5
Since long, Minecraft has proved to be a game both fun to play and to talk about with friends.
Most of my friends play it.
Since not so long, there have been major updates.
These updates add items, mobs, et cetera. But there is a thing I miss.
Don't get me wrong. Minecraft is becoming better and better with every update.
It's just that everything is getting more realistic, except the game itself.
And it's hard. I know it is. It's easier to add new things than to modify things already in the game.
But it'll be worth it, if done correctly.
I have some experience in game development, so I sat down and started brainstorming.
This supplied me with a number of ideas.
However, not all of these ideas are necessarily good.
As I said, I do have some experience with creating games, and there are a few rules I can apply to see whether an idea is good or bad straight away.
Left-handed players
The original idea of this was that left-handed players would have a more natural screen to look at.
Minecraft would better adapt to the real-life experience the players would undergo.
Since this does not apply to all players, a setting should be included for this.
Setting, however, is a dirty word. If a core idea itself contains "settings" or "options", it is often a bad idea.
We only stumbled accross the word setting here after I started working it out.
This setting is only needed because not all players are left-handed. The core idea is a more realistic experience.
This means that the need for settings for this specific idea is not bad by defenition.
An idea of what it would look like:
It doesn't look all that unnatural, does it?
Moreover, it would subtly enhance the multiplayer experience if applied correctly.
Certain people would suddenly be left-handed, and this would increase the variety.
This, after closer examination, still remains as a good idea to me.
We haven't looked at the technical side yet, though.
Better water flow/resupply
What gave me this idea originally was ponds that were one deep were refilling properly but two deep water was glitchy.
First of all, this should be fixed. What does this change? I took a look and the consequences are quite overwhelming. This has drawbacks that aren't to be considered major, but not minor anymore either.
First, the good parts:
No more of this:
Also, properly refilling ocean after digging away islands to the seabed.
More interesting water flows.
The drawbacks:
More of this:
Is that what we want? No, not quite.
There is a workaround though, but we'll have to completely redifine the idea of how water flows. This is too complicated and not-done.
However, these were in fact two ideas, disguised as one. By simply fixing the glitch for refilling, the mess above will not be there.
Most of the good parts will be gone too, but this idea can cause too much damage to worlds and player-build constructions. That's not a risk I want to take.
So, scrap that. Just the fix.
Remeber, the important thing is and remains:
Right, time to get technical again.
Natural gravity
Well. Saw those floating islands? That's not realistic, right?
What?
Oh, they're cool?
Well, I suppose you have a point.
Moreover, implementing realistic gravity...
Altogether, simply not worth it.
Mainly because of the huge workarounds we would need to preserve player buildings.
Scrap it.
Weather overhaul
Okay. Ever wondered what the actual fuck was with the weather in minecraft?
Me too.
The idea: Clouds have moisture and density.
Clouds could have no density at all. this means that even if they have high moisture it would not be raining because there is such a low amount of cloud altogether.
However, as the clouds get thicker, it might be possible for rain to occur even at lower moisture, just because a lot of reasonably dry is still wet.
Let's put this into a formula:
moisture*density = rain multiplier
if the rainmp is below 20, there is no rain.
20-40 light rain/snow
40-80 normal rain/snow
80-100 heavy rain/snow
Thunder could be more closely related to density.
More is still coming, though.
The numers above are for a normal biome.
as the dryness of the landscape increases, so does the lower limit for rain to occur.
In a desert there might be 80-100 light rain.
In a rainforest there might be 5-50 normal rain and 50-100 heavy rain.
Also, there is of course the overcasts, which would add to the feeling of Minecraft.
It would make the sunset so much more spectacular.
Also, while we are imagining the sunset, there is also this:
Well then.
The final candidates:
Left-handed players
This is a subtle feature that could greatly enhance the idea of how Minecraft feels, especially in Multiplayer.
Better water resupply
Basically a fix for that annoying water in your pond that is refusing to refill.
Better weather
This is a complete rewrite of Minecraft's weather system.
But behold the epic results this will yield once it's done.
This will have no real effect gameplay-wise, but is mainly aimed at improving the "feel" of Minecraft.
Let's combine this.
Lefty-water-weather mod!
That sounds stupid. The subjects are just too different...
The Feelpack!
Doesn't quite cut it either.
The Environmental Overhaul?
Let's face it, this is my best bet for a name.
Let's go with it.
Thanks everyone,
Gamesaucer
Most of my friends play it.
Since not so long, there have been major updates.
These updates add items, mobs, et cetera. But there is a thing I miss.
Don't get me wrong. Minecraft is becoming better and better with every update.
It's just that everything is getting more realistic, except the game itself.
And it's hard. I know it is. It's easier to add new things than to modify things already in the game.
But it'll be worth it, if done correctly.
I have some experience in game development, so I sat down and started brainstorming.
This supplied me with a number of ideas.
- Left-handed players
- Better water flow/resupply
- Natural gravity
- Weather overhaul
However, not all of these ideas are necessarily good.
As I said, I do have some experience with creating games, and there are a few rules I can apply to see whether an idea is good or bad straight away.
Left-handed players
The original idea of this was that left-handed players would have a more natural screen to look at.
Minecraft would better adapt to the real-life experience the players would undergo.
Since this does not apply to all players, a setting should be included for this.
Setting, however, is a dirty word. If a core idea itself contains "settings" or "options", it is often a bad idea.
We only stumbled accross the word setting here after I started working it out.
This setting is only needed because not all players are left-handed. The core idea is a more realistic experience.
This means that the need for settings for this specific idea is not bad by defenition.
