by StoneMarshall | Nov 12, 2014 | Minecraft News, Stone Marshall Book News |
I’m finishing Flynn’s Log 4, but to make it work the way I planned, I have to adapt the existing Flynn’s Log series to take place in a near future.
This means more work for me but a more consistent story line for you, plus I’m adapting the game world to be something that doesn’t exist yet! It’s kind of awesome to be able to adapt, just like Flynn does in Flynn’s Log 2. 🙂
So, if you are waiting for Flynn’s Log 4, don’t worry, the changes I’m making in Flynn’s Log 1, 2 and 3 won’t be enough to make you re-read them. Just be open to the idea of a more powerful and flexibility plot that maintains the story line consistency and allows for the series to continue. Be ready for something awesome when Flynn’s Log 4 is finally released!
Thanks for reading!
-Stone Marshall
by Stone Marshall | Nov 9, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Earlier this year Microsoft acquired indie developer Mojang for $2.5 billion. It was a big move, and it left many fans wondering how it might effect Mojang’s hit game Minecraft. In a recent interview with IGN, Xbox head Phil Spencer talked about the desire to meet the needs of the game’s community. He said that Minecraft 2 may not make the most sense, and his words were followed by every fan of the game breathing a sigh of relief. Minecraft already does what it was created to do perfectly, why would it ever need a sequel?
Why it works so well
From the beginning, Minecraft was a game all about building. Not only was the gameplay about letting you create whatever you wanted, but the game itself was designed to be built up into something better. If you look at its original release and look at it now, it’s a very different game. Thanks to Mojang’s constant support with free updates, the game was able to constantly grow into something more grand. Content is constantly being added, and bugs are always being squashed. A sequel could never improve on the Minecraft formula, because its formula is all about improvement. A sequel would be a radical shift away from the pre-established normal of the game, changing it from a single evolving entity to a standard game series with annual static sequels.
Now that Microsoft owns the game, the company’s best course of action to keep customers happy would just be to keep the updates rolling. Minecraft is now on more platforms than ever, catering to millions of players. Everyone who has purchased the game bought it knowing it would receive updates, that the developers would be adding more fun content. It’s essentially an Everlasting Gobbstopper: for a one-time price you get something you can never finish and that will remain good for years to come. If a sequel comes along it will make the original go stale, forever stopping progress in your old worlds. It’d be like a new Skylanders game that wasn’t compatible with last year’s figures, or a new box of Legos that didn’t fit your old pieces. New content shouldn’t intend to be a rigid standalone package; it should be an addition to the big Minecraft toy box.
Worst-case scenario
But what if, in some bizarre alternate future, a Minecraft 2 is made? Would it live up to its name? Would anyone care? What would it have to be to feel like a true sequel?
If Minecraft 2 rolls around Mojang and Microsoft can’t just add some new content. They need to add loads of new content, like the equivalent of 10 years’ worth of updates all rolled out at once. We’ll need new things to explore, something more than just new biomes and ancient structures. The most obvious option is new alternate realms like The Nether and The End. It’d be pretty sweet if we could explore space a la Really Big Sky, letting us visit and mine numerous randomly generated planets. More places to visit would also mean more building materials and new things to craft. It’d be nice to see new redstone elements, new light sources, new decorations — new everything! Maybe go the Banjo Kazooie: Nuts ‘n’ Bolts route and let us build our own custom vehicles to navigate the world faster. There are also so many odds and ends they could throw in, like an improved combat system and custom skins on consoles.
The possibilities for a sequel are limitless, but let’s face it, no matter how great it could be we’ll always wish it was just done as an update.
Other options
In the end, we have to remember Microsoft is a company, and the ideal future of endless free Minecraft updates isn’t going to bring in revenue. There’s many ways Microsoft could earn money from its new property without making a sequel. Maybe it’ll focus more on monetizing the game, delivering more skin and texture packs to consoles. Microsoft has provided some good paid content in the past, and as long as it’s kept cosmetic everyone can enjoy the game without spending extra cash. Maybe the series will get spin-off games instead of a sequel, releases that utilize the property without messing with the core experience. Microsoft could easily slap some creepers onto a free-to-play mobile puzzle game. It could also make small ID@Xbox games, maybe a randomly generated Diablo-esque dungeon crawler or a four-player party game. Minecraft has become a very recognizable brand, with its name and characters appearing anywhere that will garner a lot of attention.
