That would require each server to send info to a centralized server database that can actively handle at least 250k simultaneous connections. That is a lot of network code to do properly and would require previous experience to do successfully without breaking other network stuff. It would be preferable though but not necessary.
To also minimize risk of random people connecting to your server I would rather suggest having a list of servers you have already visited with the option of refreshing the connection to it to see weither it is online or not (client could refresh it when you into the multiplayer menu)... it would probably be best to view the link in my signature. It has pictures. (Yay for pictures.)
I decided to mess around with the Mods button idea and came up with this:
I'm not too sure about it though. Opinions?
Gutterpunk's input about choosing how much hot, temperate and cold area is on the map seems like a solid one. I'll add something akin to that on the world create menus if I find the time between work and real life.
Also to answer a question about seeding. Seeding is basically giving the game values which it uses to build a landscape (with trees, caves, water, etc).
did you seriously spell machine wrong o.o and we already have boats as parachutes, so meh >3<
Have you never heard of intentional spelling errors? Why would I want to float between islands on a boat that is parachute? I would much rather want an actual in-game parachute. I am all for simplifying things but that is just simplifying too much :tongue.gif:
Couldn't it have multi-layered floating islands?
So you might be on one island, look over the edge and see another one floating below you - just out of reach. This type area would allow for a "flying masheen" - most likely in the form of a glider made from skins, cloth, etc.
Possibly each island could even turn on one or all of its axis. That is more complicated but would probably look the most awesome. Especially if you as a player could affect this axis-movement.
What kind of back-up options?
The server functionality as by the mock-ups already allows you to create more worlds under one server but due to how the server functions you cannot run more than one world on each server instance.
What are the most notable features from the modded versions of servers/clients?
There already is a UI for dedicated servers? As in, when you run Minecraft_server.exe you get a UI where with a text input field.
I was bascially adding on to this UI so that it would be easier for players to host their own servers and have an easier access to server settings rather than having to a) quit the program and :cool.gif: needing to edit files by hand.
The whole point was to allow people to play as they want to. All default settings in world creation have monsters and biomes enabled. Inital seeding would only affect the starting area.
I shall however do more mockups for the singleplayer world creation today and "obscurify" these options - and see how you guys like them.
Enabling timestamps in a client during a multiplayer game could be done with a command, something like /timestamp 1 to enable it and /timestamp 0 to disable it. Only affects that player client (and logs).
I am in favor of keeping Creepers around.
However, you could make gunpowder from sulfur (brimstone). Sulfur is found near hot springs and volcanic regions in the real world so you could possibly implement it somehow in to Minecraft. Hot springs would need MC to differnate between hot and cold water. Might have to make fire and lava/magma produce an actual heat layer (lava, fire and torches make snow disappear so there might be a code already in place for such a thing). Heating water by lava could push water upwards, given that other specifics are met - such as a hard layer between the two and having a tube of sorts for the water to flow upwards in.
I had a bit of a brainstorm today in relation to Minecraft Menu UI.
This is probably not in time for the Halloween update.
It's basically a semi re-design of the Menu UI in the client and the server application. The pictures you see are mockups of proposed UI.
Client Main Menu
As you can see not much has changed other than the addition of a Mods button and an Exit button.
The Mods button would bring you to an interface where you could for example add or remove certain type of tile graphics and possibly even other "officially" marked modifications. These mods would only affect your client.
With this you could possibly have an easier access to mods when playing from within a browser. Later on this could be developed in to a Mod Browser with a ratings system (similar to Civ 5 mod browser).
Exit button explains itself eventhough it is perhaps not neccessary.
Singleplayer Menu
Five additional World slots along with a Load button where you can load up maps from other places. This takes away the hassle of having to find the specific folder, copy/move a map to an empty map folder and going back in to the game to play said map.
Delete world should have a more obvious interface so that you can tell that you are about to delete something. Perhaps a diffirent mouse-pointed and a pop-up window asking if you are sure.
You will also notice that the worlds have names. This is best explained in the next screen.
Singleplayer world creation Singleplayer world creation v1 (old) [EDIT]
Changed how the player would create a world. If the player wants to create a world without monsters and choose what kind of world to play in the player must choose Customise (picture below).
