Can't a member of staff just tweet out tiny little teasers? Even saying something minor like 'we might bring back player collision, but no promises ;)' or 'Baby zombies dropping exp? Done that' or even 'Pigmen jockies? That's likely' Perhaps telling us about which bugs have been fixed or even telling us that you guys tried to add a certain feature but couldn't due to knock on effects. These kind of things will make the community relations a bit better.
While it would be great to tweet out something like that it would eventually become convoluted and turn into a rumour about something else, When that rumour then becomes false at a TU release we get a lot of backlash.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Twitter - @4JSteve
Currently Playing - League of Legends (EUW), Tales of Vesperia (PS4) and Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS4)
Feel free to add me on Steam, PSN and XboxLive, Make sure and leave a message saying you are from the forums
While it would be great to tweet out something like that it would eventually become convoluted and turn into a rumour about something else, When that rumour then becomes false at a TU release we get a lot of backlash.
Can't a member of staff just tweet out tiny little teasers? Even saying something minor like 'we might bring back player collision, but no promises ;)' or 'Baby zombies dropping exp? Done that' or even 'Pigmen jockies? That's likely' Perhaps telling us about which bugs have been fixed or even telling us that you guys tried to add a certain feature but couldn't due to knock on effects. These kind of things will make the community relations a bit better.
I agree with Steve and actually think it would make community relations worse. Rather than diminish wild speculations, it would just give people more tidbits to speculate about... and then others would take that speculation and use it to generate "so called" truths that are really just speculations on top of other speculations... and then 4J would have to worry about continually responding to those wild imaginings... and this would ultimately slow the work. Really, why do people need such continual spoon-fed comfort? Why can't the community instead assume that if they aren't tweeting, it's because they're concentrating hard on getting the actual programming work done? Take comfort in the silence...I know I'm working hardest when I have my head down and I'm being the least communicative.
(Facetiously - maybe 4J should just set up an automatic robot-tweet every week that just says "We're working on it.")
I wonder if there is any chance that MC for consoles could take advantage of the members of the 'preview program' and release something similar to snapshots onto it, this would give users a chance to see whats coming, and bug test the game well before the official release. With the new bug reporting system snap bugs could be posted for programmers to iron out. This way when a new version finally hits the public its polished, and ready with a select few bugs rather then require a patch to be playable. Just a thought.
What is this preview program? How could this influence minecraft console?
I'm not sure its even available on xbox 360. On Xbox one however, its where devs can place software to get beta tested, to get feedback on thier software such as suggesting features, and what not. Its also where one can test features of an upcoming update to xbox hardware ie, right now the big thing is to test backward compatibility issues within certain 360 games, ect.
I agree with Steve and actually think it would make community relations worse. Rather than diminish wild speculations, it would just give people more tidbits to speculate about... and then others would take that speculation and use it to generate "so called" truths that are really just speculations on top of other speculations... and then 4J would have to worry about continually responding to those wild imaginings... and this would ultimately slow the work. Really, why do people need such continual spoon-fed comfort? Why can't the community instead assume that if they aren't tweeting, it's because they're concentrating hard on getting the actual programming work done? Take comfort in the silence...I know I'm working hardest when I have my head down and I'm being the least communicative.
(Facetiously - maybe 4J should just set up an automatic robot-tweet every week that just says "We're working on it.")
I understand what you are saying, but the problem 4J is facing is that there seems to be a growing feeling that the community is losing faith in 4J's abilities to port this game. Real or not that is the perception and without doing anything to dispel that perception I see no reason the sentiment won't continue to grow. If this perception is allowed to fester than more and more people will lose interest in the game. If enough people lose interest then the money spent to continue to update the game won't be justifiable and support will end.
Part of the problem is that 4J has become a victim of their own success. They started off with updates coming out on a fairly regular basis that generally added a significant amount of items, etc. They established a pattern and so the community has come to expect big updates at least a couple times a year. More recently 4J hasn't really kept to their previous pattern. There are probably good reasons for this but we can only speculate on that. And yes, I know the arguments, 4J never said that updates were guaranteed for any certain time frame, its only a $20 game we should be happy with what we have, so on and so forth (and I'm not actually one of those who is complaining).
