User:Elchzard/minecraft


 * "Minecraft?", you say, "Hasn't that been out for ages?"

Yes, Minecraft. It may have been available to the public since late 2009, but the game's actual release came in November of this year, much like some other large titles you may have been playing recently. ;)

Developed by Mojang AB, Minecraft is an Indie game available on PC, iPhone, Android and (very soon) Xbox Arcade. It's essentially a sandbox game, giving you the choice to do whatever you like within its blocky, randomly generated worlds. Minecraft's main feature is its day/night cycle – You're given the daytime to gather resources, build, explore, and hunt – But during the night, monsters come out, and they are not at all friendly.

Enjoyed by thousands, including the only and only D. Cello, Minecraft took YouTube by storm throughout its development stages, and continues to do so during the official release.

When I started playing, the game was incredibly simplistic. There wasn't much to it other than making tools and weapons, with which you mine for more materials, with which you made... Tools and weapons. During more recent development stages, though, many new features have been added – take Enchanting, for one, a large array of craftable potions, for another, the randomly generated structures – such as Abandoned mine-shafts, NPC villages, and canyons – along with the 2 alternate dimensions it's possible to play in – the Nether and the End and you have a very feature-rich, enjoyable, and addictive game.

Another feature enjoyed by the masses is Minecraft's multiplayer mode, utilized by many here on the wiki, including Apprentice, Il Lupo, the big boss-man himself and... Me! :D

SMP or "Survival Multiplayer" allows you to... Well, play Minecraft in multiplayer. This brings an aspect of social-ness to the game, making it massively more appealing to me, at least. If you'd like to play with us, come on down to the IRC so we can get to know you! :)

Something else worth mentioning are the Mods that many, many talented people have developed, to add something else to the game. You can turn your medieval-feeling Minecraft world into something looking like the year 3000 with an easy modification to the game's files.

These add even more replay value to the title, really meaning you get your money's worth out of Mojang A.B.'s wonderfully crafted piece of software.

I also enjoyed the development team's involvement with their audience, throughout Minecraft's development and after release. Ex-Lead Developer Notch brought (and, indeed, still brings) humorous updates on the game's development to its userbase via the mediums of Twitter, Facebook and tumblr, and is now IGN's person of the year!

I fell in love with this game the moment I downloaded it, after having it recommended by a friend, and my feelings for it have only grown since then. Overall, I would rate it at 9/10, dropping a mark due to the annoying bugs that sometimes, although rarely, crop up.

Having sold over 4,000,000 copies to date, I think we can safely say Minecraft is an Indie game success story. Having organised their own convention, MineCon, and beaten Bethesda in court over the title of their next game, "Scrolls", Mojang have also made their mark on the surface of the games industry. Hopefully we'll see many more ingenious titles from them over the next couple of years. :)

Thanks for reading folks.

Elch out.