Title: Interactive Project

The first item in the Features section could just as well have been an item in the Dialgue section because it relies on members contributions. I do not know of any other publication that has attempted this kind of interactive development of software between a lead contributor and its readers. The success of this is very much in your hands.

One thing that I am doing is asking our webmaster to set up a special mailing list for people who want to get their hands dirty. Its address will be <game-development@accu.org>. The usual methods will apply for subscribing to and unsubscribing from the list. I hope that it will be active when many points arising from Brett's column being discussed. I will be very sad if it is either moribund or needs moderation because of flame wars.

One thing that any project needs is a consistent coding style. This is Brett's project so he has the final say on such issues. This does not mean that important issues in this area cannot be discussed but that ultimately it is his call.

Let me give you an example. In this issue's article he uses a C-style mechanism for naming types supplied by enums. The typedefs provide all uppercase names. I would argue that the use of a typedef is unnecessary and that the use of all uppercase for any identifier is unwise unless it is for the preprocessor. None-the-less, if after discussion and thought, Brett wants to keep it that way then it will be his choice.

Another issue that I had to think about was whether to change speelings in his article to Standard English or leave them in Standard American. If we were a purely UK organisation that happened to allow non-residents to join then I would make the change. However, ACCU is not purely UK even though that is where it started so I have made an editorial decision to require consistency within a single article but not to specify for the publication as a whole. I would welcome your opinions on this decision.

This leads to another issue that is unrelated to the above. While C Vu has always been very relaxed in its editorial style and not only accepts but actively encourages less formal writing styles I think the time has come to make a few changes.

There are places where contractions such as "I'd" or "doesn't" actually read more smoothly than the expanded versions but mostly they are unnecessary in writing and will be copy edited. Similarly, in context, emoticons are fine but generally exclamation marks are not (they are intended to identify exclamations).

There are various other items that have a limited place in professional writing and will normally be changed. If you feel strongly about your own contributions mark this on your work, otherwise it will be copy-edited.