Ahoy all! As promised we’ve been working towards finalising API 8/1.16.5 and with that we’re announcing both the release of API 8.2 and the declaration of Release Builds for both SpongeForge and SpongeVanilla. On top of that we’d like to invite further submissions to the Plugin Competition and welcome everyone to attend State of Sponge XXIV next month.
SpongeAPI 8.2
API 8.2 rolls in all the changes from 8.1.0 onwards to provide a stable final platform for anyone developing plugins for 1.16.5. This version also means the end of official development for the API 8 series. Community PRs are still accepted, though we ask that PRs are first submitted for supported versions (i.e. API 10) and backported to API 8 afterwards, so we can ensure continuity across releases.
Our SpongeVanilla and SpongeForge API8.2//MC1.16.5 Release Builds have now been out for over a month and have also proved to be a solid endpoint for work on this version - as such we highly suggest their use going forward if you are hosting servers on this version.
SpongeVanilla 1.16.5 Release Build
https://spongepowered.org/downloads/spongevanilla?minecraft=1.16.5&offset=0
SpongeForge 1.16.5 Release Build
https://spongepowered.org/downloads/spongeforge?minecraft=1.16.5&offset=0
Moving Forward (APIs 10 & 11)
As mentioned previously at State of Sponge, we are currently working towards enabling SpongeForge for 1.19.4 / API 10.
As things stand currently, Minecraft’s code is not significantly different between 1.19.4 and 1.20.1 so we are hopeful that the next update to 1.20.x / API 11 will be smoother. The update to 1.20.2 has brought with it several additional under-the-hood changes (primarily recipies and advancements), which will be reflected as we continue working on the API.
Plugin Competition Reminder [TWO WEEKS REMAINING]
A reminder that the Sponge Plugin Competition is currently open!
The competition is open to anyone submitting their plugin on Ore over the 3 month period between August 1st and November 1st 2023.
Please include your submissions on the previous announcement.
Rules:
1. Must be your own code
2. Must be for Sponge API 8+. (Bonus points allocated for API 8 + 10 + 11 support)
3. Must be a OSI-compliant license with a public-facing source repository.
4. Must be functional. Plugins that cannot run will be disqualified.
5. Plugins may either be new or ports from API 7 and lower.
6. Multiple submissions are allowed, however there is a maximum of 1 prize per user. (Allocated based on their highest-ranked submission)
7. You must be 17+ or have signed approval from your parent/guardian.
8. Plugins must be submitted on Ore after 2023-08-01 and before 2023-11-01.
9. Not open to plugins that were submitted to Ore before 2023-08-01.
10. Winner(s) will have 1 week to reply from time of contact else a replacement will be chosen. A community vote may be held to help aid the choice in replacement.
Scoring:
Scoring is done by a Panel of 3 Sponge Team Members
A rating out of 5 is allocated for the following:
1. Creativity - Inventiveness of the plugin, in terms of code (i.e. new approaches), gameplay (i.e. new or altered mechanics) or connection (i.e communication bridges, cross-server utilities).
2. Utility - Whether the plugin fills in a gap in the plugin ecosystem, bringing features not currently available to the API 8+ ecosystem.
3. Polish - User-facing documentation, command autocomplete, ease of interaction, config reloading.
A score out of 5 is allocated on each category, by each judge. [/15 per judge]
Bonus points are then added for multiple API version support (Independent jars are permitted):
Support for 2 API versions (e.g. API 8 + 10) [3 points]
OR
Support for 3 API versions (API 8 + 10 + 11) [5 points]
Points are then summed to a total of 50 (45 points from judges, 5 from bonuses) and ranked accordingly.
Prizes:
The prizes will be given as Steam Gift Cards, of the following value for each place:
1st: $75
2nd: $50
3rd: $25
Good luck to everyone participating!
State of Sponge XXIV
Following on from that, we’re planning to announce the winners of the Plugin contest when we host our next State of Sponge on November 18th. Our current plan is to run on top of our latest build of SpongeVanilla 1.20.2 to showcase the state of API 11 and if possible show off some of the winning plugins!
If you have any questions or comments you’d like to cover, feel free to submit them here ahead of time or during the discussion. As usual you can join us in-game on [block19.spongepowered.org]
(http://block19.spongepowered.org) and view the stream live on Twitch