Ya screw them for adding features instead of fixing bugs and then fixing the bugs again when the new features create new bugs with stuff they already fixed.
Eh, I don't know. I understand where GHoosdum is coming from and in part I feel the same way (took them so damn long to re-fix just the leaf decay when chopping down trees!), but considering the game is just $10-30 (depending on when you buy it, alpha beta or its inevitable "eternally post-beta" time) with no monthly fee, I'm just happy regular updates are coming out.
It's evident the guys have lots of ideas they're just dying to implement. I can imagine it's infinitely more fun to them to add new building blocks to their LEGO set rather than try and fix what's still broken (especially the things they just may not know how to start fixing just yet). As long as they balance these new ideas with fixing known issues (AND GIVING US HELLWORLD DAMMIT), I'll be sound as a pound.
Update: Just read the article with the coming features Malpercio posted. There's some good stuff in there, like new wood and cobblestone half-blocks (this will be cool), but the most exciting thing for me is A NEW SAVE FILE FORMAT. Bout damn time, guys. Gone are the clusterfucks of thousands of tiny little files. Here's the official wording:
"New save file format. With the new format, loading is now seven times faster. On top of that, the number of files for each saved world is drastically decreased. This new format will not destroy your current saves, as they will be converted the first time they are loaded"
Should make things easier. They are also using a new Minecraft launcher, so hopefully things will be a little less buggy when starting up the game and connecting to things. Hopefully. *knocks on wooden half-blocks for good luck*
I'm fine with the release cycle. Content and bug fixes every month. How can you complain?
And I wouldn't pipe up too much about bugs anyway, because things like infinite 2-by-2 water springs, mine cart boosters, ladders and signs holding up water and lava, and a shit-ton of other things are BUGS. You want all that to go away in an update, too?
Be careful what you wish for. Personally, I'd rather have a nice mix of both content and bug fixes, rather than a ton of one or the other. Everything in moderation,, my friends.
The two things I want most, though, are a true modding API (on the way soon-ish), and the new save file format (very soon indeed).
And I wouldn't pipe up too much about bugs anyway, because things like infinite 2-by-2 water springs, mine cart boosters, ladders and signs holding up water and lava, and a shit-ton of other things are BUGS. You want all that to go away in an update, too?
I don't use any of those things as design features in my construction, and the mine cart booster bug is going to be replaced with an actual feature. The only bug I took advantage of was eternal fire, and that went away in our last bukkit update, because bukkit fixed that bug before Mojang did. I'm fine with all of the bugs you mentioned being fixed, actually. From a software development standpoint, a bug is a bug.
I'd like them to prioritize fixes such as eliminating unloaded blocks, getting Minecraft.net to reliably allow logins, and making the changes on the server version match the changes made to the client (for example, the Lapiz drop fix wasn't made on the server side, but the version number was incremented).
When I was involved in SDLC in my previous jobs, we were never allowed to release new features without fixing and testing the correction of the known bugs first. It's just bad practice. I'd have been canned if I released software within my company that was buggy, and I'd have been lynched if I told my testers to just test with more bells and whistles before I fixed known bugs.
I realize Minecraft is still in beta, and part of dealing with beta is dealing with bugs, but the whole point of beta testing is to find and FIX those bugs that have been found, not prioritizing new features over fixing mistakes.
(for example, the Lapiz drop fix wasn't made on the server side, but the version number was incremented).
Just to nit-pick... actually the server version number was not incremented. The client is 1.2_02 (the _02 is when lapiz drops were changed) and the server version is 1.2_01 still.
Just to nit-pick... actually the server version number was not incremented. The client is 1.2_02 (the _02 is when lapiz drops were changed) and the server version is 1.2_01 still.
Thanks for clearing that up, ardi. I thought they had incremented the version without making the fix, but instead they just didn't do anything on the server side. Makes sense.
The inevitable has finally occurred. There's now a Minecraft-themed woot shirt. Take a look at it over here. And yes, those are iron, gold, and diamond ore blocks sprinkled in the words.
Hrm... not sure what happened. My bandwidth graphs definitely show a drop off in traffic Tuesday morning. Server uptime is 39 days though. There weren't any network disruptions Tuesday morning... I didn't lose connection to the server from my workstation either... perhaps there was a routing problem at one of our providers.
It's not quite like home, since you only go there if you die, and it can't just be wherever you want it to be. You have to actually take the time to build and place it, rather than just constantly setting home to wherever you are exploring currently.
It does seem cool. I think it'll be a great addition to the game (not as great as fixing lapis in MP would be, but ya' know...). It's too bad that sleeping will only work in SP.
Just right click the file and hit "Open with..." and slect Java SE Binary Platform, if you're on Windows. Or you can launch it from the command line. Works great and is nifty!
If anyone wants a preview of the changes, check out the test server. The build running on that will be the one installed on the official server. LWC is also running on the test server currently.
Sweet. And while I missed all the talk about LWC, that looks pretty damn useful. Thanks for all the research into it and implementing it. You guys rock!
o_O oh man, I guess I haven't been paying attention to bukkit.org much lately. Apparently they rolled out multi-world support for SMP on the 6th. Didn't even know it.
As for the 1.3 update, I could put a vanilla server back up until bukkit catches up if people really really want. Otherwise I'll just try and keep an eye on things and get the server updated asap. Usually bukkit catches up quickly.
Here are a few key things I think you guys should know that aren't obvious by reading the update log...
