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<html lang="en"> |
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<head> |
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<meta name="theme-color" content="#20c420" /> |
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<meta name="author" content="Exmods community" /> |
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<meta name="keywords" content="exmods,gamecraft,modding,mod" /> |
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<meta name="og:type" content="website" /> |
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<meta name="og:title" content="Exmods" /> |
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<meta name="og:description" content="Gamecraft modding website" /> |
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<meta name="description" content="Gamecraft modding website" /> |
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<meta name="og:image" content="../static/favicon.png" /> |
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<meta name="og:url" content="https://www.exmods.org" /> |
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<meta charset="UTF-8" /> |
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<link rel="icon" href="../static/favicon.png" type="image/x-icon"/> |
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<link rel="shortcut icon" href="../static/favicon.png" type="image/x-icon"/> |
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="../static/style.css" type="text/css" /> |
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<title>Exmods | Introductions</title> |
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</head> |
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<body> |
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<h3><a href="index.html" alt="You know your browser has a back button, right?">Back to list</a></h3> |
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<h1>1 - Introductions</h1> |
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<div class="text-content"> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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They say its a right of passage for .NET developers to write their own blogging website application |
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(maybe it should be "write of passage"). |
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But writing a webapp for a blog is a complete waste of time when all you need is a web server for serving static files, like Apache or nginx. |
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If you want to be fancy, you can setup a cronjob to pull from a Git repository periodically so you can update files easily. |
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Although I'm not a big fan of a lot of .NET technologies, so I might be a bit biased |
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(imagine if Microsoft had contributed to Java instead of making their own version). |
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But that's enough for my negative opinions on .NET, since it's actually a very powerful platform, despite it's shortcomings on most platforms. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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Let me introduce myself. |
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I'm NGnius (hahaha my dumb username finally paid off), or NG, and I'm the guy who runs this website that you're on right now. |
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You know the web server setup I cheekily mentioned above? |
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That's exactly how I configured this website. |
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I also maintain quite a few mods on <a href="https://git.exmods.org">git.exmods.org</a>, with help from NorbiPeti. |
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Together, we're the two main contributors to the |
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<a href="https://git.exmods.org/modtainers/GamecraftModdingAPI">GamecraftModdingAPI</a>, |
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the developer-friendly interface for mods to interact with Gamecraft. |
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Before getting into modding, I played a lot of Robocraft (~1.5k hours) |
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and wondered if there was something more productive I could use my time for. |
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The answer came partially in the form of becoming a Robocraft moderator and almost an admin (am I allowed to tell that story?). |
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Despite what people said about us moderators, we were a pretty good bunch. |
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It's hard to have a perfect crew when everyone is a volunteer, so there were a couple of not-so-great mods during my time as a moderator. |
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The good ones stuck around though, which is what really counts. |
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I eventually quit because I wasn't playing Robocraft anymore, but I like to think I wasn't a not-so-great mod. |
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By that time I knew that Gamecraft (then RobocraftX) was coming out soon, so I stuck around to see where that game would go. |
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I was cautiously optimistic because I was around for CardLife and Robocraft Royale. |
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When FreeJam stopped working on Robocraft to focus on Gamecraft, I knew Gamecraft was going to stick around for a while. |
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I wanted to learn C#, the language most of Gamecraft is written in, for a project at work, so getting into modding seemed like a great way to learn. |
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I ended up never actually using C# at work, but Gamecraft modding proved to be an interesting challenge so I didn't stop. |
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Sometime in between my last day as a Robocraft moderator and the first Gamecraft mod, I went website domain shopping and got |
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<a href="https://exmods.org">exmods.org</a> because I could use it for <i>Ex-mod</i>erator or Robocraft<i>X mod</i> stuff. |
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Since the former idea was pretty pointless, I rented a couple of servers in a datacenter and spun up an Apache server and a Gitea server instance. |
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The first server is still used to host the RobocraftX Save Manager update server, although I've stopped updating that program, |
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but it now primarily hosts all of the Exmods websites. |
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I guess that makes me the leader of Exmods, the first (and only) Gamecraft modding group. |
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There's no reason to be concerned, since I know what I'm doing... I think. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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Let me introduce Exmods. |
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If you've spent anytime in the Exmods community, you probably already know that Exmods is the Gamecraft modding group. |
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We provide modding help and infrastructure to make it easier to create and install mods for Gamecraft. |
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Exmods is completely independent from FreeJam and Gamecraft developers, so all of our mods are unofficial. |
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These services are provided completely free-of-charge (well, for you -- I get charged every month for the servers). |