Basically, without any communication and no big updates, people are left to draw their own conclusions. This is where occasional progress updates from 4J would be helpful and give the community a little bit of hope. Obviously, the progress updates wouldn't need to be all of the time. Once every few weeks or even once a month. They wouldn't need to be too terribly specific either, just an acknowledgement that work is progressing on the game and that we will see new items, biomes, mobs, game mechanics, whatever sometime in the near future.
This could also be a chance for 4J to offer the community a sort of 'behind the scenes' look at the process. Maybe help us understand why it takes as long as it does. Why it isn't as easy as some of us might think it is. A chance for a little good PR.
And yes, I know, no matter what path 4J takes there will always be those who are unhappy with that. I am not suggesting that anything they could possibly do will make everyone happy.
Twitter - @4JSteve
Currently Playing - League of Legends (EUW), Tales of Vesperia (PS4) and Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS4)
Feel free to add me on Steam, PSN and XboxLive, Make sure and leave a message saying you are from the forums
4J Steve, you have done more here then you know, thanks for taking your time to converse with us. It might not seem like a lot, but you've probably renewed faith with anyone whom has read this topic. It shows us that you guys are alive and kicking and that work progresses, and that my friend is what we all 'need' to know.
I understand what you are saying, but the problem 4J is facing is that there seems to be a growing feeling that the community is losing faith in 4J's abilities to port this game. Real or not that is the perception and without doing anything to dispel that perception I see no reason the sentiment won't continue to grow. If this perception is allowed to fester than more and more people will lose interest in the game. If enough people lose interest then the money spent to continue to update the game won't be justifiable and support will end.
Part of the problem is that 4J has become a victim of their own success. They started off with updates coming out on a fairly regular basis that generally added a significant amount of items, etc. They established a pattern and so the community has come to expect big updates at least a couple times a year. More recently 4J hasn't really kept to their previous pattern. There are probably good reasons for this but we can only speculate on that. And yes, I know the arguments, 4J never said that updates were guaranteed for any certain time frame, its only a $20 game we should be happy with what we have, so on and so forth (and I'm not actually one of those who is complaining).
Basically, without any communication and no big updates, people are left to draw their own conclusions. This is where occasional progress updates from 4J would be helpful and give the community a little bit of hope. Obviously, the progress updates wouldn't need to be all of the time. Once every few weeks or even once a month. They wouldn't need to be too terribly specific either, just an acknowledgement that work is progressing on the game and that we will see new items, biomes, mobs, game mechanics, whatever sometime in the near future.
This could also be a chance for 4J to offer the community a sort of 'behind the scenes' look at the process. Maybe help us understand why it takes as long as it does. Why it isn't as easy as some of us might think it is. A chance for a little good PR.
And yes, I know, no matter what path 4J takes there will always be those who are unhappy with that. I am not suggesting that anything they could possibly do will make everyone happy.
All true, but I still think it is the community that is generating the bulk of this problem by always drawing negative conclusions about what 4J is up to rather than exhibiting a little bit of faith in them. They have always come through (right here and now is a good example), so I think they've earned a little "blind faith" and just shouldn't have to take inordinate amounts of time to tweet what would essentially boil down to "we're working on it." That repeatedly just saying "we're working on it" leads to a vicious circle of further speculation and requests for yet more and more information is also evident right here on this thread and on 4JSteve's thread requesting community input on the recent framerate issue. I also don't think they should have to get so technically detailed about what they're doing either... not really their job to train the public to be gaming programmers.
All true, but I still think it is the community that is generating the bulk of this problem by always drawing negative conclusions about what 4J is up to rather than exhibiting a little bit of faith in them. They have always come through (right here and now is a good example), so I think they've earned a little "blind faith" and just shouldn't have to take inordinate amounts of time to tweet what would essentially boil down to "we're working on it." That repeatedly just saying "we're working on it" leads to a vicious circle of further speculation and requests for yet more and more information is also evident right here on this thread and on 4JSteve's thread requesting community input on the recent framerate issue. I also don't think they should have to get so technically detailed about what they're doing either... not really their job to train the public to be gaming programmers.
A simple "we're working on it" goes a long way. Look at Cire360's above comment. I would have to think it is fairly representative of many in the community. Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect technically detailed and/or around the clock updates as to everything they are doing. There would also be no need or assumption that 4J would "train the public to be gaming programmers".
