Add README.md about source HOT 2 OPEN

In the SCI I'm using that. Probably too long. But a good chunk of it might be worth it? A lot of the content could get links instead (to starter documentation, forum pages, etc.)

Supervison by a person more firm in english might be a good idea for that as well :-)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/szcab8zxx2mf7ed/-_A_ReadMe_for_JA2v1.13_SCI.txt/file

Or do you think more on a readme specific to source only?

from source.

Disclaimer: played vanilla JA2 back then, no hands-on experience with JA2 1.13, but I take a quick look at what¨s avaialable regarding JA2 once every 5 years or so.

I hope I'm not about to tell you what you already know and want to do anyway; my apologies if I am.

People on Github usually don't visit the organization's page (where there currently already is a little bit of info on 1.13), they tend to bookmark the individual repos. This source repo seems like the main one to me since it contains the most important parts and it has the highest development activity, also the releases will be done in this one I presume?

It's not unreasonable to expect the majority people will visit the repo (or any GitHub Pages you create on top of it), while only some visit forums and Discord. This might be different for 1.13 as everyone started at forums. The README.md would be excellent to answer some initial questions about 1.13 (or at least put a link into documentation repo somewhere near the beginning that has all the details). Imagine if people visited only one page to learn about the project, the repo's README.md is excellent for that.

For me (see the disclaimer), I'd be looking to README.md for information like:

• what's 1.13 about, what does it add over vanilla? does it just fix the vanilla bugs and make an extra step in the original vision? or is it a package of improvements the original game never even thought about, adding cities, items, NPCs? list all the spotlight features 1.13 has (or at least put a link into documentation repo that has all the details and screenshots).
• how does 1.13 compare to other JA2 projects, e.g. JA2-Straciatella? could 1.13 run on top of it since it seems Straciatella is an engine rewrite while 1.13 is designed as a mod?
• what are the supported platforms? is this only Windows + Visual Studio or can you use different compiler and/or different OS?
• is there any roadmap, what more do you want to achieve? both a specific "1.13 v1.0 must have these" list or just a vision of what you'd like are fine
• how to compile, how to install (shouldn't be very long, if yes - just basic info + link to documentation repo)
• what's the source code license? contributors might want to know that, it's very common on GitHub -- though this is often handled by a separate LICENSE file, not in README.md

GitHub also provides a wiki feature; potentially anywhere I say "documentation repo" it could also mean "wiki".

from source.