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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Still having a ball with it though, and I find myself actually craving more play time these days while I push forward on this final stretch of development.
So what is this "final stretch" that I frequently mention?
Well, what I'm currently trying to do is hit "feature complete" on BTW where I consider it in its "final" form as far as the actual gameplay is concerned, and where I feel it represents a fully cohesive and well integrated experience from start to finish. It's probably what people would have referred to as "beta" back before that word lost all meaning in the online world. That is the point where I'll feel comfortable moving my focus over to RTH, even if I'm popping back to BTW to fix bugs, make tweaks, or even add in the occasional small feature should the mood strike (similar to the post release patch cycle of many games).
So what's left for me to get there?
As you've noticed, I've been putting out releases at a pretty fevered pitch which mainly address the balance between early, mid, and late game BTW. I focused on early game for so long, that I feel it became somewhat disconnected from the "old BTW" that largely revolved around late game tech and automation. The work I'm doing now is intended to bring those two parts of BTW back together into a more cohesive whole, along with integrating a few dangling loose ends from vanilla such as the piston and enchanting table tweaks we saw in the last release. We're almost there at present, and I'd say we're talking a matter of days until it's in a form where I consider that aspect done.
Then, it's on to the things that I've mentioned many times before that need to get done, and which I'll refrain from mentioning again to preserve some sense of mystery, but which constitute the "end game" of BTW, and should transition into RTH from a "story" perspective. Don't worry, I still don't believe in "story" in games, and am just as opposed as ever to the focus many developers put on it, but for those that have been paying attention, this portion of the game should provide the clues necessary to figure out *some* of what has been going on within the world of BTW, and provide *some* hints as to what's to come.
I have a very specific date in mind which I'm trying to hit right now, and unlike in the past, I'm not announcing what that date is publicly so as not to put myself under undue external pressure (or at least the sense of it). This one is for me and me alone. Put another way, I think I'm also trying not to "jinx" it :)
But, suffice it to say, I'm pushing very hard at present to hit it and put a period on the end of the sentence that has been my development of BTW. I mentioned this awhile ago, but I think the "final straw" for me was trying out 1.6 for awhile and realizing that vanilla MC development had degraded to such an extent that I really saw no hope in it coming back anymore. It both depressed the shit out of me that the game had gotten to that stage, and gave me a huge burst of "I've got to get the fuck out of here" motivation. Perhaps there was a part of me in the past that always held out hope that things might turn around, Notch would return to the game or hire an actual designer, or some miracle of another nature would occur, and that lingering part of me finally kicked the bucket with 1.6.
Anyways, that's where things stand. I guess the mood to write a dev diary doesn't strike me very often these days as saying "pushing hard, got to get out of here" over and over again doesn't make for very interesting reading, but I figured I was about due for one today :)
