I have been very busy over the past two months! It was about that long ago that I decided to relaunch my YouTube channel as a place for my “Let’s Play” gaming videos. I’ve worked hard to bulk up the channel since then and now I really need to give things a cohesive feel.
You can take a look at the sidebar to the right to see what I have planned for my YouTube upload schedule. You can see my gaming, and so my channel, tends to focus on Minecraft and other indie games of that sort. I don’t plan on following that trend exclusively but I’m sure that will be the central theme. There are a number of things that I’d like to do missing from that schedule, but as I get more efficient at producing videos I’m sure I’ll be able to squeeze in more.
A game that I need to get back into the schedule as soon as possible is FTL: Faster Than Light. I had an absolute blast playing that game for the first time and I promise that getting more video of it up has been on my mind ever since!
Finally I want to mention that I wont be “spamming” this blog with every video upload I make anymore. I’ve added a new page which will show the latest videos on my channel, it’s up on the menu bar, you can check what’s new there. The only videos which I will post here are any vlogs that I do, as I hope to begin using those instead of posts here. They’ll focus on giving channel updates and announcements, along with personal bits about myself as I see fit.
I appreciate everyone who’s been watching and subscribing, and especially thank you to those who have taken the time to comment on my videos. I love comments! So until I see you from my first vlog, happy gaming!
Well the latest and greatest update for Minecraft is officially out, version 1.3.1! I haven’t played with it yet, owing to work, but I have high hopes for the direction the developers are going! Here are my favorite parts from the change log:
Single-player now runs a server internally
Publish the single-player instance to LAN
Automatically detect LAN worlds in multiplayer screen
The major changes to the internals of how Minecraft runs are a really great idea. The biggest benefit of running single player as an internal server is certainly on the developer side. Both Mojang, as well as mod developers, no longer have to bother with re-implementing something they created for one mode in the other.
Secondly, the automatic hosting over LAN sounds like it could be awesome – as long as you don’t forget to turn it off. Finding someone else’s single player world out on public WiFi could be fun, but when hosting in public watch out for griefers.
Added adventure mode (work in progress)
Added new creative mode inventory with search functionality
Added writeable books
I’m quite excited to see what people do with adventure mode, though clearly the functionality is limited for the time being. Write-able books are also really cool. I bet everyone is going to begin writing survivor journals now. Also the creative inventory was in dire need of this revamp, since trying to find a particular block was quite annoying. I’d given up on the default interface since trying out the Too Many Items mod.
Added “large biomes” world type
Hill biomes are slightly taller
Mobs are much less likely to glitch through blocks
Large biomes and taller hills sound like they will be really cool, since it did seem a bit strange moving from biome to biome within a few minutes. However spawning in the middle of an ocean would probably mean just deleting the world with those enabled.
Some of these changes are pretty exciting, though I’m waiting to see what this means for the current generation of mods. I’m becoming quite attached to the Tekkit pack and don’t think I’ll be playing much vanilla anytime soon! It sounds like the long promised modding API is actually under development, no word on a time frame though, so things are looking good.
The next episode of my Tekkit series will go up in the morning, so until then, happy gaming!
After lots of waiting and refreshing, I was finally able to get my SMP server updated to Minecraft version 1.8!
So for anyone who has played on my server in the past, hop on and start exploring! I’ve started a new map and the world should be ripe for discovery! Also don’t forget to disable any mods or texture packs that aren’t 1.8 compliant, otherwise you might be missing some things.
For anyone who might like to join the server, it is private and whitelisted for the time being. I don’t plan on opening things up completely until Bukkit is back, bit I am certainly interested in getting a few more steady players into our community.
Now I’ll be off to explore and pillage the landscape of these beautiful new biomes. Happy Adventuring!
I know I’m a few hours late in realizing it, but Notch tweeted earlier today that they’ve released the 1.8 update for Minecraft! woo!
If you haven’t updated already, this is an official release so the client will do it’s usual auto update when you launch! I’m super excited to try it out, but I haven’t been able to get my server to update yet. I’ll keep trying throughout the day until it’s up though!
