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How is Godot developed? There is a community, and a foundation. Contributions from the community go through the foundation.

The ideal workflow is image 1. A smooth way to work on submissions. But the reality is image 2. Many things get ignored.

Why do submissions get ignored? Volume of submissions is just too high. Answering properly takes a lot of time. Some contributors can’t take a no, no matter how polite. It’s a stressful situation for everyone.

This organically leads to shiny proposals with barely any use, drama discussions, and endlessly open PRs that will never get merged no matter how much they are worked on.

How can you help? Understand this rationale. Think about whether it’s useful now, rather than in the future. Think like a Godot developer.

Introducing an idea: Feature Scoring, to rate a feature to measure if it should be merged or not. Measuring would be on a CRIS score. Complexity, Reach, Impediment, Stakeholder.

Examples of scoring for each point in CRIS.

Example issue:, just for example: VIM in Godot: Complex, few need it.

Example issue: Interfaces. Important, but technically complex.

An example from a feature request by @reduz.bsky.social himself: Action Area. Not important, undemanded.

Example of symbol refactor: Complexity went from 0.1 to 0.9 by a suggestion to make it easier to implement. This would make it score much higher.

Idea: Have a panel that anonymously judges the scores, for each feature. Submitter can appeal if the feel it is incorrect.

Why do this? What would it fix? Have an objective method for reviewing. Help submitters understand why they get accepted or ignored. Give definitively answers to requests. Project staff from harassment from those who can’t take feedback.

I asked: What about feature requests for things that would create new users of Godot that do not yet exist? The reach may be users who aren’t there yet, the impediment is those users are not there yet at all, and the stakeholder cannot exist as those users are not there yet.

Answer: Yes, but we ran into this with visual scripting. People kept asking for a ‘Blueprint like’ node system, it was built, and then nobody used it, so it was removed again in 4.0 So their experience has been to not just build things that “would add new users”, but instead service existing users.

(Personally I worry this creates an echo chamber that eventually solidifies into concrete barriers where progress isn’t possible because only what currently exists is allowed. Blender had this same issue until they finally relented and did a UX pass that then skyrocketed their userbase)

Do you like money? Government money? Here is a talk about getting better at grant writing, to fund your projects, by @baroness.bsky.social

Disclaimer: It depends. There are always people involved, so no advice guarantees a 100% success rate.

It’s really hard, but getting better at grant writing is very helpful. If you get rejected, try and try again!

Grant money is very well spent money. So please apply, because if you don’t, the money can disappear.

Please follow the grant guidelines. Copy and paste the requirements. Stick to the questions and max page count. Registrations, letters of intent, have them there if necessary. If anything is unclear: Contact the fund! Ask!

Be specific and to the point in few words. Use the 5W & 1H method. Who, what, when, where, why, how. Or record yourself for 2 minutes to nail this down.

Be very realistic about your planning. Do not try and squeeze the project into a time that is too tight. If this is your first time, multiple your budget by 5.