Minecraft: Thoughts

[ostrich160]

Hi guys, so today Im not here to blabber on about minecraft like everyone and there mother has already done, no, I want to tell someone, and you guys seem like the best people to tell, about some of my thoughts, as a game developer, on minecraft. And truth be told, Im scared of it.
This isn't jealously, Im not jealous on Notches success, no indie developer should be because its not about the money or the fame, its just about making nice games. Its not about its ever growing community and attention, Id be more than happy with 100 loyal fans. Im not even upset about how easy it was for notch to create compared to most games. Im simply scared, or rather a bit sad, about its simplistic yet superb gameplay, and for me most of all world generation that seems un-toppable, because we all create games because its the game we'd like the most, but somehow the simplistic graphic style and the beautiful landscapes seem to be something I cant top. Obviously I love the game, but it seems hard for me to think about it too long during game development.
What are your thoughts? Oh, and hope you had a merry christmas, Im hoping to get more settled in in these forums as time goes by.
Thanks for reading
Tom

[Stropp]

Hi Tom, the first thing you should erase from your perceptions: I'm not even upset about how easy it was for notch to create compared to most games.

Get it out of your head now that it was easy for Notch to create Minecraft. The simplicity of the game does not have any bearing on how difficult it is to create games. In addition it doesn't have anything to do on the years of effort Notch (and any other successful game developer) has put in to his craft. Do a google on the 10,000 hour rule to give you an indicator.

As the Bene Gesserit mantra goes: Fear is the mind killer. It will paralyze you if you let it. You'll procrastinate while worrying about your game design and never complete anything. Forget your worries about game design. Just develop one. If it's too complex work out how to simplify it then. If the game's no good develop another one.

Don't base your life or career on what other people do. Find your own style and make that the mark of your life.

[Desktop Gaming]

because we all create games because its the game we'd like the most

No. We all create games which will encourage people to get their credit cards out. If you're making games for yourself, then with rare exception, you won't be profitable.

By the way, i played minecraft once. I thought it was crap. I appreciate I may be in a minority but it bored me to death in ten minutes.

[Applewood]

With you there DG. He got money out of me, but only because I wanted to check up on some stuff as a programmer. I thought the game itself was a neat idea wasted. Utterly boring repetitive and pointless.

This whole ensemble is a masterclass in marketing and PR.

[ostrich160]

Hi Tom, the first thing you should erase from your perceptions: I'm not even upset about how easy it was for notch to create compared to most games.

Get it out of your head now that it was easy for Notch to create Minecraft. The simplicity of the game does not have any bearing on how difficult it is to create games. In addition it doesn't have anything to do on the years of effort Notch (and any other successful game developer) has put in to his craft. Do a google on the 10,000 hour rule to give you an indicator.

As the Bene Gesserit mantra goes: Fear is the mind killer. It will paralyze you if you let it. You'll procrastinate while worrying about your game design and never complete anything. Forget your worries about game design. Just develop one. If it's too complex work out how to simplify it then. If the game's no good develop another one.

Don't base your life or career on what other people do. Find your own style and make that the mark of your life.

Thanks man, I guess your right I should just focus on my game and not try to implement everything into my own. Because I like battlefield 3, but I also like DayZ, but if I mix the two it'll be awful

No. We all create games which will encourage people to get their credit cards out. If you're making games for yourself, then with rare exception, you won't be profitable.

By the way, i played minecraft once. I thought it was crap. I appreciate I may be in a minority but it bored me to death in ten minutes.

clearly we have different views then, I dont plan on making money off my game, I'll sell them and if they're successful then great, but in the end of the day Im just trying to create my game

[jcottier]

I haven't played Minecraft myself but I can confirm that DG and Paul are wrong
My son (13) and both my daughters (10 & 7) are playing this game almost exclusively (on PC & iPad). Basically, they like to build things and play together as coop. I guess, "we" oldies didn't get the game, but that doesn't mean it isn't an awesome game (as these millions of sales are not just thanks to great PR).

@OP: don't bother trying to copycat massively successful games, in reality thunder hardly it twice in the same place.