The change log for 1.8 is shown in the client as usual, or I’ve reproduced it here from the mcupdate tumblr page:
+ Added a brand new biome generation code that simplifies life a lot and makes things much more exciting for the future
+ Added new mob; Endermen
+ Added FOV slider
+ Added brightness slider
+ Added randomly generated ravines
+ Killing a monster makes it drop experience orbs
+ The player can level up by gathering experience orbs
+ Added randomly generated houses
+ Added huge mushrooms
+ Using bonemeal on small mushrooms grows the mushroom into a giant mushroom if there’s room
+ Rewrote the light rendering to use multitexturing instead of direct colors
+ Sky light and block light have different tints, cool colors for sky light, warm for block lights
+ Added critical hits that deal +50% damage, plus an extra point to make crits with weak weapons worth it
+ If the player hits a mob while falling, they always hit a critical hit
+ The game now keeps track of damage sources and types
+ Some damage type ignore armor now; drowning, being on fire (but not being IN a fire), falling out of the world
+ Ice now only spreads next to existing ice or from coast areas
+ Made the explosions prettier
+ Made level height depend on a single variable (the level height still is 128, but it’s more moddable now)
+ Added sprinting
+ Added hunger
+ Food is now stackable
+ Improved the logo
+ Added suspended particles to water
+ Added a server list so you can remember multiple servers
+ The player regenerates slowly while the food bar is high
+ Eating food now takes time
+ Skeletons hold their bows better now
+ Added melons
+ Made melons and pumpkins farmable
+ Animals that get hurt will flee randomly for a short while
+ Pigs have snouts now
+ Made a flashier title screen
+ Looking towards the sun during sunset/sunrise changes fog color
+ Added fence gates
+ Added a player list to multiplayer
+ Added Silverfish
+ Added Cave Spider
+ Added huge underground dungeons (stronghold)
+ Added underground mine shafts
+ Added melon
+ Added sprouts for melons and pumpkins
+ Added vines
+ Added iron bars
* Fixed mushrooms spreading infinitely
* Fixed caves generating with too many dead ends
- Removed Herobrine
Well for the time being I’m off to enjoy some single player adventuring and try some things out! Enjoy 1.8 and Happy Crafting!
Well all that’s happening in Minecraft lately… is that Beta 1.8 has leaked!!!
Anyone who’s been watching and waiting for the update has probably noticed the explosion of 1.8 videos and images throughout the internet. It looks completely amazing and I can’t wait to play it – however, I’ve decided I will wait for the official release.
Watching several of the videos people have posted it does appear that the update is pretty far from the final version. I saw several mentions about not all of the biomes being represented and that abandoned mines are literally everywhere. I suspect that the code is still in a testing state designed to generate all of the new features frequently. Best way to find terrain generation bugs with an infinitely sized world I imagine.
In other news I’ve been working very hard on my game programming project. I’m not especially proud of the artwork I’ve whipped up for testing, probably gonna need help with that eventually, but I’m still working a lot on the back end pieces and making excellent progress! It has really detracted from my Minecrafting time though, and in turn from posting on the blog here. I’m determined to get this game made though.
I’ll post about Minecraft again after the official release of the 1.8 adventure update, which should be within the next couple of days, assuming the bugfixing at Mojang goes well!
After looking at all the low quality live stream footage of Minecraft from PAX Prime over the last several days, we’re starting to get better quality stuff posted on YouTube. Last night I found a video from IGN with Notch giving a tour of the high points of the update on the show floor.
Notch has been talking a lot about splitting the update, so it sounds like a 1.9 update will be coming along sometime soonish to finish up the adventure features.
The other video I found, courtesy of TheShaft podcast twitter, was of the Notch’s hat giveaway ceremony.
Well that’s the end of it for Mojang’s appearance at PAX Prime. I was just able to catch the ole’ Android phone live stream of the Minecraft Griefer party (from my iPhone no less), where they gave away all the booth stuff. It wasn’t terribly exciting for an observer who couldn’t win, so don’t feel bad about not catching it live.
