Minecraft Next: Forum Thread Post

This is simply to post a thread I created on a Minecraft suggestions forum linked here.

• This is a crucially interwoven layer of features.
• These features create new highly generalized and extensible modes of game-play.
• Although it is a major programming endeavor, the featureset is optimally plausible in proportion to the creative possibilities it enables.
• Usage scenarios are very sensible.
• Features are all opt-in.
• The user develops at his/her own pace.
• The learning curve is low-risk, and quickly returns on investment to be rewarding
• Yet the featureset can scale into being extremely detailed and empowering.
  

A set of tools to use a finite set of new special buildings.

These special buildings enable new empowering forms of game-play, such as:

• Automated mining and soldiering through training settlers
• City planning
• Inter-city infrastructure for automated travel and trade
• Aerial views for war strategy and routing purposes
  • tophographical views should show specific types of map data layered over a zoomable vantage point over the actual game landscape
  • (Minecraft's characteristic graphical simplicity would be maintained)
    

Special buildings are introduced in one or more purchasable extensions, which makes them opt-in as well as worth the extra programming effort. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Why special buildings?

Only a predefined area assigned to a directed purpose can allow the optimal features and convenience leading to their benefits. Additionally, these do not take away the ability to create anything as has been normally done in the original game. There is a total of 22 special buildings that one can build. (There is an ok reason for this number, but it is not super important)



Each new special building has individual conditions that blocks can fill to augment or detract from the buildings' capacities. The size limitation of the buildings means that only blocks placed within the defined size limit effect the buildings' capacities. Blocks outside the size limit will only serve normal purposes of aesthetics and/or armour.



This featureset enables a subsequent proliferation of possibilities in terms of game-play, which normal buildings do not allow.

22 Cornerstones serve as function declarations of a sort, for 22 special buildings.

The cornerstone defines:

• the owner of the building
• the best biome to place the building in
• the most advantageous combinations of blocks to use in its construction
• any special items/structures that are enhanced by, or enhance, the building itself (by placing them inside the building boundaries)
• the working size/boundaries of the building
• the number and types of inputs/outputs the building can have crucial effects on.
  

• These attributes are set at the time of the cornerstone's creation.
• Although these attributes never change, new, more powerful cornerstones can be swapped to replace older ones.
  

Cornerstones only have one x,y,z orientation. They show the name of their owner (player) upon visual inspection, yet they can be hidden from view by other blocks if desired.

There are three primary types of special buildings

1. Interactive buildings hold special items like lecterns which players click on in the building in order to open special interfaces. These require the player to be present in the building.
2. Training buildings take in settlers through doorways in order to train them - then send them out another door.
3. Resource buildings serve as tidy boxes in which to extensively build out chest storage systems or materials refinement operations into highly functional, practical and usable locations. Players can build out systems that would otherwise be larger than the building itself, and only awkwardly interactive. Yet players still build these systems using the same items they always have. This liberates the player to use item features to the fullest.
   

(Some buildings serve more than one of these purposes.)



There are approximately 11 buildings that require the player to acquire a correlating relic in order to build. These relics surround the cornerstone creator on stands (much in the same way bookshelves surround the enchanting table.)

Learning Curve: Custom Algorithms

The most unfamiliar aspect of these upgrades for users will be the interface for customizing training algorithms for task automation. All of the buildings that enable training will have the same interface for this. However each building will have narrowed options to choose from according to the specific role the special building is training for.



Default algorithms should exist that will make settlers become guards or miners for instance. However the player can benefit greatly from tweaking the algorithms to become more nuanced and purposeful. (Microsoft has already developed a graphical programming interface for kids, and it is even related to controlling Minecraft animals.)

Learning Curve: Other New

In addition to the custom algorithm interface, these new special buildings would take advantage of 2 more primary types of interfaces. However, they give an incredible amount of new creative and technical power to the user. These features can be used in conjunction in order to build some amazing creations.

1. Algorithm Interface
2. Aerial View Interface
3. Blank Slate 3D Creative Mode for designing, "Boxing", and "Scaling"
   

This new 3D Creative Mode will be very similar to the existing Creative Mode. It will consist of an non-mine-able flat plain on which designs can be constructed as in normal Creative Mode. However, these designs can then be communicated to trained settlers who then gather the necessary resources and build the structure in the actual game world. Users can manifest designs into survival mode, which took meticulous effort in Creative Mode. The designs can be saved in template menus

Additionally, users can manifest the same designs over and over again, and they do not waste the effort they put into it. Thus they can initiate modular structures that repeat (like wall sections) - alter and perfect their original designs - and still add details after they are manifested.

What is "Boxing"

"Boxing" means that you can design something in the blank slate Creative Mode and then manifest it into the game as a black box with the minimal set of inputs and outputs necessary for it to correctly interact in the Minecraft world around it. This is primarily useful for very complex redstone circuits that have a couple important redstone wire inputs and/or outputs to control something else. It is also useful for manufacturing and materials refinement processes.



Although the resulting manifested box is almost certainly much smaller than the design behind it, the box still costs at least the amount of resources as was involved in constructing its innards in Creative Mode.

What is "Scaling"

"Scaling" Is almost what it sounds like, except that what is manifested from the Creative Mode into Survival Mode becomes a single object in the process. The blocks it is made of no longer act as individual blocks.

This process of conversion allows for scaling large things like ships down to a npc-friendly size while allowing for slightly greater detail in design. In this way, the same simple block building method still applies.

Most excitingly, the conversion also gives the game a chance to include moving wheels and parts to these designs. These moving parts are merely represented by special blocks in Creative Mode. However once manifested into Survival Mode, they become pivoting axles, wheels, cogs, levers, pulleys, rope, etc.

Unlike with Boxing, the resources required to manifest these objects into Survival Mode is not the same as in the Creative Mode. Resource demands are scaled down according to the same proportions as the design is scaled down. Scaling can take place at 2-to-1, 4-to-1, and 8-to-1 ratios . . . maybe 16-to-1. You get the picture.

If scaling up is desirable, it might maintain block behavior of each individual voxel - only scaling up 1-to-2 will require 4 blocks in Survival Mode for every 1 in Creative Mode.

Do These Features Change the Game?

These features should only be introduced after the player has gone through hell to develop certain materials and technologies. The clear bottleneck here is the ability to construct a cornerstone creator.

These features should only work through the use of the expensive Special Buildings which can take time to make. That's all in the nitty gritty details of prudent game design.

Minecraft is a kids' game. It should not be too difficult. When merged into the game correctly, these features should not disrupt that level of difficulty. The features should inspire players to create amazing things, and maybe even learn programming concepts via a 3D game.


Thank you. I would be glad to contribute whatever ideas I can, and respond to posts with more details.