Flower's Dev Diary (Week of July 22nd)

[Chomamonka]

Literally the only reason for updating that I can think of is that having an even 1.6 number down in the bottom left would be nice for those with OCD.... Nothing a sticky note can't handle.

[Yhetti]

I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you, that after doodling around for a while with Better Than Wolves add-ons and working with the code you have written, that you are a very very good programmer. You write a lot of really direct code, rather than writing a lot of nothing like I have seen in past experiences. Point being, your code is really easy to understand, it doesn't have a lot of unnecessary gobbledy-gook mashed in it, and it is really well written and efficient. So thank you for being awesome.

[utakataJ6]

This isn't substantial enough feedback to warrant the Feedback Subsection, but it fits with your "Oh, gold!" reaction nicely. Well after getting my first iron tools, I barely escaped a particularly traumatic night with my life. The day, I crafted a stone shovel, dug up some dirt, and went to fill in a creeper hole or three. While filling in one of the holes, I distinctly thought, "Damn, at 20 dirt blocks, creeper holes are so expensive!" And then I laughed.

Just had to pause the game and post this. Whatever it is, you're doing it right.

[FlowerChild]

Hehe...thanks. Yeah, I've had similar thoughts myself at time while filling those in and marveled at how valuable everything feels compared to vanilla :)

[mazer246]

Haha, I had those moments even before the recent hardcore changes, before BTW even. I always felt obliged to fill in those creeper holes and as such, never had any spare dirt. I would even level a small hill just for the purpose of fixing creeper holes. What I am amazed at however, is how valuable cobblestone is now. Previously I avoided using cobblestone in visible places (I would even fill creeper holes with cobble and then cover it with dirt just to save dirt) because it was such an eyesore, and IMO it only belonged on the floor as a form of pavement. But now with the recent version, cobblestone is a luxury item.

[FlowerChild]

Not sure where else to say this, but wanted to share:

I just felt terrified in the nether again, for the first time in a very very long while! WOOT!!!!!! :)

Man, have I ever missed that sensation. Was discussing it on IRC last week, about how I felt that somewhere during development Mojang seemed to really screw up ghasts and it made the nether a cake-walk. When I first started playing Minecraft on the other hand, my nether base looked like a hamster habitat because under no circumstances did I want to set foot out in the open. It gave the nether a really distinct feel as by practical necessity it required a very different building style. I was particularly depressed lately just watching Vioki and Charley waltz through the nether without a care in the world, as while I still tend to build tunnels out of habit, it made it abundantly clear to me that the nether just wasn't dangerous anymore.

Well, looks like I found the offending piece of code! It's "fixed" now :)

I'm going to try and hurry a minor release sometime soon as this really changes everything and returns the nether to what it used to be.

[DaveYanakov]

I am quite terrified for the health of my computer as one of the features of the nether as it was that I remember is about fifty ghasts pathfinding lazily around spitting flaming loogies that all had to be tracked. There is nothing in your history to indicate this but they call it irrational fear for a reason. Looking forward to seeing the elegant and 'how did we not see that coming' solution.

[FlowerChild]

I doubt it'll cause performance problems as the AI on ghasts is actually way simpler than that of pigmen. Ghasts don't even use the "new" AI, and don't have any real pathfinding. They just kinda float around. Their fireballs are also about as simple as entities get, just traveling in a straight line and not even being affected by gravity.

I suspect there's a good chance that the performance problems may have been more related to that sound bug I fixed awhile ago that was causing the nether stutter, rather than with the ghasts themselves. Ghast sounds are much longer range than many others.

Anyways, let me know if your performance tanks after the next release and I'll see what I can do, but I've noticed nothing to indicate it will on my system.

[FlowerChild]

Just as a follow up on the above, was thinking it over, and yeah man, definitely don't sweat it. I just came up with a laundry list of possible optimizations that I could perform on ghasts if this turns out to be an issue. They're *much* simpler mobs than most, so there's really no reason they should cause issues.

