To begin with this information filled first post, short introduction about who I am and who am I currently working.So, I am Aleksi Postari and i’m currently studying in North-Karelia University of Applied Sciences, becoming IT-tradenom. In 2 months i’ve been studying this degree for 2 years, and I currently have about 80% of my studies done (takes normally 3,5 years to graduate), so my studies have been going pretty strong :)

I’m mainly interested in game development, but also highly interested in web development. I’ve been coding now PHP for three to four years, have been using MySQL for about three years and Oracle for about half a year now, Java for about a year, C++ for about a year (and also have experience with SDL), and i’ve also had to create Javascript, use Javascript libraries (Jquery, ScriptAculous…), use ajax and for non-coding side; create a lot of CSS and HTML past few years! :) Im also currently in Python course and have found Python to be also very cool and highly usable language, so I think I’m also leaning towards learning it well.
Im mostly self-taught in the coding field, but have also gone thru all the courses which my university offers, which have been very much of help :)

I’ve been working in SCGroup Oy Ltd. for a month now, Finnish company which is working to get Minecraft and other games for schools. You can read more of our ideas from appliedscg.com. Im developing the educraft mod for Minecraft, which transforms Minecraft to full-scale learning environment for schools. In the near future you can get the mod in a bundle with edulicence of Minecraft or download it from minecraftedu.com.

Past month has been a lot of work, learning the Minecraft architecture and developing intuitive and easy to use server tool for easily starting Minecraft server with selected assignment or saved game.

For a starters, the current Minecraft source code does not have any API, no documentation and the source code has been deobfuscated by modding community, so some functions still do not have any informational name and you’ll really have to work your way if you want to create something new inside Minecraft.

So far what I have been developing is desertification, admin panel for easily controlling your students and server settings thru GUI inside minecraft, dynamic language changing for Minecraft, graphical server tool.

Most work have been with the server tool, so short introduction what it is meant to be and screenshots of the interface below.Minecraft server tool is easy to use tool for starting Minecraft server, and also has mapside settings implemented in it. Through that tool, it is easy for teachers to start Minecraft server with the selected assignment, or saved map. Below are screenshots of the first version, which have already implemented map loading, localization and mapside settings, but is still missing starting GUI for more easily starting server, and some of the functionality still needs to be implemented.

 Through the ‘Select assignment’ tab, teacher can select the group what is the subject of hes/her current lesson and assignment map related to the subject. We will develop these assignment maps and their settings cannot be changed, but after the server has been started, Minecraft server tool has easy buttons for setting mapside settings, and teacher can also save the map and the map then appears in the ‘Select saved map’ -tab figured below. 

Through this tab, teacher can easily select saved map, set description for the map, set map settings and just click the big “Start server with this saved map” button to start the server.

Notice also the separate “Server settings” tab in the right, by clicking the setting button, teacher can change server settings easily without need to edit any separate files. In case of anyone wondering, the icons are from awesome famfamfam silk icon set!

I will keep posting mod progression here in this blog. Next step would be to get the MinecraftEdu website up and running, but we are waiting for graphic designer to finish the website template and i’ll start implementing the html template to Concrete5 CMS after the template is finished.