A simple "we're working on it" goes a long way. Look at Cire360's above comment. I would have to think it is fairly representative of many in the community. Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect technically detailed and/or around the clock updates as to everything they are doing. There would also be no need or assumption that 4J would "train the public to be gaming programmers".
So, you really think over a few months between updates a weekly robot tweet of "we're working on it" would actually pacify people for very long... or will they start thinking 4J are just lying to them and want more and more detail?
I see 2 problems. One is that people see the superior PC version, then expect it to be delivered to their favorite Xbox. That's unrealistic, and not just because of technical issues (particularly on the 8th-generation consoles). There are other differences and limitations in the walled-garden, keyboard-less environment of consoles. To get the PC MC experience, we need a PC (capable of running it well). The other problem I suspect is that, so far, the X360 and XONE versions are more or less in lockstep. At some point, the system with 8 CPU cores and 8 GB of RAM needs to break free of the system with 3 cores and 512 MB or RAM. These versions should diverge after some point. The new gen isn't even new anymore. It has been with us for going on two years.
I must admit to disappointment with how much this community has dwindled since I first joined it. I hope it bounces back.
I kinda agree with Cobra in respects to the xbox one version pretty much in par with the 360 version. The only real difference is of course that it renders and plays better with a bigger map, but all limits are pretty much the same, ie same number of hostile mobs, and animals, and villagers, and of course entities. However at least their are ways to get around some of the limits. I'm not entirely sure why the limits for the xbox one hasn't been bumped yet, I can easily prove that the xbox one is capable of handling many mobs, as when I was designing an iron golem farm, I accidentally killed the golem kill system, and with 50 villages pumping out golems it didn't take very long for them to spit out well over 200 golems. The Xbox one handled them like a champ with no frame rate dropping, even though i was streaming to twitch at the same time.
I'd love to see an increase to at least the hostile mobs cap, and entities, specifically the xp orbs. Its kinda sad that no console version can use splash potions to kill large groups of mobs because the xp orb limit causes you to get less then half the xp you would get if you killed them 1 at a time. However I expect in time that these limits will be increased.
I've also been looking to get an option added for ages to 'slow down mine carts' to the PC speed, but that's another story. I like to use minecarts for things other then roller coasters, and well getting them to work right half the time at such extreme speeds is almost fruitless, not to mention that they don't render right half the time.
However the community always dies down, and then rebounds when major updates land, and i expect that when the next update arrives so to will many return. Minecraft is a game that you never truly quit, it has a way of pulling you back, many of my buddies are off playing other games, which they have done in the past but they always return.
I see 2 problems. One is that people see the superior PC version, then expect it to be delivered to their favorite Xbox. That's unrealistic, and not just because of technical issues (particularly on the 8th-generation consoles). There are other differences and limitations in the walled-garden, keyboard-less environment of consoles. To get the PC MC experience, we need a PC (capable of running it well). The other problem I suspect is that, so far, the X360 and XONE versions are more or less in lockstep. At some point, the system with 8 CPU cores and 8 GB of RAM needs to break free of the system with 3 cores and 512 MB or RAM. These versions should diverge after some point. The new gen isn't even new anymore. It has been with us for going on two years.
I must admit to disappointment with how much this community has dwindled since I first joined it. I hope it bounces back.
Agree!... and the other problem is that Minecraft PC IS very much a game where programming techies congregate to participate in gaming development. There is nothing wrong with that... but the Xbox 360 is just not enough system to support that sort of activity within the community. No matter how much the community badgers 4J, they are just not going to be able to deliver that part of the "Minecraft experience."
Agree!... and the other problem is that Minecraft PC IS very much a game where programming techies congregate to participate in gaming development. There is nothing wrong with that... but the Xbox 360 is just not enough system to support that sort of activity within the community. No matter how much the community badgers 4J, they are just not going to be able to deliver that part of the "Minecraft experience."
That's part of what I meant about console limitations other than technology. The XONE can handle the tech fully. Of that I have no doubt. But the environment is very different. We can't mod. We can't even export our save files out of the system (an issue that sorely needs addressing). And PC MC has this whole other realm of command blocks now. I can't even imagine how that would be implemented on a console. They basically are command-line programming (and frankly, I'm not sure they're a good thing for MC in general; but that's another discussion). They'd need a simplified GUI, and serious limits on what CBs can accomplish.
