I used to play Zoo Tycoon all the time. There used to be a thriving mod community for Zoo Tycoon. Blue Fang (the publisher) saw use making our hack-ish ugly little mods, and released a modified, dressed-up version of the tool they themselves used to make most of the animals/buildings/etc for the original game. The original release came with a disclaimer in bold print saying that it was for use at your own risk. After about a month of bug reports and such, Blue Fang released a new version with most of the bugs fixed and a more friendly EULA that actually carried a little bit of support.
Simply put: The original version of the tool (API) was mostly capable of being used to make mods, but it was too unstable (unfinished) for Blue Fang (Mojang) to officially support it. They released it early and used the modding community as bug-testers to figure out what needed to be fixed in their tool (API) before they could officially support it.
No, I doubt the API will be finished or officially supported in time for 1.4. (I'm okay with that because of the new rendering system and new content) I highly doubt, however, that the API will be completely unusable. It may not be officially supported, but some master Code Seekers are likely to find it within the code and begin experimenting with it, hopefully releasing a few tutorials about how to make basic mods with the vestigial, embryonic API.
EDIT: Double post. Derp. I can never be sure when the forum will combine my posts and when it will not. :/
Well, firstly, updates will continue. Mojang has already said this. I believe it. This is their full-time jobs, they won't just up and quit, you know? Now, the API won't even be remotely applicable until the new rendering engine. They are doing it in the following order, because otherwise it won't work:
Rendering Engine -> Rewrites (Thin Client) -> Workbench
And you've seen the GIT for workbench, Cadika. Right now, the only mods somebody could do (theoretically, mind you) are ones that only change the player's (or a block's) direction. Even then, it probably wouldn't work because of the way they are planning on changing rendering.
There won't be a need for official updates once an API comes out.
God, I hope there still will be updates. Mods don't feel like Minecraft. They feel like whatever mod they are...barring non-gameplay changing visual mods like half of what McPatcher has.
Basically, I'm happy playing vanilla. It's a little inconvenient, trying to get aerial snapshots without McCraft's awesome flying mod but other than that, I'm content with new content.
Well, firstly, updates will continue. Mojang has already said this. I believe it. This is their full-time jobs, they won't just up and quit, you know? Now, the API won't even be remotely applicable until the new rendering engine. They are doing it in the following order, because otherwise it won't work:
Rendering Engine -> Rewrites (Thin Client) -> Workbench
And you've seen the GIT for workbench, Cadika. Right now, the only mods somebody could do (theoretically, mind you) are ones that only change the player's (or a block's) direction. Even then, it probably wouldn't work because of the way they are planning on changing rendering.
God, I hope there still will be updates. Mods don't feel like Minecraft. They feel like whatever mod they are...barring non-gameplay changing visual mods like half of what McPatcher has.
Basically, I'm happy playing vanilla. It's a little inconvenient, trying to get aerial snapshots without McCraft's awesome flying mod but other than that, I'm content with new content.
If the API STOPS updates, I'll protest against it.
Y U NO READ!!!!
I'll explain this one. Last. Time.
I spoke with Dinnerbone myself. When the API is finished, Mojang will use it for making their own, official updates. These updates will not be like the updates we are used to. These updates will load just like mods and play nicely with mods. This means:
1. Faster updates: Updates won't have to be packaged together like they always have been. Dinnerbone adds a cool new mob? He can release it instantly without fear of it ruining the game for anyone. Nobody's mods will break, servers won't have to go offline until their mods update, etc.
2. More updates: One Mojang is free to push out updates as often as they like, instead of saving up enough patches and features to make a whole new version, they'll likely take a more compartmental approach. Imagine 0-day bugfix patches! Dinnerbone's got a cool new feature? Download it now and try it out! It works? He makes it official and it gets pushed out silently to every player in the world. I wouldn't be suprised if Mojang puts out a couple of "mods" of their own. Optional updates that some people may like and others may not, but a Mojangster wanted to make so they did and now anyone can use it if they like.
