There's been decent talk about a Community Update and also an "apocalypse plan" recently. I've commented about my thoughts in both topics, but wanted to make a formal topic about my idea and see what the public opinion surrounding it is.
I would like to make a custom launcher that installs and starts a different installation of Blockland. This allows for community-made updates to be issued through this new system. The initial update would include a handful of new add-ons, BlocklandLoader by default, and maybe a few default (stable) DLLs like SelectiveGhosting and bl-browser.
A few other ideas that could be implemented (ripped straight from another post of mine):
- Entirely fresh UI (not just a skin change)
- Server-sided gui support
- Chunk-based real-time autosaver
- Persistent "worlds"
- Easy packaging of maps and gamemodes, Halo 3 style
- TCP-based (or otherwise optimized) save loading
- New staged add-on loading system
There's really a ton of options and new routes to be explored. If a DLL such as blocklandLua or blocklandJS were default, a whole new realm of add-ons (or perhaps just called mods) would be available, like faster file transfer systems, dynamically generated mini-maps, binary file uploads, etc.
I recognize all of these can be individual add-ons and that people can pick and choose what they'd like, but I think having a common update stream that allows for mass adoption of these is persuading to modders. Many don't utilize DLLs because they recognize there's a higher bar to entry, and add-on dependencies get complicated. Some users don't recognize the usefulness and potential of mundane looking mods, but a lot can be built off of them and it can really make a big impact to the playability of the game.
Now, I don't want this to be viewed as having any overlap with Blockland Glass or in any way being my project. Ideally, I'd like to set up a very democratic system on implementing new features. Perhaps put up every feature as a detailed "proposal" and leave it up to a community vote on whether it should be pursued. I'd like to work with other content makers, such as the people who've actually made the mentioned DLLs and add-ons, to make sure everything fits seamlessly together and feels native and intuitive.
I don't mean this to go the way of early Blockland mods that have power-hungry and game dominating reputations. Blockland's default authentication scheme would still be in effect, every change would be open source (not much choice with TS anyway), and it would still
be Blockland.
Of course, some popular concerns would be effort vs reward. Personally, I believe this could spark a big change in the way Blockland is modded and open the possibility to a lot more creative content, however I'm making this topic because I recognize there's other views and would like to hear them.
So, what are people's thoughts on all this?
Poll