dev noob with an idea. where to start ?
 

k. it's fairly simple. I've got an idea for a nice addon. I'm in the initial fase of knowing what some of the features I would like the thing to do and it's going to require some chatter between different client's to work succesfully. Personally I have a very basic programming knowledge. Give me some time and i might be able to do a /hello world.lua .If you know what i mean. but right now i wouldn't even know where to begin to make a complete stand alone addon.

So basically yes, preferably I would like to seek some guidance, direction. tip's. heck, maybe even a bored dev or two that jump up and say 'awesome, I could help you out with that'.

Whats a good way to start making an addon? I'd rather make it all on my own and take all the glory and credit and donations and sure there are some great guides i've already spotted and I should brush up on my programming skills regardles,I know. I don't really have the resources to hire someone or anything but teaming up sounds great to me.In fact, anyone that is willing to help will of course get a lot of credit and I'm humble enough to let you in on any potential donations it might receive.

Right now i'll go ahead and start working on that hello world. :p

Look at simple addons that you use and re-engineer them. Also, Blizzard's Interface Addons Kit is another good way to get started.

oe. cheers, will check it.
I know its a bit selfish point of view maybe, and i don't mean to be too demanding on anyone. I don't mind building it from scratch up you know, but i know my coding skill is severely crap.

I know nobody of you either has a magic button that makes addon's. hehe. but i don't want to reinvent the wheel myself either.

also. i fear what will happen when i do actually manage to create some sort of framework and get to the chatter part. ;p

After playing around with xml and lua coding for addons I decided to go through the pure lua route and things have turned out pretty well there.

I use wowwiki alot and as has been said, I looked at addons I was using and tried to tweak them to do what I want. Then I tried to take out bits and pieces to make up my own addon to do the stuff I wanted leaving the stuff I didn't want out of it.

My LootAlerter addon is a good example of my learning experience as each upload had an improvement of some sort or other as I learned more and more about creating addons and programming in lua.

Feel free to browse around it and see if it helps you. I'd suggest starting with version 1.0.0 and go from there comparing the versions to see what was added to make the new changes work. It's by no means perfect but the features it has now are way more than what it had in the early versions.

I think you all underestimate the part where I say my coding is crap ;)
but i dont want to give up too quick and give the full idea to someone because of it's potential. So i'm a bit stuck in the middle.

I did check out the examples a bit better. But there is a long way between an idea plus a hello world example and something working and usefull.

anyway, cheers so far.


Bottom line, on one part I don't mind throwing the idea into the community, let some dev take it over and download it later on when its done ;p

But it's not that simple. ofc i don't expect to make loads of profit for making an addon in general, and i'm not fantasizing that i'll be rich if i make a perfect addon. and im not worried ill miss out on loads and loads of cash if i take on a partner.

Thing is. I know my coding skill is virtually non existent. Do you think, in general, this site can be used to set up a project and have multiple dev's working on something and still 'own' the idea as intellectual property while still being able to reward people on their commitment and dedication,even when there is currently no budget whatsoever ?

or if it were the other way. suppose you have an idea. and you realize in the grand way you envision it it's beyond just helpful and something you want to use for yourself but you think it can be part of something bigger, potentially lucrative. but you realize you are not capable of creating the framework in which this all takes place. How would you go about finding people that can help ;)

Rofl before wow addons I had no idea how to use xml and lua coding. So it was like learning a new language. Programming background helps but you should pick up the basic knowledge pretty quickly enough.

hehe - if you're looking for something "lucrative", you're in the wrong area. ;)

yes, of course. i know. I'm not expecting a dime whatsoever.

but seeing as i do know several stories of 'that one kid with that one reasonably clever idea that did turn out way better as he expected' ... I'll not be tempted to just give it away and say 'here, i have this idea can you now build it for me please' ;)


besides... i doubt hundreds of you will go "oh please let me code it for you because i have nothing better to do and don't want anything in return". don't burst my incentive bubble .. jk jk ;)

The hardest part is always "starting up" that engine. It takes some time to develop a foundation on any programming language, especially your first one. I'd suggest some of the various "beginner tutorials" that you can find in the AddOn Kit and around websites such as WoW Interface. I know many people have posted help about this very topic, so I suggest you search for those. I also recommend looking for some basic addons out there already made. A key part of learning is by example and so you can see what other people do to help yourself out.

Start simple and you can increase your knowledge from there!

www.wowprogramming.com
www.wowwiki.com

These are both great resources for programming. You can also ask as many questions as you would like here and at WoWAce.com

Good luck!

there are some cool tips mentioned so far, thanks!
if someone however does go "oh please let me code it for you because i have nothing better to do" give me a whisper ;)

Hmm i may just have read over it and missed it but what exactly are you making? What does your addon do?

