Bukkit

NightSky - Tweak the Look of Space!
Version: v0.1

REQUIRES SPOUT SERVER AND CLIENT
Download Spout
As you all know, Spout adds many new features to Minecraft that Devs like to play with. I decided to work with the SkyManager based features to make NightSky, a plugin based on tweaking the look of the night in Minecraft in many ways. Currently, this means the ability to have moons with phases, tweaking the number of stars rendered in the sky, and many MultiWorld compatible features.

Spout, of course, is entirely optional, and installing this plugin does NOT mean you have to force your clients into downloading Spoutcraft if they do not want to. Without Spout on the server, this plugin simply deactivates itself. Non-Spout clients are simply ignored by the plugin.

Features:

• Moon Phases - The moon will go through all 8 phases continuously, from Full to New and back. Support for even applying your own moon textures as well!
  
• Smart Transitions - Moon image URL will never change while the moon is visible. All changes to the texture of the moon are done during the day, so as not to cause sudden "snaps" when the texture changes. Note, new joiners may see the moon snap during the initial downloads.
  
• Star Density - Server owners have the option to change the number of stars rendered in the night sky. Whether they want an eerie, starless night, or a vast sparkling sea, the option is there! (Currently works only in Spoutcraft Dev builds).
  
• Multiworld - All settings are on a per-world basis. With this, you can even sync the moon phase of one world to another. Note: world settings always override the Defaults defined in config.yml; if you're having trouble getting settings to stick, change that setting in plugins/NightSky/Worlds/<worldname>.yml and reload the server.
  
• Open Programming - Not really referencing this being on GitHub (it is!), but NightSky.jar can be used as a rudimentary API to interface with the different functions contained within NightSky.
  
  Download NightSky.jar
  Source Code

Issues:
Having issues with the plugin? Have a suggestion that's not already on the Planned Features list?
Report on GitHub Issues!

Changelog:
Note, when updating to or through any version with the "(Config Reinstall Required)" flag in the changelog, you must delete the NightSky folder in Plugins, then run the server to let the plugin regenerate the files.

Version 0.1:

• Committed to GitHub and Released
  

Planned Features:
As with my other threads, I am always open to suggestions! Send them on in here or on GitHub Issues!

• Dynamic Light Pollution - This highly depends on how expensive the star redraw process is, but I have an idea of how to make a "Light Pollution" system where the number of stars dwindles as the surrounding light gets higher.
  

Known Issues:
A list of bugs that I have found, or that have been reported already. Most of these I plan to fix, but there is the rare case of which I have no control over.

• Transparent Moon - It is possible to see stars through the non-full moons. This is due to a quirk with how Minecraft draws the moon and sun textures, which use darkness as the transparency channel (Photoshop users: think Screen blending mode). I cannot do anything about this with the assets I have, but if someone wants to draft up versions of the moon textures that don't have this issue, I'll be happy to credit you and use them!