DiamondFire
 Current logo of the server | |
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Owner | Jeremaster |
| Opening Date | February 2013 |
| Known for |
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| Notable games | |
| Notable players | |
DiamondFire is a public Minecraft server where players can build and code on plots of land in a freebuild setting.
The server was the original home of the DiamondFire-Warlords community: from late 2017 through most of 2019, there were active Executor RP games with varying levels of interest on DiamondFire. Much of the foundational theory of Executor RPs had their origins in DiamondFire: all three ExRP genres (Developmental, Loria, and Afterlife) were developed prior to the creation of the Warlords server, and most Developmental and Loria subgenres also saw their development on DiamondFire. The Warlords community is intertwined with the DiamondFire community: 16 out of Warlords' 19 full members were active DiamondFire players sometime prior to joining Warlords.
General Layout
DiamondFire is divided into different Minecraft worlds, each titled "nodes" - in each node, there is a spawn area where players can search for other player's plots to join. All plots of land contain a build space, where plot owners & any collaborators can create structures in creative mode for players to explore or interact with. Each plot also contains a code space next to the build space, where developers can place a set list of 'coding blocks' that allow them to create functionality for their plot. The server's in-house plugin for coding functionality, known as Hypercube, is Scratch-like in nature, although in more recent years the system has been fleshed out to better resemble a typical programming language.
The most common usage of plots in DiamondFire (and the stated purpose of the server) is to create games. Whereas a traditional Minecraft server may have a set list of games created by server developers, DiamondFire's games are all community-made, allowing for non-traditional games to be created. The nature of these games and the innovations done within DiamondFire are mostly outside the scope of the wiki; however, it is worth noting that the creation and proliferation of Executor RPs in DiamondFire existed within a much larger context of players creating and innovating in game design across various other domains.
Plots of land can be created with one of four sizes for the build space:
- Basic Plots (50x50)
- Large Plots (100x100)
- Massive Plots (300x300)
- Mega Plots (1000x1000)
Limitations
Mega Plots were fully released on June 15, 2024; well after the active period for ExRPs on the server. As such, players could not create games larger than 300x300 on DiamondFire throughout the time period discussed in this article. Moreover, players would be limited by the paywalling of plot sizes and certain coding functions. A player with no purchased rank in 2018 was generally limited to a Basic Plot and important functions like saving/loading a player's inventory when they exit and re-enter the plot were locked behind a paywall. It was generally harder for an unranked player to create games that could properly compete in quality with that of a ranked player's creation; due to plot sizes, this trend also held true for the relatively code-sparse ExRP game type. Limitations in what was possible through the Hypercube plugin at the time, it was also difficult to create a fully automated, non-RP nation game. These constraints were all consequential in shaping the nature of ExRP games in DiamondFire.
Executor RP History
Dates of Events
The exact dates of most events described in this section were not recorded. The best estimates for when a game or event occurred are provided where possible. As a general frame of reference:
- The beginning of Executor RPs are considered to have occurred in late 2017 and towards the start of 2018;
- Kingdoms 1's active hosting period spanned from early 2018 to around May of that year;
- The events of the Early Boom, the Afterlife genre boom, and the birth of Loria games occurred through the summer of 2018 and continued throughout the fall;
- The peak of DiamondFire RP games occurred in the latter part of 2018, with the absolute maximum interest occurring between the months of September and November of 2018;
- The Civilization Boom started in November and continued for much of the remainder of the year, with it possibly extending to January 2019;
- The last recorded RP games in DiamondFire were sometime in mid to late 2019.
Origin of Executor RPs
Executor RPs on DiamondFire are understood to have started with the ideas of n5Q, who had been inspired by the Roblox game Risk Universalis and wanted to create something similar in DiamondFire. After a somewhat unsuccessful test run that became the first ExRP game in DiamondFire, n5Q passed his ExRP concept on to TheLoyalHorse, who went on to create RP Wars, the earliest game played or witnessed by any Warlords member. RP Wars is considered the earliest Developmental game to have had any influence on the development of the genre, and many of the most fundamental mechanics of the game; including the appearance of units, cities, and natural features, continue to feature prominently in more recent Developmental games.
The creation of RP Wars is generally considered to be the beginning of the proliferation of ExRPs in DiamondFire, and as such, both n5Q and TheLoyalHorse are considered the 'fathers' of the DiamondFire-Warlords community.
Expansion of ExRPs
After a brief period without any ExRP games, one of RP Wars' players, SenorConejo, would go on to create Kingdoms. This game innovated on the mechanics of RP Wars to become another major influence on the Developmental genre, and was the first time that the future original membership of Warlords would get together for one game. Although Kingdoms 1 had a small following, several projects inspired by the game would form the catalyst for the Early Boom.
The Early Boom and its first projects marked the first time in which multiple ExRP games existed simultaneously. From this point forwards, there would be no 'central' game for the supergenre that would exist on DiamondFire, and the DiamondFire ExRP community would be splintered into various groups that played some subset of the ExRP games that existed during that time period.
Creation of Afterlife games
A consequence of the decentralization of ExRPs was that early innovations in the mechanics of games became much more common. One of the most significant developments in the Early Boom was the creation of the Afterlife genre at the hands of an unknown creator or group of creators. As of the writing of this article, DiamondFire and Warlords remain the only two servers in which Afterlife genre games are known to exist.
In their earliest form, Afterlife games fell under what is now considered the Proto-Afterlife subgenre; these games were fast-paced and high concept games that were usually completed in a single playing session. These are the earliest known games in DiamondFire to have done away with the turn-based system commonly seen in the Developmental games of that era.
Echokia and the Loria genre
One of Kingdoms 1's players, Bloxhead7, was among several game creators who were inspired to make their own Executor RP. However, rather than continuing to operate within the Developmental space, he created Echokia, the first Loria genre game in DiamondFire.
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