Mine all Minecraft

[CanadianWolverine]

Jesus, *sigh*

This thread just makes it so goddammed obvious how many people have to have their hands held in video games these days, as if 30 seconds without a clear objective will make them piss their pants in terror, then call the game boring because they lack the imagination to think of anything.

It doesn't end there, this is only the Alpha version of the game. While it may be playable, somewhat stable, and has spawned a bunch of love for it already, IT IS NOT FEATURE COMPLETE. How many people here have ever compared the list of features Dwarf Fortress had when it was first released to the public to what we play with now in the current version (which Toad calls v0.31.16, guess what that means ... ALPHA!)? I suppose people playing the Natural Selection 2 Alpha for Unknown Worlds also think they have a bum deal because they don't have all the weapons or kharaa aliens the final version is planned to have?

People's purchases and donations towards these Alphas insure we get the best game possible, the one the Dev(s) dreamt about when they first started on it all those years ago, we are patrons to their services. So, you don't see what the fuss is all about? Come back in a few, we'll see on the latest youtube videos if DF gets better official graphics and user interface, how well the NS2 hot action between the TSA & Kharaa is evolving, and how well the Halloween update for MC goes:

And that's all before any of this stuff goes Beta, let alone Gold version 1.0 ... and I wouldn't be surprised if I missed other Indy Devs who also allow access to their Alpha builds by donation or purchase, for that I apologize because there are a lot of other good ones out there.

Still not convinced? Just like Toad, Notch is pretty open about his feature list and other things he hopes to implement on his blog and twitter account - so hand holding is a feature that is coming sometime in the future, probably in the form of a tech tree and achievements of sorts according to Notch's musings, to a Minecraft update near you. In the meantime, there are a bunch of wonderful helpful people posting youtube videos and this Wiki:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VWnQHS-ffs
http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Main_Page

So, if you want to wait till it is more feature complete, perhaps when it goes Beta and Notch focuses on optimization or something, I am sure the Beta price for entry will welcome you with open arms. I guess I am just too much of a cheap bastard to pay more later and in the mean time fool around with what is in currently ... which is strange, I've played $50+ for supposed Triple A games in the past that were more bug ridden experiences than this *shrug*.

 

[Jacob.pederson]

I haven't played it yet, but it seems appealing. Saying that it's unique doesn't seem quite right though. Dwarf Fortress allows you to do a lot of the same (not all of it, but Dwarf Fortress is a whole other genre). Still, it's not exactly a common thing to see.
I think I'll pick it up some day soon. Hopefully before it enters final version and gets more expensive

There is actually a Dwarf Fortress to Minecraft map conversion app floating around somewhere out there.

 

[Terrified Android]

YES! im glad it's getting more love!

Oh sweet sweet minecraft.

Scariest game ive ever played.

yum.

back to mining! :_)

 

[SilentHunter7]

To get another idea of the size and creative potential, here's An isometric view of Penny Arcade's Mulitplayer Server [http://www.fusedcreations.com/adam/colrap_render_013.jpg]. You can see towers, cities, the above-mentioned Rapture, Floating Islands, A Trade Federation Landing Force, and much more.

Do my eyes deceive me, or do I see the kingdom of Zeal from Chrono Trigger?!

 

[DJShire]

To get another idea of the size and creative potential, here's An isometric view of Penny Arcade's Mulitplayer Server [http://www.fusedcreations.com/adam/colrap_render_013.jpg]. You can see towers, cities, the above-mentioned Rapture, Floating Islands, A Trade Federation Landing Force, and much more.

Do my eyes deceive me, or do I see the kingdom of Zeal from Chrono Trigger?!

Hard to tell, it could be that, some floating islands based off of floating islands from something else, or they could just be floating islands

 

[GrandmaFunk]

I guess this type of thing appeals to the new age aspergers crowd that seems to be gaining strength.

mostly it appeals to ppl that grew up playing lego.

 

[SturmDolch]

Nice article. I was skeptic about Minecraft, but he had a free weekend when the website was down so I tried it. My friend and I were hooked and we bought it. We're just waiting for more updates now and not really playing since we've pretty much played out the multiplayer part of it.

