Minecraft Enterprise and 16-Bit ALU

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Minecraft Enterprise and 16-Bit ALU

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday September 28, 2010 @09:14AM from the your-hobby-is-lame dept.

tekgoblin writes "Joshua Walker spent the last few months creating a masterpiece. He created the Starship Enterprise 1701-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation in Minecraft using just blocks. He recorded a short video of him explaining how he did it and even gave us a sneak peek at the partially completed ship." He also posted on the Penny-Arcade forums about how he did it. If you aren't impressed by that, perhaps you should check out a 16-Bit ALU also implemented in Minecraft which totally reminded me of one of my favorite XKCD comics.

125 of 151 comments (clear)

Stop it, please! by Peach+Rings · 2010-09-28 09:16 · Score: 5, Funny

First minecraft was plugged from the teamfortress.com blog, then 2 days of penny arcade were devoted to it, and since then it's been coming up every few days on slashdot and Boing Boing. The servers have been wrecked like 40% of the time from the constant barrage. If you like minecraft stop telling people about it!
1. Re:Stop it, please! by The+MAZZTer · 2010-09-28 09:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  You sound stressed. You should try playing this game I found. It's very relaxing.
2. Re:Stop it, please! by ThatMegathronDude · 2010-09-28 09:24 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I wish I could, but I'm posting from a 386 I made in my minecraft world 1. I think I'm stuck here.
3. Re:Stop it, please! by Xoltri · 2010-09-28 09:44 · Score: 1
  
  Just hope a creeper doesn't come and blow up your 386, then who knows where you'll end up!
  
  --
  -Xoltri
4. Re:Stop it, please! by gilleain · 2010-09-28 09:45 · Score: 1
  
  I wish I could, but I'm posting from a 386 I made in my minecraft world 1. I think I'm stuck here.
  In an Inception-like twist, your computer is so slow because the game of minecraft you made the 386 in is actually running ... IN ANOTHER COPY OF MINECRAFT!
  Move over M. Night Shyamalan...
5. Re:Stop it, please! by Xoltri · 2010-09-28 09:47 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, you do need a massive computer to be able to turn the draw distance up at all.
  
  --
  -Xoltri
6. Re:Stop it, please! by VGR · 2010-09-28 09:58 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Don't write games in Java idiots.
  Yeah, nothing good can come of it.
  
  --
  The Internet is full. Go away.
7. Re:Stop it, please! by zrbyte · 2010-09-28 10:15 · Score: 1
  
  Well, at least you have the pigs for company.
8. Re:Stop it, please! by orkysoft · 2010-09-28 10:30 · Score: 1
  
  I think the lag is caused by having a large render distance. If you set it lower, the game will run smoother.
  The thing that irks me is that even if you're facing an opaque wall, if the render distance isn't low, you'll still get a choppy game, which means that it's actually considering drawing blocks that it could've discarded immediately, because they're being obscured by the wall you're facing...
  
  --
  
  I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
9. Re:Stop it, please! by b1t+r0t · 2010-09-28 10:39 · Score: 1
  
  The word you are looking for is "autist".
  (Yes, I read /v/ from time to time, and yes, I have paid my $13.77. But I play survival mode.)
  
  --
  
  --
  "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
  "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
10. Re:Stop it, please! by phobos512 · 2010-09-28 10:45 · Score: 1
  
  No, that'd be the Thirteenth Floor, thank you VERY MUCH. :D
11. Re:Stop it, please! by Fallingcow · 2010-09-28 10:49 · Score: 1
  
  Huh, I hadn't heard anything about the game performing poorly. Odd, since it looks worse than Quake.
  I'm not complaining about it looking bad, mind you; I'm just surprised that it can't run on a Pentium 1 with all its settings turned up to full.
12. Re:Stop it, please! by QuantumG · 2010-09-28 10:58 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not complaining about it looking bad, mind you; I'm just surprised that it can't run on a Pentium 1 with all its settings turned up to full.
  exactly, that's what happens when you write code in Java. I'm not saying you can't write fast Java code, it just takes more effort.
  
  --
  How we know is more important than what we know.
13. Re:Stop it, please! by Lumpy · 2010-09-28 11:05 · Score: 1
  
  Which is wierd.
  Why not take a game that was released OSS like Quake II or Quake III and make it into a MMORG like this?
  Why make it look like wolfenstine?
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
14. Re:Stop it, please! by Soul-Burn666 · 2010-09-28 11:58 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Guess what? Hidden surface determination, including Occlusion Culling is hard(tm), even for completely static scenes!
  Don't forget this game has a fully modifiable world and lighting (through torches) making it even harder.
  