3. Easier mods: Mojang is making the API such that they can make new content that does whatever they can imagine with relatively little effort, as opposed to the tangled mess of modifying the pre-API code. They are also presenting us with free use of their tool set, allowing us to make mods with the same ease that Mojang can make official content.
4. More mods: One of the biggest issues in the existing modding community is that with every update mods just plain out break. This is why I rarely use mods that have a major impact on my maps. Mo' Creatures? Not getting attached. Tekkit? Not on your life. But with the API, mods won't break with every update. This means that mod users don't have to fear that an update will wipe away their mod and ruin their game.
So, class? What have we learned? The API is good, and it benefits more than just mod users. The updates as we know them will eventually cease, but a new update paradigm will replace it, so Minecraft will continue to officially improve and evolve.
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I expect to wait a loooong time for the Modding API. They have to rework a lot of MC to get that level of compatibility and perfection necessary to apply the mods.
Lighting Engine
Sound Engine
Rendering
Compatibility Protocols
etc.
I spoke with Dinnerbone myself. When the API is finished, Mojang will use it for making their own, official updates. These updates will not be like the updates we are used to. These updates will load just like mods and play nicely with mods. This means:
1. Faster updates: Updates won't have to be packaged together like they always have been. Dinnerbone adds a cool new mob? He can release it instantly without fear of it ruining the game for anyone. Nobody's mods will break, servers won't have to go offline until their mods update, etc.
2. More updates: One Mojang is free to push out updates as often as they like, instead of saving up enough patches and features to make a whole new version, they'll likely take a more compartmental approach. Imagine 0-day bugfix patches! Dinnerbone's got a cool new feature? Download it now and try it out! It works? He makes it official and it gets pushed out silently to every player in the world. I wouldn't be suprised if Mojang puts out a couple of "mods" of their own. Optional updates that some people may like and others may not, but a Mojangster wanted to make so they did and now anyone can use it if they like.
3. Easier mods: Mojang is making the API such that they can make new content that does whatever they can imagine with relatively little effort, as opposed to the tangled mess of modifying the pre-API code. They are also presenting us with free use of their tool set, allowing us to make mods with the same ease that Mojang can make official content.
4. More mods: One of the biggest issues in the existing modding community is that with every update mods just plain out break. This is why I rarely use mods that have a major impact on my maps. Mo' Creatures? Not getting attached. Tekkit? Not on your life. But with the API, mods won't break with every update. This means that mod users don't have to fear that an update will wipe away their mod and ruin their game.
So, class? What have we learned? The API is good, and it benefits more than just mod users. The updates as we know them will eventually cease, but a new update paradigm will replace it, so Minecraft will continue to officially improve and evolve.
Nice explanation. I was skeptical at first but I think I see how this could work. It's seems pretty unorthodox though, I keep thinking there must be a downside or more developers would be taking this approach. One good thing about Mojang actually using the API themselves to put out updates is that #1 it will need to be pretty full featured for them to do so and #2 if something is lacking they will more readily find it themselves and add it. My biggest question though with Mojangs updates would be dependencies. Some people might try to pick and choose which updates they want to apply, however then dependencies on previous updates for some content would come into play.
Perhaps the updates (and mods also) could specify dependencies? Mods could specify required dependencies, and give a warning if you try to run it without them? Maybe make it so you could only install mods without the needed dependencies if you allow it in the options menu?
Also, with all the talk of purple wheat, someone is going to end up making a purple wheat mod.
Not even remotely true. Do you realize the amount of effort the mod api is going to take to come even close to something 'final'? Coding such an extensive api is difficult and incredibly time-consuming. Tell you what, start writing your own mod api for Minecraft, that does everything Mojang's will, and let's see who finishes first.
In fairness, there already are several API libraries that are commonly used even for modding. They go by the name of ModLoader, Forge, and several others. At the moment, they do much more than the current API that Mojang is working on at the moment.
If anything, I will be happy to get the official API out so far as to settle the whole feud between the Forge and ModLoader communities. If you say those are both compatible with each other or Forge is a superset of Risugami's ModLoader, think again. It is a flat out war of mindshare right now between those two API development communities. I'd love to see both of them simply become obsolete.
