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, let's open with an in-game screenshot:
Spoiler
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I've been spending the last few days largely working on totally revamping the way beacons work in-game. As we've discussed extensively on these forums before, vanilla beacons are hela-lame. They had a ton of potential in them, and I think many of us were rather disappointed when they released with a thud rather than a splash.
So, I've basically been reworking them from the ground up to turn them into both difficult to acquire and actually useful "end game" content. Some of what's gone into that, I've already shared. Other parts I am keeping to myself, but now, having most of it already working in-game, I will say this: it's hela-cool :)
At present though, I need to tackle a bit of a technical challenge involving file handling, which long-term followers of the mod will know is one of my most hated areas of programming. Some of what I already have working relies on the ability to save global data that is specific to a dimension. I already ran into this with Hardcore Chests, before I changed them to have an inventory that wasn't specific to the dimension the player is in, but I brain-farted while developing this and forgot entirely about MC not really storing such information, at least not in a way that is easy for the mod to access.
Basically, the problem boils down to that with my changes, some of the effects of beacons will be *global*, as in they affect the entire dimension in which the beacon is placed. Hence, I need to be able to track and store when they are active separately from the beacons themselves which may not be in loaded chunks at any given time, and thus the game would have no other way of knowing about them. You can kinda think of it like the way eyes of ender go towards strongholds, even if the strongholds themselves aren't loaded, because a global list is maintained of their position, except in this case, I need that data to be dimension specific, whereas if you think about it, you'll realize that there's no such global data associated with the Nether or End in MC (I guess that gives a minor spoiler in that beacons will work reliably in both the Nether and the End once I'm done ;) ).
So, looks like I'll be writing up a little custom file handling code for the mod today so that BTW will have its own save files embedded within the vanilla ones that will keep track of any such data that I need now or in the future. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, but I do believe that in this case it is worth it, as I *really* like how the associated functionality works in game and the long term ramifications I predict it having on gameplay.
From the above though, I think you guys will get the idea here that I'm going pretty whole-hog on these beacons :)
Anyways, that's where I'm at right now. I'm actually having a lot of fun developing this feature as it feels really good to be back in the saddle after the last month or so of drama. Plus, it's just a fun little feature that I'm finding is inspiring *me* to play the game and collect the various resources needed to build an array of beacons within my base, which is always a good sign that I'm doing something right ;)