  --
  ^_^
15. Re:Stop it, please! by Peach+Rings · 2010-09-28 13:35 · Score: 1
  
  The dynamic world continues to generate for awhile after you begin playing. Obviously Java is crippling but there are some serious computational problems being solved. Water starts in seed areas and flows outward until it meets walls at the exact height of the start point, and stops there. How would you do that quickly for a 4 billion sq km area?
16. Re:Stop it, please! by Mr.+DOS · 2010-09-28 13:49 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Don't write games in Java idiots.
  From what I understand, the speed issues of Minecraft are not so much due to Java but the poor OpenGL bindings available to Java applications. According to Notch (Minecraft's author), the engine computations themselves are only slightly slower than they would have been in C++.
17. Re:Stop it, please! by GrumblyStuff · 2010-09-28 13:50 · Score: 1
  
  Funny but the possible circuitry is pretty amazing. This guy made a binary clock in mine craft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REdmbx22VrU
18. Re:Stop it, please! by Cassius+Corodes · 2010-09-28 13:55 · Score: 1
  
  It doesn't actually work this way - it only computes a smallish area around you and generates as needed from a fixed random seed (so going back to an old area will be the same) + changes you have made.
  
  --
  Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
19. Re:Stop it, please! by QuantumG · 2010-09-28 17:56 · Score: 1
  
  Obviously the author is going to say that, but you can take the opinion of anyone who codes a game in Java in the first place with a big fat hefty grain of sand. In any case, *whatever the reason*, not using Java would have gotten rid of that problem.
  
  --
  How we know is more important than what we know.
20. Re:Stop it, please! by HungryHobo · 2010-09-28 21:16 · Score: 1
  
  and introduced the nightmares of having to port the game over to different OS's and all the fun little bugs that entails.
  The game runs perfectly on my machine on max settings.
21. Re:Stop it, please! by Issarlk · 2010-09-28 21:47 · Score: 1
  
  ... and introduced random segmentation faults. No thanks, I prefer a game that runs.
22. Re:Stop it, please! by dominious · 2010-09-28 21:59 · Score: 1
  
  me2, although I'm in a 386 I made in my pentium6 that i made in my minecraft word that i made in minecraft world that i made on a pentium6.
  
  or is it a minecraft world that i made in a pentium6 first?
  
  oh boy, where am I? thank god i also made this spinning top...
23. Re:Stop it, please! by tehcyder · 2010-09-28 23:40 · Score: 1
  
  If you like minecraft stop telling people about it!
  
  We don't do security-through-obscurity here. Toughen up the IT infrastructure.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
24. Re:Stop it, please! by hattig · 2010-09-29 02:31 · Score: 1
  
  It's probably handling around 10000 times more polygons than Quake, each block is 12 polygons. Java is just passing the data off to OpenGL to do the heavy lifting. Depth culling a scene 1000 blocks deep is going to be quite heavy on the renderer, and it will need algorithmic enhancements rather than programming language enhancements, such as reducing complexity in the distance (which is probably hard for this game, compared to games with 2D terrain meshes).
25. Re:Stop it, please! by hattig · 2010-09-29 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Actually this game would probably be ideal for ray tracing. Nothing too complex in terms of reflections or lighting or shading, but lots of geometry.
26. Re:Stop it, please! by hattig · 2010-09-29 02:42 · Score: 1
  
  No it wouldn't, the problem isn't with the game, but with the difficulties of having a game with millions of polygons in a deformable, non-static, dynamically lit world.
  I just think that some people are bitter than a popular game is actually written in Java, and is actively disproving all of their prejudices against the language, so they're jumping on 'performance' and saying ridiculous things like "use the Quake II engine", as if that would fix it.
27. Re:Stop it, please! by Whorhay · 2010-09-29 05:57 · Score: 1
  
  Really? My draw distance is set to "far" which is as high as it'll let me set it. I'm playing on a computer who's cpu is a few years old, with a cheapo graphics card, and 4 gigs of RAM and I get no noticeable lag in regular play. Single player that is. I had 2 gigs of RAM when I first started and the client would slow a little some times because it was competing for memory. But now I've got enough extra that I have yet to see it stutter or anything.
28. Re:Stop it, please! by Xoltri · 2010-09-29 07:11 · Score: 1
  
  Well my macbook pro running Windows 7 with a Core 2 Duo 2.17ghz with 3 gigs of ram and a Radeon x1600 has a hard time on anything but a short draw distance. My HTPC which is also Win7 but has 3 gigs of ram, AMD 64 x2 4200+ and a Radeon HD 5700 has no problems maxed out.
  
  --
  -Xoltri
29. Re:Stop it, please! by Peach+Rings · 2010-09-29 07:48 · Score: 1
  
  I assume you mean the Mobility Radeon x1600. That's pretty old, at least back to 2006.
30. Re:Stop it, please! by Peach+Rings · 2010-09-29 07:50 · Score: 1
  
  The game runs perfectly on my machine on max settings.
  Try posting a screenshot of Minecraft to an overclocking forum bragging about how you can run it maxed out :}
31. Re:Stop it, please! by Peach+Rings · 2010-09-29 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  Just because your thousand-dollar front door deadbolt has perfect security doesn't mean you want 90,000 people milling around on your front lawn trying it all day long.
32. Re:Stop it, please! by nschubach · 2010-10-01 05:19 · Score: 1
  
  I picked up this game a few days back (after this story and finding out about the world size and mine carts...) and I have to say the lighting in this is actually really cool.
  What turned me off before was the limited size of the world you were in. Now it's just amazing in scale... if only we could get some DF like minions to push around and maybe some better fluid dynamics I'd stop playing DF: I'd feel bad for Tarn Adams, but that's the way it goes.
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
33. Re:Stop it, please! by nschubach · 2010-10-01 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  I don't have to overclock my i7-930 or my ATI 5870 to run it in full. ;)
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
34. Re:Stop it, please! by Soul-Burn666 · 2010-10-03 07:53 · Score: 1
  
  Actually MC was compared more than once to DF. Due to the fact it's totally deformable, and red dust circuits give you a lot of complexity for traps and devices.
  In case you've only tried the free version, there are sometimes free weekends for the alpha, in which the fluid dynamics are a bit better but still not in the level of DF.
  Someone even wrote a DF->MC converter so you could import your fortress for a nice 3d visualization :)
  I wonder how hard it will it be to bring all that into MC... Doesn't really have to be *that* complex, but a little more of a goal/challenge would be welcome.
  