Wooden half-blocks: create like a stone slab half-block by placing three wood plank blocks in a line. The wood half-blocks created ARE NOT FLAMMABLE. Meaning: you can create a wooden floor THAT WILL NEVER BURN with these. That. Is. AWESOME.
Double half-blocks: speaking of half blocks, breaking two half-blocks that are stacked to form a full block now refunds both half-blocks, rather than just one. Nice!
Sleeping in beds: they DO work in multiplayer IF everyone on sleeps at the same time. Not practical for our server, but still kind of neat.
Whitelisting: this is now built into the game. Not sure if it's better/worse than Bukkit's whitelisting features.
Other stuff: new lighting engine, now uses modified version of McRegion file format, beds, delay/repeater redstone circuit blocks, logs/wood doesn't burn forever (officially now), and a bug: sleeping in a bed MAY kick off other players in SMP.
Comments
It's evident the guys have lots of ideas they're just dying to implement. I can imagine it's infinitely more fun to them to add new building blocks to their LEGO set rather than try and fix what's still broken (especially the things they just may not know how to start fixing just yet). As long as they balance these new ideas with fixing known issues (AND GIVING US HELLWORLD DAMMIT), I'll be sound as a pound.
Update: Just read the article with the coming features Malpercio posted. There's some good stuff in there, like new wood and cobblestone half-blocks (this will be cool), but the most exciting thing for me is A NEW SAVE FILE FORMAT. Bout damn time, guys. Gone are the clusterfucks of thousands of tiny little files. Here's the official wording:
"New save file format. With the new format, loading is now seven times faster. On top of that, the number of files for each saved world is drastically decreased. This new format will not destroy your current saves, as they will be converted the first time they are loaded"
Should make things easier. They are also using a new Minecraft launcher, so hopefully things will be a little less buggy when starting up the game and connecting to things. Hopefully. *knocks on wooden half-blocks for good luck*
And I wouldn't pipe up too much about bugs anyway, because things like infinite 2-by-2 water springs, mine cart boosters, ladders and signs holding up water and lava, and a shit-ton of other things are BUGS. You want all that to go away in an update, too?
Be careful what you wish for. Personally, I'd rather have a nice mix of both content and bug fixes, rather than a ton of one or the other. Everything in moderation,, my friends.
The two things I want most, though, are a true modding API (on the way soon-ish), and the new save file format (very soon indeed).
I don't use any of those things as design features in my construction, and the mine cart booster bug is going to be replaced with an actual feature. The only bug I took advantage of was eternal fire, and that went away in our last bukkit update, because bukkit fixed that bug before Mojang did. I'm fine with all of the bugs you mentioned being fixed, actually. From a software development standpoint, a bug is a bug.
I'd like them to prioritize fixes such as eliminating unloaded blocks, getting Minecraft.net to reliably allow logins, and making the changes on the server version match the changes made to the client (for example, the Lapiz drop fix wasn't made on the server side, but the version number was incremented).
When I was involved in SDLC in my previous jobs, we were never allowed to release new features without fixing and testing the correction of the known bugs first. It's just bad practice. I'd have been canned if I released software within my company that was buggy, and I'd have been lynched if I told my testers to just test with more bells and whistles before I fixed known bugs.
I realize Minecraft is still in beta, and part of dealing with beta is dealing with bugs, but the whole point of beta testing is to find and FIX those bugs that have been found, not prioritizing new features over fixing mistakes.
Just to nit-pick... actually the server version number was not incremented. The client is 1.2_02 (the _02 is when lapiz drops were changed) and the server version is 1.2_01 still.
Thanks for clearing that up, ardi. I thought they had incremented the version without making the fix, but instead they just didn't do anything on the server side. Makes sense.
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Kind of settles the debate about /sethome and /home. It's being built into the main game via the ability to build beds.
It does seem cool. I think it'll be a great addition to the game (not as great as fixing lapis in MP would be, but ya' know...). It's too bad that sleeping will only work in SP.
Here's Notch's tweet to show that is legit: http://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/38621269331025921
Just right click the file and hit "Open with..." and slect Java SE Binary Platform, if you're on Windows. Or you can launch it from the command line. Works great and is nifty!
I'm also rolling out LWC when I do that (see: http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91607)
If anyone wants a preview of the changes, check out the test server. The build running on that will be the one installed on the official server. LWC is also running on the test server currently.
same for anyone else?
Also want to grab the new launcher.
Hopefully, Bukkit will get updated soon so we can play around with them.
As for the 1.3 update, I could put a vanilla server back up until bukkit catches up if people really really want. Otherwise I'll just try and keep an eye on things and get the server updated asap. Usually bukkit catches up quickly.
When attempting to log in.
Here are a few key things I think you guys should know that aren't obvious by reading the update log...
Wooden half-blocks: create like a stone slab half-block by placing three wood plank blocks in a line. The wood half-blocks created ARE NOT FLAMMABLE. Meaning: you can create a wooden floor THAT WILL NEVER BURN with these. That. Is. AWESOME.
Double half-blocks: speaking of half blocks, breaking two half-blocks that are stacked to form a full block now refunds both half-blocks, rather than just one. Nice!
Sleeping in beds: they DO work in multiplayer IF everyone on sleeps at the same time. Not practical for our server, but still kind of neat.
Whitelisting: this is now built into the game. Not sure if it's better/worse than Bukkit's whitelisting features.
Other stuff: new lighting engine, now uses modified version of McRegion file format, beds, delay/repeater redstone circuit blocks, logs/wood doesn't burn forever (officially now), and a bug: sleeping in a bed MAY kick off other players in SMP.