FlowerChild's Dev Diary (week of September 24th)

[jadedcat]

The idea of minimaps being incompatible makes me very very happy, intentional or not.

Absolutely wonderful.

[FlowerChild]

Actually, hold on. While grabbing a shower I realized the 0 to 15 system I proposed above has a fatal problem, and then I thought of the solution ;)

The problem is: this would still tell you which way north is. This is bad, as it totally eliminates using the sky for the same purpose (one of the problems I mentioned already in this thread with F3).

Solution: Instead, provide a single number that tells you the distance to the *closest* chunk boundary. This provides the info you need, and prevents it being used for orientation.

Someday, if we're very good boys and girls (not likely), maybe FC will make the compass actually point north.

Dude...look up.

[danielngtiger]

Of course, even though F3 is being removed modified, you can always count your coordinates the hard way ;D
One step... two step...

I suspect that is at least part of the point.

[FlowerChild]

Just one other point about compasses:

I actually REALLY like that they point at spawn. In terms of backstory, it gives the impression that some gigantic electromagnetic event occurred there, which TOTALLY fits the backstory I've been evolving for the mod.

It also leads to celestial navigation (or would if not for *&^% F3), which is a huge win in my books.

[kazerima]

Also, I was only just starting to make use of coordinates in my current world, so I'm glad for the changes to BTW happening now to keep me away from that slippery slippery slope.

[Equitis1024]

Actually, hold on. While grabbing a shower I realized the 0 to 15 system I proposed above has a fatal problem, and then I thought of the solution ;)

The problem is: this would still tell you which way north is. This is bad, as it totally eliminates using the sky for the same purpose (one of the problems I mentioned already in this thread with F3).

Solution: Instead, provide a single number that tells you the distance to the *closest* chunk boundary. This provides the info you need, and prevents it being used for orientation.

Would using this system for the creation of slime farms count as a fair use of f3, or would you prefer players have some other means to identify the borders of slime chunks?

[Last_Jedi_Standing]

You should just replace F3 with the iOS6 mapping system.

Seriously, though, this is good. I'm pretty good about not using F3 (I occasionally use it to find my height while caving, but that's it). It had really never occurred to me to use it to find my way back to my base - I just either build at the spawn or memorize the route from spawn to base - but it's good not to even have the ability to.

I think the better maps that are coming out would help with this, too. If maps were good for actual navigation, a lot fewer players would resort to using these cheats.

[utakataJ6]

Lol...yeah, I definitely design for an older audience.

You know I never really thought I'd hear myself referred to as an 'older audience'... :P

Ditto...didn't see that one coming. I'm neutral on the update - it fits BTW as much as anything, of course~

[Ribky]

I'm looking forward to it, as i do actively use a compass and maps as much as I can, to try to keep myself "within the game". On occasion I do use F3 to check my height to see if I can find out how screwed I am when my inventory is full at the bottom of the world, or in more recent events, to keep track of people on SMP.

[FlowerChild]

OH! And yet another point on compasses:

Have you guys ever considered that they may already be pointing north?

[BinoAl]

OH! And yet another point on compasses:

Have you guys ever considered that they may already be pointing north?

Aha. Spawn may be the north pole? You said a large electromagnetic disturbance can account for the compass's pointing, maybe steve's entering of the world created it's magnetic field :)

[CycloneSP]

Well, if we are to assume that steve lives in a blocky world on a round(ish) planet, and spawn(0,0) is to be the center of said planet, then it would be safe to assume that so long as the compass points to spawn it would technically be pointing north.

Right? Or am I way off base?

[Mason11987]

OH! And yet another point on compasses:

Have you guys ever considered that they may already be pointing north?

See that's the thing, people get all stuck on the whole "This way is East because of how the sun rises". There's no good reason to think the minecraft world is a spherical world, and especially that it rotates on an axis in an orbit around a star. None of those assumptions are necessary at all but they are always made. Really nothing regarding the world or orientation suggests it's anything at all like earth.

[william711]

actually, from a geometrical standpoint, the mine craft world does have to be spherical for it to have a north pole. If the mine craft world is an infinite flat plane with the spawn as its north pole then which way is the south pole?

[FlowerChild]

Also, keep in mind that compasses point to *magnetic* north, not true north. There's no reason why the magnetic pole needs to be the same as the rotational, even if the world were spherical, and there are a ton of cool possible explanations as to why that might be the case.

What if the MC world has been knocked off of its axis for example?

As I said earlier today: you can justify just about any gameplay through backstory if you're creative. It's a hell of a lot more fun to speculate in character rather than just say "Hurr durr...this makes no sense".

