Topic: Minecraft

[MALCOLM]

Anyone had a go of this?

minecraft.net

It's a bit of a mess at the moment, he's had so many problems with bandwidth, you can only download the exe and no sounds right now, but this is mightily impressive for what seems, upon opening, to be written for an Atari 800XL at best

But dig a little deeper, and it's fiendishly addictive

It's hard to describe really, a world of blocks and resources that you need to mine to combine to make all sorts of tools and objects.

The twist is that, as darkness falls, all manner of evils spawn and so you need a shelter to hide in, which as you build up experience will become a multi-storey house with windows, doors, torches for light etc

There's animals bobbing around too for you to harvest for, I dunno, or maybe keep in a pen for, I still dunno

This is really early days, and there is no multiplayer right now, but this is a fascinating little game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft

newbie guide
http://minecraftwiki.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=35905&sid=49cc175754243e3732dd21d023b9bc90

the developers blog
http://notch.tumblr.com/

I reckon this is right up George's street. Or at least  it would be if it wasn't running in ultra-high def graphics compared to his usual games

I've opted to build a house with two storeys with windows upstairs to peer at the zombies and a zombie catching hallway. They appear to burn up in the day if you catch one, generating......feathers it looks like

[Koant]

I've resisted the temptation so far. From what I've read, and you confirmed this, it's terribly addictive and a real time-sink. I think I'll enjoy it from a distance, watching videos players are making, like these two:
[noembed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnjSWPxJxNs[/noembed]
[noembed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv-FORwG2oo[/noembed]

[MALCOLM]

Holy shit, those are impressive, I haven't even scratched the surface

Incredible depth to this game considering how young it is

[hpmons]

I played it a bit last year, before they had loads of fancy stuff.  It is...kinda appealing, but I don't quite get why people rave about it so much. 

It's hard to describe really, a world of blocks and resources that you need to mine to combine to make all sorts of tools and objects.

I like it as a "designing pretty things" game, but it looks like they've added combat and combining items etc, which other games do much better.  Making tools and "survival" type things is done much better by Haven and Hearth[nb]In case you do click on that link, I should point out that that "trailer" is over a year old, and the game has so many more features now.  On the downside, it's one of the laggiest games I've ever played, which is why as much as I like the idea, I don't play it any more.[/nb] or Stranded 2[nb]I've been obsessed with that game for the last week[/nb] (the latter is a single player game, though there have been player efforts to make a two-player mod). Admittedly neither have the same creativity you get with Minecraft, and the vastness of it is impressive.  I haven't played the pay-for version, so perhaps it all works well.

[Still Not George]

I reckon this is right up George's street. Or at least  it would be if it wasn't running in ultra-high def graphics compared to his usual games

Whatchoo talkin' bout, I bin on the Minecraft tip fo' weeks, yo.

(That actually physically hurt to type, I hope you're happy.)

The actual crafting/building simulation type play is vastly inferior to Dwarf Fortress, but it's really quite good fun in it's own way. The whole "zombies come out at night" thing makes the game, really; it'd get boring very quickly if you didn't have to hide underground/indoors half the time.

Once Notch gets the authentication working again, would people like to get a CaB multiplayer Minecraft server running? We could build giant stone cocks and mod the zombies to look like Gervais.

[MALCOLM]

The whole "zombies come out at night" thing makes the game, really; it'd get boring very quickly if you didn't have to hide underground/indoors half the time.

Yes exactly, the sun falls quickly, so you always find yourself dashing back to the surface of your mine to see what time it is. It's this constant ticking timer that makes the game.

Once Notch gets the authentication working again, would people like to get a CaB multiplayer Minecraft server running?

Yes!

[Big Jack McBastard]

Christ I need to get my eyes tested, I was positive the title said Mircosoft....

[Still Not George]

Yes!

Anyone got access to a server we could use? I currently have nothng permanent.

[Still Not George]

As an aside, Notch has thus far made 2 million Euros from this thing. All straight to him, with no bloody publisher eating 60%, and all for an alpha which became popular mostly off the back of someone else's donationware project. I am FIENDISHLY jealous.

[MALCOLM]

Anyone got access to a server we could use? I currently have nothng permanent.

I can probably come up with something, I'll find out the requirements.

2 mill, wow, fair play to the guy. He got 10 of my finest euros today.

It's great as it is, hopefully it has a long and illustrious future ahead of it. Kind've exciting to be aware of it so early on.

[Slaaaaabs]

As an aside, Notch has thus far made 2 million Euros from this thing. All straight to him, with no bloody publisher eating 60%, and all for an alpha which became popular mostly off the back of someone else's donationware project. I am FIENDISHLY jealous.

