Minecraft
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Minecraft creator provides a walkthrough of his earlier works
Markus "Notch" Persson is a superstar in the gaming world these days, with his indie game Minecraft breaking sales records even before an official release. But all those blocks weren't built in a day -- Notch had quite a few old Turbo Pascal projects, it turns out, before Minecraft hit it big, and he's got a nice gallery of them online. You can browse through and see all of his old efforts, from an RPG called Rubylands, to a pretty impressive RTS title (though Notch says the AI was a mess). There are some Minecraft influences in there to find, most notably in a first-person view of a blockworld, and in a random terrain generator "probably inspired by Populous," Notch says. And we'll have to see if any of these earlier titles carry any of their influences on into Scrolls.
The Daily Grind: What is the next MMO innovation?
Everyone knows how many World of Warcraft clones there are out there, right? "This is just WoW in space." "This is just WoW with tanks." "This is just WoW covered in chocolate." Just after WoW took the MMO world by storm, every gaming company decided that the WoW formula was the only way to make money in the industry. Now, however, we have started to see a move in other directions. But which innovation will come out on top? Some developers have really started to go back to the basics of sandbox gameplay -- like Wurm Online or Minecraft -- or have taken a console approach, like Global Agenda or DC Universe Online. So what do you think will be the next big innovation in MMOs? Will worlds get wider with more depth like EVE times 10? Perhaps they will be come more character-driven and linear like Star Wars: The Old Republic? It's possible that a first-person shooter will be the next MMO wave, isn't it? What do you think developers will make the next big thing? What do you want it to be? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Notch suggests Minecraft achievements, console ports in the future
Minecraft has already cemented its place as one of the best sandbox games of all time, but sometimes you need a little narrative with your creative impulses. Don't worry -- there's a solution for you: achievements. In an interview with Gamasutra, Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson says that achievements are one way he could add a little narrative structure to the title, by rewarding players for doing certain things in the game in a certain order (starting by chopping down a tree, for example, and moving on to "killing a dragon or something"). Notch also says he's still surprised by all the interest in the game, both his own and that of players, who've actually turned up in greater numbers after he recently decided to raise the price. Also, while he does agree that Minecraft could be ported to other platforms at some point and "become a franchise," he warns that, "if we make an Xbox version there should be a point to it being on Xbox." Sounds reasonable enough. Hopefully if he does go with the achievement model, we'll get a nice big reward for "Burning Down the House."
The MMO Report: Slave labor edition
In case you have you not gotten enough MMO news this week, Casey Schreiner delivers another action-packed episode of the MMO Report -- OK, maybe not action-packed, but it does have a lot of flying graphics. This week, the important topics are RIFT and some other things that no one cares about. Really, when there is a dev walkthrough from what is arguably the best game ever made, what else is there to talk about? Sure, there is that leak about Bungie's new MMO, and Minecraft received an update. But that pales in comparison to the wonder that is RIFT, right? Anyway, if you are looking to become Casey's indentured servant or you just want to watch his beard, follow after the break rift or visit G4TV! Don't touch the beard. RIFT.
Minecraft coming to Android, too
Have you been considering ditching your Android phone for an iPhone ever since you heard that Minecraft would be heading to iOS later this year? Then you might want to reconsider, as Kotaku has confirmed that the game that's already inspired a documentary will be headed to Android as well. Interestingly, the site says that the game's creators initially held some talks with third-party developers about doing a mobile version, but ultimately decided to do both ports in-house. Details are otherwise still pretty light but, like the iOS version, this one is said to be coming "later this year." [Image: bloomilkart / deviantART]
Minecraft beta 1.3 adds hospitality
The latest version of the still-unfinished (but super popular anyway!) Minecraft brings beds. Yes, beds. These comfy furniture items act as a mechanism for skipping the night. "If all players in a map [sleep] in a bed during night," according to the update notes, "the game immediately skips until morning." Just the thing for a complicated building project! This latest version of the beta (v1.3) also adds a new, optional lighting engine, enables more save slots and puts "three new half-size blocks" in the world. If you were holding out for a different block size before you took the Minecraft plunge, your time has come.
