12/02/2011 - Updates and Upgrades

Server Updates:

• I still haven't turned creepers on, I will as soon as possible!
• iced_apple has become a Citizen.
• akeller00 became a Citizen, then donated and became Councillor
• Ctrl_Alt_Llama built a large "robot" near the town and has been banned for planning on building more, and having been warned not to build near the town several times.
• I have an awesome new house :) I'll be posting pictures of it on deviantart eventually.
• Remember that if you cut down trees, you have a chance of getting apples, and a very small chance of getting a golden apple! If you've managed to find a golden apple, post a comment here =]
• Thanks to some very generous donations from akeller00 and Anina, I can upgrade the server!
• The server will be upgraded from 768MB, to 1.5GB of RAM, and from 2 to 3 vCPU cores.
• I am going to start switching over to bukkit (a new, better, admin and plugin tool).

 What do these upgrades mean for the server?

• It wouldn't have to restart every 2 hours any more, to keep performance up It may still restart every 12 hours, although the exact figure is undecided.
• The maximum amount of players that can be connected could increase from 6 to 10.
• When several people have logged in and out over a short period of time, it won't go slow anymore.
• I will increase the map slightly, at the moment it is around 800x800 blocks, I'm hoping to increase it to around 1000x1000.
• I might be able to run a VOIP server alongside the Minecraft server, allowing people to shout at each other and pretend to be sheep more hilariously. I tested out mumble on my own computer with Anina and Richy today, and it worked quite well.
• More plugins will work again or be update, most importantly CreeperNerf (so we can have creepers back), LWC (so we can lock doors, dispencers and signs as well as what we can now), death notifications (I think) and probably some others I've forgotten.

 Upcoming Minecraft updates:

• Notch has said: "I’m also half-way through finishing my Advanced Diver course. Expect more underwater content in Minecraft." - This sounds good!
• Wooden and cobble half blocks. - This might complicate things if to make the pavements around town we need to use smoothstone rather than cobble. More info on the wooden variety here.
• New save file format. With the new format, loading is now seven times faster. - This should make server restarts quicker and let me make maps more easily.
• New Minecraft launcher. This is a great communication tool for us (Mojang) as we will be able to give you guys important information directly in the launcher.
• Various bug fixes!- Probably not boats traveling vertically!
• New redstone-related block! More info here. - We might make a music hall with these in :)
• Secret update! Oh, yes. There will be that as well. - No idea what this will be.