Hey there. I thought I would make a topic about my conversations with Ben via mail (about the pyspades project and protocol bugs) and his responds.
The mails are in chronological order:

10/5/2011

matpow2:

Hey Ben - I'm currently working on a Python server implementation for Ace of
Spades (using Twisted, which I've got a lot of experience with - check
http://mp2.dk/ under "Code"), and I've spend quite some hours trying to
reverse-engineer the networking protocol that you've created (disassembling
server.exe/client.exe and looking at the send/receive routines and packet
sniffing).
So, instead of going through all this trouble, I was hoping you could elaborate
on the network protocol :-)
FYI, I intend to release the server as open-source under the MIT (GPL, maybe?)
license so the community can modify it to their desire.
Advantages of a server implementation in Python would be Linux/Mac/Windows
support, easy scripting and so on.

Thanks a lot!

21/5/2011

matpow2:

Hi Ben. I think I've spotted a bug in the client, so I'm sending this bug report.

I'm currently running a server called "pyspades WIP test", and the "Play" site
gives the commandline aos://2252985183 - it's located at ledev.org
(95.211.73.134).
For some reason, the master server happily connects to it, and it appears on
the main site. However, when you click on the server on the site, it doesn't
work,
and gives "misconfigured". I've debugged this, and it seems to give
WSAEADDRNOTAVAIL on WSASendTo. The packet never leaves the client either
(Wireshark says so),
so there's definitely something with your client. I also made a local relay
server on localhost that relays packets to ledev.org, and that works perfectly.

Hope you can fix this!

matpow2:

I just realized that all (it seems) servers have an AoS identifier that's under
the max value for a signed int (0xFFFFFFFF >> 1 = 2147483647), and my
identifier is 2252985183. You probably used a signed int instead of an unsigned
one somewhere :-)

matpow2:

Yep! client.exe "aos://-2041982113" works. You should really fix this!

24/5/2011

matpow2:

Hey again Ben. As you might know, I've finished my server implementation of the
Ace of Spades protocol. It supports a lot more configuration values than the
default server, etc., so it's already way ahead of the original server.

Now, to my question: What compression algorithm does the protocol use? I've
reverse-engineered the decompression routine to 32/64-bit cross-platform C
(http://code.google.com/p/pyspades/source/browse/pyspades/re_decomp.c), but I
would still like to know what compression algorithm that is. My initial guess
was dynamic Huffman, but I'm suspecting something along the lines of LZW
instead (I've ruled out stuff like DEFLATE and other popular algorithms) - I
remain a bit puzzled.

Thanks a lot for your help ;-)

28/5/2011

matpow2:

Hey again Ben.

I was wondering how you handle the 'floating block' problem? Do you just use
VOXLAP, or do you actually use an algorithm to find blocks that aren't
connected to the ground?
I could use some help on this for pyspades :-)

Thanks for your time (well, it would be nice if you would at least reply to
this mail ;-))

In case you didn't quite understand, I haven't received any responds from Ben so far. This is very frustrating, seeing as all we want to do is *improve* Ace of Spades, and we've actually got the coding capabilities (and reverse-engineering skills) to do so. We've come a long way already in regards to pyspades - a lot of people have contributed and tested to make it work so well, and a little help from Ben would make this effort gold. I hope Ben will read this and at least consider responding in one way or another - a "no, I will not help you" is also a response.

EDIT: Ugh, no automatic wrapping. Will try and fix.

I think the fact that Mr Aksoy hasn't sent you the fucking source code already is a fucking answer mate. Basically, he wants you to fuck yourself, because if he really DID want you to make an open source implementation of the fucking thing he'd give you the fucking source, you know? Fuck you matpow2, or should I say mat^2, which is in fact mat XOR 2. So fuck you.

Oh and btw, I fucking love what you're doing. I do think this project should be open source, but that Mr Aksoy should commit all changes to the "official" project himself.

Don't get me wrong. I love guys like you who do this kind of thing, I'm trying to work on voxel engine myself, pretty cool shit.

A little less time spent on the code would be worthwhile if it could help the community develop.
Many of us in IRC have discussed the whole issue surrounding the forums, and we would like to discuss some of those ideas with you, ben.
I have setup a separate channel, #AoS.debate which is moderated so we can control who has a voice in the discussion. We have many ideas, but ideas are useless if we cannot share them with the person who has the power.
To join the debate, go here, put your forum nickname in, and the channel name #AoS.debate and click join. Hope to see people there.

THE_REAL_ATHEIST: At no point have I said Ben should send me the source. I've chatted (very) briefly with him on IRC, where he said *he* wouldn't make protocol specifications before he had cleaned it up (due to the protocol being very client-sided). I understand that Ben's protocol wasn't really mature before Ace of Spades went viral, and that's probably the reasoning, but Ben is still staying neutral on the matter. By the way, the "fuck you mat^2" was unnecessary - I don't really see what you're trying to achieve with that (demotivate me, make your point?).

Thanks for the conflicting love, I suppose. ;-)

There are some downsides to open-source development. So long as Ben works by himself, his role is clear, the project can stay true to his own focus for it, and the community can stick with what he does. Once it's opened, there's a sort of cooling of interest on both sides; fans can be shouted down with "code it yourself," while Ben himself will feel less obligated to run updates and add features, since "someone else can do it." And the whole dev process will start politicizing, which is never fun.

However, that said, the game isn't a commercial one(right now) so it might work to gradually build a team.

