Author Topic: Minecraft - An Incredible Indie Game (Read 62371 times)

Deozaan · « **on:** October 05, 2010, 03:40 PM »

Describing what Minecraft is can be a little difficult. Even the developer doesn't seem quite sure how to describe it:

Minecraft is a game about placing blocks while running from skeletons. Or something like that..
-http://minecraft.net/

Sadly, his description doesn't do the game justice, nor does it entice people to really find out what it's about. It's probably more accurate to say Minecraft is kind of like a first-person version of Dwarf Fortress, except then you'd have to know what Dwarf Fortress was for that to mean anything.

EDIT: A new introductory video has been put on Minecraft's front page. This is a lot more interesting than a video of him testing out mine carts.

You arrive in the huge world (about 8 times the surface area of the Earth, but not even close to the same depth) with nothing but your good health and will to survive. You need to gather natural resources which you can use to craft into various tools and goods, which you then use to craft more tools or for certain purposes. But be careful when night falls (or any time inside dark caverns) for that is when/where the monsters lurk! And there are more than just skeletons to run away from or fight.

This makes your first day in the game somewhat frantic, since you only have about 10 minutes of daylight to create a shelter with lights before the sun goes down and the monsters come out to destroy you. It's imperative to have lights in your shelter, since the monsters can spawn anywhere it's dark. As I said, this means outside at night and anytime inside/underground in the dark.

Here's a YouTube playlist of X's Adventures in Minecraft which will teach you the basics on getting started in the game.

The game itself has a free Classic mode available to all, which is almost like a LEGO Land simulator. As far as I know there are no enemies and no way to die. You just place blocks to your heart's content to build interesting things.

The latest Alpha version is where the fun I described above is, but it will cost you €9.95 (about $15 USD, currently).

Both versions of the game also support multiplayer, but the Alpha version's server doesn't have all the features implemented yet and is still quite buggy. That said, this game has been wildly successful. Even though it's only in Alpha over 300,000 people have purchased the game!

I recommend you give it a try and watch a few of the videos in the playlist to see if you think it's worth the €10. I personally paid for it back when it didn't even have all the features of what is now called Classic mode. I was very pleasantly surprised to see it turn into such a fun game in the meantime.

http://minecraft.net/

And Notch (the developer) has just announced an upcoming Halloween Themed update with some more features and bugfixes and other improvements.

Other resources:

http://minecraftwiki.net/
http://painterlypack.net/ - A graphical upgrade for Minecraft
Skylands - A world/map by another player made available to download and explore.
Minecraft Canary - An Android app filled with all sorts of Minecraft information and a timer so you know how soon the darkness is coming.

wraith808 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 05, 2010, 03:51 PM »

Also note two amazing things.

1. Someone made a working ALU in Minecraft (and is working on making a whole CPU)
2. The developer, with no copy protection, no distribution channel, and none of the BS that the software industry says is 'necessary' is making $350,000 a day. Yes... that's a day, as in one sold per 3 seconds.

Deozaan · « **Reply #2 on:** October 05, 2010, 04:12 PM »

2. The developer, with no copy protection, no distribution channel, and none of the BS that the software industry says is 'necessary' is making $350,000 a day. Yes... that's a day, as in one sold per 3 seconds.
-wraith808 (October 05, 2010, 03:51 PM)

That's a bit high. He probably did make that much in one day, for perhaps a few days even, but I don't think it's accurate to say he does that every day.

Let the stats speak for themselves:

1103443 registered users, of which 334312 (30.29%) have bought the game.

In the last 24 hours, 28007 people registered, and 10753 people bought the game.
-http://minecraft.net/stats.jsp

A sale every three seconds would be 28,800 purchases per day. And as stated above, in the past 24 hours, it's been just over 1/3 of that.

Even still, 10,000 sales per day is about $150,000 USD every day. I wouldn't complain about that.

Shades · « **Reply #3 on:** October 05, 2010, 04:25 PM »

As far as i know, there is even someone who build the 1701-D (Star Trek fanatics know what I am talking about) in it...on true scale!

wraith808 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 05, 2010, 09:40 PM »

2. The developer, with no copy protection, no distribution channel, and none of the BS that the software industry says is 'necessary' is making $350,000 a day. Yes... that's a day, as in one sold per 3 seconds.
-wraith808 (October 05, 2010, 03:51 PM)

That's a bit high. He probably did make that much in one day, for perhaps a few days even, but I don't think it's accurate to say he does that every day.

Let the stats speak for themselves:

1103443 registered users, of which 334312 (30.29%) have bought the game.

