A great quote in response to a question about Minecraft's continuous release schedule: "Developing in the dark is scary and probably wrong."
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_...
The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#22As a redditer commented; I have never played minecraft for fear of never being able to put it down. It's fantastic it's been such a success, I think games like this will always appeal to a certain niche but no one count have predicted it would have been so successful to such a large audience. With that said, I just contend myself with watching the odd youtube video. I dare not get closer.
I was very interested in it for a couple of weeks, but then I stopped playing much. Once in a while, I get in a mood to add onto my subterranean underworld and fire it up again. Still need to finish my underground biodome and Nether castle. I wish the engine wasn't so inefficient. Disassembly shows some cringe-worthy code. This kind of game should run on netbooks, yet areas are choppy even on high-end machines. The p…
Yes, there's definitely some inefficient code - but voxel-type games like this are also legitimately computationally difficult. Just because it looks like pixels doesn't mean it's simple to run.
There are occasional engine improvements, but Notch thinks (as he says in that reddit thread and elsewhere) that players don't appreciate changes that aren't new features.
Also, my machine is mid-range at best, and I never have any problems. In Windows of course - Mac and Linux are quite a different story. Then again, you could say the fact that it runs in other OSes at all is impressive.
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#23He's saying that revenue is in the region $20-30 Million.[1] That's... crazy. Awesome, but crazy. I knew Minecraft was a success story but not to that extent! http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gjrf4/iama_indie_game_...
It's worth mentioning that Notch began Minecraft as an individual, operating as an individual, so much of that early revenue hits Sweden's ~50% tax rate...
But yeah, as far as I'm aware Minecraft is far and away the most profitable indie game that owns their own distribution channel (ie no XBLA, Steam, etc involvement).
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#24As a redditer commented; I have never played minecraft for fear of never being able to put it down. It's fantastic it's been such a success, I think games like this will always appeal to a certain niche but no one count have predicted it would have been so successful to such a large audience. With that said, I just contend myself with watching the odd youtube video. I dare not get closer.
The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. It's a fantastic game, but you can quickly experience everything it has to offer, and thereafter you can set your own boundaries quite easily. It's really just a great big sandbox with no explicit motivating factors. But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, w…
This was also my experience. It's also been one of the few games my wife has played intensely. We both got quite bored of it after a couple of weeks of addicting play. It's a really great concept, just severely lacking in any overall goal. Makes me wonder what a dedicated, complete minecraft-like game could accomplish.
It's also an excellent example of getting a working prototype out as soon as possible. You never know, it may be even more successful than the completed version. :-)
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#25Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#26Someone should ask if he went to a Montessori school.
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#27You can watch a 20 minute mini-documentary about Notch and the Mojang company here: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/minecraft/101/
(Part of a kickstart project to do a much more involved documentary http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2pp/minecraft-the-story-... )
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#28As a redditer commented; I have never played minecraft for fear of never being able to put it down. It's fantastic it's been such a success, I think games like this will always appeal to a certain niche but no one count have predicted it would have been so successful to such a large audience. With that said, I just contend myself with watching the odd youtube video. I dare not get closer.
The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. It's a fantastic game, but you can quickly experience everything it has to offer, and thereafter you can set your own boundaries quite easily. It's really just a great big sandbox with no explicit motivating factors. But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, w…
> But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, we're in big trouble.
You're probably looking for Wurm Online, then. More advanced than Minecraft, with the same sandbox multiplayer environment and RPG like elements such as skills and mobs.
I listened to an interview with the lead Wurm Online developer a month or so ago on the Massively podcast, and he mentioned that he was originally with the Minecraft dev team, but split off some years back for wanting to do something more involved.
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was very interested in it for a couple of weeks, but then I stopped playing much. Once in a while, I get in a mood to add onto my subterranean underworld and fire it up again. Still need to finish my underground biodome and Nether castle. I wish the engine wasn't so inefficient. Disassembly shows some cringe-worthy code. This kind of game should run on netbooks, yet areas are choppy even on high-end machines. The p…
Yes, there's definitely some inefficient code - but voxel-type games like this are also legitimately computationally difficult. Just because it looks like pixels doesn't mean it's simple to run. There are occasional engine improvements, but Notch thinks (as he says in that reddit thread and elsewhere) that players don't appreciate changes that aren't new features. Also, my machine is mid-range at best, and I never ha…
It's Java and OpenGL, you'd have to do some work to make it /not/ run in other OSes.
Re: The developer of the indie-game Minecraft is doing an AMA on reddit
#30As a redditer commented; I have never played minecraft for fear of never being able to put it down. It's fantastic it's been such a success, I think games like this will always appeal to a certain niche but no one count have predicted it would have been so successful to such a large audience. With that said, I just contend myself with watching the odd youtube video. I dare not get closer.
The typical path that many people (myself included) have experienced is: total obsession for 1-2 weeks, followed by rapidly waning interest. It's a fantastic game, but you can quickly experience everything it has to offer, and thereafter you can set your own boundaries quite easily. It's really just a great big sandbox with no explicit motivating factors. But if Markus decides to include RPG-like elements some day, w…
I find it more of a roller coaster. I get into it for a few weeks, then stop playing for a while. Then it repeats once I try the new updates or play with my friends on multiplayer.