From 3f33088175295821eca932ba9dacbfd7b5146826 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: clayjohn Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:01:00 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add Foundation update blog post Announce the policies and procedures and provide short updates on other topics of interest --- .../godot-foundation-update-sep-2024.md | 98 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 98 insertions(+) create mode 100644 collections/_article/godot-foundation-update-sep-2024.md diff --git a/collections/_article/godot-foundation-update-sep-2024.md b/collections/_article/godot-foundation-update-sep-2024.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..e3739c33b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/collections/_article/godot-foundation-update-sep-2024.md @@ -0,0 +1,98 @@ +--- +title: "Godot Foundation Update September 2024" +excerpt: "We've been quietly working on a number of things! Here are a few." +categories: ["news"] +author: Godot Foundation +image: /storage/blog/covers/godot-foundation-update-2023.jpg +date: 2024-09-30 12:00:00 +--- + +The Foundation has been working on a number of things behind the scenes that are important for the organization and for +the Godot ecosystem more broadly. We wanted to take the chance to highlight a few of them in this post. + +## Key Policies and Procedures +The Foundation was formed approximately two years ago, but we have only been operating in a full capacity since last +summer. We initially adopted the [member project policies](https://sfconservancy.org/projects/policies/) of the Software +Freedom Conservancy. Doing so allowed us to operate exactly as we had when we were a member project of the SFC, and +maintain very high standards. + +Recently we adopted a modified version of those policies that is more specific to our organization. You can read the +updated version on the [Godot Foundation website](https://godot.foundation/policies-and-procedures/key-policies). + +We are very happy with the policies and we hope you are too. They hold us to a very high standard and ensure that the +Foundation will always operate in a way that supports Godot. + +## Contractors +The Foundation has 9 contractors working on the engine directly (5 full time, 4 part time) and 3 contractors +working on administration + infrastructure right. We are currently in the hiring process for 1-2 more positions. + +Even with 12 people we feel very understaffed as there is always more work that can be done. Accordingly, we would like +to continue hiring once funding allows for it. + +## Upcoming projects +The Foundation is working on 4 major projects in addition to working on Godot itself: +1. An official asset store +2. An official job board on the Godot website +3. A public project priorities document +4. A public trademark policy + +### Asset Store +We have been working towards an initial version of the asset store for a while now. It has taken us some time to get the +legal aspects into place and a design agreed upon. + +We will have a dedicated announcement soon with more information! + +### Job Board +We aim to have a place for people to post that are looking to hire Godot developers to add to their game team or Godot +contributors to fix high priority bugs that may be impacting your team. + +In addition to a job board, we will be curating a list of service providers who have shown that they offer services in +the Godot Ecosystem to make it easy to find someone to contract with if you need support or any other services. + +Much of the foundational work for this has been finished, but it will likely be released after the asset store so we can +focus our efforts more on the asset store. + +### Project Priorities +Soon we will be adding a project priorities page to our website to give the community more clarity on the direction of +development. + +We have avoided providing a roadmap as we don’t want to promise more than we can deliver, or put too much pressure on +volunteer contributors. However, the Godot Project maintainers have agreed that it is time to at least write down what +the largest tasks are that we are working towards. This won’t be like a traditional roadmap where we have specific tasks +with expected dates. However, we believe it will answer a lot of questions that the community has about the future of +the project. + +### Trademark Policy +We registered the Godot trademark and the Godot logo trademark while still a member project of the SFC. Last year the +SFC granted the Godot Foundation ownership over the trademarks. Now we need to have a public policy that says how and +when others can use the trademarks in order to protect them. + +We are working with our lawyers to craft a policy that is fair to existing users, as permissive as possible, and still +able to protect our trademark. + +We will have a blog post soon with more information. + +## The Foundation's role in the project + +We also wanted to take this chance to muse about about the Foundation's role in the project. In particular, we want to +contrast the size of the Foundation with the size of the Godot project contributor pool. As explained above, the +Foundation currently hires 12 contractors to work on Godot, while the total number of contributors to Godot is over +2,500 (the 4.3 release alone had over 500 contributors)! This large group of contributors is the reason why Godot is +able to improve so quickly and do so much for a fraction of the funding that the other large engines have. + +The Foundation (meaning the Board of Directors and the people hired by the Foundation) does not determine the priorities +of the project in a top-down way. In other words, the Foundation does not dictate to individual volunteers what they +should work on. Instead it influences the project implicitly by making hiring decisions and hiring people for specific +tasks that aren’t being done by the community. + +Ultimately, it is the Godot community that deserves the most credit for the growth and development of Godot. While we +hope to see the Foundation grow and take on a stronger role in the project, it should be seen as a central pillar of the +project that volunteers can rally around. Donating to the Foundation is one avenue to contribute, but there are many +more and Godot needs contribution in all areas in order to continue growing at this pace. Please consider contributing +however you are able! + +## Support + +Godot is a non-profit, open source game engine developed by hundreds of contributors in their free time, as well as a handful of part or full-time developers hired thanks to [generous donations from the Godot community](https://fund.godotengine.org/). A big thank you to everyone who has contributed [their time](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/AUTHORS.md) or [their financial support](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/DONORS.md) to the project! + +If you'd like to support the project financially and help us secure our future hires, you can do so using the [Godot Development Fund](https://fund.godotengine.org/) platform managed by [Godot Foundation](https://godot.foundation/). There are also several [alternative ways to donate](/donate) which you may find more suitable.