I dont care so much about the API... I mostly play vanilla =P
I hope you saw the post further down about what the API is going to be used for, as described by cadika_orade. In the future, Mojang is going to be releasing "official" plug-ins that will be using the API, which will be considered a part of the "vanilla" game. In fact, it has been speculated by the developers themselves that almost all "content" of the game (i.e. most mobs, blocks, and items) will eventually be converted into plug-ins. Certainly almost all new content even released by Mojang will be done through this system.
No API in 1.4, I'm a little shocked. I wonder when they planned to break the news. I personally don't care and I'm honestly not surprised, but I know a lot of people around here aren't going to be happy about that news. Seems like they should have broke that news at the panel.
I thought it was mentioned in the panel, but they didn't exactly emphasize the fact that it was getting pushed back.
I also want to mention that, since the API is so huge, it may have at least some basic, unofficially supported functionality by 1.4.
I cannot imagine that the API is being developed, with hooks in the core MC program, just to have all the API-related core program additions removed for the 1.4 updated.
Jens said "no" to "official mod support", not that the API would be functional by 1.4.
I'm hoping that for 1.4 there will at least by the automatic code loading that ModLoader generally provides. Not so much all of the other hooks for ModLoader such as even recipe binding and other stuff, but just the ability to load code from a "mod" folder and start the basic plug-in process. Again, this is so ModLoader and Forge can part ways and go their own directions, and the other user created API libraries will just be temporary or suggested expansions of the official API.
As was abundantly clear in the panel discussion, Mojang isn't going to copy any of the code from existing API libraries, from Bukkit, ModLoader, Forge, or anybody else. They are certainly going to look at the other libraries to see what kinds of things users are asking for and mod developers are commonly using, but they may come up with another way to accomplish the same thing.
Nice explanation. I was skeptical at first but I think I see how this could work. It's seems pretty unorthodox though, I keep thinking there must be a downside or more developers would be taking this approach. One good thing about Mojang actually using the API themselves to put out updates is that #1 it will need to be pretty full featured for them to do so and #2 if something is lacking they will more readily find it themselves and add it. My biggest question though with Mojangs updates would be dependencies. Some people might try to pick and choose which updates they want to apply, however then dependencies on previous updates for some content would come into play.
The downside for this kind of approach is nearly a full code rewrite of the whole game. By the time Mojang is done with integrating the official API, so much of the game will have changed that it will be almost unrecognizable. That takes a major commitment from any software publisher to go that far. Even now, major parts of Minecraft are being completely rewritten and reevaluating what was supposed to be happening in the first place.
There is also the potential to seriously break things in the rewrite. Due to the single-player/multi-player merger (something that has already happened), some of the really ugly bugs that haven't been fixed in multi-player are now commonly seen in single player mode where previously it wasn't a problem. I expect to see more of that including ranting threads about how Mojang destroyed the game with an update causing features to break that were previously working. In time those will be fixed, but the reason for those bugs will be this major rewrite of the code.
Minecraft also has the advantage that there have been previously developed API libraries to reflect from and see what works and what doesn't, what has been tweaked as the game has developed, and what parts of those APIs are so clunky that they need to completely rethought and redone.
Perhaps the updates (and mods also) could specify dependencies? Mods could specify required dependencies, and give a warning if you try to run it without them? Maybe make it so you could only install mods without the needed dependencies if you allow it in the options menu?
Also, with all the talk of purple wheat, someone is going to end up making a purple wheat mod.
That is something which needs to be specified in the official API. That would include everything from a part of the API which reports the current version of Minecraft (if there are some version dependencies) as well as what other mods have been installed into the game.
Note that even after the official API library is out, there will still be developers cracking into the "minecraft.jar" file and tweaking things with a more conventional "modification" of the game. I don't ever see a point in time where traditional modding will be eliminated, but it may be significantly reduced.