Our world has a gigantic castle on a hill, an underground lair with a boat race and multiple secret entrances, a pig hole (yes, a pig hole), an indestructible prison, a sky platform, and a water castle in progress. It's just getting a bit boring now, but once all the bugs are worked out in MP, it'll be an amazing game.

We usually play it between (or if we're sneaky, in) classes at University and I'll tell you something... This isn't a game for the average consumer. I always get random people stopping and staring at my laptop and saying "What kind of game is that??" "Why would you play something that looks like that!?" "Why are you playing an 8-bit game?" "That game looks like SHIT!" "/sarcasm NICE GAME". It gets very annoying. I'm surprised this guy is still selling them like hotcakes.

And I have to agree with the "craft". I have three games on my Windows 7 taskbar. Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, and Minecraft! Craft craft craft. I guess it's because you have to be crafty in Starcraft, wage warcraft in WoW, and craft things in Minecraft...

 

[Dana22]

Im shocked there isnt a official Escapist server yet.

 

[R4di4ti0n.]

Minecraft?

It feels like a timesin to me, honestly.

I just don't get the appeal, I've got too many other games to play.

You like Oblivion right? Well, it's sort of like that...

Oblivion with guns.

 

[R4di4ti0n.]

you said DRM twice in things you've complained about..

Actually every other thing he complained about was a form of DRM. He only explicitly stated DRM 2 times, but really he mentioned it 4 or 5

 

[blankedboy]

Through this is naturally scaled down, the actual world generated in a Minecraft game can actually be two to three times the size of the Earth, relatively speaking.

Er, no. Indev was eight times the size, Alpha will keep generating as far as you walk. Dunno about infdev.

(the server I frequent ended up with a >700mb map and had to reset it because it got so laggy...)
So now I'm working on making a city inside a giant pwnvalley.

I followed the link and tried out the demo. I built myself a small house and quite a big wall of stone with a tower-thingy going up to it. Then planted some flowers. Built a tree that was hollow.
It was quite interesting, and i didn't notice how 30 minutes had passed. Too bad i didn't figure out how to build doors...

You need Alpha to craft, and pretty much do EVERYTHHING... sad.

 

[Areani]

For those who share the addiction, there's an Escapist server set up for Minecraft:

minecraft.escapistmagazine.com

/digdigdig

EDIT: For clarity, the url above is for in-game use - you enter it in the Minecraft client when you want to use the multiplayer option.

It seems to be down. Can you get it back up? I was almost done building a replica of the temple of time.

 

[Manicotti]

Im shocked there isnt a official Escapist server yet.

There is. It was linked on the first page.

Count me as one of the people who consider Minecraft more enjoyable as a spectator sport. Having said that, I might pick it up because I want to build the four lighthouses from Golden Sun on my friends' server. And a scale model of the Death Star. And I didn't know that TNT existed until just now, so I might stockpile that and use it to create caves for my friends.

 

[Dana22]

Ooo, thanks for the info

 

[HentMas]

ok Shamus...

you win, i have seen this "minecraft" for a while but didnt played it, now i see YOU saying amazing things, so i went and played it for 3 hours, then of course i had to buy it, and ended up playing it 24 or so hours

i... dont... like... that...

now i´m at work, looking like a Zombi, and trying to stay awake via intravenous red bull

and to everyone else that has not played the game or haves no idea what it is about GO PLAY IT NOW

you wont regret it

And Shamus, please put an "OCD" warning in your reviews will ya?? i played all that time, and at the end deleted the world because it wasn´t "Just right"

at least now i know a few things about the game, lets se if my next session is more "productive"

there is an escapist official server!?!?... NOOOOOOOOOoooooooo....... dear god! i want to sleep some day!!!!

 

[DTWolfwood]

Yes i'll give anything with the word "Craft" in it. After seeing the Full size Enterprise and a 16bit ALU in Minecraft, i can certainly see how it my get addictive. But a las im not quite sure i have the patience to gather the mats i need to make what i want.

 

[agentspidersilk]

Minecraft <3 <3