How to Use the Catacomb Snatch Source Code

by Jens Bergensten on February 20, 2012

We are often asked “how did you learn to code?”, and for tips about how to get started with game programming. I learned most of my programming from books and from hacking around in the few examples I could find (there was no Internet back then). Our Mojam “Catacomb Snatch” source code could possibly be a good starting point for new programmers, so here’s a quick getting-started guide!

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Mojam – Final Countdown!

by Lydia Winters on February 19, 2012

Today is the final day of the Humble Bundle Mojam. We’ve raised over $352,000 so far and still have around 5 hours yet!

There are now THREE games in the bundle… Catacomb Snatch made by us and currently untitled games by Oxeye Studio and Wolfire Games.

Here’s a peek at Catacomb Snatch… A steampunk Egyptian themed RTS shoot em’ up game.

So many people have given so generously and we wanted to do some extra special things for the Top 10 donators! Our friends at J!NX and Razer have hooked us up.

1 – Naga Hex Mouse, Black Widow Ultimate Keyboard, Creeper Mouse Mat and $200 J!NX gift code
2 – Naga Mouse, Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $100 J!NX gift code
3 – Naga Mouse, Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $75 J!NX gift code
4 – Naga Mouse, Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code
5 – Naga Mouse, Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code
6 – Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code
7 – Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code
8 – Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code
9 – Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code
10 – Large Golithus Mouse Mat and $50 J!NX gift code

But on top of that… ALL of the top 10 will get to join the Mojang Team on a private Minecraft server for 30 minutes of multiplayer fun! Not to mention we will send you a signed art print from the Catacomb Snatch SIGNED by the whole team!

Remember ALL of the money will be put in to charity.

Let’s get to $500k… then Notch with shave his beard! We can do it! Head over now to watch the live-stream and help charity – humblebundle.com

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The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For…

by Lydia Winters on February 16, 2012

Today Carl, Notch, Jeb, Jon and I are at the Bella Center in Copenhagen for LEGOworld to unveil LEGO Minecraft. We are extremely happy with how it turned out and are excited to show you!

LEGO Minecraft is NOW available for pre-order on jinx.com/LEGOminecraft

Make sure you keep updated with all the latest news about it on the LEGO Minecraft page — www.facebook.com/legominecraft

Coming summer 2012.

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Humble Bundle Mojam

by Lydia Winters on February 15, 2012

Starting this Friday, February 17th at 10 CET Mojang will be creating a new game LIVE with all of the money going to charity. With the help of our friends at HumbleBundle.com, we are having a fun game jam weekend! By donating, you will be given the game created in the 60 hours (and maybe some other fun things too).

We’ll also have some fun and silly incentives for reaching certain amounts of money (like Aron FINALLY creating a Twitter account). We’ll also be doing some giveaways and Q&A’s with the Mojangstas.

Make sure to follow @mojangteam and @notch for updates. Also use #Mojam to submit questions!

We want your help to choose the theme and the genre. The highest and lowest voted from each category will be combined for the game. Of course, you’ve always wanted to play a Shoot Em’Up Dating Simulator with a Candy Land World War II theme. Choose wisely!

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Minecraft Snapshot 12w07b (Updated!)

by Jens Bergensten on February 15, 2012

Here’s the development snapshot of week 7, 2012! List of changes:

• Added new world file format called “Anvil” (256 max height and 4096 block IDs*)
• Multi-player light calculations do no longer cause affected blocks to be transmitted to the clients, instead the clients will recalculate the light on their own
• Villagers will repopulate villages based on how many houses there are available
• Some nights in villages will be worse than others…
• Added a redstone-controlled light source
• Decreased chance for the rare mob drops
• All animals use the new AI system now

* The game can’t use the full range of IDs yet because there are still some assumptions that IDs above 256 are items.

Update! New version number is 12w07b, fixing the following problems:

• Crash bug corrupting levels when spawning mobs above the 255th block
• Sheep animation is correct in SMP

Get the snapshot here:

• Client: assets.minecraft.net/12w07b/minecraft.jar
• Server: assets.minecraft.net/12w07b/minecraft_server.jar

If you havent downloaded Minecraft you can grab it here: www.minecraft.net/download

NOTE: This snapshot will convert the maps you load to the new file format. If you want to revert to the old format, you need to replace the “level.dat” file with the file called “level.dat_mcr”. The new format will write world regions to files called “*.mca”, so your original regions will remain as “*.mcr”.

// jeb and jon (Twitter: @jeb_ and @jonkagstrom)

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New Minecraft Map Format, “Anvil”

by Jens Bergensten on February 14, 2012

Hello!

Jon and I have been working on a new map format for Minecraft that we’ve dubbed “Anvil” (it’s just a name). The purpose of the new format is to prepare for modding, especially to allow for more block types, but also to improve other areas of the game (such as map height). The changes are:

• Maximum build height has been increased to 256 (was 128)
• Empty sections of the world are not loaded into memory
• Block ids have been increased to 4096 (was 256) by adding a 4 bit data layer (similar to how meta data is stored)
• Block ordering have been changed from x/z/y to y/z/x in order to improve compression
• Packets for sending chunks have been updated (a full 128-high chunk is smaller than the old format, and a chunk with lots of empty space is much smaller)
• Biomes are saved per x/z column, which means they can be altered by tools

The next snapshot, and Minecraft 1.2, will automatically convert worlds to the new format. The files of the current format (“McRegion”) will remain in your save folder, if you need to restore them for some reason.

