Hi! It's Monday, and we've got the day off for some reason. (Something about Easter) Me and ez took a short walk, and the weather was wonderful. :-D
But that's not what this blog post is about. It's about dumping a bunch of random information on you!
First of all, Jens got temporarily moved to a new project, so I'm on my own on Minecraft for a while (not sure how long..). It feels scary, but he's right across the desk from me. Thank you for your work so far, Jens, I know both the community and I really appreciate all your hard work. :-D
Jens was working on integrating/tweaking the Piston mod, which will probably get delayed as a result of this. We don't want to just add it as-is because it doesn't quite feel “fantasy” enough, and there's a lot of corner cases we need to solve.
Last week, I started playing around with minimaps, and Vraket from Oxeye games took some interest in it. We played around with it for a while, and it kinda got more and more ambitious as we went. Now it's a proper mapping tool! You make a map, and it starts out empty. As you move around, you fill in parts of the map automatically (as long as the map is being held). You can give the map to other people and they will see what you've explored on there, and it's quite possible you will even be able to magically “link” two maps so they're the same map. That means you will be able to see where other people who carry the same map are.
Vraket is a game design genius, btw.
One slightly bad news item is that I'm starting to get second thoughts about the modding API. People are already doing great mods, and there's no way we'd be able to make an API good and dynamic enough to support all of the awesome things people are making. I still very much want modding to be a part of Minecraft, but I'm not convinced spending months writing an API that won't satisfy people is the correct way to do so. There probably are better ways to do it.
The main problems we need to solve are preventing people from making money off our work (unless they have a license deal with us), and making sure mods don't break with each game update. People obviously already CAN make mods, so the ability to make them isn't the biggest priority.
Hmm.
Oh, oh, oh, and we also passed two million sales! That's HUUGE, and as usual I'm not quite sure how to deal with it! We've got a company dinner planned for Thursday night, and I plan on getting Jakob drunk. That would be fun.
And in like a month and a half, we've got our office house warming party! It's a bit late since we moved in like half a year ago, but the renovations and new decorations should finally be done by then. The guest list is pretty long, but Carl assures us there's room for everyone.
There's one final piece of information that I'd love to share, but I'm not allowed to. I'll just say I'm very excited about it :D
That map thingy sounds pretty cool
Agreed, just 1 thing should be added: The ability to mark points on it. Otherwise, I don't see much use for it in the long-run.
Dude, 2 million copies x the price of minecraft = More than me and my family will ever earn in our entire lives.
exactly, notch is bound to be rich xD
And after making such a great game, he has all the right to :D
I gotta say I almost disagree by now.
I was certainly one of the early MineCrafters and I promoted the game to all my friends, as well as my fellow modders. However, recently I have seen a huge decline in what MineCraft once was ..
Notch's posts are now about the glamour of his life, about a second/third new game, about 'promises' that are getting broken over and over.
Now you are re-thinking doing an API? You didn't even get piston mod included? Nether is still not playable in SMP? .... Are. You. Kidding. Me?
I seem to remember a time where there was actually always a chance of just logging on and finding a new feature in Minecraft!
Where the heck did the actual developement of the game, that we all so faithfully bought while half-done, go?!
I have to really disagree with that.
Notch's blog is not Minecraft's blog. it's his personal blog. the word of Notch, not the word of Minecraft.
He's also rethinking the API due to restrictions he'd have to add. he still wants mods to be added.
As for pistons, when will you even really use them?
Also, The Nether works if you use portals as gates between 2 worlds on the same server. try Bukkit. that works nicely.
I remember that too, but Notch is very busy with a company and real life. he's getting married this season I believe. he's going to be very rushed.
some of these points are valid. the piston mod is, yes. and maybe lack of features, just a little. but they're doing the best they can.
and in all fairness, Minecraft is at release quality already.
Riiight...
.. Anyways.
I'd watch some more youtube videos, were I you. Pistons can actually be used to create machines to some degree, which truly brings Minecraft forward, in terms of building. I, for one, am looking forward to them.
Using exterior methods to fix an interior problem is not something 'working' - The fact that you have to use 'fixing' methods means that it is in fact not working.
Of couse I won't comment on his personal life, but regarding the other thing; A company build on the funds of what?.. Yes, MineCraft and our trust in that being developed, updated and evolved, because of our contributions.
Tell that to the thousands of people that are constantly moaning about Minecraft's horrible performance and optimization, regarding serverside.
I love Minecraft as much as the next guy, but it is certainly not done.
Meant to plus up, sorry. But I agree completely.
Looks like they have a lot on their minds, but maybe they should concentrate on one objective before doing multiple at once. Unless they can handle it.
Avatar from Portal Still alive?
2,024,871
Don't skip out on the modding API!