Did you ever bother to look at mods? Technic Pack? Zeppelin Mod? Railcraft? Mo'Creatures? All awesome mods. And it would be so much easier for modders to add content.
You missed the point, troll.
The person was suggesting that one good option would be to add all the mods to Minecraft. Let's be honest. There are sucky mods.
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First of all, I'm not a troll, and second, I believe it's you that missed the point. I posted "No API? Again? We should've had an API a year ago. Either release the API, or change the game enough so we don't have to rely on mods." The response I got was "Yes, because everyone wants 300 dimensions, purple wheat, and poop blocks." So my logical question was if the person ever bothered to look at mods, since there are a lot of great mods out there. Never did I imply that there are no sucky mods or that all mods should be added to Minecraft.
You suggestion of adding the mods everyone likes to Vanilla is fundamentally flawed.
As a matter of fact, I don't like using Tekkit or BuildCraft. They are unstable, laggy, overcomplicated, and, in my opinion, sucky.
If Mojang started adding mods at random, who would decide which mods are "good" and which are "sucky"? To be fair and to truly remove the need for mods, Mojang would have to add all popular mods, including all the ones that add pointless dimensions, purple wheat, and poop blocks.
Your arguments is made of fail.
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First of all, I'm not a troll, and second, I believe it's you that missed the point. I posted "No API? Again? We should've had an API a year ago. Either release the API, or change the game enough so we don't have to rely on mods." The response I got was "Yes, because everyone wants 300 dimensions, purple wheat, and poop blocks." So my logical question was if the person ever bothered to look at mods, since there are a lot of great mods out there. Never did I imply that there are no sucky mods or that all mods should be added to Minecraft.
Because you know whats best for minecraft?
Besides the API is already released, it was the minute it was born. It just can't do much yet.
Actually nevermind, you're right. We deserve the API right now, **** everything else. Then once its out they can focus on bug squashing and performance issues. Then once the game updates and we can finally get all the fixes the API can break so everything will be for nothing.
See the problem? The API CAN NOT be released or even worked extensively on until they get minecraft to a point where major code changes no longer have to happen (the merge, new rendering system, server stuff)
You suggestion of adding the mods everyone likes to Vanilla is fundamentally flawed.
As a matter of fact, I don't like using Tekkit or BuildCraft. They are unstable, laggy, overcomplicated, and, in my opinion, sucky.
If Mojang started adding mods at random, who would decide which mods are "good" and which are "sucky"? To be fair and to truly remove the need for mods, Mojang would have to add all popular mods, including all the ones that add pointless dimensions, purple wheat, and poop blocks.
Your arguments is made of fail.
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Don't play vanilla? You don't know **** about minecraft.
Again, where did I suggest that all mods should be implemented to Vanilla Minecraft? I said that I'd like to see the mod API so we don't have to rely on Mojang for content. Never did I say that Mojang should add all mods to vanilla. Read my posts. I'm currently a bit doubtful about the direction Mojang is taking Minecraft. I doubt the fact they have a plan, because it feels like they are adding content at random. Luckily, the latest snapshots for the Pretty Scary update suggest otherwise, but I'm not entirely convinced.
I know that Mojang is currently working on a major code overhaul. Fair enough. Point is that we were promised an API over a year ago (April 2011, if I recall correctly) and we could already have one by now. Besides, your signature makes no sense at all. Most people I know gave up vanilla MC because they were looking for a new experience in MC, and because they were bored of the vanilla experience and not satisfied by Mojang's small changes.
Again, I'm not asking for complex mods like BC or IC2 to be added to vanilla, I'm asking for a mod API we were promised a year ago that makes mod development more easy and opens more possibility for modders.
I don't remember being explicitly promised an API, if you can show me that would be good. Sure they had plans, but plans change when your game becomes "the next big thing" and hits millions of users.
How could we already have one by now? I'm curious to see how you would have solved the problem mojang had going from 1.2.5 to something even remotely close to ready for an API.
If you really think they don't have a plan then you sir are a fool. As far as content goes they have always just added what felt right at the time and always will most likely, but behind the scenes much much more than 95% of the forumites seem to realize is going on.
