The SitePoint PHP blog has posted another Minecraft-themed tutorial from Christopher Pitt, this time explaining how you can mod Minecraft with PHP without having to learn Java.

I’ve always wanted to make a Minecraft mod. Sadly, I was never very fond of re-learning Java, and that always seemed to be a requirement. Until recently. Thanks to dogged persistence, I’ve actually discovered a way to make Minecraft mods, without really knowing Java. There are a few tricks and caveats that will let us make all the mods we desire, from the comfort of our own PHP.

The method he's come up with talks directly to the Minecraft server (using AMPHP) to communicate via a RCON connection and place items in the world based on messages from the user. He uses code created previously to listen to the logs and grab the messages from the user. With this data he then sends a "blueprint" over the RCON connection with a set of coordinates of locations to build the blocks. The end result looks something like this.