more first class citizenship for content

so my depot root looks something like this..

Code:

fluorine9
release
external
source
intermediate
output

because content is a first class citizen it lives inside of the source directory with the code. however.. it also lives inside of output. it finds its way their via some sort of build/batch process. different game houses handle their content in different ways. some will do the copy. some will not. i'm not sure what is the best way to go here.

to copy..
forces a formal way in which content gets in the official game.

to not copy..
easier for the artist to iterate

there are more pros and cons for each, but these are the main ones in my mind. however.. the second one has two very important words.. 'easier' and 'iterate'.

i think i am going to get rid of the output directory. my naming structure is already designed to handle multiple platforms content living in the same root, so there is not a technical reason why it needs to exist. it exists only for process sake. process is good, but in this case, it might be a hoop that does not need to be jumped by creative folk. the source-control aspect already imposes a process hoop, maybe that is enough.

as for consoles that need to do the copy.. i think some sort of directory mirroring magic watching tool is probably the way to go. copying shit over and especially not knowing the state of the data on your console is fucking terrible.