Also remember most companies never even try to develop their games after release while mojang is completely different using ongoing development as the business model for their game.
All you can do is just wait. Its coming. And when its finally here everything will change. I really hope the bug tracker is finished soon too though. That and the rendering engine are what matters most, third party modifications will always be put on the back burner when serious work needs to be done first.
Besides its not like you can't use mods anyways.
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Don't play vanilla? You don't know **** about minecraft.
"After some internal discussion and general anxiety, we’ve arrived at a plan for supporting mods. It’s still a bit vague and the details might change after we’ve run it by our lawyers, but here’s what we want to do:"
I've italicized a few phrases for you that make it explicitly clear that nothing on that page is a promise by any means.
Note the date on that post, and also note that a whole lot has happened... both to Notch personally and to the Minecraft development team. Are you saying that nobody can change their mind about what they want to accomplish?
It was also extensively discussed at the PAX panel discussion that included the entire Minecraft development team.
Bitching about the fact that developing the API has proven to be a much more complicated task than they originally thought is sort of restating the obvious. That they are taking their time to get this developed should not be seen as slacking or somehow ignoring the fan community, but simply that they want to get this done right instead of some half baked thing thrown together or simply republishing Bukkit or Forge. I suppose they could have done either of those moves, but it shows some intelligence and forethought to resist doing something that lame.
I am just tired of responding to those who insist that Mojang has broken promises to the Minecraft community by not releasing an API yet. Get a clue about what you are talking about and understand just what an API actually is before you start spouting off more nonsense like this. Also note that such a promise was "no early than" or "comming soon".
Besides, other than the supposed time frame, I see little that has changed in terms of the other goals of the API, other than perhaps charging mod developers a license fee for access to API documentation and development tools. The unique signature and mod developer agreement may still be a key part of the whole thing.
Yes, because everyone wants 300 dimensions, purple wheat, and poop blocks.
Well, firstly, updates will continue. Mojang has already said this. I believe it. This is their full-time jobs, they won't just up and quit, you know? Now, the API won't even be remotely applicable until the new rendering engine. They are doing it in the following order, because otherwise it won't work:
Rendering Engine -> Rewrites (Thin Client) -> Workbench
And you've seen the GIT for workbench, Cadika. Right now, the only mods somebody could do (theoretically, mind you) are ones that only change the player's (or a block's) direction. Even then, it probably wouldn't work because of the way they are planning on changing rendering.
...but that's just like, my opinion, man.
God, I hope there still will be updates. Mods don't feel like Minecraft. They feel like whatever mod they are...barring non-gameplay changing visual mods like half of what McPatcher has.
Basically, I'm happy playing vanilla. It's a little inconvenient, trying to get aerial snapshots without McCraft's awesome flying mod but other than that, I'm content with new content.
Praise be to Spode.
If the API speeds updates, I want it.
If the API STOPS updates, I'll protest against it.
Y U NO READ!!!!
I'll explain this one. Last. Time.
I spoke with Dinnerbone myself. When the API is finished, Mojang will use it for making their own, official updates. These updates will not be like the updates we are used to. These updates will load just like mods and play nicely with mods. This means:
1. Faster updates: Updates won't have to be packaged together like they always have been. Dinnerbone adds a cool new mob? He can release it instantly without fear of it ruining the game for anyone. Nobody's mods will break, servers won't have to go offline until their mods update, etc.
2. More updates: One Mojang is free to push out updates as often as they like, instead of saving up enough patches and features to make a whole new version, they'll likely take a more compartmental approach. Imagine 0-day bugfix patches! Dinnerbone's got a cool new feature? Download it now and try it out! It works? He makes it official and it gets pushed out silently to every player in the world. I wouldn't be suprised if Mojang puts out a couple of "mods" of their own. Optional updates that some people may like and others may not, but a Mojangster wanted to make so they did and now anyone can use it if they like.
3. Easier mods: Mojang is making the API such that they can make new content that does whatever they can imagine with relatively little effort, as opposed to the tangled mess of modifying the pre-API code. They are also presenting us with free use of their tool set, allowing us to make mods with the same ease that Mojang can make official content.
