When will this game be updated again?

[Conan]

This is the silliest idea have heard. I can list hundreds of aspects that could be developed further, many of those are only able to be changed by Badspot.

A variable system should not be default due to its very easy ability to crash servers, either unintentionally by new players or intentionally by starfishs.

he's saying that updates should be focused around giving more power to modders, not content like addons. note how the "content" provided in the few content updates (aside from speedkart), like bots and doors, gave more power to modders - these are the few exceptions where the addon itself provided a large functional code base/reference, or introduced new base datablock variables to build other addons off of.

providing content that doesn't advance addon development is a bad idea as its effort that could be better used expanding the capabilities of modders so you actually see more content. note how many addons exist - it wouldn't be possible for even a quarter of them to be made by badspot/official dev team alone. expanding functionality is the best way to "create" content, as people who can create content can make what they want to make.

[Ad Bot]

[Blockhead31735]

he's saying that updates should be focused around giving more power to modders, not content like addons. note how the "content" provided in the few content updates (aside from speedkart), like bots and doors, gave more power to modders - these are the few exceptions where the addon itself provided a large functional code base/reference, or introduced new base datablock variables to build other addons off of.

Providing the power or a base for modders doesn't necessarily mean content will be created. Take your door and bot examples, while jvs was the worse system, there are very few doors created using the new door system. Despite the new system of bots, and the ability for modders to modify them, new bots aren't as sophisticated as the old standard bots. Not saying either of these were bad changes, just changes that didn't really affect the game as much imo.

Way I see it is game could either be directly updated with content, or get updated with the potential to be updated by modders. Which is the safer option, especially with the constantly lowering amount of content creators?

My original point wasn't that Badspot would need to develop a ton of new stuff himself. There are a ton of much needed add ons that could be made default, more gamemodes, etc... It would be great to see some developer content updates though, too.

[Gytyyhgfffff]

there's plenty of non-jvs doors out there. like in total there's probably 50+ doors which is probably about how many jvs doors there used to be

[Scout31]

Think a communication system is what I would want most. Players are so spread out through glass, orbs, or just not using anything at all. None of those can really unify the game like RTB did, or what a default communication system would do.

Glass regularly has between 50-75% of online Blockland users using it. I'd call that pretty unified.

[Blockhead31735]

there's plenty of non-jvs doors out there. like in total there's probably 50+ doors which is probably about how many jvs doors there used to be

That's barely half the total number of jvs, there are like 10 large packs out there among other private ones. Same point as above though, stuff like that needs to be promoted, many would probably never see those.

Glass regularly has between 50-75% of online Blockland users using it. I'd call that pretty unified.

Do not use glass so have no clue whether that is accurate or not, if it is I take back my point about that.

[Conan]

Providing the power or a base for modders doesn't necessarily mean content will be created. Take your door and bot examples, while jvs was the worse system, there are very few doors created using the new door system. Despite the new system of bots, and the ability for modders to modify them, new bots aren't as sophisticated as the old standard bots. Not saying either of these were bad changes, just changes that didn't really affect the game as much imo.

Way I see it is game could either be directly updated with content, or get updated with the potential to be updated by modders. Which is the safer option, especially with the constantly lowering amount of content creators?

My original point wasn't that Badspot would need to develop a ton of new stuff himself. There are a ton of much needed add ons that could be made default, more gamemodes, etc... It would be great to see some developer content updates though, too.

the problem with badspot adding content is then he's responsible for any addon conflicts/issues, and any bugs said addons have, let alone having to read through and manage code he's never seen in a formatting he probably doesn't use just to make sure the addon doesn't do things in a stupid/inefficient way or have backdoors/possibilities for exploits/spam or such. this would detract from actual, better updates which would improve gameplay/allow modders to do more, like vehicle physics updates or playertype object control or rotatable playertype collision boxes or server-side button-press recording.

the idea that there is a "consistently lowering number of content creators" is a myth - not only do a lot of old content creators occasionally come back and make addons, but they also help out any newbies trying to learn how to create content. as someone who frequents modification help and the blockland content creator discord, i can name at least 5 newbie content creators who have only gotten started in the past 6 months.

[Conan]

That's barely half the total number of jvs, there are like 10 large packs out there among other private ones. Same point as above though, stuff like that needs to be promoted, many would probably never see those.

Do not use glass so have no clue whether that is accurate or not, if it is I take back my point about that.

the main issue of visibility, and probably why such a high percentage of people online use glass, is that only regular players are ever seen online these days. newbies have no idea where to get new content, or how to find fun in the game, and so quit after some amount of time.

its why an rtb/glass-esque system needs to be default. however, with that comes more work, as badspot would then have to patch and update and keep said ingame system alive/bug-free. given that this game has mostly run its course, the work needed to make it happen would probably not be offset by an increase in sales, at least in badspot's point of view.

remember that this is /work/ for him - he practically has no personal motivation like us content creators/fans have at this point and so the only motivating factor left to create stuff is money.

[Blockhead31735]

the problem with badspot adding content is then he's responsible for any addon conflicts/issues, and any bugs said addons have, let alone having to read through and manage code he's never seen in a formatting he probably doesn't use just to make sure the addon doesn't do things in a stupid/inefficient way or have backdoors/possibilities for exploits/spam or such. this would detract from actual, better updates which would improve gameplay/allow modders to do more, like vehicle physics updates or playertype object control or rotatable playertype collision boxes or server-side button-press recording.

