Death Star Run Recreated in Minecraft; Notch Steps Down
Markus "Notch" Persson is stepping down as Minecraft lead designer now that the sandbox indie game is complete. Meanwhile, YouTube member ParadiseDecay is making waves with his Minecraft-based Death Star Run video.
Now that Minecraft has officially gone retail (or out of beta), creator Markus "Notch" Persson is stepping down as lead developer and reportedly taking a break. Co-developer Jens Bergensten is now taking the reigns, but Notch said he'll still help out with the sandbox PC game while also starting work on a new project.
"[Jens] will have the final say in all design decisions, so he will kinda sorta become my boss, I guess," Notch said on his blog. "I’ve promised him to not pull rank. We’ve been working together on Minecraft for a year now, and I’m amazed at how much in synch we two are when it comes to how to design the game. And when we don’t agree, we discuss it and something much better comes out at a result. He’s truly a great person to work with, and I feel very confident handing over the leadership of Minecraft to him."
Missing its projected "gold" date of November 11, 2011, Minecraft was finally released on November 18 after years of development. The game entered alpha in May 17, 2009 followed by a beta on December 20, 2010. A "Pocket Edition" made its first appearance on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play phone during E3 2011, but was later released on all Android handsets on October 8. An iOS version landed on Apple's App Store on November 16, and a version for the Xbox 360 is currently in the works.
That said, it is now time for s break... at least for Notch. "Personally, I will now rest for a while, then get back to work refreshed and eager," he said.
In related Minecraft news, YouTube member ParadiseDecay is making waves across the industry with a video he created using the popular sandbox game. In fact, he recreated the entire Death Star run from the original Star Wars movie (aka Episode 4, A New Hope). Naturally there's nothing really moving save for the camera panning in and out of the set and the occasional wandering zombie, and the special effects are down to one or two explosions at best. Still, it's a great use of "camera work" and excellent -- if not extremely patient -- set building.
Torches lighting up the interior of Darth Vader's TIE Fighter = too funny. Zombies walking across the face of the Death Star = priceless.

Fixed.
... seriously, I don't get what the hell is with all the hype about that stupid game.
... so then why the hell is my previous post thumbed down so bad? Too many Minecraft fanboys on Tom's?
Maybe you don't enjoy sandbox games?
If gaming is stupid, then many of our users existence has no meaning.
I'm not necessarily one to value graphics over substance. Some of my favorite games have mediocre or poor graphics, eg. Psychonauts, Morrowind, Beyond Good and Evil. BUT there's a happy medium that minecraft ignored, i suppose in the name of making a statement that a good enough game can have graphics that are complete shyte. Someone tell me if I'm way off base here: what's the deal with the graphical style?
Ok ok, in all seriousness, great job there. Some of these Minecraft creations are better than any resume could ever do for a person. Congratulations.
Ok ok, in all seriousness, great job there. Some of these Minecraft creations are better than any resume could ever do for a person. Congratulations.
I'll just ignore your last paragraph, the first one nails it
Perhaps my bias against Minecraft is that I almost had expected it to be more of an "solo Dwarf Fortress in 3D," and it was far, far less ambitious than that.
Just as a correction, Morrowind placed a VERY heavy emphasis on graphics. The reason it doesn't look impressive now is, well, because it was old. It'd be like claiming that Quake focused on "gameplay over graphics." (or better yet, Unreal 2: The Awakening) In time even Crysis will look dated. (it actually kinda does, at least compared to once you throw in the "ultra-realism" mods)
For a long time, there was no "game", just a lego kit from which you could make whatever you wanted.
The blocky style fits in well with the whole lego sandbox feel.
If you can't understand why people play this "game", then quite simply it isn't the game for you. What is so difficult to understand?
For a long time, there was no "game", just a lego kit from which you could make whatever you wanted.
The blocky style fits in well with the whole lego sandbox feel.
If you can't understand why people play this "game", then quite simply it isn't the game for you. What is so difficult to understand?
(Also, we could use one Lego stuff to build an another one. Like building a car, then put that car into a huge robot... etc.)