4. More mods: One of the biggest issues in the existing modding community is that with every update mods just plain out break. This is why I rarely use mods that have a major impact on my maps. Mo' Creatures? Not getting attached. Tekkit? Not on your life. But with the API, mods won't break with every update. This means that mod users don't have to fear that an update will wipe away their mod and ruin their game.
So, class? What have we learned? The API is good, and it benefits more than just mod users. The updates as we know them will eventually cease, but a new update paradigm will replace it, so Minecraft will continue to officially improve and evolve.
Lighting Engine
Sound Engine
Rendering
Compatibility Protocols
etc.
Don't hold your breaths.
Nice explanation. I was skeptical at first but I think I see how this could work. It's seems pretty unorthodox though, I keep thinking there must be a downside or more developers would be taking this approach. One good thing about Mojang actually using the API themselves to put out updates is that #1 it will need to be pretty full featured for them to do so and #2 if something is lacking they will more readily find it themselves and add it. My biggest question though with Mojangs updates would be dependencies. Some people might try to pick and choose which updates they want to apply, however then dependencies on previous updates for some content would come into play.
by c0yote
I tried it with terrible results. I gave my wife my glasses for a second, a creeper showed up and now my wife is pregnant.
Stupid 3D..
Also, with all the talk of purple wheat, someone is going to end up making a purple wheat mod.
In fairness, there already are several API libraries that are commonly used even for modding. They go by the name of ModLoader, Forge, and several others. At the moment, they do much more than the current API that Mojang is working on at the moment.
If anything, I will be happy to get the official API out so far as to settle the whole feud between the Forge and ModLoader communities. If you say those are both compatible with each other or Forge is a superset of Risugami's ModLoader, think again. It is a flat out war of mindshare right now between those two API development communities. I'd love to see both of them simply become obsolete.
I hope you saw the post further down about what the API is going to be used for, as described by cadika_orade. In the future, Mojang is going to be releasing "official" plug-ins that will be using the API, which will be considered a part of the "vanilla" game. In fact, it has been speculated by the developers themselves that almost all "content" of the game (i.e. most mobs, blocks, and items) will eventually be converted into plug-ins. Certainly almost all new content even released by Mojang will be done through this system.
I thought it was mentioned in the panel, but they didn't exactly emphasize the fact that it was getting pushed back.
I'm hoping that for 1.4 there will at least by the automatic code loading that ModLoader generally provides. Not so much all of the other hooks for ModLoader such as even recipe binding and other stuff, but just the ability to load code from a "mod" folder and start the basic plug-in process. Again, this is so ModLoader and Forge can part ways and go their own directions, and the other user created API libraries will just be temporary or suggested expansions of the official API.
As was abundantly clear in the panel discussion, Mojang isn't going to copy any of the code from existing API libraries, from Bukkit, ModLoader, Forge, or anybody else. They are certainly going to look at the other libraries to see what kinds of things users are asking for and mod developers are commonly using, but they may come up with another way to accomplish the same thing.
The downside for this kind of approach is nearly a full code rewrite of the whole game. By the time Mojang is done with integrating the official API, so much of the game will have changed that it will be almost unrecognizable. That takes a major commitment from any software publisher to go that far. Even now, major parts of Minecraft are being completely rewritten and reevaluating what was supposed to be happening in the first place.
There is also the potential to seriously break things in the rewrite. Due to the single-player/multi-player merger (something that has already happened), some of the really ugly bugs that haven't been fixed in multi-player are now commonly seen in single player mode where previously it wasn't a problem. I expect to see more of that including ranting threads about how Mojang destroyed the game with an update causing features to break that were previously working. In time those will be fixed, but the reason for those bugs will be this major rewrite of the code.
Minecraft also has the advantage that there have been previously developed API libraries to reflect from and see what works and what doesn't, what has been tweaked as the game has developed, and what parts of those APIs are so clunky that they need to completely rethought and redone.