  --
  ^_^
35. Re:Stop it, please! by nschubach · 2010-10-03 23:54 · Score: 1
  
  I bought it... twice actually. (Gifting, gotta love it.)
  I've been tinkering with different cart boosters and trying to come up with some kind of mine cart death machine seeing how enemies and animals just love to jump into carts. My latest efforts led me to a cart that goes just outside the bounds of calculation though and it's getting me to think more about building my own DF/MC clone with my multi-threading and multi-processing experience. The only caveat to that plan is that I also suck at graphics.
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
36. Re:Stop it, please! by Soul-Burn666 · 2010-10-05 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  Actually I'm pondering doing the same as well! in my little to none spare time... (and I guess more than a dozen others).
  Picked up a couple of tutorials on OpenGL 2.0+ (with 3.3 as my target) and it's really quite fascinating how much the world has changed since I originally played a bit with graphics.
  About the art itself...... I hope to get some friends to help.
  So, good luck to you and hopefully the journey will be interesting and fun :)
  
  --
  ^_^
Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Nadaka · 2010-09-28 09:22 · Score: 4, Informative

It is true. Massive block constructions and fluid flow logic were there first.
1. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by yincrash · 2010-09-28 09:31 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  minecraft allows for unlimited power for the circuits using redstone wires. there was flow logic before redstone using falling sand, however, these types of circuits require you to refill the source of the flow (sand), every time you wanted a new computation done.
2. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Aladrin · 2010-09-28 09:38 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Power may be unlimited, but scale isn't. Apparently there's a certain distance that Minecraft makes active, so he can't expand the system beyond that distance.
  
  --
  "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
3. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by nschubach · 2010-09-28 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  Based on player position or owner position?
  I mean, it's multiplayer. So if you get 4 friends to stand equidistant from each other will the mechanics still work or do they shutdown based on owner/builder position?
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
4. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by pclminion · 2010-09-28 09:53 · Score: 1
  
  So, wait. The game includes features that were created expressly to make it easier to do this sort of thing? That kind of removes a big chunk of the "cool" factor, at least for me.
5. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Nadaka · 2010-09-28 10:05 · Score: 1
  
  This isn't much of a limitation for dwarf fortress logic. As long as you have sufficient power an axle can transmit state to any distance on the map. water flow has evaporation and flow rate issues that make it best to use in small units actively pumped from an aquifer. The big thing holding back DF CPU complexity is the massive amount of stuff going on at any one time in a fortress of significant size that will bring the simulation to a crawl.
6. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by thePowerOfGrayskull · 2010-09-28 10:07 · Score: 1
  
  there was flow logic before redstone using falling sand, however, these types of circuits require you to refill the source of the flow (sand), every time you wanted a new computation done.
  Phew - that sentence was clearly typed by someone on too much caffeine and itching to return to minecraft...
7. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by clone53421 · 2010-09-28 10:23 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  It shows a repeater on that wiki page that extends the range. Not surprisingly it also introduces a slight delay. You could extend the signal as far as you want with enough repeaters and as long as you’re willing to tolerate the delay.
  
  --
  Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
8. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by orkysoft · 2010-09-28 10:26 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, that's why he should build up and down instead. It'll also lower the distance between components, and the bus length, and thus reduce lag.
  
  --
  
  I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
9. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by jack2000 · 2010-09-28 10:28 · Score: 1
  
  If he's running the server can't he just tweak a configuration value or something.
  If it's not in the server configs after stuff like this I'm sure the developer would be happy to put one in.
10. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Archwyrm · 2010-09-28 10:29 · Score: 1
  
  Clearly you need a supercomputer to simulate your supercomputer.
  
  --
  Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. -- Mussolini
11. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Archwyrm · 2010-09-28 10:41 · Score: 1
  
  I wouldn't say that the features were created for making complex logic circuits, it just happens to be possible. Mostly they are for doing things like opening and closing doors, which is of a lot more practical use than an enormous logic machine.
  If you want complex logic in the game, there are versions of the Minecraft server which include script interpreters (Python, et al).
  
  --
  Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. -- Mussolini
12. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Smidge204 · 2010-09-28 10:42 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The purpose of the electrical stuff was obstinately for much simpler reasons: Control of in-game elements. Doors open/close when powered, power can set off explosives and alter the direction of mine cart tracks. You have buttons and levers and pressure plates to provide temporary power and the red torches provide constant power unless powered themselves.
  Boolean logic is just so simple that it doesn't take much more to implement a whole computer based on it.
  =Smidge=
13. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Blakey+Rat · 2010-09-28 11:16 · Score: 1
  
  Yah. But Minecraft has a usable UI. UI matters.
  
