My latest one liner:
"I'm not making Minecraft with better graphics, I'm making sandbox Skyrim with crappy graphics."

So think hard-core RPG with the flexibility of a full sandbox style engine.

THIS. Thats what I envisioned when first dropping into the game.

I wouldn't participate.

So I believe I'm at the 120 setting (? I think its the F12 or F11 thing). I get about 70-100 FPS.

What is everybody else getting? When I put it on the highest setting I can hardly run it.

I'm happy with the FPS I'm getting, I'm just curious of the spectrum everybody else is running in.

Yeah I agree. I never felt it was a great idea for any developer to start bringing in the community to develope.

Nice. Constellations could even offer a richer background/mythology story. Idk. Food for thought.

I'm calling it - "The Belt of Steric" as shown in the pic below.

What else can you see? Where is your constellation?

From my experience with Minecraft the community can be a powerful tool IF used correctly. I wouldn't use community members for developement; for developement I would do private hiring and really screen people to find the correct chemistry. "The right tool for the job" kind of attitude - if you simply need to tighten up screws and make the game run at higher FPS then you don't need someone with vision, you need someone with hardcore coding skills.

The community seems best used for quality control, bug control, input (Mojang was blessed with and endless stream of free creativity - see many of the late additions - they were originally mods), and direction.

Thanks much BenKenobiWan. That list should be stickied somewhere.

Finally I have to ask. What is your take on piracy? Specifically people illegally downloading and using programs that are normally to be paid for.

It is just an interesting topic that I like to hear different developers opinions on.

That is reassuring to know. That would really be an amazing addition that would set this game apart.

[...when I can show a video of chopping a tree down... like hack hack hack... "Timber!" as it falls over sideways....when I can shoot a video of a house burning down and collapsing under its own weight as the flames sap its supporting structure.]

Everything seems reasonable to me except the following. Please consider I am a complete novice when it comes to coding. And I know this sounds ignorant but the following items just sort of sound a bit of a reach:


...when I can show a video of chopping a tree down... like hack hack hack... "Timber!" as it falls over sideways.

...when I can shoot a video of a house burning down and collapsing under its own weight as the flames sap its supporting structure.

It is funny that you mention the tree falling because the weird floating tree physics is one of the first things I noticed in Minecraft. Its almost like a trademark quark of Minecraft. Because of this, I think you should push for the tree physics. It will seperate you out even more so.

Other than that everything else sounds reasonable. A well-edited trailer released on youtube could go a long way.

Early on, the first problem the gaming community is facing is that at the offset, 'Minecraft clones' are exactly that: an attempt to simply copy EXACTLY the classic mining game. I mean everything from Fortresscraft to Roblox. Its just a copy with NO ORIGINAL CONTENT. This dynamic is working against you - because you are not doing this, but are pigeon-holed in with them... At least to people that don't take the time to look into it.

At the end of the day, if you produce a quality product, peoples minds and attitudes will change. The only thing I would be concerned with is if other teams are doing the same thing.

You have a very good point about Kickstarter.com - when you state it like that its clear that it isn't really for this situation.

I believe the winds will change about the Minecraft hate. I mean I believe that people will stop seeing "Minecraft clones" and (very soon) see that a new genre has birthed with all kinds of games that on the surface 'look' like Minecraft but are in fact very different.

I believe you even said that this game is (obviously) not based on mining. I mean its something that can be done, but is not the main focus.

People need to stop seeing the voxel concept as 'Minecraft brand' and start seeing it as a (for lack of a better word) graphics set or starting point for a fully editable gaming world.

I will think on this topic more. I still think that somewhere somehow there must be a marketing approach that can help.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks Paul.

Oh I totally didn't expect any prizes to be awarded aside from "your design will be sold". And don't get me wrong I don't dislike the shirt you created. I guess I'm just critical.

Either way gaming T-shirts rock!