For better or worse, we don’t know what the future holds for Minecraft. Despite Microsoft’s stated good intentions, maybe a sequel is inevitable. While we still have to wait and see if Phil Spencer’s words hold true, his statement did prove one important thing: Microsoft has a pretty good understanding of what Minecraft is, and what its community would want. The company may not be the ones that created the game, but it’s shown that the future of our beloved game rests in good hands.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 8, 2014 | Minecraft News |
The latest pre-release build of Minecraft 1.8.1 has been published by Mojang, two weeks after the team last put together an early build of the incremental update, but the extra development time apparently hasn’t given Mojang any better of an idea as to when Minecraft 1.8.1 will be ready for an official release.
The fourth pre-release build of Minecraft 1.8.1 was published Thursday morning and the latest round of changes offer solutions for everything from ongoing bugs to handful of performance issues that have since been optimized. Only a few of the changes were outlined on the official Mojang blog, but we’re happy to report that lead Minecraft programmer Jens Bergensten continued his tradition of publishing more-complete versions of Mojang’s patch notes via his personal Reddit account.
In addition to stamping out more than half a dozen bugs, Minecraft 1.8.1 pre-release 4 offers unspecified improvements to the game’s rendering engine, which should (theoretically) result in smoother frame rates for some portion of the Minecraft community. The latest Minecraft 1.8.1 pre-release also tweaks the game’s Options menu.
On the bug front, Minecraft 1.8.1 pre-release 4 eliminates an error that cause villagers to ignore data tags when trading, along with a bug that allowed players to duplicate themselves on certain servers and one that caused chunks not to render properly for some players. The studio also fixed “an annoying bug” that will apparently not be given any further explanation.
Here are the complete patch notes for Minecraft 1.8.1 pre-release 4 (via Jens Bergensten):
- Rendering performance improvements
- Options changes
- off/fancy/fast clouds
- off/on entity shadows
- fast/fancy now only controls leaves and rain particles
- Dropped items on fast graphics now rotate again
- Fixed some bugs
- Fixed the Anvil GUI truncating long item names and showing garbage at the end
- Fixed chunks not rendering behind the player in F5 or changed FOV until moving the mouse
- Fixed an annoying bug
- Fixed villagers ignoring data tags in trading
- Fixed /summon ignoring rotation
- Fixed /execute detect giving false positive when in different dimension
- Fixed players duplicating themselves on servers
- Fixed mineshafts generating air blocks at wrong location
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for additional Minecraft coverage throughout the remainder of 2014 and for however long Mojang continues to publish new Minecraft content in the years to come.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 7, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, discussed the tech giant’s plans for the “Minecraft” game series, according to Game Spot.
In mid-September of this year, it was reported that Microsoft purchased “Minecraft” developer Mojang AB for $2.5 billion. Although the deal is not yet final, the acquisition caused fans of the game to worry about the franchise’s fate, Wall Street Journal reported.
According to Spencer, Microsoft purchased the developer because it thinks “Minecraft” will be a great addition to its roster of games.
“It’s a big deal,” he said about the acquisition. “For me, I look at it as a great game to add to our portfolio. I love [the gamer] who plays ‘Minecraft.’ I love that male, female, young and old – it’s something that lives on so many different screens. I’d love to bring it to more screens out there.”
As Microsoft’s first plan for “Minecraft,” Spencer said the company wants to unify the game’s different versions using Xbox Live. However, he didn’t clarify if this includes versions for rival consoles such as Sony’s PlayStation and PlayStation Vita.
“I think what we’ve learned through Xbox Live is something that we can help in unifying a little bit of what happens with ‘Minecraft’ today,” he said. “If I’m on PC I get access to the mod servers; if I’m on console or the mobile editions, I don’t.”
“We’re looking at how do we bring that whole system together a little more,” Spencer added. “Because there are other games out there that let me move from screen to screen fairly seamlessly.”
Regarding the possibility of developing “Minecraft 2,” Spencer said there are no plans yet to create a sequel. Microsoft will first focus on catering to the needs and desires of the first game’s gaming community before moving on with a second installment, VG247 reported.
“I don’t know if ‘Minecraft 2,’ if that’s the thing that makes the most sense,” he said. “The community around ‘Minecraft’ is as strong as any community out there. We need to meet the needs and desires of what the community has before we get permission to go off and do something else.”
“We look at Job 1 is to go out and meet the needs of the ‘Minecraft’ community first, and then we can think about ways that we can actually help grow it,” Spencer continued. “That’s our sole focus.”
by StoneMarshall | Nov 7, 2014 | Minecraft News |
A Minecraft Convention in Ireland!
Check out MineVention, the All Ireland #Minecraft Convention.
Meet Dan The Diamond Minecart, Snake Doctor73, Little Lizard Gaming, Kevin O’Reilly and many more superstars of Minecraft.
I’m sending lots of copies of my book, Flynn’s Log 1: Rescue Island to be given away as prizes!
Tickets to #MineVention are available now! Get more info here or on twitter @ObEvent
