Minecraft

Creating this for the WATMM discussion of all things Minecraft and Minecraft related..

www.minecraft.net

So what is Minecraft?

It's a sandbox game centered around creative, emergent gameplay with multiple single player and multiplayer modes.

The goal is to mine, create, and if playing survival mode, to stay alive through the night.

It currently costs $13 USD or 10 euros and is alpha stage of development, though purchase buys you the final product as well, once released.

It's multiplayer survival mode is currently unfinished, but allows for creative play with unkillable monsters.

Worth noting is just how large the maps can get, with its incremental 3d voxel-square grid, that generates random maps full of cliffs, hills, mountains, caves, fields, oceans, lakes, streams, lava streams, caverns, etc. As you explore, even online, the map generates chunk grids into infinity until floating point memory restricts the mapsize. Theoretically its possible to travel 32 million blocks from the center, which at 64 million block meters (assuming each block is a meter), is approximately 8 times the surface area of Earth itself. HUGE.

Honestly the game is somewhat difficult to describe, but lots of people find it extremely addictive.

I didn't enjoy it at first, but now i'm hooked and can easily spend most of my day hacking away building things.

It's even better playing with other people, though the game is buggy, laggy, and largely unfinished it still has a way of captivating people and keeping them glued to their screens for endless hours.

Basically, if you couldn't get enough of your lego kits as a kid, you'll probably get addicted to Minecraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANgI2o_Jinc

I spent several hours today building a massive boat-ride that subsequently got invaded by NPC cows, pigs, and chickens.

They flowed down the ride and drowned in a pit at the bottom.

Noone could figure out why they were attracted to the ride in particular,

as we had zero animal visitors up until they point, building glass bottom hot tubs and lava towers.

supposedly the guy (yeah, just one guy) who made this is pulling in $250,000/day in sales.

i laughed til i cried at this earlier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnjSWPxJxNs

Whats the big deal and why would I pay for this.

Damnit! I've been avoiding this game after everyone telling me about it because it just sounds like crack to me... I used to love lego as a kid, this kind of shit is right up my street. After watching that video I think I'm going to have to get it...

  On 9/24/2010 at 6:48 AM, chaosmachine said:

supposedly the guy (yeah, just one guy) who made this is pulling in $250,000/day in sales.

And good for him! It's a fucking great idea for a game!

yeah thats pretty amazing. overnight millionaire.

  On 9/24/2010 at 7:02 AM, kaini said:

i laughed til i cried at this earlier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnjSWPxJxNs

that is funny. It's odd how in the first vid i was annoyed at the pleasure that the demo presenter was getting from harvesting the poor old animals. But then i got some minor enjoyment at watching that poor kids house get charred.

i love this game. i'm not very advanced in building techniques (i have a rectangular keep lol) but it's super fun to go down mines and discover new rooms through the walls.

i'm also conducting an excavation of a dungeon now.

we should make a watmm server. i haven't tried multiplayer yet but i'm sure it's amazing. except i've heard it has no monsters?

  On 9/24/2010 at 10:30 AM, Bubba69 said:

yeah thats pretty amazing. overnight millionaire.

4 day millionaire actually.

he's not making 250k a day. there was a spike in sales earlier this week because minecraft was out all weekend.

but that's not to say he's not making a shitload of money. i think notch is opening up his own game company with the cash and buying a bundle of scandinavian babes as well.

got this earlier today, i keep dying in the mornings when i foolish venture out thinking the monsters are gone (protip: they definitely aren't!). going to start anew now i'm getting the hang of it. very fun game, i expect i'll be playing lots.

i read the creator has already made 3,000,000 from this game. not sure how true it is, but it's definitely picking up speed.

  On 9/24/2010 at 7:41 AM, ZiggomaticV17 said:

Whats the big deal and why would I pay for this.

If you're the type of person who enjoys creating things with and doesn't mind a game having no clear direction, you will probably love it.

It can be really exciting to discover hidden caves under the earth, build floating sky cities, massive mine cart rollercoasters,

animal grinding lava contraptions, pyramids, underwater cities/castles/etc, TNT blasted craters and waterfalls, really anything you can think of with the tools available.

He's already added a working circuit building system, allowing for people to control objects remotely by levers and pads, some people

are getting quite creative with it.. trap doors?

I think at this point what really has people excited the most is the potential,

as in it's current alpha state most of the creative tools are still extremely rudimentary,

yet people are still going absolutely nuts with it all. Just look up minecraft creations

on Youtube and you'll see what I mean. Notch (the only developer currently) is only just getting started,

and has HUGE ideas in the works for this game, and has every intention of recycling the fees

into Minecraft. It's about to get out of control ridiculous and really quick too.

There's also multiplayer, I can't tell you how awesome it is to join a server that's been running for a couple months

then hop in my boat I built after I cut me a tree down, and sail the open seas only to find thousands of player created

structures and mineshafts that never seem to end. You never really know what went on there or why people were doing what they

were doing. I've found some really crazy shit like elaborate houses built into cliffsides with lava/water cascading through the floors

and pools and indoor gardens.

I don't think its for everyone though. Not everyone is going to enjoy Minecraft,

I dare say some people might even hate it. But the game is going to take gaming

by storm really soon, and you really don't have much to lose for 13 dollars.

Plus Notch has said that 13 dollars buys you the final game and all future updates/expansions.

You get it all as it comes out and when it gets released.

looks awesome. I'll have to give it a whirl.

So it's like ActiveWorlds?

Been playing it for the last 2 weeks... really enjoy it :D

played this yesterday for like 13h in a row. got a terrible headache.

i dug out a BIG hole under my house.

I started playing on Friday night and didn't stop playing all weekend except for showers, food etc. This has to be the most addictive game I've played since Transport Tycoon. I fucking love it.

Willing to share my save files if anyone wants to explore.

This game looks really cool! These players have created some impressive stuff ... and have no life.

  On 9/24/2010 at 4:38 PM, Hoodie said:

we should make a watmm server.

this

  On 9/27/2010 at 5:24 PM, kokoon said:

  On 9/24/2010 at 4:38 PM, Hoodie said:

we should make a watmm server.

this

thirded

although it looks like survival multiplayer isn't ready for show yet.

but once it is... we *really* need one.

other modes doesn't interest me.

  On 9/27/2010 at 5:28 PM, Obel said:

  On 9/27/2010 at 5:24 PM, kokoon said:

  On 9/24/2010 at 4:38 PM, Hoodie said:

we should make a watmm server.

this

thirded

yes! this would be fantastic. i've been playing this game shit loads recently. so much fun.

oh jesus, this is crack in game form