Minecraft Dev Makes New Game, Minicraft, in 48 Hours

[Taunta]

Isn't the point of the competition to allow undiscovered developers to shine? That's like Johnny Depp vs. a random high school in a One Act competition.

Anyways, I tried Minicraft for about 30 minutes and hated it. Granted, I've never actually played Minecraft so make of that what you will. But I could have played Covetous, a much simpler and shorter game, about four times over in that time span and had ten times the enjoyment.

I just hope that the voters vote with logic and not with blind fanaticism.

 

[rabidmidget]

It's kind of disappointing that it seems that The Escapist only posts news about Ludum Dare when Notch is involved. There are a lot of indies working in it who need the attention much more than Notch.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Haven't you heard ? Notch, wearing full ninja costume, armed with katana and sh*t broke into main building of Blizzard, killed corporate fullborgs doing as many backflips as possible, and stole code that was supposed to be new engine for upcoming Duke Nukem Forever game. Then, posing as big breasted blonde stewardess he hijacked a plane full of Bethesda programmers, had them replace some textures in this code and finally sold it as "Minecraft".
Considering cries of butthurt haters that was the case, i am sure of it !

OT : Funny, little game. As usual, it seems that good idea beats fancy graphics and effects.

ITT Notch fanboy. Didn't know there were any left.

Yep, we are called legion... and stuff.

 

[SoulSalmon]

I was against the idea of notch being allowed to compete in Ludum Dare because regardless of what he made it would get press time and entirely overshadow whatever the small timers or hobbyists made.

Yeah, cos it isn't like he entered LD21 and only placed third for one category [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/] despite the fact The Escapist did a news article on it. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112522-Minecraft-Developer-Cranks-Out-Quickie-Dungeon-Crawler]
Nope, would never happen, obviously someone with a successful prior game will always win these contests.

The overall winner of the last Ludum Dare was actually a rather little-known dev, further killing any notion that Ludum Dare is a popularity contest.

 

[Excludos]

This is the sadest thread in all of escapist. I am disappoint. This is awesome, Notch did a good job, Minecraft is awesome (you can't argue with the single most sold indie game in history), and you should recognize as such.

Saying he stole minecraft is the same as saying every fps stole from castle wolfenstein..or every rts is a ripoff of dune. You expand upon ideas and enrichen them. Thats what computer gaming has been about since it was born. And whats the point of being an experienced developer if you're never ever allowed to steal from your own frikkin work to enter a 48 hour competition? I think this is a neat little game for having been made in such a short time period.

 

[Palmiz]

Ok all you haters, I'm gonna break my silence this time.

Please not that I have played minecraft and I DO like the game. But I seem to miss that religious gene that makes you capable to hero worship/hate without any reason whatsoever. So consider me neutral.

I also entered it myself this time after I've been following it for some time. So I do know something about the contest.

First thing. I think I've seen the guy in Ludum dare at least 5 or so times. Even before he was mainstream famous. Do you really expect him to stop entering just because one of his games was a success? Should we ban him from the Java4k-contest too, just to be sure?

No, you can't just reuse the Minecraft code for it, that's not how programming works. The gameplay may be similar but the changed perspective and subtracted dimension makes it quite a bit different in code.

No. It is not really unfair. You have to enter in the contest and make a game yourself to be able to vote, so you need REALLY dedicated fanboys. And as have been stated before, Notch's highest place in any category was third in Community. Guess what, he deserved that considering all the blog posts, timelapses and livestreaming he did.

Yes. I do think it's sad that most sites doesn't cover it better (Rock paper shotgun and Indiegames.com excluded), they should at least do a writeup about the winners (voting ends in about 20 days) and the other celebs that's entering (like Sophie Houlden).

The overall winner of the last Ludum Dare was actually a rather little-known dev, further killing any notion that Ludum Dare is a popularity contest.

I wouldn't call Chevy Ray "little-known", he is the creator of the FlashPunk library and have collaborated with plenty of famous devs, including Adam Atomic (Flixel/Canabalt) and Matt Thorson (Runman).

