The moment of truth has arrived...

[Hambeau]

A new beta version of Minecraft for Windows 10 has been announced that will be available July 29th along with Windows 10. It will be free for those who already have Minecraft licenses and at a $10 special price from the Microsoft Store while in it's "beta" stage.

Here's the announcement:
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwi...ENTS_SOC_TW_ORGANIC_MINECRAFT&linkId=15318811

I'm hoping this will be a good thing but we will have to see. Maybe if enough people participate the thread could be "Stickied" as a focal point to discuss theories and opinions until the software becomes available, and reviews from those who at least give it a shot. I hope to see a lot of posts from developers who look into the coding possibilities deeper than I am qualified to do.

I will be editing this post to add information as I find it... So far, unverified reports say it is basically the Pocket Edition expanded into a duplicate version of the PC edition, and that several sections of code have been rewritten. If this is the case that means that it is based on the C/C++/C# language family.

Please add to the discussion, keeping in mind FtB's forum etiquette rules.

[Edit #1] According to more information in Mojang's forums:

1). This appears to be a version of MCPE that runs under Windows 10, at least for now.
2). It is written in C++
3). It apparently can run up to 7 users on PC, Tablet and XBox... No mention if server is needed or XBox account.

If this is written using Visual studio 2015 then it won't be long before Linux/Android or Apple versions appear, since 2015 has cross-platform libraries. The question will be how modding is handled, but with MSoft's repeated claims that they want to use MC as a tool to generate interest in kids to learn programming...

[Edit #2] I caught the end of the livestream of the modder panel at Minecon this morning hosted by Direwolf20, mostly audience questions. One young boy asked the panel about the effects of Windows 10 Minecraft on modding in general. I found Lexmanos' response very interesting:

1). There will be no modding for a bit... There is no modding interface like forge as yet, although he dropped that he was "being followed around" by Microsoft engineers asking many questions about programming interfaces.

2). At a later point (I think) someone asked if the new version would replace the Java version. His answer was that he didn't think the Java version was going away as there are too many Apple and Linux licenses out there. He also said it would be nice for all versions to be able to interact with each other but didn't know how possible that would be.

This got me thinking that, even though VS2015 is cross platform I don't know what the performance would be like... Maybe the Java version ends up outperforming a C++ version on those platforms if they have to be cross-compiled?

 

[Type1Ninja]

I'm going to download it, if only so I can get it for free later. Other than that, unless it has modding support, I could really care less.

 

[Inaeo]

As much as I love Minecraft, the base code behind it is suspect at best. If the move from Java to C based coding means a more robust and stable foundation for the game, it can be one of the greatest advances for the game. Also, if they are rewriting the code anyway, they may as well provide hooks via an API for the modding community, which could be a huge leap forward for us as well.

If this is done right, it can be a blessing. If not, people will never forgive them for it.

 

[Type1Ninja]

As much as I love Minecraft, the base code behind it is suspect at best. If the move from Java to C based coding means a more robust and stable foundation for the game, it can be one of the greatest advances for the game. Also, if they are rewriting the code anyway, they may as well provide hooks via an API for the missing community, which could be a huge leap forward for us as well.

If this is done right, it can be a blessing. If not, people will never forgive them for it.

Yesyesyesyes. If there was a modding API, I would tell them to

 

[lenscas]

Yesyesyesyes. If there was a modding API, I would tell them to
View attachment 20751

I would first wait to see what the modding api is capable off, if it can't do all the things forge can do its still bad in my eyes unless it has a lot of other fancy stuff to make up for it.

 

[Tepig4321]

Wait on windows 10 will there also be regular mc

 

[Eruantien]

Wait on windows 10 will there also be regular mc

I want to say.... presumably?
This is just a special version of Minecraft, made solely for Windows 10, and apparently as simple as an app to install and play. If you've got Java, you should be able to run "normal" Minecraft just fine.

 

[Tepig4321]

I want to say.... presumably?
This is just a special version of Minecraft, made solely for Windows 10, and apparently as simple as an app to install and play. If you've got Java, you should be able to run "normal" Minecraft just fine.

-_- right as I posted that I realized that

 

[Padfoote]

This could prove to be interesting. I'll have to watch this.

 

[Strikingwolf]

I have mixed feelings about this, so let's take a look at them

The Good:

• Restructuring of the MC codebase
• Possible modding API (?)
• PC, Console, and mobile compatibility
• C++ means that it should be faster

The Bad:

• C++ is harder to mod
• Modding API could be fairly limited
• Nothing innovative (just a new MCPE for Windows 10)
• Only 7 users

The Ugly:

• Restriction to only Windows...if it is relying on .NET libraries then it may be portable to OS X/Linux, but it could be relying directly on Windows 10 stuff. Even if it is .NET libs then they may not be ported to Unix
• C++ is a fairly dirty language (when in the wrong hands at least), and with large numbers of people modding it it could get very bad fast. If we could use a scripting lang to mod with an API with lower-level access for things that need to be fast though...that might work
• With MSoft's previous IP business I'm suspicious of everything they may try with MC

To me this is a huge gamble, and it can't be put better than

If this is done right, it can be a blessing. If not, people will never forgive them for it.

