As always, rules for this thread:
-DO NOT post suggestions.
-DO NOT critique unreleased features. Wait until you've had a chance to try them before passing judgement.
With that out of the way:
This week I'm largely focusing on anarchy play, and as a result, I thought I'd post a screenshot of my most recent contribution to an anarchy server:
Spoiler
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On that note, I have a release in the works that adds several improvements to the way anarchy play works. As I've discussed before, Hardcore Spawn is part of this, but there are several other tweaks on the way as well, since me playing in a particular mode tends to result in me spotting problems that need addressing.
Anyways, I'll leave most of this as a surprise, as the release shouldn't be too far off now. I was originally planning to get it out Saturday, but as is typical for me wound up in a cycle of "oh...just want to add this one other thing" :)
Additionally of course, my changes to Endermen behavior will also be a part of this release. There's actually one last refinement I want to get into those as well for this release, and a couple of more that I'll leave to a later date. In retrospect, I think the approach I am taking now is actually better than the "Hardcore Mobs" one that I had in mind before (as cool as those ideas were, and despite how much I am looking forward to playing with them in effect). The changes I am making now are far more subtle than what I had intended there, and as a result, I am comfortable with them being non-optional. I'll leave the more hardcore ideas (which are largely about your bases being attacked) for a more suitable point in the mod's development that is on its way down the road. The problem with more destructive mobs being that many people are already playing on well established worlds without the necessary defenses in place, so they'd either have to abandon those worlds and start new ones, turn the option off, or potentially have their constructions ripped to shreds rather unfairly as they weren't aware they'd need these defenses to begin with.
So yeah, in the end I decided it's best to wait on that kind of thing for a time when it will be more appropriate. As you guys know, I'm a big fan of defensive structures, and really want that kind of gameplay in BTW, but the timing is just not right yet. A day is coming though when it will be ideally suited to the mod without the negative consequences I describe above.
So, with that in mind, I'll also likely be doing passes on the other mobs in the game here and there in this more sedate style over the next few weeks. I have some plans for zombies in particular that I think will make them much more interesting without unleashing total havoc. Endermen were definitely the ones that required the most work though, with the other ones just needing a little bit of TLC to get into a shape I'll be satisfied with. Once I'm done, I suspect going out at night will be rather hazardous to your health, which is how I really think it should be. We've got night back in the game with Hardcore Bedding, now I want to make sure that night is to be feared again.
On a personal note, I must say that I'm quite enjoying playing around with game AI again. There was a time in my career where I was considered a bit of an AI specialist, and it's not really a skill that I've made use of during my time working on BTW. It's definitely fun from a design standpoint to be considering behavioral changes to the MC monsters, as AI is probably one of the areas where the line between design and programming is the blurriest. When I say "AI", I'm not talking about making mobs "smarter" btw, so this isn't about path-finding or other more advanced AI that I personally don't think has a place in MC to begin with. What I'm largely talking about is giving mobs interesting behaviors that make them more believable to the player, gives them a sense of having a purpose within the world and a "life" beyond what occurs on screen, and which provide additional challenges through their combined actions. To me, good game AI isn't about giving NPC's any level of real intelligence: it's about making them interesting and believable from the player's perspective.
Anyways, I think you'll see what I mean when the Endermen changes are released, as that's largely the approach I've taken with them, and I'm extremely happy with the results.
I guess I will wrap this diary up there, as I've already rambled on far more than I intended :)
