Someone explain to me what it is about this game that makes it so awesome! Seriously, I want to be part of teh aweshum, toos!

>> ^blankfist:

Someone explain to me what it is about this game that makes it so awesome! Seriously, I want to be part of teh aweshum, toos!


A SHITLOAD of viral marketing mixed with sand-box type gameplay. The alpha sells for $10, so people buy it because it's so cheap. It's not for everyone, but people will pay for it just to try it because of the low cost.

Pretty fantastic business plan if you ask me.

>> ^blankfist:

Someone explain to me what it is about this game that makes it so awesome! Seriously, I want to be part of teh aweshum, toos!


Think of it as a whole world made out of Lego bricks, you can remove or add to every block in the landscape.
Then add the fact that some blocks are defined as wood, some as stone, some as ore, and you can use these to make tools and weapons.
You need these tools and weapons because the game has a day/night cycle and zombies and skeletons come out at night.

The world is procedurally generated, almost infinite in size, and full of underground caverns full of ore and more monsters.

The graphics aren't anything special and there's no storyline or missions, but the possibilities for emergent gameplay are almost limitless.


Edit: For surviving the first 10 minutes of gameplay:
http://videosift.com/video/Minecraft-Tutorial-How-To-Survive-Your-First-Night-1

I finally broke down. Did a torrent and will likely plop the $13 or so on it come payday. While I will enjoy it some, my 6 year old who is all about Create Mode on many games (he loves making Little Big Planet levels and wants a PSN id so he can share them), will absolutely love it.
I agree it is fantastic marketing. I am guessing the guy sells a ton of IDs each day. Let's say 10 a day (which may be conservative with the hype), that is more than $130 a day. If he nails 100 IDs a day...


EDIT: If this story is to be believed, he made $350,000 in one day once. With over 257,000 IDs sold....
Another site confirms this number quoting the developer himself...

*happy

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Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Not just clever marketing. This game is really something special. My whole family is in love with it at the moment.

It is hard to explain what makes it awesome, especially since the graphics are so shit - let me try:

You don't understand Minecraft until you play Minecraft. If I had a nickel for every time a friend went "What is that shit you're playing? That looks like shit! Why are you playing that shit!" and then a few days later walking by their screen to see Minecraft open in front of tired eyes....well I would have about 3 nickels. But I'm sure I'll make many more

>> ^dag:

My son is building a TNT/ pressure plate zombie land mines and has plans for undersea channel railroad to join two islands

>> ^RFlagg:

I finally broke down. Did a torrent and will likely plop the $13 or so on it come payday. While I will enjoy it some, my 6 year old who is all about Create Mode on many games (he loves making Little Big Planet levels and wants a PSN id so he can share them), will absolutely love it.
I agree it is fantastic marketing. I am guessing the guy sells a ton of IDs each day. Let's say 10 a day (which may be conservative with the hype), that is more than $130 a day. If he nails 100 IDs a day...
EDIT: If this story is to be believed, he made $350,000 in one day once. With over 257,000 IDs sold....
Another site confirms this number quoting the developer himself...


His daily stats are posted on his website:
http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp

Why did I stop learning Java again?
I got to agree with everyone. The game is fun. The initial few videos I saw I was with yellowc's friends saying "That looks like shit." After a while I gave it a go. Now I have joined the cult, paid my dues and find myself spending my time exploring some world.
The next big update comes Halloween... Torches going out will not be fun...

>> ^heathen:

>> ^RFlagg:
I finally broke down. Did a torrent and will likely plop the $13 or so on it come payday. While I will enjoy it some, my 6 year old who is all about Create Mode on many games (he loves making Little Big Planet levels and wants a PSN id so he can share them), will absolutely love it.
I agree it is fantastic marketing. I am guessing the guy sells a ton of IDs each day. Let's say 10 a day (which may be conservative with the hype), that is more than $130 a day. If he nails 100 IDs a day...
EDIT: If this story is to be believed, he made $350,000 in one day once. With over 257,000 IDs sold....
Another site confirms this number quoting the developer himself...

His daily stats are posted on his website:
http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp

>> ^dag:

Light a fire while you are standing too close to it, and you will light yourself on fire and burn 'till you die

I always carry a couple of buckets full of water, just in case, they're handy for crossing large pools of lava too. (Pour them on a rock next to the lava, not directly into it.)

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Good advice. Wish I'd headed it the first time I tried to start a fire.

Remember, only you can prevent self-immolation.

>> ^heathen:

>> ^dag:
Light a fire while you are standing too close to it, and you will light yourself on fire and burn 'till you die
I always carry a couple of buckets full of water, just in case, they're handy for crossing large pools of lava too. (Pour them on a rock next to the lava, not directly into it.)

Ahh, I finally took the minecraft plunge, and it really is rediculously awesome. The best way everybody (myself included) can really describe it, is "Lego for big kids"

I have a group of 4 friends who all play, aswell, on the same server. One's built a giant tree made out of nothing but trees (To which I added waterfalls to gush from the sides). One made a giant statue (that looks amazing) kneeling over with arms outstretched, and placed in its palms is a giant cube of TnT.

The third has made a giant temple in the side of a mountain, and I'm currently developing an underground canal system linking all of them together.

Honestly, I've spent more time planning this canal then I have anything else recently. Every entrance contains a treasure chest full of boats, take one, drop it off at your exit. The canal goes under lakes and between mountains, so when available (between mountains or even under the water) I build the canal with glass walls/ceiling/floor so you can look around as you travel.

Minecraft has always struck me as a 3D and First Person version of Dwarf Fortress (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/) (For a more user-friendly version of DF i'd suggest a tileset such as the Phoebus set which should be available here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57557.0) which I'd also strongly recommend.

