Beta is here! We've decided to incorporate Bukkit into the server and start working on plugins for the release of the server, which we said would bookmark beta for us. Work on spawn continues, and with the addition of plugins we are starting to really see the server come to life.
If you are interested in seeing what we've been up to, a video is going up on my YouTube Channel Monday, January 11, 2016 titled "The Redstone Academy" which is episode eight of the Server Creator: Building the Noctis Fan Server series on the development of the server. I recommend you watch the entire playlist if you want some background on the server and behind-the-scenes footage of its creation... and I don't just say that because I made the videos. The link to this newest video is available here.
The server is as of this moment labeled as version 0.8.2, which doesn't really matter all that much but helps me keep track of changes made and organizing my backup files. Beta began with the initialization of Bukkit on the server with 0.8.0, and I've added and removed several plugins in the search for the perfect fit for Noctis.
The major issue I'm having at the moment is finding a good economy plugin, so if you know of one I would greatly appreciate your help! We want an economy that uses some sort of point system, so you don't need to carry around a bunch of items to trade with; the problem there is that most of those shop plugins allow access to the shops anywhere on the map, and we want to restrict them to interactions with physical shops in the spawn area. The kind of plugin we are looking for is an easily-customizable plugin with point-based economy and villager sales using points rather than physical items, although physical item trades may also exist on the server in certain instances.
I'd like to also remind you that we are still planning to eventually have an open beta for some of you to come try out the server! We don't know when this will be, as we need to finish spawn and work out the plugins first, but we want to "test the waters" so to speak with a smaller group of players before officially releasing Noctis into the wild. We will have some sort of in-game rewards available for those of you who help us test the server before launch!
Thank you for sticking with us through this long development period, as we are just three people with lives and work outside this fun project we've embarked on. Remember that while it will not cost money to join Noctis, we will require donations to keep it running since we cannot afford to pay monthly for a server of this magnitude (whatever that magnitude ends up being, based on how many people are interested in the server) without assistance from the community; we are limited in how we can reward players for donations due to Mojang's EULA for Minecraft servers now, but we will do what we legally can to show thanks if you let us know your Minecraft username in the "notes" section of your donation through PayPal. Thanks again, and we look forward to playing with you on the finished server!