On the issue of command blocks, are you referring to the XB1 or 360? As far as I'm aware , the XB1 will support modding thusly supporting other issues. And I'm sure the One can handle the command blocks.
As I said, it's not an issue with technology. The XB1 can handle it. It's a question of whether they can or want to shoehorn command-line programming into a console game. The system supports a USB keyboard, but they can't assume that every MC user has one. It's a non-standard peripheral. It's OK to type short labels for signs with the controller, but it would be too awkward for something like this. They'd need a whole new GUI, and system-specific limits on CB use. Also, the results of CB programming would be stuck in the console. They can't go anywhere else. Different environment, different game.
I kinda agree with Cobra in respects to the xbox one version pretty much in par with the 360 version. The only real difference is of course that it renders and plays better with a bigger map, but all limits are pretty much the same, ie same number of hostile mobs, and animals, and villagers, and of course entities. However at least their are ways to get around some of the limits. I'm not entirely sure why the limits for the xbox one hasn't been bumped yet, I can easily prove that the xbox one is capable of handling many mobs, as when I was designing an iron golem farm, I accidentally killed the golem kill system, and with 50 villages pumping out golems it didn't take very long for them to spit out well over 200 golems. The Xbox one handled them like a champ with no frame rate dropping, even though i was streaming to twitch at the same time.
I'd love to see an increase to at least the hostile mobs cap, and entities, specifically the xp orbs. Its kinda sad that no console version can use splash potions to kill large groups of mobs because the xp orb limit causes you to get less then half the xp you would get if you killed them 1 at a time. However I expect in time that these limits will be increased.
I've also been looking to get an option added for ages to 'slow down mine carts' to the PC speed, but that's another story. I like to use minecarts for things other then roller coasters, and well getting them to work right half the time at such extreme speeds is almost fruitless, not to mention that they don't render right half the time.
However the community always dies down, and then rebounds when major updates land, and i expect that when the next update arrives so to will many return. Minecraft is a game that you never truly quit, it has a way of pulling you back, many of my buddies are off playing other games, which they have done in the past but they always return.
What bugs me about minecarts is not the speed, but the short draw distance and the lazy spline approximation of their path. Originally, the carts on the 360 moved fast and stayed on the track around bends, over drops, etc. Now they visually take shortcuts right through solid objects. Sad.
I know what you mean about leaving and returning. I was away for over a year. Then I finally got the XB1 version, transferred my 360 worlds, and got right back into it. The more capable hardware gave me the confidence to finish a piston digital clock I had started on the 360, but then got cold feet. I left it as a 3-digit counter on the 360, but it's complete now on the One. (I have a video of it over on the proper forum in the MCXONE section. I've optimized it further since, and added chimes with a unary counter. Maybe I'll update with another video or at least some pics at some point.) The funny thing is that I use it almost exclusively in MC-time mode (72x normal), which only requires 3 piston cylinders anyway. Haha! Maybe I'll retrofit that to the 360, if I ever get a hankering to spend time on it.
4JSteve, thank you for the reply, Its good to see that you are somewhat involved with the community here.
While it would be great to tweet out something like that it would eventually become convoluted and turn into a rumour about something else, When that rumour then becomes false at a TU release we get a lot of backlash.
Twitter - @4JSteve
Currently Playing - League of Legends (EUW), Tales of Vesperia (PS4) and Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS4)
Feel free to add me on Steam, PSN and XboxLive, Make sure and leave a message saying you are from the forums
you are soooo right !
PSN ACCOUNT 🎮: Phiprince_2001 add me
I agree with Steve and actually think it would make community relations worse. Rather than diminish wild speculations, it would just give people more tidbits to speculate about... and then others would take that speculation and use it to generate "so called" truths that are really just speculations on top of other speculations... and then 4J would have to worry about continually responding to those wild imaginings... and this would ultimately slow the work. Really, why do people need such continual spoon-fed comfort? Why can't the community instead assume that if they aren't tweeting, it's because they're concentrating hard on getting the actual programming work done? Take comfort in the silence...I know I'm working hardest when I have my head down and I'm being the least communicative.
