Hey!

This looks pretty interesting!  Cool concept!

On the website it says that you are looking to implement multiplayer?  I can't help thinking that something like a 2d version of secondlife stands a reasonable chance of being quite interesting and fun.

I liked that when I drew a box it fell on the ground.  I liked that it was really easy to create and use the person.  I kind of wanted to be able to play with the water.

Small technical issue: on linux, running the jnlp gave an xml parse exception.  I fixed this by changing the "&"s to "&"s .

I'm really stupidly lazy at learning to use editors and stuff, and I couldn't help thinking that it could be fun to have a meta-game.  Almost like a tutorial.  Or maybe like Crayon Physics?

BlockWorld is set in a game set in a world made of cubes.  Probably sounds somewhat familiar...

I started writing it in December after playing Minecraft for a couple of days.  I thought Minecraft was *AWESOME*.  I have yet to see any design and development decision in minecraft which I feel is even remotely questionable.  I am in awe of many of the development and design decisions in Minecraft.

After a couple of days playing Minecraft, I'd built a portal to the Nether.  Then I built a new world, and made another portal.

Then I set about trying to build something similar, only somehow better.  Worst case, it gives me something to do whilst Notch adds new features to Minecraft!

I have to say, there is a lot more work involved in doing this than I initially anticipated.

To run, you can download http://hughperkins.com/blockworld/blockworldbootstrap.jar , then run like this:

java -jar blockworldbootstrap.jar

Or, you can use the following link to run it automatically:  http://hughperkins.com/blockworldws/blockworld.jnlp

Requirements:
- java 1.6
- opengl 2.0 or higher
- Windows, linux

Feedback I'm looking for?  I guess, moral support would be good :-P  Also, where you think this could go.  Generally speaking, with the exception of the whole voxel part, on the whole I'm trying to make decisions that are different from Minecraft, though that's really a challenge, since Minecraft is so perfect!

Colored light:








Crafting book:



Free draw map:


Achievements:


Craft a teleport:

Hi, I'm Hugh.  I've had a computer since I was eight, which was ... a while ago.  I have a degree from Cambridge in physics.  I've spent much of my adult life trying to do things other than computing, but ultimately there is one thing I'm good at, and that is programming, though I do think it's good to try other things occasionally to try to make myself 'well rounded', or rather 'not so pointy' I think is more appropriate.

I've worked on a bunch of opensource projects over the years:

- Opensource metaverse project, http://manageddreams.com/osmpbb/  an opensource version of SecondLife http://secondlife.com  cited briefly in Wired http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2004/12/65865 , but which I abandoned pretty much the exact day that the SecondLife client became opensource

- An AI in C#, and another in Java, for http://springrts.com , http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20262

- a 3d rts map designer for springrts, http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8094&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

More recently I learned that it's possible to make a living off writing independent games, ie Minecraft, and that it's considered 'cool' to do so.  So I'm thinking of having a bash at doing that.

In real life, when I'm not doing opensource or trying to code independent games, I mostly work in investment banks, doing systems administration scripting, or occasionally full-on development.

BlockWorld is set in a game set in a world made of cubes.  Probably sounds somewhat familiar...

I started writing it in December after playing Minecraft for a couple of days.  I thought Minecraft was *AWESOME*.  I have yet to see any design and development decision in minecraft which I feel is even remotely questionable.  I am in awe of many of the development and design decisions in Minecraft.

After a couple of days playing Minecraft, I'd built a portal to the Nether.  Then I built a new world, and made another portal.

Then I set about trying to build something similar, only somehow better.  Worst case, it gives me something to do whilst Notch adds new features to Minecraft!

I have to say, there is a lot more work involved in doing this than I initially anticipated.

What I have working so far:
- landscape generation, using Perner noise
- an OpenGL renderer
- basic crafting
- basic monsters
- basic inventory
- some toys which I shall keep under wraps for now, but which I think are kind of interesting
- ... and then I started adding a network a few weeks ago.

My original plan was never to add a network at all.  That was going to be my 'differentiating feature' in fact, the lack of a network.  Lack of a network would give me lots more time to concentrate on designing interesting monsters, and environments and so on.

But I couldn't resist adding a network, so now I'm in the middle of debugging all sorts of icky errors and trying to glue things together and it's going a bit porridgy...

But it's gradually advancing.

In the past I have a whole bunch of other half-finished projects:

- Opensource metaverse project, http://manageddreams.com/osmpbb/  an opensource version of SecondLife http://secondlife.com  cited briefly in Wired http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2004/12/65865 , but which I abandoned pretty much the exact day that the SecondLife client became opensource

- An AI in C#, and another in Java, for http://springrts.com , http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20262

- a 3d rts map designer for springrts, http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8094&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

I've put quite a lot of effort into playing with 3d virtual worlds in the past, and I think the idea of using voxels is fascinating.  It simplifies things at so many levels.  For example, physics is so much easier to handle without having a bunch of irregularly-shaped meshes flying around...

I fully expect this project to add to my ever growing collection of half-finished virtual-world projects, but in the mean-time I'm having fun!