CONTRIBUTING TO VGSTATION

General rules

Pull requests must be atomic. Change one set of related things at a time. Bundling sucks for everyone.
This means, primarily, that you shouldn't fix bugs and add content in the same PR. When we mean 'bundling', we mean making one PR for multiple, unrelated changes.
Test your changes. PRs that do not compile will not be accepted.
Testing your changes locally is incredibly important. If you break the serb we will be very upset with you.
Large changes require discussion. If you're doing a large, game-changing modification, or a new layout for something, discussion with the community is required as of 26/6/2014. Map and sprite changes require pictures of before and after. MAINTAINERS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO THIS. GET YOUR ASS IN THE CODE DISCORD. (link in README.md)
Merging your own PRs is considered bad practice, as it generally means you bypass peer review, which is a core part of how we develop.

Balance changes must require that feedback be sought out from the players. For example, server polls. This does not mean you pop into #code-talk in Discord and ask about it once. Good examples include:
- Server polls. Duration of the poll should be longer than 24 hours at minimum. Use best judgment.
- Bringing attention to your PR via in-game OOC, ideally over several time slots.
Balance change PRs need changelogs. Always.
If you are a collaborator, allow sufficient time for feedback to be gathered, and make sure that it has been gathered.

It is also suggested that you hop into irc.rizon.net #vgstation to discuss your changes, or if you need help.

If you're working with PNG and/or DMI files, you might want to check out and install the pre-commit git hook found here. This will automatically run optipng (if you have it) on your added/modified files, shaving off some bytes here and there.