  --
  Comment of the year
14. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by TangoMargarine · 2010-09-28 12:05 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, I just YouTube'd Dwarf Fortress and the sudden urge to claw my eyes out overtook me. If you're into that kind of thing, more power to you, but...has anybody come up with at least a tile-based skin for it?
  
  --
  Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
15. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Pteraspidomorphi · 2010-09-28 12:38 · Score: 1
  
  The range of visible and updated chunks around a player with visibility set to far is huge, though.
16. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Nadaka · 2010-09-28 13:01 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Yes. It uses OpenGL accelerated graphics tiles. The most common tileset is mayday.
  http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Graphics
  http://afteractionreporter.com/2010/04/02/new-version-of-dwarf-fortress-with-mayday-tileset/
17. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Sark666 · 2010-09-28 14:02 · Score: 1
  
  Please explain this to me, I'm not too familiar with minecraft. I thought it was just for creating 3d worlds/objects. How is it actually running code?
18. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Neo+Quietus · 2010-09-28 17:34 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  No, there is a second limiting range, roughly 300 blocks or so. It is at this point that the chunk of land is taken out of memory and written to disk, so its state cannot change.
19. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Sulphur · 2010-09-28 18:27 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  He chipped away everything that wasn't a 16 bit alu.
20. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Sockatume · 2010-09-28 21:00 · Score: 1
  
  Does it matter? People have been building computers and Turing machines in sim games pretty much forever.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
21. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by HungryHobo · 2010-09-28 21:24 · Score: 1
  
  I'm a big fan but I can't play the default game.
  I use the mayday tileset which makes it all good.
  The interface is terrible (until you're used to it at which point you don't want it to change because it's really very fast)
  The graphics are non-existent.
  And yet it's an absolutely epic game.
  Read boatmurdered to discover the wonders of the game- http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/
  it's from an old version but it captures what's awesome about the game perfectly.
22. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by MrNemesis · 2010-09-29 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  Just as a shameless karma whore - here's a link to one of the (several) water-powered computers made in Dwarf Fortress:
  http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-8269
  There's also a whole buncha interesting stuff in the links on the left. As another poster points out, people have been inventing things like this in freeform sandboxes since things like freeform sandboxes were invented, but IMHO it doesn't make any of these less impressive. Personally I was just happy with trapping invaders in an automated obsidian-encasing machine :)
  
  --
  Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
23. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by cowscows · 2010-09-29 03:58 · Score: 1
  
  There's a tool that you can produce in the game called redstone dust that you can use to make what's basically wires, and it's the way it works makes it possible to create logic gates and such, which are the building blocks of computing. It's not a particularly efficient way of computing, but it can certainly be functional.
  
  --
  One time I threw a brick at a duck.
24. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by QuantumBeep · 2010-09-29 04:33 · Score: 1
  
  The purpose of the electrical stuff was obstinately for much simpler reasons
  Who wants this one?
25. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by WarlockD · 2010-09-29 05:45 · Score: 1
  
  Sadly, a computer requires something other than simple boolean logic, predictable timing.
  I spent 30 minutes building a simple 2 bit alu but I gave up building it in minecraft after 3 hours. The main issue is that everything runs in this global clock cycle. Evey torch you have in a path acts as a "tick" You also have to have a torch evey 15 spaces for a "refresher" so your putting down an inverter Evey 15 spots. Even those this 16-bit alu is impressive I bet the reason his data bus is so long is to equalize all the bits so they come out at the same time.
  The bigger issue is going to be the timing and control logic. Its manageable on a 2 bit or even 4 bit computer but on a 16-bit alu? I wish he would give more information on it to be honest. Why the heck did he do a full adder when you could go with boolean logic and micro code.
  In any event, the timing and the fact you cannot run red dust lines next to each other is going to be the big problem with making a simple cpu/microcontroler out of it. However, to make a self destruct switch for your cave network, perfect:)
26. Re:Meh. Dwarf Fortress did it first. by Smidge204 · 2010-09-29 06:24 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Even those this 16-bit alu is impressive I bet the reason his data bus is so long is to equalize all the bits so they come out at the same time.
  They DON'T come out at the same time. That's plainly evident in the video. It's not clear if the thing even has a clock generator.
  I was thinking about the difficulties regarding timing as well - especially important if he plans to add memory cells or anything with a shared bus. Some kind of buffer + "operation done" signal would be needed, since even careful planning to make equal-time circuits is no guarantee the game will calculate and update all paths at the proper times. Just makes it all the more impressive if he pulls it off, IMHO.
  
