coming up with a concept, starting it, and most importantly, finishing it.
Good programming is the efficient and effective use of code such it does its job well, quickly, and is written in a fashion that most programmers would take little time to familiarize with it.
The fundamental issue here isn't that people aren't using XNA or C++ or don't know how to program, the issue is that users lack the sense to properly form a team. This isn't their fault though, this burden falls on the forum.
Again, fan game devs are often newbies. They come in with their own concept that they want to do but generally very few people are interested in helping. Typically they're lucky to get a tester and a mediocre spriter and work in GM or something. They also tend to work on multiple projects of this type. Eventually, with no one but themselves to keep motivated, they lose interest and the project(s) is scrapped.
This is not to say GM is bad. It is a language for the inexperienced so its logical that inexperienced people use them. There's nothing wrong with encouraging use of more powerful languages but pinning that as the problem is naive. This is why all the Fan Game tutorials aren't well used because they all start lesson 1 at programming.
What should be happening is new users should be encouraged to form teams, create a new concept as a team, and then execute on it. These teams shouldn't be entirely composed of new/inexperienced members but should have a few of ZFGC's senior members so the newer can learn from them.
In example, programmers could start by getting grips with GM on a simple project. They could then advance to a more complex project where they establish some programming concepts. Then say some of those people work on a project with let's say Infini and learn how to apply those concepts in C#.
I suggest to overhaul the Projects section. Potentially keep the threads, but create sub-forums for approved teams of members. Approve teams based on the scope of their project, experience, if any members are undertaking other projects and so forth. Additionally, add a section where members can post a thread stating they are looking for a team in which they document their skills and experience.
This sets up a system in which members are accountable for each other. Programmers make sure they're all working as do artists and the other team members. If not, they can pick someone up from the Looking for Work board. This also puts administrative pressure on the team for fear of losing their board. Possibly most important, is that it puts the staff in the position to guide and teach members better game design habits.
This of course requires heavy participation from the staff in working on projects, moderating the boards, approving teams, and so forth. That seems entirely doable if less focus is put on extraneous things like the resource repository and the Weekly. I'm not saying they're bad or useless, but they don't fix the fan game development problem. I'm also not saying this forum should lose its personality.
I understand this is a lot stuff to process so questions, comments, criticisms, and suggestions are all welcome. However, please keep it as constructive as possible.