Minecraft
An open-ended block building and survival game.
Where Minecraft comes up11 episodes and tests
GCreator of Game Maker's Toolkit, game designer and video essayist testThe History of Every Video Game Genre
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testHas Zelda Changed Forever?
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testHow Games Do Destruction
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit, with the designer of Islanders and Thronefall testHow to find amazing game ideas
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testCan I fix Zelda's UI using Unity?
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testHow a Super Smash Bros. Fighter is Designed
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe Genius of Prey's Gloo Cannon
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe Two Types of Random in Game Design
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testMaking Games Better for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing | Designing for Disability
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World AdventureMinecraft's open structure lets players set their own goals, and it became the best-selling video game of all time. Its voxel grid keeps destruction and object creation affordable, and randomness gives endless worlds variety. Other teams borrowed from it: Zelda took its mining and tabbed inventory (five tabs of up to 36 echoes). Lesson: give players freedom, but constrain it technically.
- 1Build a sandboxNo rules are set
- 2Hand over toysCubes players add and remove freely
- 3Set a goalPlayers choose their own goals
- 4Let players get onAlone, with friends or for an audience
From Mark Brown's summary of Minecraft
What was said about Minecraft
1An open sandbox where players find the point
Minecraft sets no rules, so players choose their own goals. Its open structure lets people be builders, farmers or coders, and find the point alone, with friends or for an audience. It is the best-selling video game of all time.
It sits at the active end of the passive to active spectrum, alongside Factorio: the designer builds a sandbox, hands over toys, sets a goal and lets the player get on with it. Mark Brown's summary: "The point is for you to find the point."
Procedural worlds give endless variety that hand-crafting cannot. Minecraft's endless worlds depend on randomness: algorithms produce near infinite setups, as with Shadow of Mordor's unique Orc captains.
Procedural levels are rarely as good as handmade ones, so the trade is variety and replay over crafted quality.
2The voxel grid that makes building affordable
A grid of simple cubes keeps adding and removing blocks cheap. Minecraft extends grid-based destruction into 3D voxels, where cubes can be added and removed freely. The simple voxel graphics on a grid keep the cost of letting players add objects manageable.
Adding objects to a game can tank frame rate and exceed memory, so games that allow it work within firm limits: Dreams uses a creation budget and Shadow Complex's foam gun works in two dimensions. Many later voxel games, such as No Man's Sky and Astroneer, smooth the cubes with algorithms like marching cubes.
3Inventory tabs and directional sound subtitles
Category tabs make a 1000-item inventory easy to browse. Minecraft's creative mode sorts over 1000 objects into category tabs so only a limited pool of items is shown at any one time.
Mark Brown copied the idea when redesigning Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's UI, using five tabs of up to 36 echoes each with no scrolling.
Sound subtitles use arrows to show where a noise comes from. Minecraft's subtitles caption noises like plopping items and moving animals, with left and right arrows showing direction.
Saying what a sound is covers only half the job; showing where it comes from restores spatial information that hearing players get.
4Minecraft's influence on other games
Minecraft became a reference point other studios borrow from. Nintendo's Breath of the Wild team played Minecraft, Terraria and Skyrim for ideas, and the game's ore smashing echoes Minecraft's mining.
Minecraft itself grew from Infiniminer, and Subnautica was pitched as "Minecraft underwater".
Microsoft required equal billing for Steve and Alex in Smash. Minecraft's Super Smash Bros. fighter reveal trailer had to feature Steve and Alex equally because Microsoft required it.
The History of Every Video Game Genre
Its open structure lets people be builders, farmers or coders and find the point alone, with friends or for an audience. It is the best-selling video game of all time.
Minecraft sets no rules, so players choose their own goals. Its open structure lets people be builders, farmers or coders, and find the point alone, with friends or for an audience. It is the best-selling video game of all time.
It sits at the active end of the passive to active spectrum, alongside Factorio: the designer builds a sandbox, hands over toys, sets a goal and lets the player get on with it. Mark Brown's summary: "The point is for you to find the point."
Has Zelda Changed Forever?
It sits at the active end of the passive to active spectrum. The Breath of the Wild team played it, along with Terraria and Skyrim, for ideas.
Minecraft sets no rules, so players choose their own goals. Its open structure lets people be builders, farmers or coders, and find the point alone, with friends or for an audience. It is the best-selling video game of all time.