  Why the heck did he do a full adder when you could go with boolean logic and micro code.
  This statement makes me wonder if you actually understand what he did...
  =Smidge=
I watched the ALU video earlier today... by Angostura · 2010-09-28 09:23 · Score: 1

... it was fascinating, but frankly the commentary was too sketchy for someone like me to understand how it was functioning. I;d be very grateful for any clues.
1. Re:I watched the ALU video earlier today... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-28 09:41 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The ALU is from the "Hack" CPU described in this book: The Elements of Computing Systems, Building a Modern Computer from First Principles
2. Re:I watched the ALU video earlier today... by somersault · 2010-09-28 10:28 · Score: 1
  
  It's interesting to hear that there are people that really talk like Elmer Fudd, though it seems more like this guy is actually Kripke from the Big Bang Theory :0
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
Minecraft. by AnonymousClown · 2010-09-28 09:27 · Score: 1

What I'm gathering about Minecraft, this guy is creating the Enterprise so that he can fight stuff on board?
Would it be possible to create a version of Nemesis that doesn't suck?

--
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
1. Re:Minecraft. by Lumpy · 2010-09-28 11:08 · Score: 1
  
  not in minecraft
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
2. Re:Minecraft. by WCLPeter · 2010-09-28 22:06 · Score: 1
  
  Would it be possible to create a version of Nemesis that doesn't suck?
  Nah, it would be hard to make a Nemesis that doesn't suck. Instead just re-watch, or check it out if you've never seen it, what is arguably the best film in the franchise and try to forget Paramount's lame remake attempt.
Source for TFA by AltairDusk · 2010-09-28 09:31 · Score: 4, Informative

TFA is sourced from this article at Ars which should (in theory) stay up so I recommend reading it there.
Big whoop-dee-doo! by mandark1967 · 2010-09-28 09:35 · Score: 4, Funny

I made Devil's Butte from mashed potatoes, and you can EAT it afterwards...you can E-A-T it afterwards...
signed,
Richard Dreyfuss
P.S. I also made a 1840's era bacon fort, but I ate the westward facing wall and all my soldiers died at the hands of the Hamokee Indians.

--
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
1. Re:Big whoop-dee-doo! by silverglade00 · 2010-09-28 09:40 · Score: 1
  
  You're gonna build a mountain (gonna build a mountain)
  In your living room (in your living room)
  You're gonna build a mountain (gonna build a mountain)
  And it's gonna be keen!
2. Re:Big whoop-dee-doo! by sweatyboatman · 2010-09-28 14:54 · Score: 1
  
  I thought you would like to know that I very much enjoyed your post.
  Thank you.
  
  --
  It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
Conundrum by rakuen · 2010-09-28 09:40 · Score: 1

On the one hand, he built the Enterprise in Minecraft.
On the other hand, he built the Enterprise in Minecraft.
I'm not sure whether he is impossibly lame or awesome, and I don't think I care. Now excuse me while my head explodes.
Minecraft is amazing by stimpleton · 2010-09-28 09:42 · Score: 1

Discovered this game a few days ago. Have amassed a few items in survival mode, and have found a good hiding place, and buried them. This morning I snuck into someones home and stole a chest of items. Sitting at work now, I feel like I've actually stolen something from a local shop(not that I ever have). And thats the point, the game offers something so fresh. Tonight I could find my items raided.

This is survival multiplayer, not the free-build mode, which does not appeal to me at all.

--

In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
1. Re:Minecraft is amazing by hedwards · 2010-09-28 09:47 · Score: 1
  
  The game definitely needs more grue.
2. Re:Minecraft is amazing by b1t+r0t · 2010-09-28 10:57 · Score: 1
  
  What's wrong, are you SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSScared of the dark? BOOM
  (If you don't get the reference, google for minecraft creeper.)
  
  --
  
  --
  "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
  "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
Minecraft Tux by ryanisflyboy · 2010-09-28 09:51 · Score: 2, Informative

Some of our local LUG people have gotten bit by the minecraft bug. We've built a massive multiplayer island. Some of the locations include Lua Beach, Torvalds Torrent, FreeBSD falls, and Xen caverns. We also have logic gate fields, where members are working on a binary adder. Working already are various logic gates. One of our members built tux out of blocks (who also doubles as a water slide!).
http://plug.org/mc_tux.png
This game is soooo addicting. Don't get sucked in. The best phrase I've heard describe minecraft went something like this... This game is crap. It is full of bugs and nothing works. I hate it, hate it, hate it! I'm logging in right now.
1. Re:Minecraft Tux by TangoMargarine · 2010-09-28 12:12 · Score: 1
  
  Of course then I found out you can just hold down shift and walk backwards and you won't fall off
  They just added that 2 Fridays ago...and besides, you did it like a real man :)
  
  --
  Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
2. Re:Minecraft Tux by Magic5Ball · 2010-09-28 17:49 · Score: 1
  
  Minecraft is Lego, except you never run out of pieces, and your feet don't hurt.
  
  --
  There are 1.1... kinds of people.
3. Re:Minecraft Tux by nschubach · 2010-10-01 05:38 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, having bought the game a few days ago... I have run out of pieces! I'm playing the single player Alpha and I can't find enough iron to satiate my hunger for an epic mine cart subway. I end up making iron picks to mine more iron and can't find enough to keep digging at a respectable pace. I could always use stone picks... but they just don't last. I could turn 3 of the 5 diamonds I found into picks, but that feels like a waste for some reason. Maybe I just need to gain more patience digging and swapping out broken tools all the time.
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
wrong Naval Construction Contract numbers by corbettw · 2010-09-28 09:56 · Score: 3, Funny

There's a glaring mistake under the diagrams where he talks about not naming this ship the Enterprise and giving it a different Naval Construction Contract (NCC) number. The USS Galaxy's NCC number was not 1700, that belonged to the USS Constitution in the 23rd century. The Galaxy's was 70637.
If he can't get this minor detail right, what was did he screw up?