This type of a screen does not currently exist in Minecraft.
The name field will allow you to name your worlds. That way you can more easily remember which one is which.
Difficulty option is as it is today.
Over the Hardcore option you can see a text explaining what it does. This is how I envisioned tooltips to be displayed. Tooltips would appear after hovering over the item for a while, this could also work in-game in inventory type of windows.
My suggestion for a Hardcore mode is basically as explained in the tooltip. It would be off by default.
Customised world creation
The option of Biomes/No Biomes is basically a button that switches between the two, similar to what we already have in Options. Default is Biomes.
The Monsters/No monsters option does not affect Monster Dungeon spawnpoints, only "free-range" monster spawns. Default is Monsters.
The choice of Green, Winter and Hell is only active if No Biomes is chosen. I hope this explains itself good enough. Default would be either Green or Random (not seen on the picture).
The Seed number option would allow you to add any type of number (and/or letters?) to stage an inital seeding of the area you start in. It only affects a very small portion of the world and everything you explore afterwards will be procedurally/randomly generated. This would allow players to issue map start challenges to each other without the need of upload of a map.
Multiplayer Menu Multiplayer mockup v1 (old)
Basically the same screen as before except with the addition of a server list on the right side. This list of servers is only kept locally and only shows previously visited servers, although manually adding a server to a list could be possible by editing a file. [EDIT]
Added a few things.
The server list now displays server names as set by the server itself.
The server list could auto-sort itself by putting the last connected server at the top. Possibly sort itself with server status (online, offline and unknown) where online servers are above offline servers. The arrows at the bottom of the list would allow the player to move the servers up and down in the list if no auto-sort method is used.
Hovering over a server in the list would bring up a tooltip as shown. The information shown in the tooltip would be as accurate as the last refresh in the client.
In the list you see four servers.
The first one shows ip and port as the player has chosen it to be displayed that way (see picture below).
The second is as normal. Since it is offline hovering over the server would display an Offline tag instead of the amount of players on the server.
The third has never been connected to and was probably added by editing the server list file. Hovering over that one would only display in red letters 'refresh to get status of server' or something akin to that.
The fourth one is as normal, the blue outline shows it is selected and could thus be removed, moved up or down in the list or connected to. The server name is also long and is cut off in the namefield. Could possibly scroll the name forwards and backwards for fancy effects. Full server name is displayed in the tooltip.
The buttons on the right side of each server are Refresh and Edit. What Refresh does is see if the server is online or not by connecting to the ip through the given port. If it detects a server running it gets the server name and currently connected players to use with the tooltip.
The Edit button would bring up something like below picture shows.
Name shows the full server name. This field cannot be edited.
You are given the option of enabling a nickname for the server. This is useful for servers with long names and identifying diffirent servers if their set names are too obscure. Enabling Nickname overrides the server name in the server list but does not change anything in the hover-over tooltip info.
IP and Port are both editable in case the server changes IP or port numbers.
The last part allows the player to select weither to show the server name (or nickname) on the server list or the IP and Port.
Server Application Server Application Mockup v1 (old)
I played with the possibility of mayhaps being able to run more than one server on one application of the server software. It sounds good in theory but it might be a bit of a hassle to change.
Logs and chat got divided, possibly making it easier to follow either one.
Added the following buttons.
Pushing Exit quits the software.
Pushing ??? is unknown. Possibly it brings up logs of some sorts, like chat logs. Possibly a list of banned players and ops.
Pushing Load allows you to load a world.
Default view of the Start/Stop button is Start. Once you push Start this button will show Stop. Pushing stop will save the world. The server does not start a world automatically like it does currently.
Options brings up server options, see below.
New world allows you to create a new world for the server, see below. [EDIT]
The Server Stats window now shows the current server name, IP, port and amount of players. Also displays the amount of servers running.
Server name field added. Only editable when the server is stopped. Server won't start until there is a name in this field. A warning would be displayed in the Logs window. Server name field might possibly display a default server name.
Server name field could be a drop down menu for the case of running multiple server on one application. Any server you have created would be displayed in this drop down menu. To create a new server you would select the option - New Server - in the drop down menu. No limitation to how many you can have in this list but there would be limitations (besides machine capabilities) to how many servers you could run at any one time.