About the game: Good work considering the time limit, a lot better than my. The graphics and animation was nice. But it was to grindy for me to be fun and not really innovative. The theme didn't fit. I'm pretty sure he won't win. My guess for the winner is Last Breath http://deepnight.net/games/ld22-lastbreath/ (Oh, let the hatespewers call it pretentious, I don't really care)


Pretty please. Just let the hate die, I'm tired of it.

 

[jawakiller]

First I was all like

Then I was all like

My life.

 

[SoulSalmon]

I wouldn't call Chevy Ray "little-known"

I did debate with myself about placing that phrase in, he's about as well known as you can get without being... well known, I doubt many of the people saying "Omg ban notch frum contest iz unfairs, he suks, minecraft only" would have heard of him at least.

 

[Balobo]

Ok all you haters, I'm gonna break my silence this time.

Please not that I have played minecraft and I DO like the game. But I seem to miss that religious gene that makes you capable to hero worship/hate without any reason whatsoever. So consider me neutral.

I also entered it myself this time after I've been following it for some time. So I do know something about the contest.

First thing. I think I've seen the guy in Ludum dare at least 5 or so times. Even before he was mainstream famous. Do you really expect him to stop entering just because one of his games was a success? Should we ban him from the Java4k-contest too, just to be sure?

No, you can't just reuse the Minecraft code for it, that's not how programming works. The gameplay may be similar but the changed perspective and subtracted dimension makes it quite a bit different in code.

No. It is not really unfair. You have to enter in the contest and make a game yourself to be able to vote, so you need REALLY dedicated fanboys. And as have been stated before, Notch's highest place in any category was third in Community. Guess what, he deserved that considering all the blog posts, timelapses and livestreaming he did.

Yes. I do think it's sad that most sites doesn't cover it better (Rock paper shotgun and Indiegames.com excluded), they should at least do a writeup about the winners (voting ends in about 20 days) and the other celebs that's entering (like Sophie Houlden).

The overall winner of the last Ludum Dare was actually a rather little-known dev, further killing any notion that Ludum Dare is a popularity contest.

I wouldn't call Chevy Ray "little-known", he is the creator of the FlashPunk library and have collaborated with plenty of famous devs, including Adam Atomic (Flixel/Canabalt) and Matt Thorson (Runman).

About the game: Good work considering the time limit, a lot better than my. The graphics and animation was nice. But it was to grindy for me to be fun and not really innovative. The theme didn't fit. I'm pretty sure he won't win. My guess for the winner is Last Breath http://deepnight.net/games/ld22-lastbreath/ (Oh, let the hatespewers call it pretentious, I don't really care)


Pretty please. Just let the hate die, I'm tired of it.

Notch deserves all the hate he gets, though not necessarily for this contest.

 

[michael87cn]

I was really excited to play this, but I can't get the downloaded version to work. It just loads a black screen in firefox, and internet explorer keeps blocking activex controls, even when I turn security settings like, basically off...

Can't get it to work! I have the latest Java...

 

[somepeopleperson]

It's nice to have some form of minecraft that'll work on my 2002 refurbished crap-top.

 

[SoulSalmon]

Notch deserves all the hate he gets, though not necessarily for this contest.

I'm just gonna go ahead and ask why.
Then watch you either not respond or pull up some copy/pasted BS that he 'stole' Minecraft from X or Y.
If you can pull out a semi-decent argument I'd LOVE to hear it.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Notch deserves all the hate he gets, though not necessarily for this contest.

I'm just gonna go ahead and ask why.
Then watch you either not respond or pull up some copy/pasted BS that he 'stole' Minecraft from X or Y.
If you can pull out a semi-decent argument I'd LOVE to hear it.

I'll second that, but i suspect that some people simply need something to hate to confirm their existence i guess... Which reminds me about this little anecdote.


The man was a regular customer and the management did its best to please him. So when he complained one day that only one piece of bread was being given him with his meal, the waiter promptly brought him four slices.

"That's good," he said, "but not good enough. I like bread - plenty of it."

