Notch's next game is an MMO • Hacker News Board

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#71

Post by jiggy2011 » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:51 PM UTC

w1ntermute wrote: post #58

I hope the graphics don't suck, like they do in Minecraft. I know it sound superficial, but graphics do matter. Minecraft succeeded despite its graphics, not because of them.

I think it's good that they kept the graphics basic for a few reasons.

Firstly the game is written in Java and hogs enough CPU/RAM as it is. If they had started making high quality assets they would have had to maintain that standard throughout which would have made it much more difficult to iterate quickly which is something that minecraft is all about.

I think of it like Lego , Lego kits are nowhere near as pretty or detailed as other proper model kits but they allow many different possibilities.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#72

Post by nullflux » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:52 PM UTC

cpeterso wrote: post #23

I was a developer for the ill-fated Perpetual Entertainment's Star Trek Online MMO (which was later sold and successfully launched by Cryptic Studios). Star Trek Online's #1 most common feature request from beta testers was "ship interiors." Players didn't want to play "WoW in Spaaaace " game. They wanted to play "The Sims meet Star Trek" and relive their favorite Star Trek TV episodes. That sounds like a pretty cool…

This really sounds like a game for hardcore programmers (16-bit emulation, "assembly in space" as h2s called it.) Minecraft is far more accessible: will this really gain nearly as much traction?

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#73

Post by redthrowaway » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:52 PM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #28

lt wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He tweeted this picture while debugging the CPU a couple weeks ago: http://i.imgur.com/DhmFp.png Sounds like fun.

I look forward to new languages which only compile to this cpu.

I look forward to someone building this CPU in Minecraft.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#74

Post by rdl » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:53 PM UTC

I hope this doesn't ship for a year or two. I'd like to get more work done first :)

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#75

Post by itmag » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:53 PM UTC

sukuriant wrote: post #36

someone13 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope that code is auto-generated. Because that coding style is ATROCIOUS.

Looks like standard emulator coding to me. Op-codes and state changes.

Very cool. Haven't ever delved into this kind of code. Got any pointers/tips for me? :)

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#76

Post by Tuna-Fish » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:53 PM UTC

someone13 wrote: post #35

jiggy2011 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It's just a big switch/case over the instruction set by the looks of it. Those things can get pretty damn large if your are implementing anything close to a proper CPU. It's just very condensed, I imagine so he can change a bunch of values and re-test quickly.

It's not quite as bad as it would be in a program other than an emulator, granted, but I can't imagine that it's easy to notice a bug in a 200-character line of: int pos=(ram[PC++&0xffff]+X)&0xff; byte v=ram[(ram[pos]&0xff)| And so on. It just seems like some sort of code generation would be much easier.

You cannot really do code-generation when all the lines have meaningful differences. What you saw was very likely the most compact representation of the VM -- any other form would likely be just as bad.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#77

Post by v21 » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:55 PM UTC

emeltzer wrote: post #63

w1ntermute wrote: post #58

I hope the graphics don't suck, like they do in Minecraft. I know it sound superficial, but graphics do matter. Minecraft succeeded despite its graphics, not because of them.

Strongly disagree with this. Minecraft's graphics are a direct consequence of what the game IS (i.e. a world made out of large-ish blocks). More realistic (that is, less stylized) textures look strange on top of huge blocks, and anything that obscured the block structure of the world would have made Minecraft a worse game.

Minecraft needed to be made of blocks, it's true. But Minecraft could be more beautiful than it is. Which isn't to diss it - what it does well, it does really well. And it can often be beautiful -- the terrain generator can produce some wonderful things.

While it isn't aiming for all the same points, and is obviously inspired in some parts by Minecraft, I think for example Cube World is a much better looking game. http://wollay.blogspot.co.uk/

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#78

Post by dysoco » Tue, Apr 03, 2012, 11:59 PM UTC

The game looks really awesome, I love space games, and if you combine it with Minecraft... and not only that but programmable CPUs !!!! I would love it.

Sadly "Monthly Fee" is something I don't like... I don't have the money to pay it, nor a credit card to do it, so nope.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#79

Post by wisty » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 12:01 AM UTC

Splines wrote: post #50

tonfa wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now just have to wait for the llvm and gcc support :)

Someone will inevitable try to get the JVM running on it, and then run minecraft on it.

Then run an emulation of the CPU inside minecraft, and crash the server.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#80

Post by redthrowaway » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 12:01 AM UTC

endianswap wrote: post #4

Technology of note: "The computer in the game is a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU that can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish. [...] The cost of the game is still undecided, but it's likely there will be a monthly fee for joining the Multiverse as we are going to emulate all computers and physics even when players aren't logged in.…

This could quite possibly be the nerdiest game ever made. The amazing level of boffin creativity we've seen in Minecraft could easily be eclipsed by giving everyone their own in-game programmable computers to tinker with.

I can't wait.