Over the weekend, I wrote a service loading daemon for my Minecraft server that essentially allows me to interact with players to create custom, scripted actions and dynamically run commands – all tied into a Database thanks to the comfort of PHP!
I’ve aptly named the system the Minecraft Assistant Interactive Daemon (MAID for short). So far things have been working wonderfully but we’re still exploring the possibilities with this tool; from gathering player positions, to inventory security, and more! The system is based around a PHP script running in a ‘daemon’ mode that never times out, and monitors the console of the server – it reacts to things that then happen via the console (picks up commands, events, and so forth) – and updates as needed – be it via a website, database, or otherwise.
A big benefit of how I’ve implemented MAID is that I can run a Vanilla based Minecraft server, that still allows for the latest versions released by Microsoft to run – without essentially affecting functionality.
The current plan is to have:
- Custom vault control – players can protect valuables in a web-managed inventory/delivery system
- Production of materials – a “maid hiring” system, where players can pay an amount of emeralds for various maids that’ll help them acquire resources
The system is essentially a PHP based plugin wrapper on Minecraft – it doesn’t directly interface or interfere with the Minecraft client’s functionality, but instead runs as a parallel service alongside the server. So the only real drawback is a lack of real-time in-game interaction and even then, some degree of interaction can be created via the command-block system; all the features of Command Blocks are directly accessible to the MAID system.
I’m keeping it in a private repo for the time being; but in the near future I might look into releasing it 🙂