In the last 24 hours, 28007 people registered, and 10753 people bought the game.
-http://minecraft.net/stats.jsp

A sale every three seconds would be 28,800 purchases per day. And as stated above, in the past 24 hours, it's been just over 1/3 of that.

Even still, 10,000 sales per day is about $150,000 USD every day. I wouldn't complain about that.
-Deozaan (October 05, 2010, 04:12 PM)

I'm just quoting from what was said in the interview. Maybe it was an average, which would (I think) be going down by now?

Deozaan · « **Reply #5 on:** October 05, 2010, 10:24 PM »

I'm just quoting from what was said in the interview. Maybe it was an average, which would (I think) be going down by now?
-wraith808 (October 05, 2010, 09:40 PM)

I don't mean to be nitpicky, but what you wrote wasn't in quotes and you didn't mention an interview. That said, I'm not trying to argue about it. I think I made myself clear previously that I didn't doubt what you said was true--at some point in time--but it doesn't seem to be the case as of now.

mrHappy · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2010, 03:20 AM »

...
1. Someone made a working ALU in Minecraft (and is working on making a whole CPU)
...
-wraith808 (October 05, 2010, 03:51 PM)

wraith808 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2010, 06:43 AM »

I'm just quoting from what was said in the interview. Maybe it was an average, which would (I think) be going down by now?
-wraith808 (October 05, 2010, 09:40 PM)

I don't mean to be nitpicky, but what you wrote wasn't in quotes and you didn't mention an interview. That said, I'm not trying to argue about it. I think I made myself clear previously that I didn't doubt what you said was true--at some point in time--but it doesn't seem to be the case as of now.
-Deozaan (October 05, 2010, 10:24 PM)

Which is why I mentioned it after the fact... sorry if it made it confusing.

http://www.mcvuk.com...r-earning-350k-a-day

but apparently someone made the same observation as you did

http://www.techdirt....50-000-per-day.shtml

Though who knows? All I know is that it is a success story contrary to what the industry shills say, and that was my only point.

Deozaan · « **Reply #8 on:** October 06, 2010, 02:07 PM »

Though who knows? All I know is that it is a success story contrary to what the industry shills say, and that was my only point.
-wraith808 (October 06, 2010, 06:43 AM)

That's a very good point and I'm sorry I detracted from it by shifting the focus of this thread away from it. It's extremely interesting to see a game with such a low budget, a small "team" and not even fully developed yet become such a great success. A 30% conversion rate seems incredible to me.

wraith808 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2010, 02:29 PM »

I've actually seen quite a few success stories that get marginalized because of the fact that they are not overwhelming successes. This one, however, can't readily be ignored...

Bamse · « **Reply #10 on:** October 06, 2010, 05:39 PM »

May be why developer has been in US and talk with Steam/Valve?

One of the things I picked up from watching streams at JTV, usually there are 2-3 doing Minecraft http://www.justin.tv/directory/gaming

Deozaan · « **Reply #11 on:** October 06, 2010, 06:03 PM »

May be why developer has been in US and talk with Steam/Valve?
-Bamse (October 06, 2010, 05:39 PM)

According to one of the articles Wraith linked to, Notch turned down the job offers from Valve and other companies.

Bamse · « **Reply #12 on:** October 06, 2010, 07:53 PM »

Yes, he is making own company but have also said that he hopefully got a foot in the door. According to JTV gamers

He probably refer to selling the game not them taking over though. But who knows. If he suck at getting company running, server mess becomes worse, no time for updating (what gamers complain about) he know who has shown interest. Still only alpha status.

Deozaan · « **Reply #13 on:** October 06, 2010, 09:46 PM »

Still only alpha status.
-Bamse (October 06, 2010, 07:53 PM)

Supposedly the "only" thing keeping it from becoming Beta is that the multiplayer server doesn't have all the features implemented and is still buggy. I don't remember where I read that, I think it was on Notch's blog, but I can't (quickly) find it so it may have been in the comments or maybe I imagined it. It might have been in a recent podcast, too.

Anyway, I believe he said (in the podcast) that he expects the beta to be ready before the end of the year. And with the Halloween update it certainly looks like it's getting closer.

I, too, was starting to get a bit disappointed in the lack of updates recently, but the Halloween update announcement has gotten me really excited.

Deozaan · « **Reply #14 on:** October 07, 2010, 03:47 AM »

I just rediscovered this fan-made trailer for the game, and put it into the original post.

Bamse · « **Reply #15 on:** October 07, 2010, 04:56 AM »

Yes much good to say about Minecraft. I have seen enough of streamed gaming to know game is either a severe addiction or something to avoid at all costs because there are only 24 hours per day.