(Facetiously - maybe 4J should just set up an automatic robot-tweet every week that just says "We're working on it.")
I wonder if there is any chance that MC for consoles could take advantage of the members of the 'preview program' and release something similar to snapshots onto it, this would give users a chance to see whats coming, and bug test the game well before the official release. With the new bug reporting system snap bugs could be posted for programmers to iron out. This way when a new version finally hits the public its polished, and ready with a select few bugs rather then require a patch to be playable. Just a thought.
I'm not sure its even available on xbox 360. On Xbox one however, its where devs can place software to get beta tested, to get feedback on thier software such as suggesting features, and what not. Its also where one can test features of an upcoming update to xbox hardware ie, right now the big thing is to test backward compatibility issues within certain 360 games, ect.
I understand what you are saying, but the problem 4J is facing is that there seems to be a growing feeling that the community is losing faith in 4J's abilities to port this game. Real or not that is the perception and without doing anything to dispel that perception I see no reason the sentiment won't continue to grow. If this perception is allowed to fester than more and more people will lose interest in the game. If enough people lose interest then the money spent to continue to update the game won't be justifiable and support will end.
Part of the problem is that 4J has become a victim of their own success. They started off with updates coming out on a fairly regular basis that generally added a significant amount of items, etc. They established a pattern and so the community has come to expect big updates at least a couple times a year. More recently 4J hasn't really kept to their previous pattern. There are probably good reasons for this but we can only speculate on that. And yes, I know the arguments, 4J never said that updates were guaranteed for any certain time frame, its only a $20 game we should be happy with what we have, so on and so forth (and I'm not actually one of those who is complaining).
Basically, without any communication and no big updates, people are left to draw their own conclusions. This is where occasional progress updates from 4J would be helpful and give the community a little bit of hope. Obviously, the progress updates wouldn't need to be all of the time. Once every few weeks or even once a month. They wouldn't need to be too terribly specific either, just an acknowledgement that work is progressing on the game and that we will see new items, biomes, mobs, game mechanics, whatever sometime in the near future.
This could also be a chance for 4J to offer the community a sort of 'behind the scenes' look at the process. Maybe help us understand why it takes as long as it does. Why it isn't as easy as some of us might think it is. A chance for a little good PR.
And yes, I know, no matter what path 4J takes there will always be those who are unhappy with that. I am not suggesting that anything they could possibly do will make everyone happy.
I'll speak with the team about trying to keep the community more up to date.
All I can say for now is we have been very busy!
Twitter - @4JSteve
Currently Playing - League of Legends (EUW), Tales of Vesperia (PS4) and Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS4)
Feel free to add me on Steam, PSN and XboxLive, Make sure and leave a message saying you are from the forums
4J Steve, you have done more here then you know, thanks for taking your time to converse with us. It might not seem like a lot, but you've probably renewed faith with anyone whom has read this topic. It shows us that you guys are alive and kicking and that work progresses, and that my friend is what we all 'need' to know.
Thank you.
Thanks for the reply and the consideration of this issue.
All true, but I still think it is the community that is generating the bulk of this problem by always drawing negative conclusions about what 4J is up to rather than exhibiting a little bit of faith in them. They have always come through (right here and now is a good example), so I think they've earned a little "blind faith" and just shouldn't have to take inordinate amounts of time to tweet what would essentially boil down to "we're working on it." That repeatedly just saying "we're working on it" leads to a vicious circle of further speculation and requests for yet more and more information is also evident right here on this thread and on 4JSteve's thread requesting community input on the recent framerate issue. I also don't think they should have to get so technically detailed about what they're doing either... not really their job to train the public to be gaming programmers.
A simple "we're working on it" goes a long way. Look at Cire360's above comment. I would have to think it is fairly representative of many in the community. Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect technically detailed and/or around the clock updates as to everything they are doing. There would also be no need or assumption that 4J would "train the public to be gaming programmers".
So, you really think over a few months between updates a weekly robot tweet of "we're working on it" would actually pacify people for very long... or will they start thinking 4J are just lying to them and want more and more detail?