Minecraft clone coming to Xbox Live Indie Games: FortressCraft
Are you wildly in love with Minecraft, but your computer lacks the technoguts required to really process its cuboid contents? First of all, your computer is whack. Secondly: Independent studio Projector Games is working on an extremely similar title for the Xbox Live Indie Games platform. Check out the fan-made video posted after the jump to see just how extremely similar we mean. The game, which is (perhaps cheekily) titled FortressCraft, will be broken down into seven chapters to be released every four to six weeks. In a post on the Minecraft forums, a Projector representative explained, "Chapter 1 is basically Minecraft's Creative, Chapter 2 adds in crafting, Chapter 3 adds in life, Chapter 4 adds in machinery, Chapter 5 adds in Minions, Chapter 6 adds in PvP, Chapter 7 adds in Fortress Assault mode... (or whatever)." According to the FortressCraft Twitter account, the first chapter is due out next Friday, March 4 for 80 Microsoft Points ($1). Each of these Chapters contains the features of previous installments -- a workaround for the platform's inability to patch in new updates. It sounds like a pretty ambitious (if not fairly original) undertaking for the developer. Whether the studio receives the support needed to complete all seven chapters -- or whether litigious sources intercede -- remains to be seen. [Thanks, Styles!]
Minecraft for iOS confirmed, the hunt resumes for free time to squander
You know all of that time you've been wasting on Angry Birds HD? Looks like your flying friends may have company when it comes time to, um... kill time, as Markus Persson has confirmed to Gamasutra that an iOS port is "in the works." That means that an official Minecraft build will soon pop up in Apple's App Store, with iPhone and iPad versions hinted at. Aron Neiminen, a new recruit to the Mojang team, is responsible for the port, and if all goes well, it'll be let loose later in the year. Persson also confirmed that the iOS version won't receive every update that the original browser / download versions get, but that it'll be "granted features that make sense for the touchscreen platform." Raise your hand below if you're giddy beyond control. Update: Video's after the break! Thanks, Cooper. Update 2: The video after the break is not the official game, but it is a pretty impressive third-party client. Unfortunately, it's also been pulled from the App Store.
Minecraft documentary gets a 20 minute preview, needs you to chip in for the finished product
Do you love Minecraft? Wait, don't answer. We know the answer. Well, we know how you feel -- and so do the folks at 2 Player Productions, the documentarians that brought you the extra-special chiptune film, Reformat the Planet. The scrappy team of filmmakers has once again gone back to work, this time focusing their attentions on the gaming phenomenon and its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, in a project entitled Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. 2 Player has taken its project to the streets (and by streets we mean internet) by posting a 20 minute teaser of the forthcoming documentary, and asking for funding via Kickstarter. Just think, you could be your very own Hollywood mogul. There are all kinds of goodies for those who lay down the cash; for instance, if you pledge more than $2,500, you'll get an actual pick axe mounted on a stand signed by the Mojang team. And for $10,000? You get an Executive Producer credit and your own profile page on IMDB. The project is aiming for $150,000 of funding, and has already scored $22,048 (at the time this article was written) with 32 days to go. If you were serious about what you said earlier when it comes to Minecraft, you owe it to yourself to put your money where your virtual mouth is. You can also take a look at a teaser clip after the break -- and that won't cost you a dime.
See 20 minutes of the Minecraft documentary, then help finance it
Today, 2 Player Productions, the company behind the chiptune documentary Reformat the Planet, along with the first season of Penny-Arcade: The Series, opened a Kickstarter page to fund development of its next film, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. Since opening the site this morning, it's already raised $17,278 of its $150,000 goal. We wouldn't be surprised if Notch himself wired a payment from his secret base on the moon. If you'd like to help 2PP get this movie made, the Kickstarter page offers some appealing bonuses, including autographed DVDs, posters, and even wind-up Creeper toys. If you pledge $2,500 or more, you get "an actual pick axe mounted on a custom display stand signed by the staff of Mojang Specifications." Along with the Kickstarter page, 2PP released a 20-minute preview of the film to GameTrailers. You can watch it after the break.
Official Minecraft app, Final Fantasy 3 coming to iPhone and iPad
Two pieces of good news for iOS gamers. First up, we've seen an unofficial Minecraft app appear (and disappear) on the App Store before, but it looks like an official client is coming. Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson says that an official iOS client for the popular sandbox game will be out later this year. It won't bring in all of the features of the full version (which you can play as a beta for free, or buy to experience the full thing), but especially because it's official, it should be more than adequate to take care of your Minecraft fix while out and about. Square Enix has also announced that Final Fantasy 3 will be arriving on iOS very soon. The company has already released the first two games in the series on Apple's platform, and now the third will be out as well. Note that this is the Japanese Final Fantasy 3 -- this is the one that wasn't released in the US until recently on the Nintendo DS. I'll be waiting for my favorite iteration of the series, which is actually Final Fantasy 6 (though it was released in the US as Final Fantasy 3); it features classic characters like Kefka and that amazing opera scene. But this one should be good, too, especially since most US gamers probably haven't played it yet.
