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Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

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Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#31
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, Java or C will be much faster at any computational work. And I am no node.js fan-boi. But doing actual asynchronous local-file IO in C is non-trivial, and if their server is not CPU bound, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with using node.js. Could you also use libuv from C? Sure.

im not an expert but arent UDP Socket connections more like an fire and forget scenario which doesnt create alot of waiting ? Id think that game servers have to compute heavier stuff per tick and have to process all the incoming packets anyway so that waiting for IO isnt really an issue ? It might make sense to have the game world updating and sending/recieving packets in different threads though, so is that were nod…

The network stuff is, yeah. But presumably you want your minecraft world to be durable, which means hitting disk. And you don't want your network stuff blocked behind that.

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#32
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a couple projects in this direction (I looked into trying to make a bot at one point). Unfortunately, any names have slipped my memory at this point. But be assured, they exist.

Voxel.js is one: http://voxeljs.com/

In what way is this a minecraft client?

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#33

Mojang is already working on a Minecraft MMO [1] - how would this be different? [1] http://help.mojang.com/customer/portal/articles/1018151-mine...

That isn't an MMO, it is just a server hosting service. However, if they wanted to add MMOs to Realms, they could acquire us. ;)

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#34
post #31
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

im not an expert but arent UDP Socket connections more like an fire and forget scenario which doesnt create alot of waiting ? Id think that game servers have to compute heavier stuff per tick and have to process all the incoming packets anyway so that waiting for IO isnt really an issue ? It might make sense to have the game world updating and sending/recieving packets in different threads though, so is that were nod…

The network stuff is, yeah. But presumably you want your minecraft world to be durable, which means hitting disk. And you don't want your network stuff blocked behind that.

ok makes sense but i wouldnt write every change to the disk anyway. The server state can well be kept inside memory and only be saved once in a while, but nevertheless doing that in a different thread would make sense.

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#35

Mojang is already working on a Minecraft MMO [1] - how would this be different? [1] http://help.mojang.com/customer/portal/articles/1018151-mine...

I don't think that's an MMO -- it's just a way to easily set up a server and play on it with your friends.

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#36
post #32
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voxel.js is one: http://voxeljs.com/

In what way is this a minecraft client?

Well it's not technically Minecraft, but obviously heavily inspired. I'm pretty sure I heard about someone hooking it up to the real protocol.

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#38
Interesting that you guys are applying to YC 13. Note that YCombinator already have invested in a very similar company: Minefold[1].

TC had some info on that too[2].

[1] https://minefold.com/

[2] http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/12/minefold-launch/

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#39
post #21

I've seen lots of work on alternate Minecraft servers; has anyone worked on an open Minecraft client (obviously not named "Minecraft" for trademark reasons, but compatible with the network protocol)?

Manic Digger ( http://manicdigger.sourceforge.net/ ) used to connect to Minecraft Classic servers. And a client for full Minecraft was planned. But Notch didn't like seeing alternative clients, so I removed it from the game. Also, see http://wiki.vg/Client_List

That's one of the reasons I don't like Notch. This game is literally perfect for WebGL. The rendering done is minimal, the CPU work done is minimal, the textures are (or could be) tiny, and the code required would be tiny.

But no, it's STILL in Java. Why?

Re: Show HN: Redstone, a distributed Minecraft server that runs on Node.js

#40

Interesting that you guys are applying to YC 13. Note that YCombinator already have invested in a very similar company: Minefold[1]. TC had some info on that too[2]. [1] https://minefold.com/ [2] http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/12/minefold-launch/

The Minefold guys were just on our demo server! They're the best.
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