I’ve prepared a converter (with source code) for tool makers that wants to be prepared. You do not need to use this to convert your maps! It’s only for reference!

Download the converter+source here

Some info:

• The 16x128x16 “Blocks”, “Data”, “SkyLight” and “BlockLight” tags are removed
• A “Sections” tag has been added with up to 16 compound tags
• Each section has 16x16x16 “Blocks”, “Data”, “SkyLight” and “BlockLight” tags
• Each section has a “Y” integer tag saying which section it is (note that some Y positions can be skipped). 0 is at the bottom of the world and 15 is the topmost section
• Each section also has a “AddBlocks” tag, which is a DataLayer byte array just like “Data”. The “AddBlocks” tag is not included in the converter since the old format never had block ids above 255. This extra tag is created whenever a block requires it, so the getTile() method needs to check if the array exists and then combine it with the default block data. In other words, blockId = (addBlock << 8) + baseId.
• Each chunk has a 16×16 byte array with biome ids called “Biomes”. If this array is missing it will be filled when the game starts. The converter doesn’t include any biome sources, though (it had too many dependencies to be included).
• Note that the old format is XZY and the new format is YZX (see the difference between DataLayer and OldDataLayer).
• The new format uses the extension “.mca” instead of “.mcr” (the old format is kept for safety, with the level.dat backed up as “level.dat_mcr”)

Finally, a shoutout to Robinton’s hard work on his mods: www.minecraftforum.net/topic/310298-100robintons-mods/

Cheers,

// jeb_

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Minecraft Snapshot 12w06a

by Jens Bergensten on February 9, 2012

Here’s the development snapshot of week 6, 2012! List of changes:

• Many minor bug fixes and tweaks
• Doors have been changed to properly detect if they are open or closed. Double doors in existing maps will need to be updated
• Villagers will move indoors during night and rain, and socialize with each other
• Zombies will break down wooden doors on hard difficulty
• Added cat sounds
• Better movement for mobs in water
• Added rare mob item drops

Get the snapshot here:

• Client: assets.minecraft.net/12w06a/minecraft.jar
• Server: assets.minecraft.net/12w06a/minecraft_server.jar

If you havent downloaded Minecraft you can grab it here: www.minecraft.net/download

Please note that if you are using this snapshot, your worlds may not load properly if you “downgrade” to an older version again.

// jeb and jon (Twitter: @jeb_ and @jonkagstrom)

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Minecraft Snapshot 12w05b

by Jens Bergensten on February 3, 2012

We decided to do an extra update of the snapshot this week. The reason was because of the shift-click bug when crafting items, which would consume all the items in the crafting table and only produce a single result item. This bug is troublesome because it’s such a fundamental feature, and we don’t want to penalize people if they forget that it’s broken.

We also fixed so that cats can be told to sit with an empty hand.

Get the snapshot here:

• Client: assets.minecraft.net/12w05b/minecraft.jar
• Server: assets.minecraft.net/12w05b/minecraft_server.jar

// jeb and jon

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Minecraft Snapshot 12w05a

by Jens Bergensten on February 2, 2012

Here’s the development snapshot of week 5, 2012! List of changes:

• Many mob-related bug fixes (and some new behaviors)
• Ocelots are easier to tame, and cats can be told to sit
• Many small bug fixes and tweaks
• Villagers will try to detect village houses and live in them
• Updated language files (now with 50% less profanities!)

Get the snapshot here:

• Client: assets.minecraft.net/12w05a/minecraft.jar
• Server: assets.minecraft.net/12w05a/minecraft_server.jar

If you havent downloaded Minecraft you can grab it here: www.minecraft.net/download

// jeb and jon

EDIT: The snapshot was updated again. We fixed a cat crash bug and updated the languages.

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Minecraft Snapshot 12w04a

by Jens Bergensten on January 26, 2012

Time for the snapshot of week 4, 2012! List of changes:

• New jungle-specific mob that can be tamed
• Skeletons have new AI and a few new behaviors
• Various minor bug fixes and changes
• Added an experience item to creative mode
• Added a flame item…
• Updated language files

Get the snapshot here:

• Client: assets.minecraft.net/12w04a/minecraft.jar
• Server: assets.minecraft.net/12w04a/minecraft_server.jar

If you havent downloaded Minecraft you can grab it here: www.minecraft.net/download

As you know, Minecraft is run using the Light-weight Java Game Library (LWJGL). We’ve been using a really old version of LWJGL because last time we tried to update it the game broke down and became unplayable for a lot of people. We are going to try to update it again once we release Minecraft 1.2.

However, the recent LWJGL version (2.8.3) includes a bunch of fixes for those of you who play with non-latin languages. If you want to try it out (to be able to chat in Japanese or Korean, for example), you should go to LWJGL’s download page and get lwjgl-2.8.3.zip (link for the lazy). In it you will find a folder called “jar” and a folder called “native.” Pick the files in those folders and replace the files located in your “.minecraft/bin” and “.minecraft/bin/natives” folders. Chatting in Korean should be a lot easier now.

// jeb and jon

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