by Stone Marshall | Dec 23, 2014 | Minecraft News |
The announcement this week that Telltale Games are turning to one of the most popular video games of all-time, the Mojang-developed Minecraft, for their latest series came completely out of left field.
With little details emerging other than a promise to make the game “an entirely new Minecraft experience” that still manages captures the spirit of the massive sandbox title, speculation has been rife as to what exactly gamers can expect from Minecraft: Story Mode’s 2015 premiere.
With several members of our staff here at Power Up Gaming classing ourselves as diehard fans of both Minecraft and Telltale, we’re discussing today whether or not we think the game has serious potential to become another masterpiece in interactive storytelling, or if it’s simply a shameless cash-in. Do we think The Walking Dead developer have bitten off more than they can chew, or has Minecraft’s freedom handed them a great opportunity?
Harry Bowers: Telltale’s announcement of their latest series, Minecraft: Story Mode, comes as pretty topical to me, because Minecraft PS4 is just about all I’ve been playing for the past few weeks. I’ve fallen deep into that block-sized hole all over again. For this reason, the announcement has filled me with equal parts dread and optimism. On one side I see a game completely unconducive with the Telltale treatment; but on the other, I’m looking at two studios responsible for some of gaming’s greatest adventures.
What is Minecraft without its trademark open-ended hijinks? The answer feels pretty uncertain right now. Minecraft is distinct from Telltale’s previous fancies – The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones – in that it deals, not in blood and back-stabbery, but learning and whimsy. Sure, there’s dark dungeons and the cold, hard necessities of survival, but everything is realised in a charming, kid-friendly dressage. Exploration is the driving force; heavyweight narrative punches need not apply. In fact, Mojang’s announcement infographic, the charming Info Quest II, hit the nail on the head:
“Telltale’s other games are awesome, but they’re usually set in universes packed with cool characters and narrative arcs. Minecraft doesn’t have those things.
“Our games has consistent physics, a bundle of mobs, and a distinctive look, but no real story to speak of. You make it yourself through playing!”
That, for me, is where the premise starts to get shaky. Will the cartoony antics of Steve and his whole block-headed entourage be able to recapture the emotional heft that Telltale have been acclaimed for? It’s pretty unlikely. What little information we currently have all seems to point towards a very different game to what we’re used to. For Telltale, this is uncharted territory. What’s going to keep die-hard Telltale addicts coming back for more? Telltale need to master a radically different form of entertainment, fast. To make things even harder, they have to do so in a way which will keep players compelled for upwards of a six-month release window.
Telltale have built themselves a huge mountain to climb; the methods unknown and results uncertain. But, in some weird way, it feels right exactly because of this. Telltale proffered acclaim back in 2012 with The Walking Dead: Season One because they did something no one else was really doing. Moreover, it was truly fantastic. The birth of Minecraft: Story mode strikes me as nothing less than a bold continuation of this rich legacy. Outside of the comics, outside of the show, The Walking Dead completely stood up by itself as an unforgettable narrative. Why can’t Minecraft: Story Mode do just that, too?
Of all the projects Telltale have undertaken in the past, Minecraft offers the most opportunity for creative license. Watching the proven minds behind Telltale get that little extra leg room to be even more brilliant is an exciting prospect. Even more importantly, Minecraft: Story Mode marks these guys taking one more timid step toward crafting their very own IP. So, no matter what the outcome, I can’t help but look eagerly at Minecraft’s latest iteration as one big golden promise of future brilliance.
I don’t for one second doubt that Minecraft: Story Mode will be a good game; but I worry that, thanks to the nature of the beast, it won’t quite reach the ‘great’ heights that we have come to expect from Telltale. I anxiously wait to be proven wrong.
Chris Mawson: Like so many others, Mojang and Telltale’s announcement of Minecraft: Story Mode took me completely aback earlier in the week. My first reaction was to check the calendar… nope, definitely not April 1. As a great lover of both Minecraft and Telltale’s narrative-rich adventure series, including The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, you’d think I’d be overcome with excitement at the news. And though while I am looking forward to seeing where the developers go with the concept, my position is more that of a cautious optimist.
With Telltale’s recent releases in Tales From the Borderlands and Game of Thrones, I was already beginning to question whether or not the time is nigh for the developer to try their hand at their own IP, rather than cashing in on (though admittedly treating successfully, and in many cases, reinvigorating) an existing franchise. Their announcement this week further provokes my skepticism.
On the other hand, while the developer could be accused of playing it safe by turning to yet another popular property for their latest effort, little else gives them as much freedom to put their own stamp firmly on the game as Minecraft is able to. Yes, it’s undoubtedly and transparently a cash-in that Telltale will hope will draw in Minecraft’s gargantuan audience. But with a proven track record and clear respect for the fans of Mojang’s title – collaborating closely with the developer and promising to take on board the ideas and wishes of game’s existing fan base – I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re able to do with the themes and ideations expressed in the hit sandbox game.
To create a game that adequately lives up to the Minecraft name is a massive undertaking. But if anyone can pull it off, Telltale can.
