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The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

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Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#61
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, To be fair that was a fairly long period IIRC. And they really put some work into that last migration once they announced everything else is going away. Minecraft has all these legacy systems because nobody knew it would be huge, so during the Alpha and early Beta periods it's just whatever payment system they've cobbled together this week. I…

You are missing the point. I was well aware of it. I don’t want a Microsoft account. I don’t do business with Microsoft. Microsoft demanded that I agree to a new contract, the Microsoft Terms of Service, to which I do not and will not agree, to continue to use the game I already paid for. This is called a bait-and-switch. I paid money, got the product, used the product, then they altered the deal, Vader style. Sign t…

You actually don't have to. You can just install the game and play it. Java Minecraft has no effective anti-piracy checks, which also means it has no effective legal-copy-but-not-using-a-microsoft-account checks. And the auto update URLs have no authorization checks at all. You can go to the root index URL (I don't remember it) and follow a few HATEOAS links to get any version-specific .jar that's available in the official launcher. This is an open secret and they leave it that way on purpose. Most third-party launchers (e.g. PrismLauncher) won't force you to log in before installing the game.

Of course, you should only install the game if you own a license to it. Otherwise that's piracy and it's illegal.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#62
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm? What'd they do to it?

They require a Microsoft account. There was a period of time where you could port over your Mojang account, but I and many other people did not, because I didn't want a Microsoft account or to have to agree to the Microsoft Terms of Service, a new legal contract which didn't exist at the time I paid for Minecraft. It's a classic bait and switch. Then, the account migration window closed, and Mojang accounts stopped w…

Players had from October 2020 to December 2023, and emails were sent alerting customers of this. That's years more notice than the likes of others give, e.g., Twilio giving 2 months to announce the removal of their free SendGrid plan.

It's a game. If a professional SaaS provider gives two months then more than three years to migrate a game account is actually quite amazing.

If customers didn't want to migrate or just couldn't be bothered then that's on them. The game is cheap enough if you want to play it that badly.

Entitled.

Now do Meta killing Facebook Live video storage with a month's notice to download a decade's video per Facebook Page, for which only the page owner could do.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#63
post #43
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Java. Wouldn't it be possible to decompile it and just remove the account checking? Maybe mod it out? There are mods that change the game dramatically, so why not this?

Yes, it’s more than possible to crack the game. All of the normal servers however will refuse to talk to you without you presenting valid login tokens from Microsoft, so you’re limited to local singleplayer.

And LAN play in "offline mode". There are some Internet servers in offline mode with aftermarket authentication systems bolted on, but mostly only 13yo pirates play them.

Did you think Microsoft was obligated to maintain your access to servers though? Even "stop killing games" doesn't ask that much.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#64
post #5

It is incredible how Minecraft, and the soundtrack in particular, was created by unknown part timers. A remix of Mice on Venus [0] is one of the few things that can make me cry on cue. There is something so powerful about it. Doesn’t help it is often used in Technoblade tributes because of this video. [1] [0]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=v1wMBrkUEFE [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pPmo21gkETU

Reminds me of indie hit Balatro's soundtrack being commissioned on Fiverr:

>This month I contacted Luis Clemente on the freelance website Fiverr and he delivered an absolutely amazing soundtrack for Joker Poker. Really knocked it out of the park. I was very nervous about this because it was (at the time) the only money I had spent or planned to spend on the game.

(from https://localthunk.com/blog/balatro-timeline-3aarh)

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#65
post #5

It is incredible how Minecraft, and the soundtrack in particular, was created by unknown part timers. A remix of Mice on Venus [0] is one of the few things that can make me cry on cue. There is something so powerful about it. Doesn’t help it is often used in Technoblade tributes because of this video. [1] [0]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=v1wMBrkUEFE [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pPmo21gkETU

How often are video game soundtracks created by well known artists? Especially without AAA studio resources? Have there been that many big names in the space? Nobuo Uematsu for JRPGs, Jeremy Soule, Yasunori Mitsuda....who else has done enough that many people would have a chance of knowing their name?

The soundtrack to Disco Elysium was made by the band British Sea Power (now just Sea Power).

I'd say that like Minecraft's music, it's good enough that it could almost have carried the game on its own.

Some indie games have licensed indie music, but generally I think it's hard to convince "big names" to make music for small games, unless they're already video game composers.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#66
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often are video game soundtracks created by well known artists? Especially without AAA studio resources? Have there been that many big names in the space? Nobuo Uematsu for JRPGs, Jeremy Soule, Yasunori Mitsuda....who else has done enough that many people would have a chance of knowing their name?

Just throwing https://www.frankklepacki.com/listen/soundtracks out there. This is the composer of the C&C, and many more, soundtracks.

GST channel on YouTube has a feature on Frank Klepacki. The artist features in that channel is in general great at highlighting VGM composers. But, like most of them, Klepacki is most famous for his game soundtrack work.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#67
post #5

It is incredible how Minecraft, and the soundtrack in particular, was created by unknown part timers. A remix of Mice on Venus [0] is one of the few things that can make me cry on cue. There is something so powerful about it. Doesn’t help it is often used in Technoblade tributes because of this video. [1] [0]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=v1wMBrkUEFE [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pPmo21gkETU

It used to be how most of the 8 and 16 bit home computer games were made, that is why the expression "bedroom coders" exists.

Many of those hits, of famous people still around the industry, were coded while working part-time on their teens, trying to sell their creations via magazines or the local publishers.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#68
For some reason C418's song "Minecraft", alongside the "klink-klink" sound skeletons make when near you are etched into my brain, like screen burn-in. I can recall the combination of the song and that sound instantly, and it's clear as day in my mind's ear today, nearly 15 years since I've last played any serious Minecraft.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#69
post #47
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It annoys me even more that they forced everybody to migrate their Mojang accounts to Microsoft accounts. I never wanted a Microsoft account. They suck enormously, but even if you buy a non-Microsoft thing, you can apparently still be forced into their ecosystem.

I owned a mojang account and didn't migrate it to microsoft. Now I just pirate the game whenever I want to play, it's pretty easy pollymc or pojavlauncher. You can also play in multiplayer by going to server.properties of your server and setting online-mode=false

Yes, you can only join a server with that setting set to false.

The launchers for Linux are readily available, too.

Re: The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

#70
post #11

Aside: if you enjoy the Minecraft music albums, you should definitely check out C418's new album for Wanderstop that was released earlier this year. It has a lot of the same feeling to it, and I personally like it even more than the Minecraft albums now. Tracks like Wanderstop Part 2, Earl Grey Part 2, Cinnamon Part 3, and The Forest are good places to start--it's three and a half hours long, so there's a lot to comb…

I bought it on Bandcamp a month ago and I've been playing it during focus time. I just love it!
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