So the next night he was given a dozen slices, "Good," he said. "But you're still being frugal, aren't you?"

Even a basketful of slices on the table next day did not stop his complaints.

So the manager decided to fix him. He had a colossal loaf of bread baked specially for him. It was six feet long and three feet wide. The manager himself, with the help of two waiters brought it in and laid it on an adjoining table, then waited for the reaction.

The man glared at the gigantic loaf, then looked at the manager and said, "So we're back to one piece again!"

 

[Balobo]

Notch deserves all the hate he gets, though not necessarily for this contest.

I'm just gonna go ahead and ask why.
Then watch you either not respond or pull up some copy/pasted BS that he 'stole' Minecraft from X or Y.
If you can pull out a semi-decent argument I'd LOVE to hear it.

For one thing, he's lazy. He promised several features for Minecraft's release but didn't make the time to put them in because he wanted publicity for releasing the release version of Minecraft. When compared to other indie devs, he appears very incompetent. Developers like Wolfire are doing things with their alpha releases that would make Notch tired just thinking about. After a couple weeks of doing nothing, he steps down and Jeb takes his place.

He also has a pretty big ego. For instance, he stopped browsing /v/ and started browsing Reddit because "Reddit appreciates them better."

He also lacks originality. A lot of the games he's made have been 4k versions of previously existing games. No matter how much you deny it, Notch took a core theme of another game (Infiminer) and used it in Minecraft. I am aware that Minecraft plays nothing like Infiminer, but it's still worth noting. Minecraft was, at one point, referred to as an "Infiminer clone" by Notch himself.

I'll second that, but i suspect that some people simply need something to hate to confirm their existence i guess... Which reminds me about this little anecdote.

See my post above. Don't think that people only hate Notch because they're insecure. If you sincerely think that way, you must really be a delusional fanboy.
He is generally incompetent at developing, running his company, and meeting deadlines. Fans have a reason to hate him. As somebody that has played Minecraft since it had only a couple thousand users, I am disappointed in the direction the game has taken. The game could have been something extraordinary, but here we are waiting for more updates just like alpha and beta.

 

[SoulSalmon]

For one thing, he's lazy. He promised several features for Minecraft's release but didn't make the time to put them in because he wanted publicity for releasing the release version of Minecraft. When compared to other indie devs, he appears very incompetent. Developers like Wolfire are doing things with their alpha releases that would make Notch tired just thinking about. After a couple weeks of doing nothing, he steps down and Jeb takes his place.

A little less overused, but still an old argument that people haven't really thought about as much as they should.

I'm not even gonna try to deny that he doesn't work on the game as much as he could, but he wasn't making it for money or fame, he was making it because he saw a niche for a game that didn't exist yet and he thought it would be fun.
You can't honestly say he knew a little indie project would turn into something selling over 3 million copies?

A lot of indie devs would have dropped the project after it got to that level. Either greedily pumping out more or fading from the public because they didn't want the publicity (I'd do the latter personally).

He also has a pretty big ego. For instance, he stopped browsing /v/ and started browsing Reddit because "Reddit appreciates them better."

Oh no, he moved from a board he didn't think liked him and went to another, what an atrocity.
No-one else would EVER do that >.>

He also lacks originality. A lot of the games he's made have been 4k versions of previously existing games. No matter how much you deny it, Notch took a core theme of another game (Infiminer) and used it in Minecraft. I am aware that Minecraft plays nothing like Infiminer, but it's still worth noting. Minecraft was, at one point, referred to as an "Infiminer clone" by Notch himself.

And?
Ok, make a game that takes NO 'core themes' from any existing game on the market.
I don't think anyone's done that for the last decade.
And besides, it was never his intention to create what Minecraft is today, he said started working on it because he thought it would be fun, and he sold it because he figured it could make a little cash while it was going.

Don't think that people only hate Notch because they're insecure.

Of course not everyone is, but I do agree that a lot of people are LOOKING for excuses to hate on him because it'll make them 'edgy' and then there are a lot of people who hate him because their friends do, and etc.