[haphazardnuke]

Maybe the world of Minecraft really IS a sphere, but it's so huge that we can't see the curvature? What if every block in the game is infintesimally smaller on the underside than the top? Maybe the Void is the planet's interior! Plus, that would explain why the sun and stars are always in the same place every day and night. We're living on the equator of a planet whose rotational axis is exactly perpendicular to the orbit plane, and we never get far enough from the equator to make a difference in the night sky. Woo astronomy!

Also, loving the idea of replacing F3 with a 'toolkit' of in-game items. I actually thought of doing something like that a while back, but at the time I had neither the modding skill or time. Your version will be better than mine would anyway :)

[Vellt480]

Get Rei's minimap its completely compatible and the u can tell wat is north

[Tekei]

Just wanted to chime in quickly and say that I'm really liking these changes to F3. Also, I've been in multiple discussions on IRC where I've tried to tell people why minimaps are bad, with varying results. I'm more than happy they're out tbh! :)

[Inatun]

Also, keep in mind that compasses point to *magnetic* north, not true north. There's no reason why the magnetic pole needs to be the same as the rotational, even if the world were spherical, and there are a ton of cool possible explanations as to why that might be the case.

What if the MC world has been knocked off of its axis for example?

As I said earlier today: you can justify just about any gameplay through backstory if you're creative. It's a hell of a lot more fun to speculate in character rather than just say "Hurr durr...this makes no sense".

Who says it's magnetism either? I mean, you're using redstone as the needle, not iron, who knows what that could be attracted to.

[haphazardnuke]

Get Rei's minimap its completely compatible and the u can tell wat is north

Lawl. Not anymore! :3 Besides, remembering waypoints and things is much more fun.

[gftweek]

Also, keep in mind that compasses point to *magnetic* north, not true north. There's no reason why the magnetic pole needs to be the same as the rotational, even if the world were spherical, and there are a ton of cool possible explanations as to why that might be the case.

What if the MC world has been knocked off of its axis for example?

As I said earlier today: you can justify just about any gameplay through backstory if you're creative. It's a hell of a lot more fun to speculate in character rather than just say "Hurr durr...this makes no sense".

Who says it's magnetism either? I mean, you're using redstone as the needle, not iron, who knows what that could be attracted to.

Hmm, I like this, and it fits with the phases and kind of mob spawning too. There is a "strength" of mysterious force this this spot that attracts compasses, drew steve to this world, and repels mobs from spawning as it cancels out the world weaknesses caused by darkness to some degree. Through the "device" we may channel this force for our own means.

[FlowerChild]

Who says it's magnetism either? I mean, you're using redstone as the needle, not iron, who knows what that could be attracted to.

+1 on this. I like you already too :)

[simanick]

as stated before i think of redstone as a spin in quantum mechanics, which would be effected by things as strange as magnetic mono poles which is what came to mind with this talk about spawn being the north pole and i would rather thing of the overworld as a super large Torus like all magic worlds in games.

[SterlingRed]

You should just replace F3 with the iOS6 mapping system.

I lol'd.

I've never really understood why players are insistent that minecraft conform to our earth's geography and solar movement and industrial development and such. The period where the sun/moon were round pissed me off, minecraft is square based, why would the sun/moon conform to reality for the sake of itself?
East/West/North/South are also are arbitrary in minecraft, i mean who knows what the testificates named those directions? I will say though its incredibly useful in smp, because cardinal directions are universal and navigating by them is easy.

I like the theory that spawn isn't magnetic or any pole we know of and rather its something else entirely reacting with redstone.

[MaxAstro]

Man, I never thought there would be day that I found myself fascinated by the backstory of MineCraft. o.O ~adds note to "why BTW rocks" list~

More on-topic: I personally have a rule against using F3, so this doesn't really affect me. My g/f, who often prefers to do things the easy way, would probably be upset... if I had ever told her about F3 in the first place. :p

Beds... ~shrug~ No beds just means bigger mineshafts, the way I work. I don't really use vMC beds, anyway - I was a Somnia fan until that went Forge (or is it even updated to the latest version? Who knows...) because beds as "magic sun-moon teleportation devices" super-breaks my verisimilitude. Not to mention monsters teleporting into my house because I built my bed next to a wall has always struck me as terrible game design.

I liked Somnia because it's basically an AFK-reducer, compressing time that I'm not likely to spend doing anything else anyway (mining bores me after a while...). I also liked it for being the only reason I would ever craft a clock (maybe it's just me, but the clock seems to be just about the most useless item in MineCraft).

However, since BTW went multiplayer and I started playing with my g/f, I find I AFK vastly less anyway, since with two people it's quite fun to venture out into the night and go monster-hunting (We even fought a spider jockey once! I'd never even SEEN one before...).

tl;dr: F3 - yay. Beds - ~shrug~