In the Player List window I originally played around with the idea of each running server having their own tab. The current config makes more sense however. The player list shows all the connected players and has a small information field that shows how many players, admins and ops are online. Behind every player name are three buttons - they are op/deop, kick and ban. Admin can't op/deop, kick or ban himself so those all these buttons are greyed out. In the Banned tab you see a list of all banned player names and their ips. Here you would have a button to un-ban them.
Server world creation
Name. Name your world.
Choose weither the world has biomes or not. Default is on (on = box is checked).
Choose weither there are monsters or not. Default is on. Even if you opt out of having monsters spawning you will still be able to find monster dungeons. That should possibly be an option to turn on/off?
Hardcore mode as above. In addition it enable Discovery mode for Local chat (see below). Hardcore mode might also disable playernames floating above the players heads.
Choose difficulty of play.
Map type option is only available if you don't want biomes.
Seed number option is the same as above.
Cancel brings you back to the main screen of the server application, no messages appear in Logs.
Pushing Defaults will bring every option to its default position.
Create world will create the world - the Create world window will disappear and you will see text appear in Logs. After the world has been generated you will see a message in Logs that asks you to push Start. Start could also blink(?).
Server options.
Here you can enable global chat and local chat.
What is missing from the chat options are the Message-of-the-Day and chat logs option. Both would be togglable and chat logs options would have a file location window. The MotD would have a small field for text.
Global chat is chat as we know it now.
Local chat is localized chat, possibly with a list that displays the players in your vicinity. Enabling Discovery mode will only show players on the list when they say something in local. This mode is automatically enabled in Hardcore mode.
Enabling chat timestamps will add timestamps to chat in the server application. Does not affect chat in client.
Chat filter will obscure words from a specific file. This file is editable and you can load diffirent files (community could make their own files for specific languages). Only one file can be loaded at a time.
Enabling Log timestamps would work in a similar way as chat timestamps.
Autosaves. Choose how often the server saves. Min is 0 minute (never), max is 999 minutes (~16.5 hours).
Backup. You can backup via command in the server interface. This tells it where to save the backup file. Is not limited to local HDDs.
Auto-start last used world should explain itself. In basic terms it does what the server application does now.
Online mode. Allows non-local network computers to connect when on. Default is on.
Concurrent players defaults at 20. Input max would be 999, actual run limit is unknown.
Port. Can change what port the game uses. If the server is already running this option is greyed out. You need to stop the server to change this.
Everything else can be changed whilst the server is running.
0
To also minimize risk of random people connecting to your server I would rather suggest having a list of servers you have already visited with the option of refreshing the connection to it to see weither it is online or not (client could refresh it when you into the multiplayer menu)... it would probably be best to view the link in my signature. It has pictures. (Yay for pictures.)
0
I'm not too sure about it though. Opinions?
Gutterpunk's input about choosing how much hot, temperate and cold area is on the map seems like a solid one. I'll add something akin to that on the world create menus if I find the time between work and real life.
Also to answer a question about seeding. Seeding is basically giving the game values which it uses to build a landscape (with trees, caves, water, etc).
0
Have you never heard of intentional spelling errors? Why would I want to float between islands on a boat that is parachute? I would much rather want an actual in-game parachute. I am all for simplifying things but that is just simplifying too much :tongue.gif:
0
So you might be on one island, look over the edge and see another one floating below you - just out of reach. This type area would allow for a "flying masheen" - most likely in the form of a glider made from skins, cloth, etc.
Possibly each island could even turn on one or all of its axis. That is more complicated but would probably look the most awesome. Especially if you as a player could affect this axis-movement.
0
The server functionality as by the mock-ups already allows you to create more worlds under one server but due to how the server functions you cannot run more than one world on each server instance.
What are the most notable features from the modded versions of servers/clients?
0
0
I was bascially adding on to this UI so that it would be easier for players to host their own servers and have an easier access to server settings rather than having to a) quit the program and :cool.gif: needing to edit files by hand.
0
I shall however do more mockups for the singleplayer world creation today and "obscurify" these options - and see how you guys like them.
0
Well, that's giving up easily...