He is generally incompetent at developing, running his company, and meeting deadlines.

I'd be pretty bad at running a company too, he never went out with the intention to start one, he started one because he realised he could no longer meet his fans expectations alone.
I'd say he probably feels sorry that he couldn't meet your standards but I'm sure he doesn't care anymore because he'll never be able to, most people won't.

Fans have a reason to hate him. As somebody that has played Minecraft since it had only a couple thousand users, I am disappointed in the direction the game has taken. The game could have been something extraordinary, but here we are waiting for more updates just like alpha and beta.

I do have to agree here... Minecraft lost it's magic around 1.4/1.6 for most people :/
I was kinda of hoping a feature freeze and almost a month of debugging would fix more glitches for release then the... what 1 or 2 major bugs they ironed out?
Of course, the game 'losing the charm' happened to occur during the period the company started and more people got involved with the game, and you're gonna blame Notch only?

Also, don't cite the long reply as me being some kind of fanboy, it's 4am, I don't have much else to do right now.

 

[Weaver]

I was against the idea of notch being allowed to compete in Ludum Dare because regardless of what he made it would get press time and entirely overshadow whatever the small timers or hobbyists made.

Yeah, cos it isn't like he entered LD21 and only placed third for one category [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/] despite the fact The Escapist did a news article on it. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112522-Minecraft-Developer-Cranks-Out-Quickie-Dungeon-Crawler]
Nope, would never happen, obviously someone with a successful prior game will always win these contests.

The overall winner of the last Ludum Dare was actually a rather little-known dev, further killing any notion that Ludum Dare is a popularity contest.

You're misunderstanding me and entirely proving my point.

Notch gets news despite not even placing first, yet we see no news articles highlighting the games that actually won (hence, Notch is overshadowing the other devs in the contest, exactly as I said). He's stealing spotlight that belongs to the winners.

 

[JesterRaiin]

I'll second that, but i suspect that some people simply need something to hate to confirm their existence i guess... Which reminds me about this little anecdote.

See my post above. Don't think that people only hate Notch because they're insecure. If you sincerely think that way, you must really be a delusional fanboy.
He is generally incompetent at developing, running his company, and meeting deadlines. Fans have a reason to hate him. As somebody that has played Minecraft since it had only a couple thousand users, I am disappointed in the direction the game has taken. The game could have been something extraordinary, but here we are waiting for more updates just like alpha and beta.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Writhe lika a snake, but you won't change reality.

There's a big difference between calling someone "lazy bum" and "thief" and the latter (favorite between Notch's enemies) was used here.
Having some grudge because of the way he works - ok, that i can understand even if it's completely pointless considering both the outcome and the way gaming industry is nowadays.
Calling him a "thief" ? I'm not native english speaker but i wouldn't call it "being right".

So go ahead, think whatever you want, speak whatever you want, but playing "fanboy" card against me disgusted with such behavior isn't exactly placing yourself in a good light.

 

[SoulSalmon]

I was against the idea of notch being allowed to compete in Ludum Dare because regardless of what he made it would get press time and entirely overshadow whatever the small timers or hobbyists made.

Yeah, cos it isn't like he entered LD21 and only placed third for one category [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/] despite the fact The Escapist did a news article on it. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112522-Minecraft-Developer-Cranks-Out-Quickie-Dungeon-Crawler]
Nope, would never happen, obviously someone with a successful prior game will always win these contests.

The overall winner of the last Ludum Dare was actually a rather little-known dev, further killing any notion that Ludum Dare is a popularity contest.

You're misunderstanding me and entirely proving my point.

Notch gets news despite not even placing first, yet we see no news articles highlighting the games that actually won (hence, Notch is overshadowing the other devs in the contest, exactly as I said). He's stealing spotlight that belongs to the winners.

Hmm, fair enough.
The main reason for the post was the "He shouldn't enter" part that's complete and total bullshit.

I do admit to reading the rest of your post wrong though and also agree that he shouldn't be getting his own exclusive article, esspecially not on a large site like The Escapist.