Scott Russell: Ever since playing Tales of Monkey Island, I’ve loved Telltale’s awesome brand of story-centric adventures; that one in particular had some hilarious moments of piracy. They may dabble around with clunky mechanics, but in no way does that diminish their expertise in producing games that grip, shock and amaze. The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us are just two instances that highlight Telltale’s ability to deliver wonderful experiences with varying themes and styles. This can only be a benefit for Minecraft: Story Mode, especially when you consider the blocky, and abstract, nature of the source material.
Invigorating different intellectual properties is definitely Telltale’s bag. The Walking Dead franchise is no lacklustre affair by any means, but the story of Lee and Clementine brings life to a world that is solely at its best in the static pages of a comic book; Fables (the series on which The Wolf Among Us is based) has been significantly improved upon through a deliciously smooth art style and a brilliant cast of fairytale denizens; and the already frantic suspense of Game of Thrones has increased thanks to Telltale’s pressing, and oppressively frenetic, systems of choice.
Minecraft is a game that houses a universe; it’s infinite. But Story Mode could bring something that adds to its infinity: a truly fascinating and original narrative. Now, I have no idea what that could entail; it could lead me on a trail to make some tough decisions regarding sand, but don’t take that as gospel. Though there is one thing that I am certain of: it that will contain heart, excitement and a whole load of Minecraft charm. Oh, and that clunkiness I mentioned before? Perfect for shambling over blocks.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 21, 2014 | Minecraft News |
LearnToMod, a software that allows users to learn programming inside of the popular computer game Minecraft, is now available to preorder for $30/year at http://www.learntomod.com. The software will be delivered Jan. 15.
LearnToMod seeks to inspire a new generation of young programmers by allowing students to explore their favorite video game, Minecraft, in a new way. The software allows students to learn the fundamental concepts of programming while they add new features (called “mods”) to Minecraft.
“Students have been coming into our classrooms for years raving about Minecraft. It dawned on us that the video game could be the perfect tool for teaching kids how to code,” explains Stephen Foster, CEO and lead software developer of ThoughtSTEM. ThoughtSTEM has been teaching kids across the greater San Diego area how to code for the last two years. More recently, ThoughtSTEM has put their energy into developing LearnToMod, a software for teaching kids how to mod (i.e. code) Minecraft.
With LearnToMod, students learn how to code through hundreds of video tutorials and puzzles that teach them everything from how to create houses at the click of a button to how to design games within the game, like Portal or Tetris. Students can even create custom blocks and items within Minecraft by importing new textures. Soon, the software will allow students to program the artificial intelligence of entire “bot” armies.
“Kids all over the world love Minecraft. Unlike most other video games, Minecraft is completely moddable, which gives it the potential to be a great educational tool. Now, LearnToMod is teaching kids around the world to code through Minecraft,” says Sarah Esper, CTO of ThoughtSTEM. “In the past two months, over 100,000 lines of code have been written by LearnToMod Beta users. We’ve never seen kids so motivated to learn coding.”
For the last three months, over 1,000 kids from 44 countries have been Beta testing the LearnToMod software. LearnToMod is also being tested by over 100 school teachers in classrooms across the United States. “We’re developing tools to make the software really easy for teachers to use. We want to empower teachers to be able to create classroom activities and custom lesson plans inside of Minecraft,” says Foster. ThoughtSTEM is currently offering the software for free to low-income schools, encouraging them to teach coding in the classroom.
The LearnToMod software implements the best practices learned by the Computer Science Education research community in its coding tutorials and puzzles. LearnToMod developers, Stephen Foster and Sarah Esper, are PhDs specializing in Computer Science Education, with over 15 years of experience developing curriculum and writing software and games for teaching coding. The software aims to make the act of learning how to code as active and engaging as possible.
More information about LearnToMod can be found at: http://www.learntomod.com.
About ThoughtSTEM:
Founded in 2012 by three PhD students with a dream, ThoughtSTEM had humble beginnings teaching after-school and summer camp coding programs for kids around San Diego. Today, ThoughtSTEM develops innovative educational software for teaching coding to K-12 students worldwide. In addition to LearnToMod, ThoughtSTEM was recently funded on Kickstarter to develop a 3-D immersive video game that teaches coding called CodeSpells.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 20, 2014 | Minecraft News |
It looks like Microsoft has finally persuaded Mojang to port Minecraft to Windows Phone, following the $2.5 billion acquisition of the small studio.
Minecraft is available on almost every platform, including iOS and Android, but has not made its Windows Phone until today. The lack of users on Windows Phone has obviously put the port low on Mojang’s priority list, especially with updates to the PC version.
Xbox Chief Phil Spencer did confirm Windows Phone would see Minecraft Pocket Edition sometime in the near future. The game is available for $6.99 and is a fan favorite on iOS and Android—even with the lack of features compared to the PC version.
Mojang has not released solid numbers for mobile and has not shown the difference between PC, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS and Android sales. It is an interesting query, considering how popular Minecraft is on all platforms.
It is unclear how active the Mojang team will be, now it is a part of Microsoft. The game studio at Microsoft is rather large, working with several third party developers on ports and new features to make sure they work well before release.