0
0
0
0
However, you could make gunpowder from sulfur (brimstone). Sulfur is found near hot springs and volcanic regions in the real world so you could possibly implement it somehow in to Minecraft. Hot springs would need MC to differnate between hot and cold water. Might have to make fire and lava/magma produce an actual heat layer (lava, fire and torches make snow disappear so there might be a code already in place for such a thing). Heating water by lava could push water upwards, given that other specifics are met - such as a hard layer between the two and having a tube of sorts for the water to flow upwards in.
0
The Giant Rat - Gigantus Rattus.
0
This is probably not in time for the Halloween update.
It's basically a semi re-design of the Menu UI in the client and the server application. The pictures you see are mockups of proposed UI.
Client Main Menu
As you can see not much has changed other than the addition of a Mods button and an Exit button.
The Mods button would bring you to an interface where you could for example add or remove certain type of tile graphics and possibly even other "officially" marked modifications. These mods would only affect your client.
With this you could possibly have an easier access to mods when playing from within a browser. Later on this could be developed in to a Mod Browser with a ratings system (similar to Civ 5 mod browser).
Exit button explains itself eventhough it is perhaps not neccessary.
Singleplayer Menu
Five additional World slots along with a Load button where you can load up maps from other places. This takes away the hassle of having to find the specific folder, copy/move a map to an empty map folder and going back in to the game to play said map.
Delete world should have a more obvious interface so that you can tell that you are about to delete something. Perhaps a diffirent mouse-pointed and a pop-up window asking if you are sure.
You will also notice that the worlds have names. This is best explained in the next screen.
Singleplayer world creation
Singleplayer world creation v1 (old)
[EDIT]
Changed how the player would create a world. If the player wants to create a world without monsters and choose what kind of world to play in the player must choose Customise (picture below).
This type of a screen does not currently exist in Minecraft.
The name field will allow you to name your worlds. That way you can more easily remember which one is which.
Difficulty option is as it is today.
Over the Hardcore option you can see a text explaining what it does. This is how I envisioned tooltips to be displayed. Tooltips would appear after hovering over the item for a while, this could also work in-game in inventory type of windows.
My suggestion for a Hardcore mode is basically as explained in the tooltip. It would be off by default.
Customised world creation
The option of Biomes/No Biomes is basically a button that switches between the two, similar to what we already have in Options. Default is Biomes.
The Monsters/No monsters option does not affect Monster Dungeon spawnpoints, only "free-range" monster spawns. Default is Monsters.
The choice of Green, Winter and Hell is only active if No Biomes is chosen. I hope this explains itself good enough. Default would be either Green or Random (not seen on the picture).
The Seed number option would allow you to add any type of number (and/or letters?) to stage an inital seeding of the area you start in. It only affects a very small portion of the world and everything you explore afterwards will be procedurally/randomly generated. This would allow players to issue map start challenges to each other without the need of upload of a map.
Multiplayer Menu
Multiplayer mockup v1 (old)
Basically the same screen as before except with the addition of a server list on the right side. This list of servers is only kept locally and only shows previously visited servers, although manually adding a server to a list could be possible by editing a file.
[EDIT]
Added a few things.
The server list now displays server names as set by the server itself.
The server list could auto-sort itself by putting the last connected server at the top. Possibly sort itself with server status (online, offline and unknown) where online servers are above offline servers. The arrows at the bottom of the list would allow the player to move the servers up and down in the list if no auto-sort method is used.
Hovering over a server in the list would bring up a tooltip as shown. The information shown in the tooltip would be as accurate as the last refresh in the client.
In the list you see four servers.
The first one shows ip and port as the player has chosen it to be displayed that way (see picture below).
The second is as normal. Since it is offline hovering over the server would display an Offline tag instead of the amount of players on the server.
The third has never been connected to and was probably added by editing the server list file. Hovering over that one would only display in red letters 'refresh to get status of server' or something akin to that.
The fourth one is as normal, the blue outline shows it is selected and could thus be removed, moved up or down in the list or connected to. The server name is also long and is cut off in the namefield. Could possibly scroll the name forwards and backwards for fancy effects. Full server name is displayed in the tooltip.
The buttons on the right side of each server are Refresh and Edit. What Refresh does is see if the server is online or not by connecting to the ip through the given port. If it detects a server running it gets the server name and currently connected players to use with the tooltip.
