By John Walker on February 8th, 2012.
With Tim Schafer and Markus Persson now in talks over the possibility of a Psychonauts 2, it gets us to wondering what other games we’d like to see Notch’s millions spent making happen. Notch reports that he and Tim will likely meet at next month’s GDC, but also stresses that people shouldn’t yet get their hopes up. Too late! But were it not to happen, to which game should those spare riches be directed? We’ve made Notch’s mind up for him.
By Adam Smith on January 13th, 2012.
This could be the year that Mojang stops meaning Minecraft and nothing but Minecraft. In an interview with Edge, CEO Carl Manneh says that there are two games in development that will be announced and possibly even be released as early as the first half of 2012. Minecraft creator Notch is working on one of these titles, having stepped back from lead development of his blocky baby. By my calculations – and keep in mind I haven’t checked in some time – it’s the first half of 2012 right now so that’s very exciting indeed. There is mention of a third title in the works, although that seems to be a more distant promise. Despite being released last year, Minecraft isn’t done either, far from it in fact. Update 1.1 landed yesterday and while I could tell you what it adds,there’s a funny video to do that for me.
By Adam Smith on January 5th, 2012.
Another cuboid/voxel/block post! The blue birds of Twitter inform me that Mojang have hired Wollay, the chap working on Cube World. Notch claims that: “Our current plan is to plug his brain directly to a keyboard and sell whatever comes out.” Quests and other RPG features perhaps? There’s no word from Wollay himself yet (edit: he is ‘so excited’!) but Notch assures that development on Cube World will continue and it will remain an independent game. This potential centralisation of talent vaguely reminds me of Valve casting their sights on Turtle Rock and Nuclear Monkey. Let’s hope for good results and that the keyboard-brain interface doesn’t cause infections.
By Alec Meer on December 19th, 2011.
The latest Ludum Dare gamejam hit over the weekend, which means the internet is now awash with tiny experimental games created in just 48 hours. There are many we should nose curiously at, but a handy starting point is the effort from Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, who finished his game with hours to spare. He’s moved on from active Minecraft development himself, but clearly he hasn’t moved on from the design values of his zeitgeisty building and survival hit.
Minicraft is his LD48 entry: a game about chopping down trees, mining rock and stabbing zombies. YOU MAY BE SOMEWHAT FAMILIAR WITH THESE CONCEPTS. But Minicraft is not Minecraft, despite the clear self-referencing.
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By Adam Smith on December 2nd, 2011.
How do you take a break from a project that seems like it will never be finished? It’s a tough question that we newshounds ask ourselves every day and it appears Notch has been having similar thoughts. Now that Minecraft has been officially released, its creator is taking a step back, leaving co-developer Jens Bergensten to take the reins. As for Notch, he’ll be resting, helping out with Minecraft and starting work on a new project. Released or not, Minecraft isn’t finished, so read on for a quick look at the current state of play and then read further to find out about the loveliest Minecraft story I’ve seen all year.
By John Walker on November 24th, 2011.
We mentioned this on the podcast yesterday, and it’s well worth a look. People’s capability with an on-off switch is utterly terrifying, and this creation from the Redstone Development Foundation (brilliant name) is the most impressive I’ve seen. Before Minecraft, creator Markus ‘Notch’ Perrson made a game for a Ludam Dare competition called Prelude Of The Chambered, a super-simplified Dungeon Master-style first-person game. And the RDF, and one Berick Cook, have recreated a wire-frame version of it in Minecraft. Which is meta, as well as bloody impressive.
By Jim Rossignol on October 18th, 2011.
Notch tweets: “We won the interim injunction! We can keep using the name “Scrolls”. ZeniMax/Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I’m very happy.”
Of course this is only the first step, and we expect Bethesda will certainly take the process to its conclusion at a full trial.
By Adam Smith on September 22nd, 2011.
Minecraft 1.9 is upon us! Well, a pre-release version, at least, so the main client is updating just yet. It seems like only yesterday that the long-awaited 1.8 hit so this is a pleasant surprise, so what does 1.9 do? It bloody well sticks in NPCs is what it does. According to early reports, they don’t actually do very much yet, but we should congratulate them just for existing. Notch has also been tweeting about craftable snowmen, who will actually come to life and hang around with you! There’s a horrible and possibly true rumour that they melt if you take them to warmer climes as well. It’ll be just like when I saw a live stage version of Raymond Briggs’ story and cried for hours at the end. Confirm if this is true so I’ll know never to bond with them. Go download it now!
By Adam Smith on September 12th, 2011.
I’ve been waiting for the Minecraft 1.8 update for a long time. I want all this adventure stuff in my Minecraft now, damn it. Especially those creepy Endermen. Well, lucky me because the update is out! Sort of. While it wasn’t due for an official release yet, a version was leaked by one of the testing groups. The pre-release version has now been officially sanctioned, provided it’s downloaded from this link here. Play the game, and find bugs and report them. It’s like a job that’s fun. Let us know what you discover and if it seems like it’s been worth the wait. And bear in mind, I won’t get to play this for at least another couple of days, so your tales of adventure could nourish me. Go forth!
We are Notch's messenger-boy
By Alec Meer on September 1st, 2011.
I have a frankly frightening amount of interview material from my trip to see Battlefield 3 at EA DICE HQ earlier this week, but before I lower myself into the tenth circle of hell that is transcribing the main hour of it, here’s an interesting side-discussion that came up when I asked Twitter for a few question suggestions. One of the first respondents was Minecraft-maker Notch, who asked us to ask DICE “What are some best practices and lessons learned when awarding long-term rewards in a highly competitive game like Battlefield 3?”
Here’s what BF3′s executive producer Patrick Bach had to say in response – which led to a discussion of best practice for creating in-game unlocks, how he thinks Bad Company 2 got it a bit wrong, and why he reckons devs should try and keep improving and expanding their games for several years after launch instead of putting out annual sequels. Whatever could he be referring to?
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By Jim Rossignol on August 30th, 2011.
Notch has been writing about why Minecraft hasn’t appeared on Steam. I assumed it was because it wasn’t finished, but apparently not. It’s because of those pesky terms of service: “Being on Steam limits a lot of what we’re allowed to do with the game, and how we’re allowed to talk to our users. We (probably?) wouldn’t be able to, say, sell capes or have a map market place on minecraft.net that works with steam customers in a way that keeps Valve happy. It would effectively split the Minecraft community into two parts, where only some of the players can access all of the weird content we want to add to the game.” (Were we expecting a vanity items shop in MC?)
Also, remind you of anything? Discussions with Valve are apparently ongoing.
