Mine-Twitter

Inspiration

I thought it would be an interesting idea to take tweets about a certain subject (e.g. tweets that included the phrase 'it's snowing', 'it's too hot', tweets from the Sahara desert etc) and display theme with a visual theme. My initial idea (which I admit that if I'd gone ahead with I probably would've been able to finish) was to make a website to do this, but after noticing some other people working on Minecraft mods, I wondered if I could do it in Minecraft instead, with tweets about snow being displayed in a snowy area of the map, tweets from deserts like the Sahara or the Mojave being displayed in desert areas, etc.

What it does

The project is, unfortunately, unfinished. I was successful, however, in extracting twitter data (which can include locational filters) and print them to a text file using a python script. My plan was to use this text file and import it into in-game books or signposts, however I could not find any helpful resources that were not completely outdated, and as a result I ran out of time before completing the project's hopeful ambitions.

How I built it

Since I had little to no experience with Python before today's Hackathon, I decided to try and write it at least partly using this modern and extraordinarily readable language. I was successful in extracting twitter data, as mentioned earlier, and so I learned an extremely useful skill in this language. I built a 'test mod' for Minecraft using online tutorials, using the Minecraft Forge modding plugin and Java, using the IDE 'Eclipse'. I had some experience with Java before today however I had not used it for anything like this purpose. A python code snippet:

public_tweets = api.home_timeline()
#user = api.get_user()
text_file = open("Output.txt", "w")
blank = " "


for tweet in public_tweets:

    print(tweet.user.screen_name)
    print(tweet.text)
    print()


    with open('Output.txt', 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
        for tweet in public_tweets:
            print('@'+tweet.user.screen_name, file=f)
            print(tweet.text, file=f)
            print(blank, file=f)

Challenges I ran into

My main struggle, and the one that ultimately lead to the project being in its incomplete state, was the lack of resources on transferring data from a text file into in-game items in Minecraft. The only in-game item editor plugins I could find during the day that would allow me to do what I planned to do were severely outdated (i.e. discontinued and/or not patched for new versions of Minecraft). I believe if I developed further experience in creating mods for Minecraft using Forge, I could go back to this project and complete it.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am proud of my python script, and that I learned so much about developing in the language by opting for taking this risky step in using a completely new language. I am also glad I started developing mods for Minecraft, something I have thought about learning to do for a while. While the example mod I made was very basic, it could lay the framework for greater things.

What I learned

I learned:

• Python syntax
• How to use tweepy and the twitter API to fetch tweets and put them in a text file.

• How to implement location and word filters in order to only fetch relevant tweets.

• Basic mod development for Minecraft

• Expanded on my knowledge of Java syntax and capabilities, of which previously I had very little

What's next for Mine-Twitter

After gaining more experience, I will go back to this project and implement the in-game twitter capabilities fully.

Built With

• java
• python