An idea of what it would look like:
It doesn't look all that unnatural, does it?
Moreover, it would subtly enhance the multiplayer experience if applied correctly.
Certain people would suddenly be left-handed, and this would increase the variety.
This, after closer examination, still remains as a good idea to me.
We haven't looked at the technical side yet, though.
It's getting technical...
Overall difficulty of realizing this idea: Easy.
Let's take a look. For singleplayer, we have to render the player differently:
We have to mirror the way in which the player's hands are drawn for 1st person. This should be so easy it can hardly be considered an effort at all. There could still be minor difficulties, but nothing all that big.
We have to change the hand in which the player is holding a tool for 3rd person view. This should be relatively easy, but might have a drawback. (I am not a modder myself, although I do want to become one. This is a reasonable assumption but might be not true at all:) Along with the player model the skin might be mirrored. Still, this should not be very difficult to fix, even IF it's the case.
For multiplayer we have to change the information that is being sent for each player:
We have to add information for the player's orientation. This could be as simple as a bool (right = true, left = false) or an interger. (right = 0, left = 1). Once this is done, Minecraft clients can handle the rest on their own.
Let's take a look. For singleplayer, we have to render the player differently:
We have to mirror the way in which the player's hands are drawn for 1st person. This should be so easy it can hardly be considered an effort at all. There could still be minor difficulties, but nothing all that big.
We have to change the hand in which the player is holding a tool for 3rd person view. This should be relatively easy, but might have a drawback. (I am not a modder myself, although I do want to become one. This is a reasonable assumption but might be not true at all:) Along with the player model the skin might be mirrored. Still, this should not be very difficult to fix, even IF it's the case.
For multiplayer we have to change the information that is being sent for each player:
We have to add information for the player's orientation. This could be as simple as a bool (right = true, left = false) or an interger. (right = 0, left = 1). Once this is done, Minecraft clients can handle the rest on their own.
Better water flow/resupply
What gave me this idea originally was ponds that were one deep were refilling properly but two deep water was glitchy.
First of all, this should be fixed. What does this change? I took a look and the consequences are quite overwhelming. This has drawbacks that aren't to be considered major, but not minor anymore either.
First, the good parts:
No more of this:
Also, properly refilling ocean after digging away islands to the seabed.
More interesting water flows.
The drawbacks:
More of this:
Is that what we want? No, not quite.
There is a workaround though, but we'll have to completely redifine the idea of how water flows. This is too complicated and not-done.
However, these were in fact two ideas, disguised as one. By simply fixing the glitch for refilling, the mess above will not be there.
Most of the good parts will be gone too, but this idea can cause too much damage to worlds and player-build constructions. That's not a risk I want to take.
So, scrap that. Just the fix.
Remeber, the important thing is and remains:
Right, time to get technical again.
It's getting technical...
Well, this is easy. Currently, there needs to be a solid block beneath water for it to refill.
Solid blocks is almost everything.
Non-solid is water, lava, air, and that's about it.
If we add an exception to the refill code for water, there, done.
Solid blocks is almost everything.
Non-solid is water, lava, air, and that's about it.
If we add an exception to the refill code for water, there, done.
Natural gravity
Well. Saw those floating islands? That's not realistic, right?
What?
Oh, they're cool?
Well, I suppose you have a point.
Moreover, implementing realistic gravity...
It's getting technical...
IMPOSSIBRU!
Well, not exactly, but VERY hard.
And what's the gain?
Well, not exactly, but VERY hard.
And what's the gain?
Altogether, simply not worth it.
Mainly because of the huge workarounds we would need to preserve player buildings.
Scrap it.
Weather overhaul
Okay. Ever wondered what the actual fuck was with the weather in minecraft?
Me too.
The idea: Clouds have moisture and density.
Clouds could have no density at all. this means that even if they have high moisture it would not be raining because there is such a low amount of cloud altogether.
However, as the clouds get thicker, it might be possible for rain to occur even at lower moisture, just because a lot of reasonably dry is still wet.
Let's put this into a formula:
moisture*density = rain multiplier
if the rainmp is below 20, there is no rain.
20-40 light rain/snow
40-80 normal rain/snow
80-100 heavy rain/snow
Thunder could be more closely related to density.
More is still coming, though.
The numers above are for a normal biome.
as the dryness of the landscape increases, so does the lower limit for rain to occur.
In a desert there might be 80-100 light rain.
In a rainforest there might be 5-50 normal rain and 50-100 heavy rain.
Also, there is of course the overcasts, which would add to the feeling of Minecraft.
It would make the sunset so much more spectacular.
Also, while we are imagining the sunset, there is also this:
It's getting technical...
This thing is BIG. First of all, we need to scrap the entire idea of how weather currently works in Minecraft.
We would have to code this system from scratch.
It's possible, surely, but it's going to take some time.
We would have to code this system from scratch.
It's possible, surely, but it's going to take some time.
Well then.
The final candidates:
Left-handed players
This is a subtle feature that could greatly enhance the idea of how Minecraft feels, especially in Multiplayer.
Better water resupply
Basically a fix for that annoying water in your pond that is refusing to refill.
Better weather
This is a complete rewrite of Minecraft's weather system.
But behold the epic results this will yield once it's done.
This will have no real effect gameplay-wise, but is mainly aimed at improving the "feel" of Minecraft.
Let's combine this.
Lefty-water-weather mod!
That sounds stupid. The subjects are just too different...
The Feelpack!
Doesn't quite cut it either.
The Environmental Overhaul?
Let's face it, this is my best bet for a name.
Let's go with it.
Thanks everyone,
Gamesaucer
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