[1.8.9] forge-clj - Bringing the Clojure Programming Language to Minecraft

[yoshiquest]

UPDATE: TUTORIAL AVAILABLE HERE

 

After months of work, asking questions on this forum, and other such things, I have finally created the first usable version of forge-clj, which adds support for the Clojure programming language to Minecraft.

 

Now, you're probably asking, what the heck is Clojure, and why should I care? Well, Clojure is a modern Lisp language. It runs on the JVM like java, but it has a much more fluent and readable syntax (in my opinion), as well as other things, such as the ability to extend the language itself with macros. It also isn't like java, where you have to make a template/file/whatever of literally EVERYTHING. Say goodbye to having to copy and paste the same mod file format, the same block class declaration, and other such things with this (NOTE: Things might get messy if I haven't added something yet). You can read more about the technical details of Clojure itself here, and if you want a good tutorial you could always try Clojure for the Brave and True.

 

As for forge-clj itself, I'm REALLY proud of how this thing is turning out. I used BedrockMiner's Minecraft modding tutorials in order to figure out what I needed to add and how. I'm proud to say that everything covered in the basic modding tutorials there can be done in forge-clj, without excessive Clojure-Java inter-op and such. Most of these tutorials have been implemented in the test-mod that I use to test the mod, and explain how modding with it will work.

 

If you're a Minecraft Modder and want to help, tell me what I need to add to make things better. I've covered some basic things already, and have some plans to cover some advanced things, but if there's something convenient from forge that I've overlooked, tell me so that I can wrap around that too.

 

Checking that the test-mod works in your minecraft installation helps too, as well as making sure everything works (blocks, items, worldgen, etc). Even the average modded minecraft player can help me test this.

 

Anyways, go check them out now (download links/changelog/etc are on the github pages):

 

- forge-clj github link

 

- test-mod github link

[yoshiquest]

Updated to Version 0.2.1. It's basically just refactoring, but if you're curious all that I changed is on the github. I'll be working on some advanced features next.

 

If anyone has a suggestion as to what forge feature I should add next, feel free to say so.

[yoshiquest]

Updated to Version 0.2.2. This version adds support for Tile Entities and NBT data. The interesting thing with NBT data, is that I made a way to convert the NBT data into a Clojure map, as well as the other way around. It works rather well too, so go check it out!

[yoshiquest]

Updated to Version 0.3.0. This adds 3 different systems: packets, event handlers, and extended entity properties. It also changes the existing tile entity implementation to more closely match the new extended entity properties system.

 

Next up: Either custom renders or GUIs. Maybe both. I think I'll do custom renders first though.

[yoshiquest]

Updated to Version 0.4.0. Added a system to handle models and animation, though it only works on tile entities at the moment, and Techne models are not supported yet. I think I'll end up creating a separate conversion tool to turn the generated java code into a clojure map you can embed into the code. Also added a couple of other minor systems, such as the ability to make a new creative tab for your mod.

 

Finally, one of the biggest changes is that I changed how the mod is organized. It now is consisted of multiple files, and is much easier to read and find each part of the code, in both forge-clj and the test-mod. So if you didn't like reading through my messy code, it's cleaner now.

 

As a side note, I also created a small program for myself that automatically builds and uploads the mod to dropbox, makes the new links, etc. So hopefully I'll be able to update a lot more often than I have been now that the process is easier.

[yoshiquest]

Updated forge-clj to version 0.4.1. Fixed bugs and stuff.

 

I also spoke at Clojure Conj today about forge-clj, check it out here.

[yoshiquest]

Updated to Version 0.5.0: Added GUIs and REPL support!

 

If you don't know what the repl is, it stands for Read, Eval, Print, Loop, and lets you run code while the application is running. It's currently only useful for testing, but it's nice that I made it happen!

 

I think I'm going to work on some actual documentation next. It's about time I really told people how to use forge-clj.

[yoshiquest]

Updated forge-clj to Version 0.5.1. I finally got around to adding docstrings to the code, so there is actually SOME documentation out there now for the api. I also added a couple of useful macros, and moved some functions around.

 

Up next is most certainly a tutorial, which I'll be writing soon. I'll post a link and update the main post when I'm done with it.

[yoshiquest]

I have started to create some basic tutorials for using forge-clj. Currently, they only cover from how to set up forge-clj to making your first block, and is a work in progress, but it does exist now. So feel free to go through the tutorial, and make sure I didn't screw up. The link has been added to the first post.

 

More tutorials will be added over the coming days.

[yoshiquest]

Tutorials are on hiatus for now. Currently looking at implementing world generation, and eventually, custom dimensions.

[yoshiquest]

Updated forge-clj to Version 0.5.2. I added the ability to make new biomes, and some support for custom Chunk Providers. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a full chunk provider implementation working, due to slowness and general complexity, so if you want to use that, I recommend you make a Java version and reference it from Clojure. And sorry about this update taking so long, I spent a lot of the time trying and failing to reimplement the terrain generator. It's just too performance intensive for Clojure to really handle. I don't think any of the other updates will take this long...

 

Next up, I'll move on to start implementing custom dimensions. I don't think this will take too long, hopefully.

[yoshiquest]

After a lot of work (delayed due to college stuff), I finally finished updating forge-clj to Minecraft Version 1.8.9 with forge-clj Version 0.6.0!

[flaminyogurt]

For the most part I just want to say, "Why would you do this?" But I have to say this is actually a really cool project.