I'm pretty sure he posted something about Swedish tax taking a nice big chunk of his income, as well as PayPal acting like greedy cunts and taking their cut as well as holding a percentage to scrape some interest.

[Still Not George]

I'm pretty sure he posted something about Swedish tax taking a nice big chunk of his income, as well as PayPal acting like greedy cunts and taking their cut as well as holding a percentage to scrape some interest.

Still better than losing 60% to a bloated moneysack before taxes.

[Puffin Chunks]

I hate you for bringing this game to my attention. My time has been spent on little else recently.

Did anyone get anywhere with locating a server of sorts? I'm definitely up for a CaB multiplayer.

[Still Not George]

Bumping this 'un. The Beta recently came out and adds most Survival functionality to multiplayer - damage, death, monsters etc. (About the only major thing still not working is minecarts.)

So, does anyone have access to a server we can run this thing on? A CaB Minecraft server would surely be a work of beauty.

[jimmy jazz]

Man I'd love that, after a break from playing it over the Christmas period I've just got back into it and my symmetrical, obsessive-compulsive mines are a thing to behold. This really is an amazing little game, if something of a timesink, and the HD texture packs are gorgeous.

[Zero Gravitas]

Strange, I've just given this a go and my account seems to not be premium any more, are they only temporary or is this a bug others are having?

Oh also, the next Mojang game: http://www.scrolls.com/

[Still Not George]

No such problem here.

[Zero Gravitas]

Hmm, apparently it's quite widespread but the support of a company with Mojang's turnover the size of Mojang the size and priorities of Mojang is pretty poor.

[fearofmusic]

Is a CaB Minecraft server still a desirable thing? I have an instance I am testing the water with if there is interest.

If so give me a shout.

[Puffin Chunks]

I haven't played Minecraft for a few builds now (it runs like shit on my computer, unfortunately). If a CaB server was to pop up though, I'd certainly be tempted to give it another pop.

Has any of the code been optimised yet? I only have Intel integrated gfx, but it really should run ok.

[Still Not George]

<deflounce>

Is a CaB Minecraft server still a desirable thing? I have an instance I am testing the water with if there is interest.

If so give me a shout.

I'd be up for it, certainly. My local gaming club's SMP server has kinda died out.

I haven't played Minecraft for a few builds now (it runs like shit on my computer, unfortunately). If a CaB server was to pop up though, I'd certainly be tempted to give it another pop.

Has any of the code been optimised yet?

Of course not! That would mean Notch actually updating his code rather than giving interviews and filling his new swimming pool with $5 notes. But running with graphics set to "Fast" and Normal or Short rendering distance should help a bit.

</deflounce>

[Zero Gravitas]

^also tapping F to turn off fog is a huge FPS improvement.

[fearofmusic]

Well for what it's worth there is a server up at the address silvereye.co.uk for those interested. Open to all at the moment but not a lot there at the moment beyond me cowering in a hole in my shitty wooden shelter.

Plus the fact minecraft.net is down at the moment, forsing me to instead do something worthwhile with my Sunday evening.

[Zetetic]

Bugger, minecraft.net appears to be down again...

[fearofmusic]

I am new to this but this does seem to be a disconcertingly regular occurrence.

[Puffin Chunks]

Does it matter that it's down? Just download the standalone version... or does the Minecraft.net server need to be up to access multiplayer?

Jumped on to the server for a few seconds last night. Going to try to actually start building a shelter tonight.

[Zetetic]

Yeah, you need to have Minecraft.net be running to be recognised as a paid up user, to be allowed to play multiplayer (or so it seems.)

At the moment mine's crashing on either SP or MP. Might see if it's any more stable under Windows.

[Puffin Chunks]

Sorry to whoever's shelter it is I managed to trash. I spawned in the dark, ran towards the light to find some shelter then got completely owned by 3 creeps who all blew up in close proximity to me. Carnage. I haven't been back to inspect the damage, but I fear your home has been ruined! I'm going to try to head over to fix it up a bit

[fearofmusic]

Sorry to whoever's shelter it is I managed to trash.

My beach house!!!

Don't worry about the destruction. I think I left a few creeper holes in there already from an foolish night time outdoor expedition. If you follow the torch trail in the other direction you should find Zetetic's much nicer stone shelter.

[Puffin Chunks]

It's creeper central out there at the moment! I've fashioned myself an underground bunker, but I'm too scared to leave as those green bastards always seem to get the drop on me!