It’s now been a couple of months since the last time an update was posted with regards to what’s going on behind the scenes at FTB. I have intentionally held off from making a post because instead of writing about changes that we are going to make, I wanted to write about the changes we have made. Over the last couple of months we have been taking on board the lessons that 1.7 have taught us and made some fairly massive changes in pretty much every area.
Before getting into those changes, it is probably appropriate to talk a little about the 1.7 modpacks. Several months ago now, I sat down with both Jadedcat and Eyamaz and started to flesh out a plan for where we wanted to go in 1.7. This was before Hardcore Quest Mode was released. We already knew back then that in 1.7 we wanted to do something completely different and introduce quests and built-in tutorials to the game. At the time we were having a custom mod made. Then along came HQM and that provided everything we wanted and so much more. With the release of Agrarian Skies things changed in the modpack scene and I have openly said that I believe HQM is one of the most significant mods since the release of Not Enough Items. So going forwards into 1.7 we wanted to make a lot of use out of HQM. However this wasn't the only area we wanted to focus on. With Minetweaker we would have the ability to tweak recipes and this is another area that we have put a lot of work into.
In theory this all sounds great. We release great packs, with awesome tutorials and recipe balances and I still firmly believe that it’s an awesome idea and the way forwards for modpack development. However, when planning, we underestimated two things.
The first of these was the amount of time it would take to develop these packs, and asking one or two people to do all of the work was unreasonable and impractical. The second is something that only really became apparent recently, but in hindsight it was a massive oversight. In modpack development there is a type of pack called the Kitchen Sink pack. This type of pack has several different definitions, however from my point of view it is a simple, uncomplicated packs with little to no config or balance changes, with the the balance of the pack coming from the selection of the mods. It is designed to cater to a wide variety of players (Tech, Magic, Aesthetic) and in normal circumstances is a pack that most people should be able to build. For most Mod Pack developers, Kitchen Sink is where you start.
When coming up with the specs for the packs that we wanted to create for 1.7, we failed to include a kitchen sink pack in our list and it is my belief now that this was a mistake. Whilst it is great that our team want to create awesome new packs and continue to push the boundaries of modpack development, I think is is now apparent that first and foremost we need to cater to our core players and, as the recent survey by Captainnana showed, at least half of our players like the Kitchen Sink style modpacks. Along with this is the added benefit that because a kitchen sink pack is relatively easy to produce and maintain, we can get this style of pack out much quicker.
Now it’s time to discuss how we can change things going forwards. The first thing we have done is vastly increase the amount of people that are actually working on the mod packs. Going into 1.7, we had 3 main mod pack creators. Whilst there was some backup for them, it was no where near enough. To aid them moving forwards we have and are setting up teams to help with pack creation. The first of these teams is the Literary Team, which is responsible for helping to write up the quests and guides that we will use for Hardcore Quest Mode. Moving on from this team we are also going to be bringing on board people to help out with pack building, maintenance and config editing. The first stage of this is already taking place and I can happily announce that we are partnering up with Phoenix Team, the team behind the Phoenix Reborn modpack (http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/1-7-10-phoenix-reborn-tech-magic-progression-ores.59301/)This group of pack developers have quickly established themselves as a team of quality modpack builders and they have already shown that they are a great team to work with. We still hope to add more people to this team as well. Finally we are going to be bringing on even more beta testers to help with in house testing.
Moving on to the forums, as some of you may have noticed, Captainnana is currently going through the forums and reorganising them in order to fit the better fit the needs of the community. In addition, we are going to be expanding the third party section and adding new forums for the more popular third party packs, giving the community a place where they can communicate easier with the developers of their favorite third party mod packs. Pack developers - please note that at this time, these forums are going to be on an invite basis for now as it is not really practical to provide a forum for every single mod pack out there. We are also getting ready to move our forums over to their new location on Curse servers, although as things stand right now we are going to be delaying the switch over to the new forum software until such time as we can ensure that we are not going to be losing any of our current features.
The scheduled move over to the new Curse Client has been delayed again to ensure that everything is as high a quality as possible before launch. Having seen the internal builds, I cannot wait to see it go live to the public. Some of the features it adds are brilliant and the overall look and feel of the client has been praised by everyone I know who has seen it.
We have also added two new features to the forums. For the latest in modding news, you can check out @ModMyMC on Twitter. This is being run by members of the FTB community and, whilst hosted on our forums, will remain independent and contain news from other major launchers as well as our own. We have also added a new suggestions area where people can anonymously submit suggestions and comments for all the FTB team.
Finally, for those that remember our history, we have a new generation of FTB challenge maps. We have just added the FTB map for Pax South which is a totally new design that combines elements of Complete The Monument and Parkour/Maze challenges. In addition to the tournament at Pax South, we are also going to be running an online tournament where the person with the fastest recorded time (either Youtube, Twitch recording or similar) will win a Nvidia 980 graphics card. Work on the new General FTB map is also almost complete and will hopefully be released soon.
We are also designing another new map that I am hoping to have ready for Pax East in Boston this year. This map is tentative, given the short time left before the event. Either way we are hoping to host our biggest tournament yet for those that are attending Pax East with some awesome prizes planned. As a sidenote to this, I understand that I am taking part on a panel alongside Pahimar, Direwolf20 and others during Pax East. You may need to check the schedule, but I understand it is currently lined up for Friday morning in the Dragonfly room
All in all, 2014’s been a very eventful year for the FTB team, and we thank you for sticking with us throughout. Big changes and many long awaited features are finally just around the corner, and I hope you’re just as excited as us about what awaits us in 2015!
