Flower's Dev Diary (Week Of Jan 14th)

[Detritus]

*drools* So... Awesome....

Hey wait a second. I thought your plan was finishing up BTW so that you could move onto RTH. Not getting excited over new possibilities in BTW... *looks at flower suspiciously*... What's going on here???

Yes, but that involves "wrapping up" BTW to make it what I consider to be a complete game experience, which is where this kind of thing might come in very handy.

Also, while I'm working on RTH, especially if I go the full game route, it's highly likely I'll want to take a break now and again to work on BTW features as that would give me a chance to work on gameplay rather than be tied up constantly in engine related work, since, as I've said many times, gameplay is definitely what I prefer doing.

There are also some features which also just suit BTW more than they will RTH. Like this beacon thing won't apply to RTH at all, so I may as well put it in BTW.

Anyways, as I've said: I'm not going to be "abandoning" BTW by a long shot, just shifting my focus. Plus, at present, just being back on the horse and working on real content is doing me a world of good, so I'm just rolling with it until I feel I'm back on top of my game. The last month of drama wore me down so much that the thought of starting a brand new project just tires me out at present, so I obviously need to get my mojo back before I start moving forward on that.

Good on you man, really happy to see you getting back into the groove of adding new content. Maybe these changes will finally motivate me to get further into the vanilla tech tree and kill the bosses.

[logorouge]

One thing to note: I said global "effects", not "bonuses". Not the same thing :)

Oh oh! I like the way this is going. :D And good to see you having so much fun again.

[Sarudak]

Good to hear your getting your joy back. :)

I'm really excited to try out the new beacons.

[FlowerChild]

This my friends, is a very special beacon:

Spoiler

Show

Why is it special? Because this is the first beacon I've ever built as a player, that I built specifically for its in-game use. In fact, I suspect it may be the first beacon *anyone* has ever built for its in-game use :)

Everything is working splendidly so far. I think I'm going to call it quits for the day as I'm getting pretty pooped. I *may* decide to release sometime tomorrow actually, as while I have a couple of more beacon types I want to get in, what's in there already is so cool that I'm rather tempted to let you guys start playing around with it while I work on the rest.

Anyways, will decide that tomorrow!

[Xaedblade]

Wait a sec... is that nethergrowth I see on the beacon... hmmmm ?

[BlackCat]

Looks awesome FC, can't wait man :)

[FlowerChild]

Wait a sec... is that nethergrowth I see on the beacon... hmmmm ?

Dude...that's Nether Groth EVERYWHERE :)

I had to hack through it to setup the beacon. Hence why some spores attached themselves to portions of it.

[Extreme Boyheat]

Won't the nether groth affect the beacon if it grows over the top of the beacon?

[Xaedblade]

Wait a sec... is that nethergrowth I see on the beacon... hmmmm ?

Dude...that's Nether Groth EVERYWHERE :)

I had to hack through it to setup the beacon. Hence why some spores attached themselves to portions of it.

lol I use the pandoku texture pack... so I wasn't sure... But I am glad to see that you have your normal vigor back :)

[FlowerChild]

Won't the nether groth affect the beacon if it grows over the top of the beacon?

Sure, but it won't grow over it due to the conditions under which Groth can spread. It only really likes to grow on netherrack.

[devak]

That beacon picture.... it makes me wanna hoard iron. TO THE BOATS, VIKINGS!

[MoRmEnGiL]

Are you deliberately using subterfuge here? Because I'm not sure what you mean by "specifically for it's in game use" :P

[FlowerChild]

Are you deliberately using subterfuge here? Because I'm not sure what you mean by "specifically for it's in game use" :P

I mean, I've built beacons before, but they were either just aesthetic, or were to test out the various features I was developing.

That one though, well, I built it because I, as a player, want it in that specific spot because of the gameplay benefits it provides. In other words, I built it because I actually want it, not just because it looks good or because I was testing out a new feature :)

[xou816]

Ow, that looks really exciting!
I don't know if it's too early to ask, but will you change things like the UI and the costs?
The UI is really a mess, and the cost for the beacon is just nonsense - why would you bother wasting a diamond if you can use iron instead?
Seriously Mojang. At least it could have involved a animal sacrifice (wolf?). It is a pyramid, after all. ^^

[FlowerChild]

Ow, that looks really exciting!
I don't know if it's too early to ask, but will you change things like the UI and the costs?
The UI is really a mess, and the cost for the beacon is just nonsense - why would you bother wasting a diamond if you can use iron instead?
Seriously Mojang. At least it could have involved a animal sacrifice (wolf?). It is a pyramid, after all. ^^

I think I've already mentioned what I had been planning in that regard in the past:

The UI is entirely gone. Beacon effects are determined solely by the material out of which they are constructed, as yes, that whole thing was just silly.

