Razgon
4721
I wonder what will happen to the PS4 and PS3 versions now, that MS owns this. I highly doubt they will make keep supporting and updating it, unfortunately.
They’d be silly not to drive sales to every platform possible. Given all the MS apps now on Android and so forth, I’d wager in theory they realize more platforms equals more money.
Are they going to keep developing the Java version as well, or drop it for the Win 10 version? Will there be feature parity? And will that include DX12 support I wonder?
That’s popular in general computing. Not popular in the area we are talking… video games.
mok
4727
If you notice, C# ain’t that far behind the old J. When Microsoft says “Windows 10 Version” what I hear is “we are porting it to C#”. Microsoft has been trying to ‘replace’ Java since the stone age with the failed J++.
Getting C# into Unity is a huge win for MS, and I suspect hardly anyone uses JavaScript for it anymore - too much power using C#. Lot of kids are using Java to learn programming before being formally trained - I suspect they want to change this and MC is an excellent vehicle for that…
With C#, they are turning the tide.
DeepT
4728
The next big thing I want from Minecraft is for the renderer to be on a separate thread from everything else. The more mods you run, the lower FPS you get. Currently with the infinity mod pack + a few extras, I am happy to get 20 to 30 fps.
Well… One of the things that’s been thrown around is that MS makes a lot of money from the skins and theme packs on consoles. I expect we’ll see those get pushed to the Win 10 version eventually. They’re missing a lot of revenue on PC and mobile because as of yet those things don’t exist on those platforms.
Teiman
4730
I tried Java once.
Its a cool language but I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with the culture.
It don’t make much sense for users to change to this pocket version, but surely do for Microsoft. Losing modding is big for minecraft. If they ever try to introduce a modding api, it would made sense for some modders to move to it. Think .NET is inspired in Java, so it would not be much of a jump for a lot of them.
Another oportunity to create enviroment for modding is another oportunity to give more usability for users for the whole modding thing. If MS is smart, will use the oportunity for more than just reusing code.
mok
4731
Java is heavily used in the financial sector (As is C#) and other industries. The culture has little to do with it there. It is an awesome workhorse and has really matured nicely.
Gendal
4732
Java as a language is pretty bad in my opinion, at least these days with all the other options. We learned a lot from what it did wrong so I don’t want to short change it’s contributions. It does have a metric ass load of libraries and code you can draw from.
Java as a VM however is pretty god damn well optimized on every platform and does all most everything with some exceptions like tail recursion.
The .net platform was a reaction to the JVM and like many projects it learned a great deal from the mistakes Java made. If you have used the awesome language Clojure then you ran into issues with the JVM, especially it’s atrocious start up time. Java also sucks at making cross language/native calls while it’s close to a flawless experience in .net.
Now that MS has effectively open sourced the .net CLR and promised to provide native Linux and MacOS environments porting something like Minecraft to C# makes a ton of sense (to not just MS). It would also be an excellent time to make modding more stable instead of relying on the base runtime environment’s reflection capabilities.
So I was kind of expecting this - stealing one of Java’s most influential applications and porting it to .net would be hilarious. Then they went and announced Minecraft Windows 10 edition, which is based on the C++ pocket version. Forget mods unless they put a ton of work into it, and I doubt it will ever be on par with the java version’s collection of mods.
So either porting to .net would not be practical, which I can 100% believe, or the C++ edition is a stop gap until they can do it.
It’d be dumb to kill the non windows versions of mine craft though. Slaughtering the golden goose, etc.
But then Microsoft have done dumber things,
Diego
Gendal
4734
They don’t have to do that with either the C++ version or the .net version, either will port to MacOS and Linux and all the major phones without major difficulty. And they can of course just leave it on Java until they do.
draxen
4735
Java is an absolutely amazing language, as is C#, C++ etc.
I imagine one of the reasons that Microsoft is using the Pocket Edition as a base is because it’s a C++ port of the original Java version.
They will benefit from performance gains and more importantly native hooks into DirectX (12?). They can then say, ‘ooh ooh, Windows 10 has a DirectX 12 version of Minecraft’
Yes no argument if it remains cross platform.
Wasn’t the pocked edition “reduced” in features in comparison with the original game? And I don’t mean mod support but the game itself. I suppose the first thing they have to do it’s to make the new version up to par in core features, and then they can start adding mod support.
Gendal
4738
Just to be clear, the C++ version will never have mods like the Java version or potentially .net. The managed languages all have reflection, which lets mod authors put hooks into just about anything while not having to worry about the executable changing at the binary level. C++ can provide hooks too of course, but the programmers would have to think of and implement them beforehand. Which can certainly be more stable than just using pure reflection, but it’s also very limiting in comparison.
Edit: Well I guess if MS managed to get the C++ to compile on the CLR using the /safe and /pure switches you could have reflection
DeepT
4739
From my point of view, the thing that keeps minecraft alive is the mods. Without them, I would have lost interest a long time ago. Whatever MS decides, it better not kill the mod community. If it does, it will kill minecraft.
KevinC
4740
Hopefully they’re smart enough to understand the importance of mods and build a solid framework for their support. The worry I have with large corporations, though, is that they don’t necessarily care how long anyone is playing a product unless they have opportunities to generate more revenue. “Why would we offer mod support, wouldn’t that just undercut potential DLC sales?”.
Personally, I find that view shortsighted in numerous ways, but I’ve never been involved in the business side of things so what do I know?