If that was the reason Mojang decreased their frequency so dramatically, that's a rather sad state of affairs, as it basically wrecked the nether and was quite likely easily resolved without having to resort to such drastic measures. I thought it more likely they did it because of people whining the nether was too hard, but sadly, I think them ripping them out for the reasons you described is a distinct possibility.

[DaveYanakov]

While the nether did tend to fill to capacity with them it was the sound that drove me to kill. The fireballs themselves can be stopped by simply never ever going outside and building everything from stone.

[FlowerChild]

Whatever man. You're rapidly becoming a bummer here.

If there are issues that result, I will of course fix them. Nerfing the nether to the point of it becoming dull as dirt was not a reasonable solution to any of the issues you're bringing up.

Note to self: sharing excitement over something on the internet is a recipe for getting that pleasant sensation trampled.

[micrometalus]

Honestly i was only concerned in the nether the first time i went in vanilla. After that I was never too concerned, but at the same time I usually lot interest in my worlds shortly after reaching the nether. I didn't see a lot of point to the place.

Now in BTW I have yet to reach the nether in any world. Everything I've read in the forums and wiki and what I've watched in the LPs shows such an importance in the nether. I already look forward to my first BTW portal.

If you're making the changes it sounds like you will, I think it sounds great.

I have to stop reading so much though, all the surprise experiences I keep ruining for myself.

[DaveYanakov]

Sorry, that was the opposite of my intention. The old nether left me shivering in a hole more often than not and I was attempting to express thanks for bringing that back.

[FlowerChild]

Sorry, that was the opposite of my intention. The old nether left me shivering in a hole more often than not and I was attempting to express thanks for bringing that back.

No worries man, shivering in a hole is what I like ;)

I already drastically reduced the sound frequency on ghasts to accommodate the increased numbers BTW. Also fixed a problem with more or less all their moan sounds playing all at once when you first pop into the nether, which was causing some major stutter (it applies to all entities actually, it just seemed to affect ghasts the most since you can hear them from such a distance). I'm also currently fixing up their targeting as that was something else that got messed up at some point in vanilla development, which made them much less dangerous.

Looking at the code, it looks like that was a bug they introduced when they changed the fireballs to spawn in front of the ghasts, instead of inside of them. They calculate their aim to target from the position of the ghast, rather than that of the fireball, and thus they aren't usually able to hit the broadside of a barn (almost as if you were aiming a rifle assuming the bullet would fly straight out of your eye regardless of where the barrel actually is). If you stand still in front of a ghast they'll actually very rarely hit you, which is just plain sad.

So yeah, looks like the next release shall be the ghast overhaul one. I'm currently looking for a stronghold in my current world, so I'm giving it a thorough workout at the moment to make sure it plays right and doesn't cause any issues.

[Psion]

I love the sound of old nether being back again! Mojang really messed up a lot of stuff with their recent updates, starting with the merging of SSP and SMP, and they still don't seem to care about all those old bugs accumulating. I still can't knock back a ghast fireball in SMP, and thanks to the merging of the two, even SSP has that same issue with me a lot. :( That and the whole glitchy fireballs that float in place occasonally on servers too. <_<

Glad to hear you're bringing some of the fear back. I remember when the nether first came out i was TERRIFIED of ghasts. I'd hear them and cower, looking around, trying to find where they were, and promptly being fireballed as soon as i spotted them, quickly losing my platform over lava. Now... they're an occasional nuisance at best. :s (I'm actually more terrified of pigmen now. They're everywhere, they love to wander in front of you when your about to swing a pick, and the instant you hit one you're dead, because you literally cannot defend against a horde of sprinting, knockback inducing, really powerful hitting zombies. XD

[FlowerChild]

Well, my nether test ended in a HC respawn for me in what must be one of the few unexplored areas within the radius.

It definitely feels like the old nether now. Digging tunnels, taking the occasional peak out to see where you are to be greeted by a fireball more often than not. I decided to take a sprint across some open ground at one point with explosions going off all around me, dug into a wall to try to hide, and wound up digging right into lava. Hence the HC spawn :)

It will likely take me awhile to get back to my base for further play testing of it (I may tweak a few more thing in my own world), but it feels just about right to me at present.