I see 2 problems. One is that people see the superior PC version, then expect it to be delivered to their favorite Xbox. That's unrealistic, and not just because of technical issues (particularly on the 8th-generation consoles). There are other differences and limitations in the walled-garden, keyboard-less environment of consoles. To get the PC MC experience, we need a PC (capable of running it well). The other problem I suspect is that, so far, the X360 and XONE versions are more or less in lockstep. At some point, the system with 8 CPU cores and 8 GB of RAM needs to break free of the system with 3 cores and 512 MB or RAM. These versions should diverge after some point. The new gen isn't even new anymore. It has been with us for going on two years.
I must admit to disappointment with how much this community has dwindled since I first joined it. I hope it bounces back.
I kinda agree with Cobra in respects to the xbox one version pretty much in par with the 360 version. The only real difference is of course that it renders and plays better with a bigger map, but all limits are pretty much the same, ie same number of hostile mobs, and animals, and villagers, and of course entities. However at least their are ways to get around some of the limits. I'm not entirely sure why the limits for the xbox one hasn't been bumped yet, I can easily prove that the xbox one is capable of handling many mobs, as when I was designing an iron golem farm, I accidentally killed the golem kill system, and with 50 villages pumping out golems it didn't take very long for them to spit out well over 200 golems. The Xbox one handled them like a champ with no frame rate dropping, even though i was streaming to twitch at the same time.
I'd love to see an increase to at least the hostile mobs cap, and entities, specifically the xp orbs. Its kinda sad that no console version can use splash potions to kill large groups of mobs because the xp orb limit causes you to get less then half the xp you would get if you killed them 1 at a time. However I expect in time that these limits will be increased.
I've also been looking to get an option added for ages to 'slow down mine carts' to the PC speed, but that's another story. I like to use minecarts for things other then roller coasters, and well getting them to work right half the time at such extreme speeds is almost fruitless, not to mention that they don't render right half the time.
However the community always dies down, and then rebounds when major updates land, and i expect that when the next update arrives so to will many return. Minecraft is a game that you never truly quit, it has a way of pulling you back, many of my buddies are off playing other games, which they have done in the past but they always return.
Agree!... and the other problem is that Minecraft PC IS very much a game where programming techies congregate to participate in gaming development. There is nothing wrong with that... but the Xbox 360 is just not enough system to support that sort of activity within the community. No matter how much the community badgers 4J, they are just not going to be able to deliver that part of the "Minecraft experience."
That's part of what I meant about console limitations other than technology. The XONE can handle the tech fully. Of that I have no doubt. But the environment is very different. We can't mod. We can't even export our save files out of the system (an issue that sorely needs addressing). And PC MC has this whole other realm of command blocks now. I can't even imagine how that would be implemented on a console. They basically are command-line programming (and frankly, I'm not sure they're a good thing for MC in general; but that's another discussion). They'd need a simplified GUI, and serious limits on what CBs can accomplish.
As I said, it's not an issue with technology. The XB1 can handle it. It's a question of whether they can or want to shoehorn command-line programming into a console game. The system supports a USB keyboard, but they can't assume that every MC user has one. It's a non-standard peripheral. It's OK to type short labels for signs with the controller, but it would be too awkward for something like this. They'd need a whole new GUI, and system-specific limits on CB use. Also, the results of CB programming would be stuck in the console. They can't go anywhere else. Different environment, different game.
What bugs me about minecarts is not the speed, but the short draw distance and the lazy spline approximation of their path. Originally, the carts on the 360 moved fast and stayed on the track around bends, over drops, etc. Now they visually take shortcuts right through solid objects. Sad.
I know what you mean about leaving and returning. I was away for over a year. Then I finally got the XB1 version, transferred my 360 worlds, and got right back into it. The more capable hardware gave me the confidence to finish a piston digital clock I had started on the 360, but then got cold feet. I left it as a 3-digit counter on the 360, but it's complete now on the One. (I have a video of it over on the proper forum in the MCXONE section. I've optimized it further since, and added chimes with a unary counter. Maybe I'll update with another video or at least some pics at some point.) The funny thing is that I use it almost exclusively in MC-time mode (72x normal), which only requires 3 piston cylinders anyway. Haha! Maybe I'll retrofit that to the 360, if I ever get a hankering to spend time on it.
Ive run the game fine on as little as 512meg ram, and im sure you could go lower with fine tuning