I am guessing you have heard this podcast with Notch http://www.indiegame...odcast_2_minecr.html Where he explain trip to Steam HQ or not explain

"They just wanted to get to know me, I think" or something. Yeah yeah. He seems like a nice guy, spend money on making company though he has enough to just fade away and be a rich asshole for some years

Oh, you linked to same podcast - well good intro so no harm in double linking.

y0himba · « **Reply #16 on:** October 07, 2010, 05:07 AM »

My 9 and 12 year olds cannot stop playing this, I had to buy it.

Jibz · « **Reply #17 on:** October 07, 2010, 06:23 AM »

It's a cool idea and it's nice to see a "small developer" getting a break

.

One thing to note, if you have a low end machine the game may not run smoothly even though the graphics are extremely simplistic. My machine runs Half Life 2 and WoW smoothly, but this game chops and pauses for seconds.

Deozaan · « **Reply #18 on:** October 07, 2010, 09:25 AM »

One thing to note, if you have a low end machine the game may not run smoothly even though the graphics are extremely simplistic. My machine runs Half Life 2 and WoW smoothly, but this game chops and pauses for seconds.
-Jibz (October 07, 2010, 06:23 AM)

Same here. But that's only if I try to run it from the browser. It runs much more smoothly if I download the client and play from the exe. Note that you need to purchase the game to play the downloaded version.

Plus then you can maximize it for near full-screen gameplay.

Dirhael · « **Reply #19 on:** October 07, 2010, 07:10 PM »

One thing to note, if you have a low end machine the game may not run smoothly even though the graphics are extremely simplistic. My machine runs Half Life 2 and WoW smoothly, but this game chops and pauses for seconds.
-Jibz (October 07, 2010, 06:23 AM)
Plus then you can maximize it for near full-screen gameplay.
-Deozaan (October 07, 2010, 09:25 AM)

Protip: F11 is your friend

Spoiler

Allows you to play in proper full-screen

f0dder · « **Reply #20 on:** October 08, 2010, 08:21 AM »

Purchased the game a couple of weeks ago, because frankly it's worth it. Great fun. I sometimes feel a bit like the dwarves that made the Moria mine... I dug too deep!

As far as i know, there is even someone who build the 1701-D (Star Trek fanatics know what I am talking about) in it...on true scale!
-Shades (October 05, 2010, 04:25 PM)

Didn't actually build it, but exported a pre-made schematic to minecraft level format... it would've been insane to hand-build that ship

Plus then you can maximize it for near full-screen gameplay.
-Deozaan (October 07, 2010, 09:25 AM)
Protip: F11 is your friend
-Dirhael (October 07, 2010, 07:10 PM)

Ooooooh, didn't know that!

As for machine specs, yeah, it is a bit on the heavy end. On my (lower-end) dualcore laptop with intel graphics, I have to set lighting model to simple and turn down visibility some notches. It's a very different engine than what all other 3D games use, so it's not fair to compare; HL2 and the likes might be a lot prettier, but their levels are 99% static, whereas minecraft is 100% dynamic. There's a lot of data being pushed around.

Deozaan · « **Reply #21 on:** October 30, 2010, 05:54 PM »

The Halloween update is live! And it sure is scary (in the Nether).

Protip: Never, ever, EVER attack the zombie pig-men in the Nether.

f0dder · « **Reply #22 on:** October 31, 2010, 03:08 PM »

How do you get to the Nether? By "digging too deep"? Also, I thought torches were going to burn out, but, so far, the torches I placed before the update don't?

Deozaan · « **Reply #23 on:** October 31, 2010, 03:16 PM »

How do you get to the Nether? By "digging too deep"? Also, I thought torches were going to burn out, but, so far, the torches I placed before the update don't?
-f0dder (October 31, 2010, 03:08 PM)

Torches being burned out didn't make it into the update.

You have to build a portal to the Nether. Basically you need to create a 4x5 "doorway" with Obsidian (but you can leave the outer corners off) and then use flint & ~~steel~~ iron to start it on fire.

http://minecraft.net/boo

The blue text is supposed to be pointing at "Scare other players online!" rather than "carve pumpkins."

Minecraft - An Incredible Indie Game

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #24 on:** November 06, 2010, 03:46 PM »

Protip: Never, ever, EVER attack the zombie pig-men in the Nether.
-Deozaan (October 30, 2010, 05:54 PM)

Unless you like assisted suicide ... or tricking friends into doing it and watching them freak out and panic as they try every method available to survive... only to fail