I was 'lurking' for that. :D

i dont really want to tell yet ;p
but trust me, ive looked and there is no other even remotely near what i have in mind :)

You might want to try adapting a more open attitude. Chances are the first addon you wish to create isn't going to yield you buckets of cash or fame. Hell, chances are you'll never get either from addon dev. You're probably best off throwing the idea out there to learn just what you need to learn to pull it off. That, or you could ask for small pieces of advice rather than the whole thing.

In any case, tips mentioned have been sound. Buy Programming in Lua -- buying a book gives you more incentive to read it -- and flick through it on a rainy day. Start with a simple function that you'll probably adapt into the main addon and see how you get along. Chances are there'll be a lot of re-design and a lot of learning. Use WoWProgramming and WoWWiki as your documentation.

Good Guides
http://lua-users.org/wiki/TutorialDirectory
http://www.lua.org/pil
http://wowprogramming.com/

API References
http://wowprogramming.com/docs
http://www.wowwiki.com/Api

Weird stuff but sometimes useful (although most guides in there are out of date)
http://www.wowwiki.com/HOWTOs

If all else fails and your really stuck
Make a thread here or go to the WoWUIDev IRC Channel.

The Programming in Lua book helped me understand quite a few things that wowwiki and the lua links glossed over. I didn't buy it myself but was one of the books my brother bought so he lent it to me so that I could use it.

I definitely agree..
but after working at a company that had some trouble with a competitor stealing an idea (which resulted in us being drilled not to spread idea's around lightly ;) ). And concluding that what i have in mind is not in existence at the moment. I'll take my chances on sounding rude or that I don't have a open attitude ;)

And i know it may be far fetched to be nitpicky about having the idea being stolen right of the bat, especially on a site that hosts a lot of projects especially where all the projects are pretty much written in plain text lua.
but, ask yourself the same. if you had a good idea for a addon, that you envision could potentially be on the scale of 'questhelper', 'recount', or 'auctioneer' (aka something that loads of people use). wouldn't you try and keep others from beating you in making it first for as long as possible? starting by not telling what it's all about ;)

In fact I think I'm pretty open. but the idea or concept aside. or speculation about whether it may or may not yield revenue aside. I mean, I've even admitted I'd rather not make it myself, alone, from scratch ;p

but all kidding aside.
ok, so far lots of good points on where to start for myself as programmer.
anyone with experience or tips on the other bits.

How does this site's part of 'projects' work ? Does creating a project void or amplify ones natural and or legislated rights regarding the intellectual property? I mean, it's great that I have an idea, but it doesn't immediately mean i have the money to patent it in every country ;P and i realize it's mostly paranoia but .. you know. better safe as sorry, right?

If I want to skip the entire hassle of learning lua and actually making it from scratch. since I have the programming skill of a 12 year old, not to mention that frankly i just want to use it, not build it. Lets say, i want to 'hire' one of you experts here. first, would anyone be interested at all. second, would someone be interested if the pay is part of the revenue rather as cold hard cash now. :o

Have a look at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/policy/ui.html , before you think about "revenue".

1. AddOn authors retain their copyright when uploading their mod to the site, whichever license you wish to apply to your project. Note that "All Rights Reserved" is default on any creative work (addon, artwork, font, etc.).

2. As Slakah pointed out above, Blizzard requires that all addons be available free of charge. They're not saying that you can't charge for your copyrighted work, but if you do, they won't allow it to work with the game. Their game, their rules.

2a. This leaves the only source of "revenue" to be donations. Which are just that - donations. Optional payments of any amount that appreciative users award the author of an addon.

2b. Any project that requires payment will not be hosted on WoWInterface.

3. You are unlikely to receive a volunteer to help you with your project unless they know what your idea is. People just don't work that way. Especially when it's just an addon for a game that they'd be working on in their free time. If you want someone to help you out, then you need to tell them what the idea is and convince them that they should. You can search all of the wow UI forums and find posts similar to what we are saying to you. ;)

4. It is also quite possible that you have not seen anything like your idea because it is not possible to accomplish. Again, we can't help you out with places to look for help, advice on how to code, etc, etc, if we don't know what you're trying to do. ;)

This, especially. WoW has been out for a long time, and chances are anything that could see large scale success, like QuestHelper or Carbonite, has already been created. There are smaller innovations every now and then which really do make you wonder why no one thought of them before (I'm looking at you, VirtualPlates) but for the most part everything that doesn't fill a very tiny niche or is not possible has already been made.

This is, of course, not to say that there is no chance that your idea will be a great one.

In regards to revenue, you can go ahead and look at some hugely successful addons and see only meager donations. That is the only revenue you may make, and it certainly doesn't add up to the dev hours clocked to create such an addon.