--
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
1. Re:wrong Naval Construction Contract numbers by thePowerOfGrayskull · 2010-09-28 10:08 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It's a sad state of affairs when I can't tell if you're seriously offended by this or not...
2. Re:wrong Naval Construction Contract numbers by badboy_tw2002 · 2010-09-28 10:25 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not sure its possible to read your post in a non-nasally voice/non Comic Book Guy voice. I've tried three times with no success, congrats!
3. Re:wrong Naval Construction Contract numbers by Lumpy · 2010-09-28 11:12 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  He is waving his arms, his tshirt has rode up to his man boobs and he threw a perfectly good bag of cheetos...
  he's downright pissed.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
4. Re:wrong Naval Construction Contract numbers by Prune · 2010-09-28 12:41 · Score: 1, Offtopic
  
  I am replying to your signature, because something this offensive cannot be left unaddressed. Libertarianism is ethically unsatisfactory exactly because it judges based on merit; but you cannot blame most people for lack of merit, as aptitude in most things is genetic, as evolutionary psychology has well established by now. In nature vs nurture, it's pretty much all nature. As Steven Pinker points out, the blank slate is a myth. Meritocracy makes sense as long as merit is ONLY used to evaluate suitability for positions in employment or government; but a libertarian utopia will inevitably result in social darwinism where those with less merit on dimensions such as the ability to make a living, lead a group, etc., will not be able to have a decent life, or even possibly survive. In the extreme, libertarianism will fall either into anarchy, or with power becoming concentrated in the hands of a cunning and ruthless few (not all that different from today, just more exacerbated). It holds no promise for bettering society as a whole as it inevitably leaves those less blessed with leadership/technical/skills talent to rot behind.
  
  --
  "Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
5. Re:wrong Naval Construction Contract numbers by mattcsn · 2010-09-28 12:56 · Score: 1
  
  Thank you, Dr. Sheldon Cooper.
Awww by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2010-09-28 09:57 · Score: 4, Insightful

... which totally reminded me of one of my favorite XKCD comics.
It wasn't very nice of the story submitter to prevent 6 people in the thread from earning a +3 Funny.

--

"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
How (not) to make a fireplace in Minecraft by antdude · 2010-09-28 10:15 · Score: 4, Funny

Just be careful with fire or else: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnjSWPxJxNs from http://videosift.com/video/How-not-to-make-a-fireplace-in-Minecraft ... :D

--
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
1. Re:How (not) to make a fireplace in Minecraft by WuphonsReach · 2010-09-29 04:21 · Score: 1
  
  That is highly amusing. The panicked "quick grab water block, throw water block" was funny. The even more panicked attempt to destroy everything that's on fire with the tool was funnier.
  
  (Not quite enough to make me want to play it, although it's slightly intriguing.)
  
  --
  Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
2. Re:How (not) to make a fireplace in Minecraft by MotorMachineMercenar · 2010-09-29 11:32 · Score: 1
  
  Man that was the funniest clip since Roger Simmons was on Who's Line Is It Anyway. And the comment "great tutorial on how to burn your house down."
  Thanks!
  
  --
  "We have an A-Bomb...what more do you want, mermaids?" --I.I. Rabi, speaking in defense of Robert Oppenheimer
3. Re:How (not) to make a fireplace in Minecraft by Smidge204 · 2010-09-30 00:27 · Score: 1
  
  There are no "saves," unless you make periodic backups of the data files. There is one save file per world, and it us updated fairly frequently. It's not like an FPS where you can quicksave any time and restore to that point when you screw up.
  That's part of what makes the game more challenging, IMHO. You can respawn but you can't reload. If you drop your stuff in a pool of lava just forget it - because man, they're gone.
  =Smidge=
wut? by X0563511 · 2010-09-28 10:27 · Score: 3, Interesting

I understand the draw of sandboxing, but is there a reason why this game looks like it's running the ID Tech-1 engine? (ie, doom)

--
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
1. Re:wut? by mrcleaver · 2010-09-28 10:36 · Score: 1
  
  Actually I think the pseudo retro look is a part of its appeal.
  Also, as the fidelity of the world around you increases it places increasing demands on the realism and look of your own creations. Because the world looks really simple and stylized, it's much easier for people who aren't super artistic to create something that can look quite good. Your imagination fills in all the gaps for you.
2. Re:wut? by Durinthal · 2010-09-28 10:40 · Score: 1
  
  Because guy that made the game is a programmer, not a graphic designer.
3. Re:wut? by rantomaniac · 2010-09-28 10:43 · Score: 1
  
  It's a design choice by one guy, who up to this moment had no resources to make better graphics I assume. It has a consistent style and it works pretty well, once you get into it, you don't even notice how retro it looks. Broken fluid physics or hit points in multiplayer are much more annoying.
4. Re:wut? by Megane · 2010-09-28 11:40 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Because it's about gameplay, not graphics.
  
