Defining Awesome — Minecraft
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  • Minecraft

    Written by . Posted at 4:28 pm on August 21st, 2010

    Minecraft should be a huge inspiration for indie game developers. Look how simple it is to make a fun game and good cash from it. Just go to the website and see how shitty it looks like. The site has seamless textures as a background! When was the last time you saw that 1998? Look at the download page or the buying page (just a Paypal link). Everywhere is just random stuff written in a hurry. It reminds me of the first Soldat web pages. Then go play the game. It’s the simplest idea in the world. Building stuff out of cubes (Lego?). Then go again on the website and read on top: 602 servers, 380083 registered, 68753 purchases. Then tell me that you need a big website, money, promotion, nice company name, advanced payment processing, great graphics and other bullshit that you’re using – as an EXCUSE TO NOT JUST make a good game, like Minecraft.

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    17 comments.

    1. Minecraft doesn’t just look crappy it also has a crapload of annoying bugs which make it hard to like playing it online.


    2. AFAIK the online component is still in development.

      Which just proves my point cause you don’t even need a fully working game to make it succesful!


    3. from a business point of view if a unfinished game can sell like that then a great one will sell better. u just need to know your direction. also i’m really surprised that so many people actually bought it but it doesn’t look bad, it’s original in form and game play yet simple. There are many other indie games that sold well.

      How about sharing the amount of soldat registrations :>?


    4. Minecraft is a great game. It is a lot of fun, and you get addicted to it. Thats why that dude gets 1000 buyers(=10000€) every day. The multiplayer is more fun than the singleplayer, but the multiplayer part is free :).

      Ideas are worth gold.


    5. Michał,i agree with you. Minecraft is based in very simple concepts but it builds from that. Even the music give’s it a very relaxing feeling, and the custom servers really gives the game more life, there’s no excuse for indie devs…just make the game you want to play.


    6. Indeed.

      Developers just dont make good games anymore, example “system shock 2″ poor graphics, POONT gameplay and history.


    7. DeadlyDad

      Another example of a very simple game that is insane fun to play is Transformice. I don’t know how rich they are getting, but they definitely deserve to be.


    8. Underline

      good game.
      hope you can sell better then minecraft :)


    9. First of all it doesn’t look at all shitty. The only thing I find shitty about the way it looks is the character models.

      Also I admit the only good version of minecraft is single player survival, both multiplayer versions are crap. Free version is boring because it’s like you say, lego building. Survival multiplayer is buggy, items do not save, many features are not in/don’t work, but it’s in public beta essentially, but I won’t be playing it until it’s got all the features implemented.

      I have to disagree with you about the website, it’s not bad, it’s just a simple layout and I actually like it.


    10. The simplicity works, the game is nice for being alpha! Of course its filled with bugs but who cares? Ah well lots of kids do but I think people should think twice, having access to a game this early is pretty nice and its fun to follow the development in my opinion.
      MM, Soldat had this simplicity as well sort of, I mean what is really there? Some running entities, multiplayer and flying bullets. Did it look nice? No, not really. Did it have a nice gameplay? Hell yes!
      Good to see an indie developer doing well though, hope link-dead will bring you success as well!


    11. Clive Jericho

      I just started playing minecraft 2 days ago (coincidently, the same day as this post).

      Since then I have gotten 8 people to start playing it and all have bought it.

      a truly amazing game, perfect in every factor except for that it’s not done yet.


    12. Damn right.


    13. from a business point of view if a unfinished game can sell like that then a great one will sell better

      I think many businessmen wouldn’t even predict that happening.

      Developers just dont make good games anymore, example “system shock 2″ poor graphics, POONT gameplay and history.

      I think if System Shock 2 was distributed as an “indie game” it would be even a bigger hit. Unfortunately it was released by the time Half-Life came out and nobody noticed it. As an indie game it would slowly build up in the shadows of commercial games and today it would still be selling.


    14. Blacksheepboy

      Oh my friggin goodness, I just downloaded this game 5 minutes ago. It is surprisingly super fun and priceless playing online with people on the latest alpha version. PRICELESS.


    15. Blacksheepboy

      Oh, and on top of that, I bought it maybe a month ago, so I meant to say that I “just RE-downloaded” it. So I’ve given it a good run through. It really is priceless fun. When Notch implements mobs (antagonistic AI), there will be something in Multiplayer to work against. Sooo, MORE PRICELESSNESS.

      And surprisingly, the graphics are actually really nice. They don’t have to be EXTREME FANCINESS to be enjoyable. Like, wandering underground on Survival-Single player is actually really creepy at times. You hear the sound of running water through walls and zombies moaning :( etc…

      Plus, the infinite landscape generator also makes exploring loads of win, AND RUNNING WATER PHYSICS! You can even move lava and water with buckets. I mean, how do you beat that?

      TL;DR
      Minecraft has running water, infinite landscapes, and TONS of future potential. Buy it while it’s cheap.


    16. i played with the online portion of minecraft. plenty of servers to plug and play in. when is that possible.


    17. Notch >> MM

      big time


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