Mojang also lost a few of its programmers when acquired. There is no confirmation on how many moved over to Microsoft and how many decided to drop out of the project. A few weeks before the acquisition, Mojang pushed out the 1.8 update to Minecraft.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2014 | Minecraft News |
It isn’t as bad as it sounds, but Mojang (the studio behind Minecraft) are the reason why the director for the upcoming film adaptation has walked away.
Shawn Levy, the director of the Night At The Museum movies, was scheduled to be the director of the Minecraft movie. Recently he walked away from the project, and just recently he told The Wall Street Journal why that happened.
It turns out that it was a combination of WB and Mojang putting a lot on his plate, and not exactly know what they expect from that.
“[Warner Bros.] asked me to develop how might this ever be a story for a movie, because it’s a non-narrative game,” Levy told the Journal, “We came up with an approach that felt good to us, and I discussed it with Mojang … and they were like, ‘That doesn’t sound like what we want … If we’re going to see a movie get made, we don’t know what we want but that doesn’t feel right.'”
So it seems he was put in a position similar to The Lego Movie and both sides were somewhat expecting a similar creative idea to come about. What he came up with is unclear, but I see this as good news. At least WB didn’t greenlight the first thing that came to mind, and at least Mojang got a say in the film. Remember comic book movies before the companies themselves got involved? Yeah, wasn’t worth remembering right? So having video game studios involved seems like a good idea.
Overall a Minecraft movie should spend a ton of time leading up to development because that is where it will be it’s test. The Lego Movie could have been terrible, but it wasn’t thanks to creative ideas.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 16, 2014 | Minecraft News |
Lori Durant doesn’t play video games.
But when the middle school literature teacher at Duluth’s Marshall School learned that other educators were using a popular game called Minecraft in their curricula, she was interested.
And when she heard that a curriculum had been developed combining the video game with Lois Lowry’s beloved book “The Giver,” Durant was all in.
“This was just an incredible opportunity,” she said.
On Friday, that opportunity reached its final chapter. Marshall’s eighth-graders, along with a few seventh-graders, piled into Fregeau Auditorium at noon, where they were connected in a webinar with other students in other schools, a scholar in Alaska, and Lowry, speaking from her home in Maine.
In a separate conference room in the school’s office complex, eighth-grader Gabriel Ehlers-Nelson sat alone facing a laptop, headphones covering his ears.
More than 20 schools participated in the event, Durant said. But Marshall was one of only six selected to have a student involved directly in the “hangout” with Lowry.
The school was chosen, Durant said, because it was among those whose students rose to the top in the view of Lee Graham, the assistant professor at the University of Alaska-Southeast who developed the “Givercraft” project. Graham and some of her students served as “elders” guiding the game and often interacted with the students as they played.
Durant teaches literature to all 61 eighth-graders at Marshall, and she said she could have chosen any of a number of them to be the school’s representative in the webinar. She picked Gabriel, in part, because he turned in his work ahead of schedule.
The webinar lasted 45 minutes, a quarter-hour longer than scheduled. But technical difficulties made for a slow start, and students at some venues never got to talk to Lowry.
Gabriel did, though, explaining to Lowry how he used the game to create his version of scenes from her dystopian novel. As he spoke, screen shots of his work were shown.
Gabriel, who admitted to some nervousness at the start, said talking to the author was “pretty amazing.”
The author, who is in her 70s, seemed amazed herself at how her 1993 book had merged with a video game.
“It sounds like you’re going through the process that I go through in my imagination when I’m writing a book,” Lowry told the students. “It’s good to see you using your imaginations with technology that is way beyond me.”
Lowry’s participation impressed Marshall School eighth-grader Milly Timm.
“It was amazing because she’s one of the authors that I look up to, and it was really cool that she took time out of her day to talk to us,” Milly said of the event.
Minecraft, which allows players to build their own three-dimensional world, was a different matter. She had been familiar with it only by watching her brothers play the game, Milly said.
“It really challenged me to think of how I viewed the world in my head and not just reading the book,” she said.
Students had the opportunity to write down questions to be submitted to Lowry as the event proceeded, however time ran out before that could happen. But Marshall School eighth-grader Gabriela Batinich said someone else asked the question she had in mind: Why, in the movie version of “The Giver” that came out this year, were adult actors used instead of the 12-year-olds in the book?
Lowry explained that labor laws limit the amount of time young actors can be on screen, and that would have slowed the production.
“I admit it was a little upsetting that they weren’t our age,” Gabriela said later of the movie. “But it was still interesting to see it from an older point of view.”
Durant, who learned the video game herself as she participated with her students, said the activity pushed her students to learn the material in a different and challenging way.
“It’s tempting when people hear about kids playing video games in school to think they’re just goofing around and it’s a waste of time,” Durant said. “Well, it could be. But so could any other activity that we do.”
But the fact that Marshall was chosen to have a representative talk with Lowry is evidence the school’s students took the project as an academic challenge, she said. “The level that these guys took the game to is why we got to participate.”
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