I do have some thoughts for a game of this kind brewing, myself...so if no AoS team appears, I might start stumping to do a clone game.

Hey cool.

@artificialbox:
Your response about atheist was useless, mat^2 had already addressed his comment.
Though you edited it, thankfully.

@Triplefox:
In an ideal world, though it may be closed-source to just Ben himself, the people who know enough about gaming and what would improve things might be able to have influence on how it develops. This so far has happened in rather small proportions..

What? I didn't edit anything.

Very true, Triplefox. I'm rather neutral in regards to making Ace of Spades open-source, since I know it will remove a lot of Ben's motivation (and possible money-making opportunities that drive him in the first place).

I know a lot of people with coding skills that've said "I'll make an AoS-clone"; I haven't seen any results yet, which is what makes me rather careful with contributing to projects like that. That's the primary reason as to why I made a server for Ace of Spades and not <insert your favorite WIP clone here>. In any case, I would love to see development in this area.

I know you've waited patiently, but give him time. Maybe he still hasn't gotten everything in order yet. I doubt the game will ever be made open-source, at least not entirely. I'm sure with everyone slamming him with requests, it can get rather tedious and annoying and me may turn away from it at points.

:O FUCK ME !

StackOverflow: I'm fully aware of how tedious it might be to reply to the usual 'hi im new can you add this plzz' mails, and that's why I haven't been pushy and sent multiple mails about the same subject (apart from the identifier bug, but that was quite fatal) in case he was annoyed and didn't want to respond. My frustration lies in the effort we've put into pyspades and seeing nothing but ignorance from Ben's side. I hope Ben understands this himself when I send him mails, but in case he doesn't, I hope this will at least inform him ;-)

"Mr Aksoy" as opposed to "Ben".

Maybe this (the community) would be a more efficient way to contact him. Whether it be he hasn't read your messages, or he's ignoring them. If it's the latter, then seeing the community interested in this project could make him reconsider.

*latter

@StackOverflow:
I understand that completely about the requests, but I believe there are ways to both be accessible and not have people being overbearing. I think having a properly devised IRC channel, and a dedicated team here to make this place organised. I believe a well done combination of the two would allow him to be both accessible and be on top of the development.

@TheGrandmaster
You're a fucking cunt, you know that? Fuck yourself you fucking bitch. Fuck me too. Dickhead.

Mat seriously why should he tell you his compression algorithms and his floating block detection? If you havent noticed, minecraft doesnt detect floating blocks. I think you are a minecraft spy.

Leave the poor guy alone, he has your email and he gave you credit for the signed int problem. If he wants to talk to you, he will email you.

danhezee:
1. you have NO right to talk on these forums, and should be ashamed in calling yourself a "moderator", never mind "the great".
2. i love you much.
3. mat is working on pyspades for the benefit of the COMMUNITY, not for his own personal gain. He's not a fucking minecraft spy, have you even seen the pyspades server/project/source? Fucking cunt.
4. i love you even more now <3

my convos with mrs aksoy

me: ill let u have all the credit for making the game even tho i made it
mrs aksoy: oh thanks atheist, sorry for typo in the username i made for you btw
me: apology accepted

Why did you change your name real_atheist? you used to be so much calmer under MartyMcFly

What the fuck is wrong with you? This is Bens game and he can do shit on his own discretion. You're surprised he hasn't message you back? Well it's because you're pulling a douche move. Yeah of course he's open to community suggestions and what not but you're fucking basically making passive threats about what direction this shit should go. "Hey I reverse-engineered your shit, mind helping me out to tweak it more?"....yeah that fucking sounds great.

Get your head out of your ass and let this dude work on the game how he wants and when he wants to or make your own damn game.

;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

I bet you don't even know what Pyspades is and what it does.

There's a fucking thread on it, so fucking what.

danhezee: I'm not saying he has to. It just saves me a day or two of reverse-engineering work if he would do so, but I'll figure it out either way in the end. I'm not a MineCraft guy (too boring for me), or for that matter, a spy (?). I've been very reasonable with my mails IMHO, asking for (minor) help, that would take approximately 5 minutes to explain, in a very humble way. If you're questioning my (and others') effort on pyspades and why I would possibly ask for things like that, please see http://code.google.com/p/pyspades/updates/list. There is definitely an overall opinion in the community that some features are missing, and that was my main motivation for starting pyspades in the first place. The project is completely open-source, so this will only gain the community - I'm not sure why you would think otherwise (and emulating the original server can be tricky, so the more help from Ben, the better).

In any case, I hope Ben will see this :-)

Stop putting :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) in all the damn posts and emails, how fucking patronizing. Anybody else notice the tone in them? Doesn't give a fuck. Like I said, douche move, even if it's for the community.

You fucking Slut retard, go back into your dad's testicules, you are not needed or wanted in this world.

Awwww how sweet! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

I think it's a good idea, and while I'm not necessarily a huge fan of Python, I wish you luck. I hate to be another person making the Ace of Spades - Minecraft comparison, but look at how Notch was hesitant when it came to mods at first. Eventually he realized the good intentions they had and how much the community enjoyed them. Some of them became so popular that Notch even added them into the official release. So even if Ben is being hesitant about this, give it time and keep working on it. Eventually he might realize it's value and like you said, it's open source meaning everybody in the community can benefit from it.

Pretty much Stack.

@mat, instead of this passive bullshit, like either way you're gonna do whatever the hell you want, how about you wait and have a real damn convo with him before taking his shit apart for your own intentions? Nooo that doesn't work huh.