  --
  #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
5. Re:wut? by X0563511 · 2010-09-28 15:52 · Score: 1
  
  You'll notice I used the word "like."
  You might want to go look that up and see what it means.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
6. Re: wut? by Ventriloquate · 2010-09-28 18:41 · Score: 1
  
  Probably because the system requirements would exclude a lot of people if it actually looked nice. Also, it's programmed in Java, that may also be a limitation, at least for the browser versions.
7. Re:wut? by tehcyder · 2010-09-29 00:25 · Score: 1
  
  You'll notice I used the word "like."
  You might want to go look that up and see what it means.
  
  As this is slashdot, GP probably has some tedious self-diagnosed form of autism, and will know the value of pi to a thousand decimal places, but be physically incapable of spelling "lose".
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
8. Re:wut? by cowscows · 2010-09-29 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  That's a really good point. In minecraft you're never stuck spending time fiddling with offsets or whatever to get textures to line up just right, or really worrying which wood texture you want for this door. You've just got a few basic options, so you pick one and it looks as good as everything else and you just keep moving with your construction project.
  Also while having such a basic toolkit can lead to the problem of everything looking sort of the same, it also forces more creativity in the spatial design of whatever you're building, You have to think a little harder to make your castle look different from that guy's castle, it's not as simple as just changing the stone color.
  It's like having a giant box of plain legos, with just the basic rectangular blocks. Limited palette but the pieces are so abstract that you can make anything out of them and it'll work.
  
  --
  One time I threw a brick at a duck.
9. Re:wut? by KnownIssues · 2010-09-29 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  Probably pointless to post this this long after the original posting, but the developer explains that the reason the game is so low-tech is because he's a programmer, not a graphics artists, and he figured this was a good was to make the game more visual than Dwarf Fortress (one of the game's influences), but still within his capabilities.
10. Re:wut? by X0563511 · 2010-09-29 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  Makes sense, but I would have expected something so popular to attract an artist or two. Even still, you don't have to be an artist to generate tiling textures large enough to not see the individual pixels /through/ the MIPing
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
11. Re:wut? by hkmwbz · 2010-09-29 19:44 · Score: 1
  
  Why would he need to find a graphic designer? Maybe that isn't (or wasn't) his goal. Did you ever consider that? Geez, some people...
  
  --
  Clever signature text goes here.
enterprisey! by FooAtWFU · 2010-09-28 10:52 · Score: 1

But using Java is what makes it Minecraft Enterprise!
(seriously, what I first thought when I read the title.)

--
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Another /. victim by interval1066 · 2010-09-28 10:56 · Score: 1

Must be chipmunk-powered as there's no getting in to see the warcraft enterprise right now.

--
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
1. Re:Another /. victim by interval1066 · 2010-09-28 10:57 · Score: 1
  
  Sh*t, minecraft. Whatever....
  
  --
  Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
2. Re:Another /. victim by dhaines · 2010-09-28 13:03 · Score: 1
  
  The warp core has been Slashdotted. Quick, someone repolarize the ion flux crystals!
3. Re:Another /. victim by Jbcarpen · 2010-09-28 15:39 · Score: 1
  
  The only crystals involved in the warp core are Dilithium, and they have nothing to do with ion flux.
  
  --
  GENERATION 667: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation
I think it is voxel based by Sycraft-fu · 2010-09-28 10:57 · Score: 1

Voxels are, well, 3D pixels, pixels with volume. There's some good reasons to want to use them and a few games were big on the idea. However GPUs don't handle them, and thus their use has mostly died. However I think that's how this game builds things. That means they have to be pretty large, to function at a reasonable speed. If all the voxels got real tiny your CPU would die under the weight of all the calculations.
Personally I'm still trying to get what the big deal is, I've tried the Java version of the game (which seems to be all that is freely available) and it really fails to amuse me. However it is all over every other site in the world so I guess I'm the one missing something.
1. Re:I think it is voxel based by Raenex · 2010-09-28 11:54 · Score: 1
  
  Personally I'm still trying to get what the big deal is
  I was the same, but then I figured out it was the same crowd that gets excited about Legos. I don't get that either, but to each their own.
2. Re:I think it is voxel based by Narishma · 2010-09-28 12:21 · Score: 1
  
  The free version is basically just a demo of the engine. In the paid version it's called the creation mode. There are no gameplay elements in it. It's just a sandbox. There are other modes in the paid version like survival and multiplayer survival that add stuff like collecting resources, crafting items and fighting monsters among other things.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
3. Re:I think it is voxel based by Pteraspidomorphi · 2010-09-28 12:44 · Score: 1
  
  They're all in Java. The freely available version played in your web browser sucks and isn't at all representative of the fun you can have with the real game (though note that it's still in alpha and very buggy).
4. Re:I think it is voxel based by khchung · 2010-09-28 13:25 · Score: 1
  
  There is nothing to actually "play" in free version, which is basically just a world builder. In the paid version, there is a "survival mode" that actually has stuff like hitpoints, crafting, reason for building your house/base, mining, farming (if you like to), exploring, etc.
  I highly recommend the YouTube series "X's Adventure in Minecraft" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bh4EexJO4I&sns=em for a good idea why this game can be fun.
  