The Griefer Party Android phone stream
The video had lots of crowd noise and chanting people excited for the Notch’s hat giveaway throughout. I did get a blurry view of the kid(?) who won the hat in the end, and Notch shed a tear for everyone’s benefit on the occasion. But that was about the most interesting bit, unless you really like listening to MinecraftChick call out random numbers.
Now I’m looking forward to the 1.8 adventure update getting released sometime soon! Still incredibly excited, and trying to be patient! Happy Crafting!
The Mojang crew look like they have been really busy already out at PAX Prime in Seattle. I’m a bit bummed that I have a previous obligation this weekend, and so wont be able to be on top of all the info that will be coming at us. Nevertheless, I shall do my best here to sum up the few Minecrafty bits that happened on Friday.
First of all, you can take a look at the schedule for Mojang over on their official blog. Most of the Minecraft events look to have been scheduled to happen yesterday, aside from the costume contest coming up tonight. At several points yesterday I saw Notch was streaming live on his Android phone from PAX, which was really great and amazing to watch. Honestly I feel like that was great of him to do, since I know that when I’m busy at an event that last thing I feel like doing is playing cameraman. Check below for the videos:
My blog has been a bit neglected as of late, so I thought I’d give it a bit of attention today! I’m just going into my workweek so gotta get this post up while I can.
On the Minecraft front we’ve got PAX just about to get underway, which should be bringing along a lot more detail about the soon to arrive 1.8 update. I don’t have a big summary post ready or anything, but my pals over at Encrazed Crafts have been keeping up to date with most of the bigger “leaks” that have come across, so allow me to link you: Creepy Endermen! - Rivers! - Other exciting goodies!
This past weekend the annual Ludum Dare event also took place, where a plethora of programmers do their best to write a game within a 48 hour stretch. Notch participated and churned out a game called Prelude of the Chambered while also streaming his coding throughout the weekend. The game is really good for only having 48 hours, and is reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D, though less violent.
Watching Notch implement a new game feature every 1/2 hour on stream was inspiring to me and got me thinking about programming again. So I’ve pulled out Java and started whipping up some of the basic framework for a game idea I have. I don’t want to spoil anything just yet, but once I get a tad further in development you can expect more posts about my progress! I’ve never programmed a game from scratch before, to my shame, but I’m looking forward to rectifying that now! For any curious, I’m writing the game in Java using Slick2D and Marte Engine. Together they are giving a very good base to build things upon quicly.
Just this morning Notch has released what is hopefully the last Minecraft patch until we get the Adventure Update. 1.7.3 is now out for client and server side updating, and fixes a load of little issues with pistons, plus one or two other smaller bugs. Nothing that was hugely game breaking, but always good to have things in working order.
Changelog includes:
- Corrected a block duplication bug when using pistons - Corrected a redstone torch duplication bug when using pistons - Corrected a client crash when placing a sign in front of the piston, powering the piston and then removing the block beneath the sign - Ice blocks are now pushed without causing water streams breaking everything - Booster rails are no longer being powered magically without a power source - Pistons connected to the end of a piston-transistor via redstone are now properly closed when the power goes out - Doors no longer create purple particles - Hacking clients can no longer edit texts of placed signs in multiplayer - Changed so that paintings pushed by pistons will pop off
I really thought that Notch had said he wasn’t doing patches on Fridays anymore (isn’t Friday reserved for gaming at Mojang anyway?) but I guess that he might mean just major updates and not bugfix patches.
Well I hope everyone is having a better week than I am. Work is feeling especially long, plus I feel like I could be coming down with something. Not what I need, so it had better just go away after I get some sleep. I’ve got an eye towards doing a video tour of some other areas on my server, I’m thinking a tour-ride of the “Transcontinental Achievement Railway”, so named after we built it long enough to get that one achievement. If there’s something else that you might suggest, either from a previous post, or even just from browsing the world map, please feel free to mention it in the comments below!
