Quote from mayaknife
In my view the specification of the API is much more important than its actual implementation.
Let's say that Mojang is only able to implement 5% of the API per month. It might then be a year before many mods could start using it.
But if Mojang was able to publish the specs for the entire API near the start, then modders could write their own implementations of the bits they needed. Those could then be retired when Mojang catches up, without having to rewrite the mod itself.
Having designed an API for a large application I know that the specification alone represents quite a bit of work and that it is likely to be tweaked as implementation points out various difficulties with the original concept. But my experience has been that such changes only rarely require a complete redesign of an interface, so mods would still benefit greatly from having the specs in advance.
Publishing the specs in advance of the bulk of their development would also give the modding community a chance to comment and provide potentially crucial feedback *before* too much time has been spent on implementing a flawed design.
I agree with you. It would be best if Mojang publishes the API spec before implementing it, then using the feedback from the community to improve it.
Regarding this Saturday's discussion, I will be out of town and without an internet connection, so I will not be able to participate
If anybody from Mojang is reading this post, I have a suggestion:
1.- Make an issue tracking system available to the modding community, give accounts to a select group of modders, and let them submit requirements for the modding API. Post thorough instructions about this process, so you can obtain a set of "good" requirements (see http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/5170.html)
2. - You can then select and prioritize those requirements and create a spec of the Modding API
3. - Publish the API specs, then let modders submit new issues to suggest improvements over the API spec
4.- GOTO 2
After some iterations, the API spec should be more stable, so you can start developing the API. Of course development may trigger some changes to the API spec, but they shouldn't be that big, since most of the spec would have been analyzed by the modders.
When choosing the modders who will help in this process, I would suggest to find all of those who:
1.- Are developing the most used mods, eg. Modloader, MC Forge, Optifine, etc.
2. - Are developing mods with complex features
The first group will be very helpful to define the basic features of the Modding API. The second group will provide useful insights about more complex features, which will address the necessities of mods that are currently incompatible with many other mods, because of their special features.
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Look at the repository page, there you will see the latest code updates https://bitbucket.org/jpavlich/minecraft-mods
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Sure, we opened the repository so that anybody could take a look at our code. If you understand SaB code and feel that you could finish the SMP part, just let me know so I can give you write access to the repository.
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Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I get somebody
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Sounds good. Could you please submit it to my TODO list? https://code.google.com/p/mc-mods/issues/entry
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There you will find the source code and also updates about any development activity over the mod.
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Thanks for the offer
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Yep, I just did that.
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I'm having less time than ever to work in the mods, so progress is going extremely slow. Some of my teammates have been also very busy lately. Ships&Boat coding is much more complex than other mods, and now is more complex than ever, because of the SMP integration. To properly maintain SaB requires a lot of time that I do not have anymore. At this rate, it is taking too long to release new versions.
That's why I want to find more programmers who would help developing our mods. Moreover, I would like to find somebody who could take the leading role developing the mods. It has to be somebody with advanced knowledge of Java, Minecraft internals, Mercurial, and Maven.
Please tell everyone about this. If anyone has the required skills, please PM me.
Meanwhile I will continue developing the mod in my spare time. However, expect long delays between releases.
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Things are going very slow. Both Eagle_Orion and I have had very little time to work in the mod, so please be patient
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That's also in the TODO. See http://code.google.com/p/mc-mods/issues/list
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Sure I'll do a pre-release as soon as I get something barely usable. Just make sure to backup your saves!
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EDIT: Just to clarify, when I say the "new mod version" I mean the current code I'm developing. I haven't released any files yet
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First, I'm going to release a SMP version of SaB, then we are going for the merge.