Bukkit

What is OreDetectors?

Similar to how real-life metal-detectors work this plugin adds a set of new items to your Minecraft-server: Ore detectors!
Players will be able to craft these ore-detector items in a workbench, a different one for each ore type, and then while equipped / activated, it will regularly emit sound pulses based on the quantity and distance of matching ore-blocks in a spherical radius around the player.
Once activated the detector remains active for as long as it remains in the players hotbar - or until manual deactivation or the detector runs out of energy. This enables the player to switch to a pick-axe or other tool while still keeping the detector running.

Check out the Reviews page for some videos of OD in action!

Why add OreDetectors to your server?

The goals of OreDetectors:

• To enrich Minecrafts gameplay with a new balanced mechanic that offer a more rewarding search&explore mining experience that engages the player in the mining process.
• Transform the dull time sink known as trench-mining from a brain dead stare-at-the-screen-while-holding-left-mouse-button-and-w into actual excavation gameplay that rewards mental effort.
• Have you ever walked into a mining-trench and thought "Wow. This place looks really interesting, I think exploring these mine-shafts will be really fun!" ...not even once right. OreDetectors hopes to encourage players to create a more interesting looking underground world in Minecraft.
• Reduce the temptation of x-ray cheating by making mining less boring and more engaging (in a non-overpowered way)!

Sounds good? Give OreDetectors a try! :)

> In early user testing using OreDetectors to find minerals was considered fun/exciting!

Detector Recipes

All detectors are crafted like a plus-sign with a clock at the center. What to put in the remaining four slots depends on what detector you want to make.

Currently these detectors exist:	Example:
Iron detector crafted from iron ore (the block) Redstone detector crafted from redstone (the item) Gold detector crafted from gold ore (the block) Lapis detector crafted from lapis (the item) Diamond detector crafted from diamonds (the item) Emerald detector crafted from emeralds (the item)

Features

- Current features:

• Repeatedly scans all blocks in a sphere around the players location and calculates an ore-score based on current score-formula*.
• On each scan the ore-score is displayed and a "blip" sound is played based on the score.
• "Blip" intensity and Scan speed increases with increasing score.
  (Think of the motion detectors in Aliens 2!) ;)
• Range is hard coded: 7 for iron/redstone, 6 for gold/lapis, 5 for diamond/emerald.
• Separate 'crafting' and 'use' permissions for all detectors! (All allowed by default.)
  Perhaps you want to limit crafting/usage of detectors in some way? Only sell them from shops perhaps?
• Block searches are performed in the background to avoid server spikes.
• Adaptive async scheduling delays to minimize computation-to-presentation delay.
• Partial language support (currently: console messages, activation/deactivation and on/off messages).
• A player can only have 1 detector active at a time!
  (Activating a second one deactivates the first one.)
• Toggle the detector by holding it and right-clicking (on a non-interactive block or in the air.)
  (For example: right clicking a door or workbench wont toggle the detector but will just interact with the block normally).
• Once activated, the detector must remain in the players quickbar to stay active.
  (It can be moved around, but if you move it away from your quickbar the detector will deactivate).
• McStats support.
• Detectors have no durability / energy charge in the pre-alpha.
• Pre-Alpha: There are some minor known issues. (All known issues fixed in v0.0.8!)

- Planned features:

• OreDetectors fully configurable in their own config file, including ability to add your own custom detectors. (Role-playing in a desert: Water Detector! Mining the depths: Lava Detector! Exploring structures: Trap Detector!)
• Detectors that react to more than one type of block. (Needed for the examples above.)
• Energy charge / durability that would require detectors to be recharged / replaced occasionally (perhaps by infusing it with more ore in a workbench / anvil, or charging it for a long time in a furnace). (Configurable!)
• Detector variations, like varying range, durability, different score formulas* or "advanced" detectors with multiple toggleable modes, perhaps by modifying a detector in an workbench / anvil / enchantment-table.
• Full language support!
• Admin tools to monitor performance and usage.
• Auto-update support.
• Ability to 'Give' an OD to a player via commands. (And an option to turn of crafting.)
• At some point I might add a "Find the ores" mini-game where two or more players or teams of players search identical randomly generated cubes for ore blocks using Ore-Detectors. First one to find all ores win! Might release that as a separate plugin though.
• (Plugin filename will be normalized once I reach first alpha - OD is still in pre-alpha.)

*Score formulas decides the "blip"-behavior of the detectors - i.e. how quantity and distance of ore-blocks affect it.

The motivation behind OreDetectors

I've been playing MC for several years and I'm always looking for ways to improve the gameplay without turning it into some kind of boring easy-mode experience. One of the areas that are often overlooked is the actual mining - where players gather the resources needed for the awesome creations they envision and wish to build. How many times has it not happened that the grand vision you had never got finished, or maybe barely even started, because acquiring the required materials was, not too difficult, but rather a task too boring and unengaging. Gathering resources and building up a server economy can be a lot of fun ...I just wish it wasn't such a brain dead task at times.

Note: This plugin uses Hidendras MCStats Metrics Lite (v0.0.6+)

(Made for Java6/7 - source is included in the .jar :: Stats here: http://mcstats.org/plugin/OreDetectors)