Same thing could be said for an update that gives modders more control. Things could act up in an even greater way than they would in a content update. I'm not against giving modders more control, just would rather see Badspot's development used in a different way.

the idea that there is a "consistently lowering number of content creators" is a myth

This is not true at all. Compare add on output say from 2, 3, 4 years ago and now. We've had some game changing add ons recently but if we're going by quantity previous years had more creators.

the main issue of visibility, and probably why such a high percentage of people online use glass, is that only regular players are ever seen online these days. newbies have no idea where to get new content, or how to find fun in the game, and so quit after some amount of time.

its why an rtb/glass-esque system needs to be default. however, with that comes more work, as badspot would then have to patch and update and keep said ingame system alive/bug-free. given that this game has mostly run its course, the work needed to make it happen would probably not be offset by an increase in sales, at least in badspot's point of view.

Agree completely.

remember that this is /work/ for him - he practically has no personal motivation like us content creators/fans have at this point and so the only motivating factor left to create stuff is money.

Also get this. But in a thread about Blockland updates speculation as to updates will occur.

[New Year]

Agree with OP.

the idea that there is a "consistently lowering number of content creators" is a myth

Is it? It is hard to measure add-ons/year and even harder to weight such a thing based on the size/significance/quality of the add-ons in question.
What can be measured is active players and active forum posts.
Here are the forum's stats going back to 2009:
https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?action=stats
There were 5535 new accounts in 2015. So far in 2016 there's only been 3132 accounts made. We'd need to get 2403 accounts in the next 25 days to meet last year.
In August 2011 there were 180,000 new posts. In August 2016 there were just 48,000 posts. Even comparing 2016 to another year after accounts required a blockland key august 2014 had 91,000 new posts.

I'm not saying "blockland is dead" but the idea that there's as much content being made this year as in previous years seems dubious to me.

[Conan]

Agree with OP.
Is it? It is hard to measure add-ons/year and even harder to weight such a thing based on the size/significance/quality of the add-ons in question.
What can be measured is active players and active forum posts.
Here are the forum's stats going back to 2009:
https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?action=stats
There were 5535 new accounts in 2015. So far in 2016 there's only been 3132 accounts made. We'd need to get 2403 accounts in the next 25 days to meet last year.
In August 2011 there were 180,000 new posts. In August 2016 there were just 48,000 posts. Even comparing 2016 to another year after accounts required a blockland key august 2014 had 91,000 new posts.

I'm not saying "blockland is dead" but the idea that there's as much content being made this year as in previous years seems dubious to me.

fair enough. i still doubt having more vanilla content aside from more ui/friends system/irc system would remedy the lack of growth. the thing is that although there are fewer people sticking around, these fewer people who do tend to be more dedicated/interested in creating content, which is the whole foundation of blockland.

[Bisjac]

would updating the game even be profitable? its not some hobby he has, this is a retailed item.

[Scout31]

would updating the game even be profitable? its not some hobby he has, this is a retailed item.

It's not like he has any salaries to pay other than his own, there's no fee for creating and issuing an update other than some extra AWS traffic. A week's work could extend the life of Blockland by months with little to no expense other than the value of Badspot's time. While a lot of issues are deeper in the engine and more complex to solve, even some small changes can go a long way.

[Swollow]

hey i remember your avatar

anyway if I were badspot i would have abandoned with game a long time ago out of boredom, the fact that its still going 10ish so years later is very impressive

[Shift Kitty]

This is the silliest idea have heard. I can list hundreds of aspects that could be developed further, many of those are only able to be changed by Badspot.

Well, of course it sounds silly. You cut out half the post.

Providing the power or a base for modders doesn't necessarily mean content will be created. Take your door and bot examples, while jvs was the worse system, there are very few doors created using the new door system. Despite the new system of bots, and the ability for modders to modify them, new bots aren't as sophisticated as the old standard bots. Not saying either of these were bad changes, just changes that didn't really affect the game as much imo.

Way I see it is game could either be directly updated with content, or get updated with the potential to be updated by modders. Which is the safer option, especially with the constantly lowering amount of content creators?

My original point wasn't that Badspot would need to develop a ton of new stuff himself. There are a ton of much needed add ons that could be made default, more gamemodes, etc... It would be great to see some developer content updates though, too.

There was way more systems added than just doors and bots. And gamemodes weren't that impressive either.
But he's also added the event system, which has had a mountain of add-ons made for it and used. And the door system brought more than just doors, it also brought changing bricks datablocks. There's been updates to particles, and some other things I can't quite remember.

Things like ::setMaxForwardSpeed() are a big step in the right direction. We need stuff like that. More engine-based functions for us to play with. Then we can create more mountains of content ourselves like we have.

Doors are a bad comparison anyway. JVS has lived a much longer life in a community more alive than the new door system.

Obviously we do, otherwise there would be more than 80 players online right now.

So Badspot adds some hats or another stuffty gamemode. Not quite sure if that's going to help the population explode.

[Bisjac]

It's not like he has any salaries to pay other than his own, there's no fee for creating and issuing an update other than some extra AWS traffic. A week's work could extend the life of Blockland by months with little to no expense other than the value of Badspot's time. While a lot of issues are deeper in the engine and more complex to solve, even some small changes can go a long way.

None of that was my point.

Is it profitable to update the game, as in, will new content bring another 50k steam sales? To do it just for us for no reason is a waste of  professionals time.