Dead Island meets Minecraft, bites it right in the neck
If you thought the evocative debut trailer for Dead Island would have been more effective had it been rendered completely in textured blocks -- no, you didn't think that. Nobody could have, except for Vareide Productions, who whipped up the Dead Minecraft trailer below.
Mojang crafting official iPhone/iPad Minecraft release [update: Android too!]
The unsanctioned iPhone version of Minecraft might have been taken down like a shoddy lean-to during a zombie invasion, but it'll be replaced this year by something way better: an official version developed by Mojang. Minecraft creator Markus Persson told Gamasutra that a new Mojang employee, Aron Neiminen, is working on the port with a release targeted for 2011. Persson said that not every update for the PC/Mac beta will be implemented in the iOS version, but that instead Mojang will curate the feature set based on what "makes sense" for the iPhone and iPad controls. Update: Kotaku reports that Minecraft is headed to the Android platform as well.
Minecraft video shows us what we're made of
Minecraft creator Notch posted a video on his blog today, sans title or description. We present it here in the same fashion, as it really should be witnessed without any undue expectations. Let's just say that this dapper gentlemen has no idea what's coming. Now watch it.
Minecraft: The Last Minecart combines zombies and crafting
While some of you have likely had enough of all this zombie stuff, we feel Corridor Digital's homage to both the undead and Minecraft is worth highlighting for its clever use of crafting and its impressive production values.
Took longer than expected: A marriage proposal in Minecraft
Wow, you really can build anything in Minecraft: To-scale models of the U.S.S. Enterprise, gigantic explorable globes, or relationships that last a lifetime. Check out the video after the jump to see one BioWare audio designer's super saccharine, equally nerdy request for betrothment.
IGF 2011 audience voting now open
Voting for the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Audience Award (i.e. the Popularity Contest Award) is now open to the masses ... who will likely end up picking Minecraft, we surmise, based on our own comprehension of basic math. Hopefully, those other indies have good marketing and PR departments ... what? Unlike previous years, the IGF Audience Award is available to any game chosen as a finalist, not just the ones with public PC demos. The reasoning, noted by IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer, is that many of the games have been available at other events, or have beta and other versions that fans may have checked out. Voting will be open until midnight (Pacific) on Friday, February 18. At a minimum, for the sake of humoring some idea of competition, please try the other "available" game demos before just voting for Minecraft.
The MMO Report: Newstastic edition
Welcome back! This week on The MMO Report, Casey Schreiner and the team at G4TV are serving up a heaping helping of highlights, as the news has been crazy busy during the last week. Up first, Casey points out the sales numbers for DC Universe Online, which has been flying off shelves. From there, it's on to Bigpoint Games' upcoming free-to-play browser-based Battlestar Galactica Online, which will either enthrall space-drama fiends, or just give people a reason to say "frak" a lot. Zipping along, it's on to Eskil Steenberg's LOVE, which went through an upgrade while narrowly avoiding a random Craigslist hookup. Also included are tidbits on an upcoming short documentary on the making of Minecraft, as well as an interesting piece on the MMORPGRTS alphabet soup of Reverie World Studios' upcoming game Dawn of Fantasy. Finally, this week ends out, as most weeks do, with Casey rifling through the best (or worst; we're not quite sure) to be found in Uncle Casey's Mailbag. For all the excitement and more, you can check out this week's episode of The MMO Report embedded for your ocular and aural pleasure behind the break, or catch it every Thursday on G4TV.
Halo recreated in Minecraft somehow, probably using dark magic or something
We can't begin to understand how YouTube user SidolaTehNerd managed to recreate Halo using the rudimentary tools of Minecraft -- but our lack of understanding doesn't make this accomplishment any less radical. Check out a clip of the world-builder-turned-FPS after the jump.
2 Player Productions working on Minecraft documentary
Independent documentary outfit 2 Player Productions is making quite a name for itself with it's gaming oriented films -- you've probably already seen one of their works; a list which includes Reformat the Planet, season one of Penny Arcade: The Series and short behind-the-scenes videos for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch Productions. The group is adding another high-profile name to their list of subjects with their next film: Mojang Studios, the creators behind the indie blockbuster Minecraft. We'll have to wait until next month before we can lay eyes on the film, but 2 Player Productions uploaded a few production stills to get the ball rolling. It might be too soon to say, but we're pretty sure that we're going to ... dig it?