 

[DZCreeper]

Microsoft, you have one chance. Don't fuck this up. A unified code base and proper mod API could see Minecraft make the history books more than it already has.

 

[THEminer72]

This could very well be a disaster.

 

[Hambeau]

Wait on windows 10 will there also be regular mc

This is most likely true... I see no indication that "Java MC" will be replaced by "C++ MC" any time soon. However, if I read the announcement correctly, grabbing the new version will not affect your ability to keep running the existing version(s)... We are just allowed to participate in the "fork" without having to purchase the new version later.

I see this, after a bit of thought and research, as a means to tie the implementations of Win10 together in the minds of consumers, since it should run on phones, tablets, PCs and apparently XBox equally well.

Keep in mind that this is also perhaps the best chance for the user community to have an effect on the future direction of Modding, and even MC itself.

 

[Hambeau]

I have mixed feelings about this, so let's take a look at them

The Good:

• Restructuring of the MC codebase
• Possible modding API (?)
• PC, Console, and mobile compatibility
• C++ means that it should be faster

The Bad:

• C++ is harder to mod
• Modding API could be fairly limited
• Nothing innovative (just a new MCPE for Windows 10)
• Only 7 users

The Ugly:

• Restriction to only Windows...if it is relying on .NET libraries then it may be portable to OS X/Linux, but it could be relying directly on Windows 10 stuff. Even if it is .NET libs then they may not be ported to Unix
• C++ is a fairly dirty language (when in the wrong hands at least), and with large numbers of people modding it it could get very bad fast. If we could use a scripting lang to mod with an API with lower-level access for things that need to be fast though...that might work
• With MSoft's previous IP business I'm suspicious of everything they may try with MC

To me this is a huge gamble, and it can't be put better than

To your points:

I agree with all of your "The Good" points.

I only have one disagreement about your "The Bad" points, that C++ is harder to code.
In my opinion C++ is harder only because it forces you to be concise or it will fail. Having spent the early part of my programming hobby writing in direct machine code/Assembler (6502, 8080/Z80) I'm used to having to plan out all steps in advance. I will concede the point, however, since I'm an old fogey and they haven't taught machine code at the JC level for a loooong time.

"The Ugly":
Visual Studio 2015 is cross platform now. While there is only the Tech Preview on Win10 TP now, it claims to be able to compile to other platforms and .NET is now public domain. You can also get free versions of Visual Studio, either as separate packages like VC++ or VBasic, but also the entire package in VS Community.

Good points to consider. however.

 

[Strikingwolf]

I only have one disagreement about your "The Bad" points, that C++ is harder to code.
In my opinion C++ is harder only because it forces you to be concise or it will fail. Having spent the early part of my programming hobby writing in direct machine code/Assembler (6502, 8080/Z80) I'm used to having to plan out all steps in advance. I will concede the point, however, since I'm an old fogey and they haven't taught machine code at the JC level for a loooong time.

I never said it was harder to code, only to mod

"The Ugly":
Visual Studio 2015 is cross platform now. While there is only the Tech Preview on Win10 TP now, it claims to be able to compile to other platforms and .NET is now public domain. You can also get free versions of Visual Studio, either as separate packages like VC++ or VBasic, but also the entire package in VS Community.

Not all the libraries are cross-platform yet, at least IIRC

 

[Type1Ninja]

Yeah... To add on to what other doom-sayers have said before me, this could be one of Microsoft's most remembered feats, right up there with Windows. If they could really unify all the platforms and get modding to be more standardized, with a better API 'n' stuff, then this would really be memorable. Of course, if they choose to close source it, ban modding, and make multiplayer a paid subscription, yeah, stuff's not going to go very well for them. Hello, Linux! XD

 

[danidas]

From what I can tell form the news stories for this, it will literally be a direct port of Minecraft Pocket Edition to PC. Which will utilize the new universal app system in Windows 10 that should allow all Windows phone apps to work on it.

So basically it is not a recode but more of a phone app running in a fancy emulator with a few minor tweaks to be more PC friendly. Grant it, the PE version does utilize C++ instead of Java so that much is true.

Only time will tell the effect of this on the game's future.

 

[Baron_Falcon]

Color me with low expectations.

 

[Hambeau]

Color me with low expectations.

Consider yourself colored

I have to admit that I lost a bit of enthusiasm after learning it is an adaptation of MCPE to the "big screen", but then I realized that if one of the goals is to port MC to C++ they have a head start going this route. Besides, Mojang has apparently already translated a portion of PE to MC in ver. 1.8 to fix the "render every block, even if not visible" problem in earlier versions.

 

[Middleclaw]

I'll throw my hand into the " wait and see " pile. Given Microsofts transessions into other markets (surface pro failing miserable compared to ipads and such comes to mind), and the recent innovation of the holo-lense that they have been showcasing Minecraft on, I will, be for one, waiting to see whether it will be another XP/Se7en or will it be a Vista. Only time will tell and until then I'll just sit and wait.