What happened?
When the main game file gets downloaded, the server does a few verification checks and sends the file through special channels.
Minecraft has recently gotten a lot more popular. The last time I did an update, the website got really slow for a long time. This time, it more or less died.
Everything is still there, though. All skins, old saved levels, user accounts, images and such is there. The server just got way, WAAAY too slow.
What’s being done?
The website is in dire need of a rewrite, with proper modern backend design. I’ve temporarily disabled everything fancy, including game sales, until this gets worked out. The game will be free to play until this gets sorted. Then after that, it’ll only let people who have paid for the game play again.
I’ve ordered a new server. It’s much beefier than the last one, and has a much more capable internet connection. I’m not sure if this is enough, though, so..
I signed up for Amazon Cloud. Currently all game file downloads are going through the Cloud, and the download speed seems to be pretty good. It was amazingly easy to set up.
What will happen?
Early next week, we will focus on hiring someone to rewrite the backend for minecraft.net, perhaps get someone involved with redesigning the front-end, and we’ll look more into this fancy cloud solution.
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