[Jesar]

I played up going to the nether so much in my play through, and even built a skeleton spawner farm for arrows before I even attempted to search for a fortress. Once I killed the two ghasts that were at spawn, though, I got to trounce around like the nether was just a slightly more on fire version of the overworld. Well, until you hit the lava ocean again.

I got so bored down there in hell, that I eventually just attacked a fortress with no qualms about safety because the nether up to that point was just a huge bitch.

So, yeah, thanks for fixing the nether, can't wait to try it.

[SterlingRed]

Sweet! It always felt wrong to me that the several thousand block long road I built in the nether on the server was entirely open and unprotected. But at the same time I had no reason to enclose it, even if a ghost shot at it they were just so damn bad at it they never hit anything.
This should also encourage players to plant more blood wood to stop ghost spawns. Which is very cool as I've never let a blood wood grow wild simply because there was never a reason to and I liked the visibility the open area offered for finding glowstone. This sounds like it will entirely change how the nether plays in btw! Awesome!

[FlowerChild]

Ok, I've recovered from my HC Spawn, and am ready to recommence nether testing! :)

I wanted to mention an observation I just made though: having made it back to my home base (turns out I had spawned on the other side of an ocean actually), it dawned on me that for the first time ever, I had just gone through an entire early-game play through without having stopped play at any point to jot down a note about something I wanted to change.

This is huge. I think I may actually be satisfied with the whole early game play experience. WOOT! :)

<dances>

[Sandrew]

Ok, I've recovered from my HC Spawn, and am ready to recommence nether testing! :)

I wanted to mention an observation I just made though: having made it back to my home base (turns out I had spawned on the other side of an ocean actually), it dawned on me that for the first time ever, I had just gone through an entire early-game play through without having stopped play at any point to jot down a note about something I wanted to change.

This is huge. I think I may actually be satisfied with the whole early game play experience. WOOT! :)

<dances>

Congratulations man. Seems like the start of RTH is closer than ever.

[Tekei]

Ok, I've recovered from my HC Spawn, and am ready to recommence nether testing! :)

I wanted to mention an observation I just made though: having made it back to my home base (turns out I had spawned on the other side of an ocean actually), it dawned on me that for the first time ever, I had just gone through an entire early-game play through without having stopped play at any point to jot down a note about something I wanted to change.

This is huge. I think I may actually be satisfied with the whole early game play experience. WOOT! :)

<dances>

Congratulations! That is great news indeed! Good job. :)

[jkievlan]

Just a bit of feedback: I'm getting to the point in playing BTW where I almost never think, "Hmm, it would be cool to build that, but you know, I don't really need to." Almost everything I can build or do feels like it has a purpose and is essential to advancing to the next level in my world, from early to mid to late game. I feel that this has been the main goal of BTW for a long time, and now it's actually coming together. In short -- excellent work :)

[FlowerChild]

Thanks man!

Yeah, that's similar to how I'm feeling as well. Very few loose ends remaining and it's really all starting to come together. It's extremely gratifying for me :)

[EtherealWrath]

I think one of my fondest MC memories stems from one of the first times entering the nether; I landed on a wide[ish] shelf with an ocean view. Dainty lights hanging from the ceiling and a glowing waterfall plunging into the abyss. Such beauty! Such a sight!

Obviously building a glass fronted house is a good idea right? What's the point in a view if you can't appreciate it? At which point I decided to go for a 2-story viewing area, with about 8x5 windSKRIIIIII-whooooomf-BOOM!!!

Yeah, ducking behind my stone doorframe. Bow almost ineffective. Duck. World burning. Build a little more. Hide. Bow still ineffective. Put out fires. Replace glass. Cower. Build. Just a few more blocks- this is torture! Suit up. Climb onto roof- challenged the gods and lost. Bad idea- try to rescue gear. Repair windows. Build. Duck...

Honestly- most fun I've had for a long time. So glad its coming back. I'll have to build a small(ish) house overlooking the sea in your honour.

[FlowerChild]

Well, it should already be back as I added Hardcore Hell a couple of releases ago ;)