What is the Current State of MCPE Multiplayer?

Hey guys! First off, I really like what you're doing with PocketMine! Things look a bit different than before, but I'll get used to it eventually.

So I've been away from PocketMine and MCPE multiplayer for awhile. I began to drift away around the time all the PocketMine forks and spoons began popping up. So all I want to know is where PE multiplayer is at right now? What features have finally been added? What's still missing or still a challenge to add? With PMMP becoming the new standard, what will happen to the current spoons (especially Genisys, since some Genisys devs work on PMMP now)? MCPE has been updating more frequently than ever, with the beta of version 1.0 released just yesterday. With that in mind, how difficult is development of server software with such frequent updates? Do you think you will ever need to/want to move away from PHP as the language of PMMP? And finally, if the official server software is ever released, what do you think will happen to PMMP? I ask this because official plugins and addons could possibly manipulate the game the same way PM plugins do for MCPE and Bukkit/Spigot plugins do for MCPC.

Overall, I really wish the best for you guys. I've been considering becoming involved in the community again, but probably just a few plugins here and there or possibly developing private plugins. I will always cherish the time I spent in this community and meeting so many people, with a few who may become lifelong friends. Everyone who's been involved so far and will continue to be involved in the future, thank you so much and I hope great things happen to you all!

 

Many new MCPE multiplayer features where added in 16.0. Addons, which are basically the equivalent of mods to the PC, came out, allowing you to change mob behavior and textures. Naturally, this also means that texture packs came out. Also, in game commands got added as well.

I assume you weren't here for the Realms or XBox Live updates, which basically meant you could use realms for MCPE, as well as connect to XBox Live to play with your XBox friends from anywhere when they are online. If you do know about this, sorry.

I assume that as PMMP becomes more and more mainstream, spoons will begin to die off. Best not to give them any attention, and let them live out the course of their short, short lives. The main reason Spoons existed anyway was because the place to get the Pocketmine-MP phar (or compile it yourself) was so shrouded in mystery...

Spoiler: More info about addons

https://minecraft.net/en/addons/

 

I've been keeping up with MCPE news in general, just not much related to PocketMine, Genisys, MiNET, etc. I know about addons, and plugins coming later with custom C# code and all that. I forgot about Xbox Live authentication! I know MiNET added that (I think), but has it been added to PM or its forks/spoons yet?

I understand all that about why the forks/spoons popped up. It just disappointed me that these people didn't come together to try to further PocketMine instead (like what PMMP is doing now). I think PM really lost it's momentum during these last few months, and with it PE multiplayer, but I really hope it rockets into popularity again.

 

I'm honestly not entirely sure where it stands. I finally got WiFi working on my desktop computer again, and have been playing Minecraft PC more than ever. I'm guessing that if an official server software for MCPE ever comes out, it will basically be just the regular unmodified game, so just like realms except it would be free. The reason I think that is because that's the way it is for Minecraft PC; it has an official server software, that's just the regular unmodified game, with the exception of command blocks.

I also really like PocketMine's revival For awhile I was using Genisys, but it was way too buggy and there was so much lag! I was indeed really suprised about the beta testing for MCPE 1.0; it seemed like 0.16 was just officialy realised! In fact, when Lifeboat Survival Games tweeted about it, I didn't believe it at first. I had to rejoin the beta testing on Google Play myself, just to believe it!

 

In regards to official server software, the thing about it is the unmodified game allows for mods via plugins and addons. Having that publicly available for free could potentially kill off software like PocketMine and MiNET.

Also side note: 1.0 beta being released really surprised me too. Haven't had too much time to mess with it, but it's looking pretty great! I wouldn't be surprised if PE was caught up to PC version within a year (and possibly replace it as the main version).

 

I've been thinking about this too. 0.16 has JUST been released and the 1.0 update is already on its way. It really might be hard to catch up with all these new features, especially now PM kinda fell behind as I'd call it. I believe however that the people currently working on it have the capability to make the magic happen. Hopefully some people (like me) get good enough at PM developing to help developing the software itself, instead of just plugins. Like @Darunia18 said, you're doing an awesome job. Keep it up!