TLDR:
Before getting into those changes, it is probably appropriate to talk a little about the 1.7 modpacks. Several months ago now, I sat down with both Jadedcat and Eyamaz and started to flesh out a plan for where we wanted to go in 1.7. This was before Hardcore Quest Mode was released. We already knew back then that in 1.7 we wanted to do something completely different and introduce quests and built-in tutorials to the game. At the time we were having a custom mod made. Then along came HQM and that provided everything we wanted and so much more. With the release of Agrarian Skies things changed in the modpack scene and I have openly said that I believe HQM is one of the most significant mods since the release of Not Enough Items. So going forwards into 1.7 we wanted to make a lot of use out of HQM. However this wasn't the only area we wanted to focus on. With Minetweaker we would have the ability to tweak recipes and this is another area that we have put a lot of work into.
In theory this all sounds great. We release great packs, with awesome tutorials and recipe balances and I still firmly believe that it’s an awesome idea and the way forwards for modpack development. However, when planning, we underestimated two things.
The first of these was the amount of time it would take to develop these packs, and asking one or two people to do all of the work was unreasonable and impractical. The second is something that only really became apparent recently, but in hindsight it was a massive oversight. In modpack development there is a type of pack called the Kitchen Sink pack. This type of pack has several different definitions, however from my point of view it is a simple, uncomplicated packs with little to no config or balance changes, with the the balance of the pack coming from the selection of the mods. It is designed to cater to a wide variety of players (Tech, Magic, Aesthetic) and in normal circumstances is a pack that most people should be able to build. For most Mod Pack developers, Kitchen Sink is where you start.
When coming up with the specs for the packs that we wanted to create for 1.7, we failed to include a kitchen sink pack in our list and it is my belief now that this was a mistake. Whilst it is great that our team want to create awesome new packs and continue to push the boundaries of modpack development, I think is is now apparent that first and foremost we need to cater to our core players and, as the recent survey by Captainnana showed, at least half of our players like the Kitchen Sink style modpacks. Along with this is the added benefit that because a kitchen sink pack is relatively easy to produce and maintain, we can get this style of pack out much quicker.
Now it’s time to discuss how we can change things going forwards. The first thing we have done is vastly increase the amount of people that are actually working on the mod packs. Going into 1.7, we had 3 main mod pack creators. Whilst there was some backup for them, it was no where near enough. To aid them moving forwards we have and are setting up teams to help with pack creation. The first of these teams is the Literary Team, which is responsible for helping to write up the quests and guides that we will use for Hardcore Quest Mode. Moving on from this team we are also going to be bringing on board people to help out with pack building, maintenance and config editing. The first stage of this is already taking place and I can happily announce that we are partnering up with Phoenix Team, the team behind the Phoenix Reborn modpack (http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/1-7-10-phoenix-reborn-tech-magic-progression-ores.59301/)This group of pack developers have quickly established themselves as a team of quality modpack builders and they have already shown that they are a great team to work with. We still hope to add more people to this team as well. Finally we are going to be bringing on even more beta testers to help with in house testing.
Moving on to the forums, as some of you may have noticed, Captainnana is currently going through the forums and reorganising them in order to fit the better fit the needs of the community. In addition, we are going to be expanding the third party section and adding new forums for the more popular third party packs, giving the community a place where they can communicate easier with the developers of their favorite third party mod packs. Pack developers - please note that at this time, these forums are going to be on an invite basis for now as it is not really practical to provide a forum for every single mod pack out there. We are also getting ready to move our forums over to their new location on Curse servers, although as things stand right now we are going to be delaying the switch over to the new forum software until such time as we can ensure that we are not going to be losing any of our current features.
The scheduled move over to the new Curse Client has been delayed again to ensure that everything is as high a quality as possible before launch. Having seen the internal builds, I cannot wait to see it go live to the public. Some of the features it adds are brilliant and the overall look and feel of the client has been praised by everyone I know who has seen it.
We have also added two new features to the forums. For the latest in modding news, you can check out @ModMyMC on Twitter. This is being run by members of the FTB community and, whilst hosted on our forums, will remain independent and contain news from other major launchers as well as our own. We have also added a new suggestions area where people can anonymously submit suggestions and comments for all the FTB team.
Finally, for those that remember our history, we have a new generation of FTB challenge maps. We have just added the FTB map for Pax South which is a totally new design that combines elements of Complete The Monument and Parkour/Maze challenges. In addition to the tournament at Pax South, we are also going to be running an online tournament where the person with the fastest recorded time (either Youtube, Twitch recording or similar) will win a Nvidia 980 graphics card. Work on the new General FTB map is also almost complete and will hopefully be released soon.
We are also designing another new map that I am hoping to have ready for Pax East in Boston this year. This map is tentative, given the short time left before the event. Either way we are hoping to host our biggest tournament yet for those that are attending Pax East with some awesome prizes planned. As a sidenote to this, I understand that I am taking part on a panel alongside Pahimar, Direwolf20 and others during Pax East. You may need to check the schedule, but I understand it is currently lined up for Friday morning in the Dragonfly room
All in all, 2014’s been a very eventful year for the FTB team, and we thank you for sticking with us throughout. Big changes and many long awaited features are finally just around the corner, and I hope you’re just as excited as us about what awaits us in 2015!
TLDR:
- The FTB team is expanding.
- FTB Literary team and Team Phoenix, with more openings coming.
- More Community feedback will be incorporated into packs in future
- Kitchen Sink modpacks will be included in future
- Changing to Curse servers, but NOT software (yet.)
- New Challenge maps
- Pax South time challenge - win a Nvidia GTX 980.
- New general FTB map
- Pax East (tentative)
- Pax South time challenge - win a Nvidia GTX 980.
- Forums in the middle of a re-structuring
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