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I don't ever want to make Exmods stuff cost money for others, mainly because this creates two problems without easy solutions.<br> |
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<span class="tab"></span>1) A problem as old as the open-source idea itself: How do you make money off of open-source software?<br> |
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<span class="tab"></span>2) A more personal problem: How do you justify collecting money you when you could pay for it by yourself?<br> |
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<span class="tab"></span>(This doesn't mean devs shouldn't make paid mods -- if they can make it work, good for them!) |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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There do actually exist solutions to the first problem, but they aren't great. |
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat">Red Hat</a> offers paid customer support, |
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among other things, for open-source software but that can hurt user adoption when good installation instructions are behind a paywall. |
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Similarly, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_(company)">Canonical</a> |
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also offers paid customer support for open-source software that the company develops, but they also offer provisioning services, |
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which could be adapted to my situation by charging developers for access to Exmods, |
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an option that's bad for developer adoption and will result in lower user adoption. |
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The solution to the second problem is for me to embrace capitalism in all its glory, |
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but a lot of modern companies have shown how that goes, so I'd have to also give up some of my morals. |
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Looking forward, the only scenario that would make me monetize Exmods would be if I ran out of money, |
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and likely the monetization would be a Patreon link or something similar. |
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That scenario is not impossible, since I only work four months a year; |
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a 4-month summer job and then two 4-month university terms with expensive tuition. |
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But it's still unlikely to happen, and won't get in the way of my other aspirations for Exmods. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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On that note, where is Exmods heading? |
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Would it surprise you to know that I actually have no big plan? |
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I don't have a big plan, but I do have some smaller goals. |
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Exmods is a hobby project, so these goals are pretty much guaranteed to change as my interests change. |
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Primarily, I'd like to see the Gamecraft modding scene grow. |
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As far as I know, at this moment there are exactly two Gamecraft modders in the world, |
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with maybe a few more people who run modded Gamecraft clients. |
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At the time of writing, there are a few more than 10 concurrent users playing Gamecraft right now. |
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If both of us modders were playing right now, we wouldn't even make up 20% of Gamecraft players. |
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That number is way too small. |
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Community growth is a positive feedback loop (like social networks) if we can give it a shove to get it started. |
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Equally, I'd like to make amazing Gamecraft mods. |
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I'm a computer nerd and nothing makes me happy quite like writing code does... |
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Maybe that's why I don't have a girlfriend. |
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Seeing your own creation being used by others to create amazing things is something else. |
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I've experienced a bit of that feeling while making <a href="https://git.exmods.org/NGnius/Pixi">Pixi</a>, and it's wonderful. |
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My third goal is for Exmods to last. |
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I often abandon projects soon after I've gotten them off the ground because I'm bored of them or nobody is using them. |
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Lots of hobbyist programmers suffer from this, but I'm really trying to break the habit. |
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To accomplish some parts of my goals, I'm starting this blog. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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So let me introduce this blog. |
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My <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/NGniusness">YouTube channel</a> could help satisfy a lot of the goals I have for Exmods, |
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but I like video editing a bit too much. |
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I enjoy the whole video creation process, from script writing to recording to video editing, |
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but that enjoyment comes at the cost of effort; it often takes me a couple of days to create a video. |
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Unfortunately I rarely have 24+ hours to spare to create five minutes of content. |
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This blog will allow me to offer more details and spend less time on delivery. |
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This won't replace my videos, but it will supplement them. |
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If I can come up with a good way to cut down the time to create videos, this blog may even go hand-in-hand with new videos. |
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With a bit of luck, this will help keep me involved in Exmods as my interest inevitably waxes and wanes. |
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The ease of creating blog posts will enable me to write about almost anything Exmods-related, which is something I can't do with videos. |
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For example...<br> |
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<span class="tab"></span>Ever wondered about the experience of modding an ECS-based game? |
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Want to know what makes Gamecraft tick? |
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What happened in the Gamecraft modding community last week? |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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<span class="tab"></span> |
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That's it. |
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That's what this blog is all about: an accessible outlet for me and Exmods. |
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Hopefully somebody finds it interesting. |
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</p> |
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<h3>Welcome to the Exmods blog!</h3> |
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</div> |
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</body> |
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</html> |