That said, Dwarf Fortress does have a difficulty curve similar to a brick wall, but with a bit of persistence it's really very rewarding, and the sheer freedom offered is quite astounding. Options range from simple fortress defence, through to training Magmanauts to search volcanos, to fully self-aware fortresses using the highest standard of dwarf-puting!

While I don't know the scale of the production team for Minecraft, I have to admit that I've always been impressed with DF especially as the entire production team is one bloke and his cat...

Either way, I'm glad that Minecraft has recaptured people's imaginations to start puttering around in an environment where virtually anything is possible. Muchos Kudos to them all.

His stats over time are tracked here


>> ^heathen:

His daily stats are posted on his website:
http://www.minecraft.net/stats.jsp
<div><div style="margin: 10px; overflow: auto; width: 80%; float: left; position: relative;" class="convoPiece"> RFlagg said:<img style="margin: 4px 10px 10px; float: left; width: 40px;" src="http://static1.videosift.com/avatars/r/RFlagg-s.jpg" onerror="ph(this)"><div style="position: absolute; margin-left: 52px; padding-top: 1px; font-size: 10px;" class="commentarrow">◄</div><div style="padding: 8px; margin-left: 60px; margin-top: 2px; min-height: 30px;" class="nestedComment box">I finally broke down. Did a torrent and will likely plop the $13 or so on it come payday. While I will enjoy it some, my 6 year old who is all about Create Mode on many games (he loves making Little Big Planet levels and wants a PSN id so he can share them), will absolutely love it.
I agree it is fantastic marketing. I am guessing the guy sells a ton of IDs each day. Let's say 10 a day (which may be conservative with the hype), that is more than $130 a day. If he nails 100 IDs a day...
EDIT: If this story is to be believed, he made $350,000 in one day once. With over 257,000 IDs sold....
Another site confirms this number quoting the developer himself...
</div></div></div>



*And the quote system on videosift is still broken

You know what I despise the most about JAVA? Setting the Class path.

I would rather code in python, cpp, or C#.

Minecraft - and this video in particular - made it into German mainstream press: Zeit Online.

It's like Second Life without all the furries and magical flying dildos. Whether that's a good thing or not is a matter of opinion, I suppose.

How long until Minecraft turns into low-poly Second Life, I wonder?

The real awesome will start when MP servers support monsters. As the way the game is currently for multiplayer it is currently permanently "peaceful" which is not a bad thing depending on how you view things. However I like going into a dark cave and uncovering a few blocks and then suddenly spiders and penis monsters creepers pour out and try to kick your ass.

I've had a few ragequit moments though... like when you manage to get some diamonds only to die on your way back to your base. Remember folks... BACKUP YOUR SAVE GAME OFTEN!

Three weeks now into the game and I still have not managed to touch anything advanced like minecarts (with boosters) or redstone circuits. The latter of which alone is amazing in its own right.

Minecraft is also a one man team Though I believe he is now expanding a little due to the enormous success.

Though yes, it is a great world to have both these games sparking creativity in people whom otherwise would not show it. I've never been able to get in to DF but I've read some great stories of people's experiences. One that I'll remember forever, was a story that had an action packed encounter with an elephant, then I looked at a screenshot of that situation and it was like a little ASCII smiley face, meeting a '@' symbol (I think). I just burst out laughing for a good while, even now it gives me a chuckle haha. What people can imagine from such basic graphics, brilliant

>> ^d00kie:

Minecraft has always struck me as a 3D and First Person version of Dwarf Fortress (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/) (For a more user-friendly version of DF i'd suggest a tileset such as the Phoebus set which should be available here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57557.0) which I'd also strongly recommend.
That said, Dwarf Fortress does have a difficulty curve similar to a brick wall, but with a bit of persistence it's really very rewarding, and the sheer freedom offered is quite astounding. Options range from simple fortress defence, through to training Magmanauts to search volcanos, to fully self-aware fortresses using the highest standard of dwarf-puting!
While I don't know the scale of the production team for Minecraft, I have to admit that I've always been impressed with DF especially as the entire production team is one bloke and his cat...
Either way, I'm glad that Minecraft has recaptured people's imaginations to start puttering around in an environment where virtually anything is possible. Muchos Kudos to them all.

Using the suffix "-Craft" also helps sell games. >.>

>> ^d00kie:

Minecraft has always struck me as a 3D and First Person version of Dwarf Fortress (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/) (For a more user-friendly version of DF i'd suggest a tileset such as the Phoebus set which should be available here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57557.0) which I'd also strongly recommend.
That said, Dwarf Fortress does have a difficulty curve similar to a brick wall, but with a bit of persistence it's really very rewarding, and the sheer freedom offered is quite astounding. Options range from simple fortress defence, through to training Magmanauts to search volcanos, to fully self-aware fortresses using the highest standard of dwarf-puting!
While I don't know the scale of the production team for Minecraft, I have to admit that I've always been impressed with DF especially as the entire production team is one bloke and his cat...
Either way, I'm glad that Minecraft has recaptured people's imaginations to start puttering around in an environment where virtually anything is possible. Muchos Kudos to them all.


Dwarf Fortress is the shit! Very apt to compare it to Minecraft. Minecraft is to Dwarf Fortress, as Fallout is to Fallout 3 (or GTA was to GTA3). It's not a perfect comparison, but that's the closest I can think of off the top of my head.

*brief

This video has been flagged as being less than 1 minute in length - declared brief by lucky760.

I'm still at the "what's this piece of shit" phase, despite having seen many videos and hearing how great the game is. It's not actually about the graphics; that's not an issue. I'm just not all that much into playing with Legos and building stuff any more.