[xou816]

Ow, that looks really exciting!
I don't know if it's too early to ask, but will you change things like the UI and the costs?
The UI is really a mess, and the cost for the beacon is just nonsense - why would you bother wasting a diamond if you can use iron instead?
Seriously Mojang. At least it could have involved a animal sacrifice (wolf?). It is a pyramid, after all. ^^

I think I've already mentioned what I had been planning in that regard in the past:

The UI is entirely gone. Beacon effects are determined solely by the material out of which they are constructed, as yes, that whole thing was just silly.

Sorry for that. Anyway, that's good news!

[Siege Wizard]

I think I've already mentioned what I had been planning in that regard in the past:

The UI is entirely gone. Beacon effects are determined solely by the material out of which they are constructed, as yes, that whole thing was just silly.

Prepare 20 & 1/4 stacks of iron for the nether guys.

P.S.: if he wanted to build a 4 layer piramid for iron, imagine the effect of the diamond one. Holy shit!

S.W.

[SterlingRed]

Like, to give you a vague example, it would allow me to spawn a new mob type or whatever should the player have already built a specific thing, or what have you. Or perhaps villagers only sell specific goods once a player has already obtained those goods through other means.

It basically opens up the possibility of global changes taking place based on the player's actions, which is good stuff :)

I have always felt like a dynamic world that responds to what the player is doing within it was the next step for minecraft. Notch built an amazing static world and to me at least the next step would be to make the gameplay environment dynamic to change with the player. That this is now possible, is amazing and very exciting!

Also although I'm a large ways away from beacons I'm very excited to play with them! I may boot up an old world just to see what they do!

[warmist]

This my friends, is a very special beacon:

Why is it special? Because this is the first beacon I've ever built as a player, that I built specifically for its in-game use. In fact, I suspect it may be the first beacon *anyone* has ever built for its in-game use :)

Everything is working splendidly so far. I think I'm going to call it quits for the day as I'm getting pretty pooped. I *may* decide to release sometime tomorrow actually, as while I have a couple of more beacon types I want to get in, what's in there already is so cool that I'm rather tempted to let you guys start playing around with it while I work on the rest.

Anyways, will decide that tomorrow!

Shit, can't stop the drool. Rock on FC! :)

[LaserCooled]

This may not be the appropriate place for this, but I feel that I need to say it. Over the past month with all of the drama surrounding the mod, I was truly fearing for the future of BTW. It really took away my desire to play MC at all. I love BTW and the past month has really confirmed for me that MC is not worth playing without it. All of this to say, I'm glad you're getting back to designing and implementing your ideas. Thank you FlowerChild for all the things that you give us for free. We don't deserve it, but you give it to us anyway. You have my respect and support. I'm excited to play BTW again, and I really look forward to the new toys.

[Battosay]

I'm very happy to hear that you got your mojo back bro !
The diary itself made me think about a lot of potential hazard(s?) coming from the beacons, and I was glad to feel right while reading your following posts :)
It sounds like it's gonna be great ^^

[Shengji]

Yes, that's right, beacons are back and better than ever :)

Oooh, I may actually look up how to build one now!

[FlowerChild]

I'm very happy to hear that you got your mojo back bro !
The diary itself made me think about a lot of potential hazard(s?) coming from the beacons, and I was glad to feel right while reading your following posts :)
It sounds like it's gonna be great ^^

Thanks man!

Yes, I'm pretty excited how this whole thing is turning out. However, if the tweaks I am constantly making at present are any indication, I suspect I'll likely be balancing this to get it just right for many releases to come :)

[finite8]

Yes, that's right, beacons are back and better than ever :)

Oooh, I may actually look up how to build one now!

I haven't even gotten as far as beating the enderdragon yet. Whenever i decide it's time to go looking for a stronghold, i decide i can't be stuffed farming the enderman and get back to work on building an automated... something.

[FlowerChild]

Just an FYI that I've decided to briefly pause my work on the additional beacon types to resolve this issue:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6676

It's quite the pain in the ass, but I think it best to resolve this immediately rather than let it linger on in the background. Basically, I'm stuck doing the equivalent work of an update to a new version of MC because of this. It's the equivalent of a minor update mind you, but given how careful I am about these things, it will likely still take me a few hours of work to complete and test.

Anyways, hopefully you guys have enough to experiment and play around with for the time being that the additional beacons on their way can wait a bit :)