The Edit button would bring up something like below picture shows.
Name shows the full server name. This field cannot be edited.
You are given the option of enabling a nickname for the server. This is useful for servers with long names and identifying diffirent servers if their set names are too obscure. Enabling Nickname overrides the server name in the server list but does not change anything in the hover-over tooltip info.
IP and Port are both editable in case the server changes IP or port numbers.
The last part allows the player to select weither to show the server name (or nickname) on the server list or the IP and Port.
Server Application
Server Application Mockup v1 (old)
I played with the possibility of mayhaps being able to run more than one server on one application of the server software. It sounds good in theory but it might be a bit of a hassle to change.
Logs and chat got divided, possibly making it easier to follow either one.
Added the following buttons.
Pushing Exit quits the software.
Pushing ??? is unknown. Possibly it brings up logs of some sorts, like chat logs. Possibly a list of banned players and ops.
Pushing Load allows you to load a world.
Default view of the Start/Stop button is Start. Once you push Start this button will show Stop. Pushing stop will save the world. The server does not start a world automatically like it does currently.
Options brings up server options, see below.
New world allows you to create a new world for the server, see below.
[EDIT]
The Server Stats window now shows the current server name, IP, port and amount of players. Also displays the amount of servers running.
Server name field added. Only editable when the server is stopped. Server won't start until there is a name in this field. A warning would be displayed in the Logs window. Server name field might possibly display a default server name.
Server name field could be a drop down menu for the case of running multiple server on one application. Any server you have created would be displayed in this drop down menu. To create a new server you would select the option - New Server - in the drop down menu. No limitation to how many you can have in this list but there would be limitations (besides machine capabilities) to how many servers you could run at any one time.
In the Player List window I originally played around with the idea of each running server having their own tab. The current config makes more sense however. The player list shows all the connected players and has a small information field that shows how many players, admins and ops are online. Behind every player name are three buttons - they are op/deop, kick and ban. Admin can't op/deop, kick or ban himself so those all these buttons are greyed out. In the Banned tab you see a list of all banned player names and their ips. Here you would have a button to un-ban them.
Server world creation
Name. Name your world.
Choose weither the world has biomes or not. Default is on (on = box is checked).
Choose weither there are monsters or not. Default is on. Even if you opt out of having monsters spawning you will still be able to find monster dungeons. That should possibly be an option to turn on/off?
Hardcore mode as above. In addition it enable Discovery mode for Local chat (see below). Hardcore mode might also disable playernames floating above the players heads.
Choose difficulty of play.
Map type option is only available if you don't want biomes.
Seed number option is the same as above.
Cancel brings you back to the main screen of the server application, no messages appear in Logs.
Pushing Defaults will bring every option to its default position.
Create world will create the world - the Create world window will disappear and you will see text appear in Logs. After the world has been generated you will see a message in Logs that asks you to push Start. Start could also blink(?).
Server options.
Here you can enable global chat and local chat.
What is missing from the chat options are the Message-of-the-Day and chat logs option. Both would be togglable and chat logs options would have a file location window. The MotD would have a small field for text.
Global chat is chat as we know it now.
Local chat is localized chat, possibly with a list that displays the players in your vicinity. Enabling Discovery mode will only show players on the list when they say something in local. This mode is automatically enabled in Hardcore mode.
Enabling chat timestamps will add timestamps to chat in the server application. Does not affect chat in client.
Chat filter will obscure words from a specific file. This file is editable and you can load diffirent files (community could make their own files for specific languages). Only one file can be loaded at a time.
Enabling Log timestamps would work in a similar way as chat timestamps.
Autosaves. Choose how often the server saves. Min is 0 minute (never), max is 999 minutes (~16.5 hours).
Backup. You can backup via command in the server interface. This tells it where to save the backup file. Is not limited to local HDDs.
Auto-start last used world should explain itself. In basic terms it does what the server application does now.
Online mode. Allows non-local network computers to connect when on. Default is on.
Concurrent players defaults at 20. Input max would be 999, actual run limit is unknown.
Port. Can change what port the game uses. If the server is already running this option is greyed out. You need to stop the server to change this.
Everything else can be changed whilst the server is running.
And that's about it. So far.
--- Spekingur