JC

[Desktop Gaming]

I haven't played Minecraft myself but I can confirm that DG and Paul are wrong
My son (13) and both my daughters (10 & 7) are playing this game almost exclusively (on PC & iPad). Basically, they like to build things and play together as coop. I guess, "we" oldies didn't get the game, but that doesn't mean it isn't an awesome game (as these millions of sales are not just thanks to great PR).

I did say I'm in a minority! But I didn't get The Sims either. I last played that when it was new and there wasn't 20 million expansion packs for it. I started off in good spirits but it got boring very quickly, culminating in me waiting for the man of the house to go to the bathroom, then taking out the door so he couldn't escape (this was in the days before Saw was popular, by the way). I grew tired of that quickly, too, so I removed the toilet, then waited for him to piss himself and starve to death. That made me smile, but obviously I haven't been back to it since. It has absolutely zero appeal to me, much like Minecraft.

[Stropp]

My 9yo nephew plays it, along with all his schoolmates. He spends huge amounts of time constructing so in a way it's like virtual lego (he loves that too.)

I spent a bit of time early in the year with Minecraft, and enjoyed it at the time. At the moment it's appeal is much lower, perhaps I am bored. But maybe I've reached the limit of my imagination in the game.

Edit: I did just see a tweet by Notch that Minecraft sold 453K units across all platforms on Christmas eve.

[BantamCityGames]

I did just see a tweet by Notch that Minecraft sold 453K units across all platforms on Christmas eve.

Holy Sh*t!

I think Minecraft would have been successful either way, but not nearly to the degree that it was. It was just the perfect storm of PR that made it explode. With that being said Notch certainly capitalized on it like a champ. I would hope for 1% of that success in my wildest dreams.

[inverse]

Minecraft is a very interesting case. It did some important things very right, and does several things that have turned out very strange.

Good:

It's playable in a web browser, and requires you to log in online to play. This massively reduced barriers to getting into the game, and I suspect (though this is completely unsubstantiated) that it has cut down on piracy. After all of the moaning years past of DRM and requiring an internet connection, this just seems to have not been an issue. Maybe Steam has turned people around, maybe because it also has multiplayer this is seen as fine.

The gameplay is very open-ended. It pretty much requires you to set your own goals, and this works better for some people than others. Still, there is pretty much infinite replay value. It is very unique in how much of a pure sandbox game it is.

There is something about the cadence of the game that just seems right. Things do happen at a fairly slow pace, but there is always something to keep you occupied.

Early in the game, there is a lot of tension from threats, and the very real possibility of losing all of the things you've worked hard to acquire. A lot of games try but don't succeed as well at this.

Releasing before it was done (paying for the beta, of all things) did really well to build up the buzz for the game. If they had waited until 1.0 to release, it would probably still be a pretty obscure title. There's a lot of buzz now, but it has been growing fairly slowly for quite a long time.

Strange:

Crafting pretty much requires you leave the game and go to the Wiki. In fact, playing the game at all in survival mode pretty much requires you to watch a tutorial video. Maybe because it's already in a web browser this is tolerable, but it just breaks every rule of game and interface design that I can imagine. And somehow, it hasn't really been a barrier to success.

The art is so bad it has become a cultural icon.


Easy access, open ended and compelling gameplay, and a unique style. I'm sure other games will do those things and be a success, other games will not do those things and be successful too. I don't look at Minecraft and think it can't be topped. I see a game that did something unique, broke a lot of rules, and despite all of its significant flaws had a solid enough core to be a success. I think that's cause for celebration and hope, not despair.

[ostrich160]

I think you guys are missing the point, I not asking your opinions on minecraft, I just wanted to talk about why I feel slightly threatened by it, if you know what I mean, and see if you guys have any similar experiences

[BantamCityGames]

Am I threatened by the fact that I will never see 1% of Minecraft's success? of course, but the game itself serves more as inspiration.

[PoV]

Creepers keep me up at night. That's how I feel threatened by Minecraft. Hissssssssssss!

[Desktop Gaming]

I don't see why you'd be threatened by somebody else's success.

I have a couple of phrases which I live by. Firstly, never rub another man's rhubarb - which probably doesn't apply here. The other one is, winners MAKE it happen, losers LET it happen.