It sits at the active end of the passive to active spectrum, alongside Factorio: the designer builds a sandbox, hands over toys, sets a goal and lets the player get on with it. Mark Brown's summary: "The point is for you to find the point."
Minecraft became a reference point other studios borrow from. Nintendo's Breath of the Wild team played Minecraft, Terraria and Skyrim for ideas, and the game's ore smashing echoes Minecraft's mining.
Minecraft itself grew from Infiniminer, and Subnautica was pitched as "Minecraft underwater".
How Games Do Destruction
Extends the destruction grid into 3D voxels, where cubes can be added and removed freely.
A grid of simple cubes keeps adding and removing blocks cheap. Minecraft extends grid-based destruction into 3D voxels, where cubes can be added and removed freely. The simple voxel graphics on a grid keep the cost of letting players add objects manageable.
Adding objects to a game can tank frame rate and exceed memory, so games that allow it work within firm limits: Dreams uses a creation budget and Shadow Complex's foam gun works in two dimensions. Many later voxel games, such as No Man's Sky and Astroneer, smooth the cubes with algorithms like marching cubes.
How to find amazing game ideas
It grew from Infiniminer, and Subnautica was pitched as Minecraft underwater.
Minecraft became a reference point other studios borrow from. Nintendo's Breath of the Wild team played Minecraft, Terraria and Skyrim for ideas, and the game's ore smashing echoes Minecraft's mining.
Minecraft itself grew from Infiniminer, and Subnautica was pitched as "Minecraft underwater".
Can I fix Zelda's UI using Unity?
Its creative mode sorts over 1000 objects into category tabs. That inspired five echo tabs of up to 36 echoes each with no scrolling.
Category tabs make a 1000-item inventory easy to browse. Minecraft's creative mode sorts over 1000 objects into category tabs so only a limited pool of items is shown at any one time.
Mark Brown copied the idea when redesigning Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's UI, using five tabs of up to 36 echoes each with no scrolling.
How a Super Smash Bros. Fighter is Designed
Its Smash reveal trailer had to feature Steve and Alex equally because Microsoft required it.
Microsoft required equal billing for Steve and Alex in Smash. Minecraft's Super Smash Bros. fighter reveal trailer had to feature Steve and Alex equally because Microsoft required it.
The 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design
It imposes no rules, so you can build, survive or play with others.
Minecraft sets no rules, so players choose their own goals. Its open structure lets people be builders, farmers or coders, and find the point alone, with friends or for an audience. It is the best-selling video game of all time.
It sits at the active end of the passive to active spectrum, alongside Factorio: the designer builds a sandbox, hands over toys, sets a goal and lets the player get on with it. Mark Brown's summary: "The point is for you to find the point."
The Genius of Prey's Gloo Cannon
It lets players add objects by using simple voxel graphics on a grid, which keeps the cost manageable.
A grid of simple cubes keeps adding and removing blocks cheap. Minecraft extends grid-based destruction into 3D voxels, where cubes can be added and removed freely. The simple voxel graphics on a grid keep the cost of letting players add objects manageable.
Adding objects to a game can tank frame rate and exceed memory, so games that allow it work within firm limits: Dreams uses a creation budget and Shadow Complex's foam gun works in two dimensions. Many later voxel games, such as No Man's Sky and Astroneer, smooth the cubes with algorithms like marching cubes.
The Two Types of Random in Game Design
Its endless worlds depend on randomness to provide variety that hand-crafting cannot.
Procedural worlds give endless variety that hand-crafting cannot. Minecraft's endless worlds depend on randomness: algorithms produce near infinite setups, as with Shadow of Mordor's unique Orc captains.
Procedural levels are rarely as good as handmade ones, so the trade is variety and replay over crafted quality.
Making Games Better for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing | Designing for Disability
Its sound subtitles use left and right arrows, covering noises like plopping items and moving animals.
Sound subtitles use arrows to show where a noise comes from. Minecraft's subtitles caption noises like plopping items and moving animals, with left and right arrows showing direction.
Saying what a sound is covers only half the job; showing where it comes from restores spatial information that hearing players get.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure
Nintendo researched it, and Zelda's ore smashing recalls its mining.
Minecraft became a reference point other studios borrow from. Nintendo's Breath of the Wild team played Minecraft, Terraria and Skyrim for ideas, and the game's ore smashing echoes Minecraft's mining.
Minecraft itself grew from Infiniminer, and Subnautica was pitched as "Minecraft underwater".
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