  --
  Oliver.
5. Re:I think it is voxel based by FiloEleven · 2010-09-28 16:04 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I have only played the single-player mode in Minecraft Alpha. It's hard to describe exactly what makes it so compelling. The best thing i can think of is its sense of adventure.
  You're dropped into a randomly generated world with nothing but your fist. The terrain generator makes these fantastic landscapes that, while not always entirely Earthly, are usually quite engaging and natural: forested rolling hills, rocky islets, mountains with waterfalls (which have effective and consistent physics)...and dark foreboding caves, sometimes a small hole in a hillside, other times a straight-down pit you almost have to fall into to see. You never know what you'll find just over the next rise.
  It's up to you to bootstrap your survival. You've probably seen the Penny Arcade comics, so you know the basics: punch a tree, get some wood, craft some tools. You'll want to find some coal for torches and make a safe house before it gets dark--that's when the monsters come out. And because the combat is so basic, the outcome of every mob encounter is always in question. Zombies aren't so bad, but skeletons, spiders, and the sneaky creepers can ruin your night pretty quickly.
  It's a sandbox game, but it's also a little like Sim City or even an RTS: if you want to build stuff, you first have to collect the resources to do so. Any block can be removed from the game world, provided you have the right tools, and any block you've gathered can be placed wherever you like. Iron ore can be smelted (after you've crafted a furnace) into better tools; there's also rarer stuff like gold ore and diamonds the further down into the earth you go.
  And that's where Minecraft really shines: down in the caves. You'll find mazes of twisty little passages, all alike. You'll find huge rooms with water- or maybe even lava-falls in them. You may come to a dead end with a dirt wall; dig your way through it and you might discover a whole new set of tunnels. Wherever you go down there, you'll need to light your way with torches. Not only do they let you see pitfalls and baddies, but their light keeps more monsters from spawning. I have never played a game where the darkness was so fear-inducing. It's surprising just how tense I get when I have a pocket full of ore, but I'm lost deep below the surface, running out of torches, and my last pickaxe and sword are almost busted. Conversely, the rush of happiness and sense of reward if I survive and find my way to daylight is just as magnified.
  So there's that sense of adventure, and there's also room for lots of individuality. There is no in-game map to hold your hand, and there are as many methods to (try and) keep yourself from getting lost as there are players. I play on a MacBook Pro, meaning my render distance is pretty short, so I tend to use trails of torches above-ground to lead me from my fort(s) to working caves. Inside the caves I'm working out a system of double and triple torches in various configurations to keep myself oriented. Other people build arrows out of cobblestone or dirt, or wall off certain branches for later, or heaven knows what else. You're forced to deal with the challenges the game world throws at you, but you can do it however you like. What's the point besides exploration? Well, you can build a minecart roller coaster or a giant Sphinx, or just a homey little cottage. Whatever you build is entirely individual, since as you say you're basically working with big-ass voxels. I like expanding my houses sometimes, but the real fun for me is in the exploration.
  Oh, one more thing. The game is currently in Alpha. It has no right being even mildly playable, and instead it's the most engaging game I've played in a long time--in fact I can't remember the last time I was up until 5:00 AM playing a game before this. When Survival MultiPlayer starts to come together (it's playable but players and mobs can't deal damage yet) it's going to be a big deal. I'm having so much fun in my own worlds, I can only imagine what it'll be like exploring with a group of friends.
  
  --
  Your brain is not a computer.
This calls for... by dcposch · 2010-09-28 11:00 · Score: 1

the hardhack tag! Which is the coolest tag on /., in my humble opinion.
1. Re:This calls for... by ceoyoyo · 2010-09-28 14:09 · Score: 1
  
  It's only the coolest tag because pushing around virtual blocks in a computer game doesn't qualify for it.
Go back to sketchup by mr100percent · 2010-09-28 14:09 · Score: 1

Seriously, if it looks this good in Minecraft, imagine how much better it would look in SketchUp. Can we get a project going?
Re:He did not by jack2000 · 2010-09-28 14:22 · Score: 2, Insightful

The douche bag here is you. He explained he didn't build it ingame. And it doesn't really matter how he made it.
Maybe they should have it run on DirectCompute by mykos · 2010-09-28 15:00 · Score: 1

I would love a GPU-accelerated DF. It would be a god among games with the amount of complexity you could add.
1. Re:Maybe they should have it run on DirectCompute by Issarlk · 2010-09-28 21:50 · Score: 1
  
  A multi thread DF would be a nice first step toward this, but the author won't even consider it apparently.
Re:Not the first by LingNoi · 2010-09-28 22:00 · Score: 2, Interesting

Indeed, I wonder why someone hasn't made Minecraft in sauerbraten already. It would look 10 times better and run much faster too.
Re:He did not by cowscows · 2010-09-29 04:14 · Score: 1

Listen, if he didn't build this by placing one block at a time, over and over again for 42 weeks straight, eschewing any actual human contact the whole time, all the while subsisting on nothing but doritos and mt. dew, stopping only to urinate and post screeds against the RIAA; well then he is not a true geek and I reserve the right to not only be unimpressed, but also to be judgmental and/or dismissive of him.

--
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Re:It's been done by Vernes · 2010-09-30 00:45 · Score: 1

If you a referring to the one I think you are, compare the size...