first off I think everyone should read this book. http://producingoss.com/ it has been translated into a few other languages, it is very well written, and it describes lots of the pitfalls to this project to a T.
problem 1, no (visible?) leadership.
you guys need really need a Benevolent Dictator.
http://producingoss.com/en/social-infrastructure.html
problem 2, lack of a good Release Owner & Stabilizing a Release.The benevolent dictator model is exactly what it sounds like: final decision-making authority rests with one person, who, by virtue of personality and experience, is expected to use it wisely.
beta 4/5/6/7/8/9/10... I don't think I must say more?The last-minute feature rush is a familiar phenomenon in collaborative software projects: as soon as developers see that a release is about to happen, they scramble to finish their current changes, in order not to miss the boat. This, of course, is the exact opposite of what you want at release time. It would be much better for people to work on features at a comfortable pace, and not worry too much about whether their changes make it into this release or the next one. The more changes one tries to cram into a release at the last minute, the more the code is destabilized, and (usually) the more new bugs are created.
problem 3, lack of (visible?) communication
where is all the decision making going on?
I assume it is on IRC but I can't locate logs of what is going on anyplace except the main #warzone2100 channel.
if there is a logging bot for #warzone2100 then why not #warzone2100-developer?
http://producingoss.com/en/setting-tone ... iscussions
problem 4, your only as good as your bug tracker.The temptation to make decisions behind closed doors and present them as faits accomplis, or at least as the firm recommendations of a united and influential voting block, will be great indeed.
Don't do it.
I guess this could be site issues but there are huge gaps in the archives on https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/warzone-dev/ unless there is another secret(?) list someplace? I don't understand why project is hosted on sourceforge, trac is here, and the mailing list is on gna.org.
that is very odd.
http://producingoss.com/en/bug-tracker.html
too much to quote, but a good read!
problem 5, no code review(?)
http://producingoss.com/en/setting-tone ... ode-review
is this even being done someplace on a frequent basis?
I see a few trac tickets about some code but it may also be done on another mailing list(?) or IRC ?
problem 6, communications of developers.
I can't stress this one enough.
http://producingoss.com/en/common-pitfa ... th-purpose
read the whole chapterA common pitfall in online project participation is to think that you have to respond to everything. You don't.
and
http://producingoss.com/en/communications.html
and http://producingoss.com/en/managing-vol ... -criticism
that should cover the main points and I really hope this helps get this project on stable ground again.