That is something which needs to be specified in the official API. That would include everything from a part of the API which reports the current version of Minecraft (if there are some version dependencies) as well as what other mods have been installed into the game.
Note that even after the official API library is out, there will still be developers cracking into the "minecraft.jar" file and tweaking things with a more conventional "modification" of the game. I don't ever see a point in time where traditional modding will be eliminated, but it may be significantly reduced.
Version 2.1 now updated for MC 1.6.2
You missed the point, troll.
The person was suggesting that one good option would be to add all the mods to Minecraft. Let's be honest. There are sucky mods.
You suggestion of adding the mods everyone likes to Vanilla is fundamentally flawed.
As a matter of fact, I don't like using Tekkit or BuildCraft. They are unstable, laggy, overcomplicated, and, in my opinion, sucky.
If Mojang started adding mods at random, who would decide which mods are "good" and which are "sucky"? To be fair and to truly remove the need for mods, Mojang would have to add all popular mods, including all the ones that add pointless dimensions, purple wheat, and poop blocks.
Your arguments is made of fail.
Because you know whats best for minecraft?
Besides the API is already released, it was the minute it was born. It just can't do much yet.
Actually nevermind, you're right. We deserve the API right now, **** everything else. Then once its out they can focus on bug squashing and performance issues. Then once the game updates and we can finally get all the fixes the API can break so everything will be for nothing.
See the problem? The API CAN NOT be released or even worked extensively on until they get minecraft to a point where major code changes no longer have to happen (the merge, new rendering system, server stuff)
Done.
Also this, my signature agrees to a point.
I don't remember being explicitly promised an API, if you can show me that would be good. Sure they had plans, but plans change when your game becomes "the next big thing" and hits millions of users.
How could we already have one by now? I'm curious to see how you would have solved the problem mojang had going from 1.2.5 to something even remotely close to ready for an API.
If you really think they don't have a plan then you sir are a fool. As far as content goes they have always just added what felt right at the time and always will most likely, but behind the scenes much much more than 95% of the forumites seem to realize is going on.
Also remember most companies never even try to develop their games after release while mojang is completely different using ongoing development as the business model for their game.
All you can do is just wait. Its coming. And when its finally here everything will change. I really hope the bug tracker is finished soon too though. That and the rendering engine are what matters most, third party modifications will always be put on the back burner when serious work needs to be done first.
Besides its not like you can't use mods anyways.
"After some internal discussion and general anxiety, we’ve arrived at a
plan for supporting mods. It’s still a bit vague and the details might
change after we’ve run it by our lawyers, but here’s what we want to
do:"
I've italicized a few phrases for you that make it explicitly clear that nothing on that page is a promise by any means.
Note the date on that post, and also note that a whole lot has happened... both to Notch personally and to the Minecraft development team. Are you saying that nobody can change their mind about what they want to accomplish?
The latest word on the plans for the API can be found on this thread: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1391490-feedback-wanted-minecraft-api-proposal-system/
It was also extensively discussed at the PAX panel discussion that included the entire Minecraft development team.
Bitching about the fact that developing the API has proven to be a much more complicated task than they originally thought is sort of restating the obvious. That they are taking their time to get this developed should not be seen as slacking or somehow ignoring the fan community, but simply that they want to get this done right instead of some half baked thing thrown together or simply republishing Bukkit or Forge. I suppose they could have done either of those moves, but it shows some intelligence and forethought to resist doing something that lame.
I am just tired of responding to those who insist that Mojang has broken promises to the Minecraft community by not releasing an API yet. Get a clue about what you are talking about and understand just what an API actually is before you start spouting off more nonsense like this. Also note that such a promise was "no early than" or "comming soon".
Besides, other than the supposed time frame, I see little that has changed in terms of the other goals of the API, other than perhaps charging mod developers a license fee for access to API documentation and development tools. The unique signature and mod developer agreement may still be a key part of the whole thing.
Version 2.1 now updated for MC 1.6.2
Not hating Mojang here but its been 6 months since mod api was scheduled to be in an update.