 

Ugh, who knows with Microsoft, xD

 

Thank you for your response! Something like this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm glad you brought up the map format, because that was another question I had. Is 1.0 using Anvil now, or is just more Anvil-like?

As for the MiNET/PocketMine debate I agree with you. MiNET is very efficient and well-made, but PHP is a much simpler language to learn and use to modify the server. I think it's very important to have an easy way for new developers to learn code and make something where they can immediately see what their code did. Minecraft multiplayer, from Bukkit to Spigot to PocketMine, was my introduction to programming. I wouldn't say I'm fantastic, and I haven't made anything really great, but I wouldn't be where I am today without tools like these that made it so easy to learn. Even if MiNET is used for commercial servers over PocketMine, I still believe that PocketMine plays a very important role in the Minecraft community.

I think I just have one last question: What are we calling this new fork of PocketMine? Is it just being called PocketMine, or is it being called PMMP to differentiate it? It just might be a bit confusing during these next few months of transition when trying to discuss these things.

 

@Darunia18 PM(MP) is just a continuation of PM, due to Intrye, dktapps and some other folks don't have enough control over forums.pocketmine.net and the PocketMine Github organization.

 

I understand that. I just didn't know if they were trying to differentiate it in any way with branding.

 

I second @dktapps assessment of the future of custom MCPE servers. All of them (not just MiNET and PM) have features and capabilities specifically tailored for networks, and most of these will be very hard for Mojang to provide. I also believe MiNET and PocketMine serve two different types of communities, so both will continue to thrive.

And I assure you all that the collaboration between the projects, even the copycats and spooners, are live and well. This is much needed now when Mojang stepped up their game and release new stuff at a pace that is difficult to follow.

I do hope for a standalone vanilla server to be released at some point, and it will serve as a good entry level to the community. And with the addition of C# to MCPE I'm obviously thrilled since this will be a great place to find MiNET developers in the future.

Without seriously dedicated coders like @Intyre and @dktapps PocketMine would suffer enormously. I hope the rest of the community remember this and treat them kind and with respect. They well deserve it.

PM is dead. Long live PM!

 

I'm worried about vanilla servers tho because it means I'm gonna have to learn C# and I can't find anything on Codecademy or anything for C# similar to howtocode.ml

 

First rule of learning is You have to want it. No one will force anything on you and only your own needs and curiosity can help you pass that first hurdle.

Even after 30 years of coding, I still owe most of my career to books (yeah, that's what we used before Internet) and google. I always have a hard time coding without Internet, so Internet is the tool you have to learn to use first. In your case, a quick google search on "learn C#" gave me thousands and thousands of results, and just checking the first few (I felt lucky) game me similar sites to the one you describe.

Regardless of the language in question (with some few exceptions like Perl), you first want to get yourself the tools of the trade. Even though PHP permits it, I hope no one believe that @dktapps is using vi or notepad when coding PM. Nah, he is probably using an IDE to make it more efficient, and most likely he is using phpStorm. If you would be doing Java you't most likely be using Intellj or Eclipse. For C++ either VisualStudio or CLion, or maybe Emacs. Regardless, they are all very good IDEs and you need to get one too. For C# that IDE is VisualStudio and Microsoft give you that for free (unlike most other IDE you will ever see). So if you want to code pretty much anything, you will have to know your tools.

Now that you know where to find the information, and how to use it, all you need to do is to get yourself a mission before you start coding. Why is a mission important? Well, without a mission you might find yourself in a situation where your career as a coder only rely on your generic will to learn. And I promise, curiosity will only take you that far when it comes to learning.

So all in all, it all falls back to the first rule of learning. You have to make sure that your will to learn something like a new programming language is not hindered by your unwillingness to actually learn it. Say for instance, an unwillingness to put in the time required (no mission) or a general disliking of Linux, Windows, etc (only know one tool). Don't let your own politics get in the way of your own learning.

 

You can use a lot of IDE's, example notepad++ or DroidEdit, if you know language very good.