Source Code Project
Source Code Project, or SCP, refers to the open-source modification of the retail FreeSpace 2 engine called FreeSpace Open.
History
In 2002, Dave Baranec (one of the individuals who worked on FreeSpace 2), released the FreeSpace 2 source on the now-defunct Volition Watch.
Although the code was missing major components (such as the PXO multiplayer code and the ability to play movies), new features, such as glowpoints, were quickly added. Ship class limits were bumped.
The individual programmers who were making enhancements to the original code soon organized themselves into the FreeSpace Source Code Project and kept on working. Glow mapping, shine mapping, DirectX 8.0 support, a new multiplayer network system and dozens of new SEXPs have followed over the years.
The SCP Staff
The FSSCP is headed up by The_E. Former heads include chief1983, Goober5000, Taylor and Inquisitor.
The project leaders keep the team organized and working towards set goals. They will request a 'code freeze' before a major release, when programmers aren't supposed to add new features, and instead focus on cleaning up existing bugs. When the team is not preparing for a release, individual programmers are given a lot of leeway in what they can work on.
Not only does the SCP team enhance the graphics and the gameplay of FreeSpace, modders can also add their own features into the mods they are working on. The FSSCP allows mod development teams, campaign builders, and individual mission makers to add features that will enhance their work.
Established projects that need features and who are involved in the community will usually have their requested features added first, but if you have any great ideas, please post them in the FSSCP Forum on the Hard-Light Productions Forums (Be sure to do a search first so you're not reposting ideas).
While the developers are hard at work implementing new features, a critical area that you can help in is reporting bugs and helping coders to track them down. The place to do all of this bug tracking is using Mantis, the bug-reporting tool currently used by the FSSCP team. To learn more, please check out the article covering Bug Reporting
Release Timeline
Now recorded here: https://github.com/scp-fs2open/fs2open.github.com/wiki/History-and-Release-Timeline
