(image credit: PC Gamer article)

Assignment: Write about your favorite blogger.

Process: In choosing to write about Notch, one of my favorite game developers by far, I will just highlight some of my opinions on the man. I’ll also take a look at why he’s a very prolific character in the software world (for some of us at least).

Story: So that’s “notch”, AKA, Markus Persson. No big deal right? Just some guy. Let’s take a look at something he made:

(image credit: me, I give it to the public domain!)

Okay, at a first glance, unless you’ve seen this before, you might think this is some type of roller coaster game. Looks like some kind of weird blocky roller coaster game, right?

There are some details about the picture that don’t quite match up with 99% of the other games you’ll find on the market:

• It’s not a roller coaster game, this just happens to be one of the features of the game, that you can build something that resembles a roller coaster (and of course you can ride on it with a first-person view)
• All those blocks were not there to begin with; they weren’t put together in that formation by some game designer in some well-funded high quality studio, they’re simply my creation for which I was able to take time to carefully craft how I wanted.
• Each block has its own functionality, and each block is destroyable. Some blocks are stronger than others, some have fluid physical properties, such as water, and some are dangerous. There are many types of blocks, but try to think of another game where you can build indefinitely into any direction using so many build materials?

Minecraft offers some really novel approaches to gameplay that have been explored by other developers before, but not put together with the quality and thoughtfulness that Markus has. The game he created deserves an introduction before I talk about the man himself, but there are a lot of other interesting qualities about his character that have driven his success; I’ll take a look at a few here.

Notch (Markus) started minecraft after quitting an earlier game development job he had. I won’t say I’m an expert on what happened during the initial period of minecraft development, but ultimately, he took some really simple concepts and expanded them beautifully.

Moreover, he has a welcoming, and friendly approach to the community which helped make minecraft popular, and that simple fact that he got that relationship right, along with the quality of the game, carried it incredibly far.

Of course, there has been a lot of direction directly from notch himself, but the feedback process with players, and the instincts of the main developer of the game really come through in the gameplay.

Personally, all I could really say, is that if you play the game in a dark room on a quiet night, and just let yourself get into it, it truly is one of the better “escapism” games where your focus really does get completely engrossed in what you’re doing in-game.

If I were to try to put into words what they really got right with minecraft, I’d make some of these main points.

• It’s not a static environment like you’ll find in 99% of other games
• There’s a real quality aesthetic to the game on the whole, down to every last bit.
• The number of possibilities when it comes to “what do I do right now to have fun in the game?” is just endless. The gameplay flows wherever you want it to.
• One gets the sense that it’s a game made for players. People don’t feel like they’re being taken for every last penny of custom artwork like you might find on other heavy-graphics titles.

In conclusion, if you haven’t, I recommend playing minecraft sometime. While playing it, you might try to think of how someone developed the entire experience, and where did the inspiration come from… Notch.

(Disclaimer, ya I know this is a totally biased piece of writing, that’s why it’s called a fanfic assignment. Also, sorry I forgot to mention that notch is a blogger)

ds106 assignment – blogger fanfic

(image credit: PC Gamer article)

Assignment: Write about your favorite blogger.

Process: In choosing to write about Notch, one of my favorite game developers by far, I will just highlight some of my opinions on the man. I’ll also take a look at why he’s a very prolific character in the software world (for some of us at least).

Story: So that’s “notch”, AKA, Markus Persson. No big deal right? Just some guy. Let’s take a look at something he made:

(image credit: me, I give it to the public domain!)

Okay, at a first glance, unless you’ve seen this before, you might think this is some type of roller coaster game. Looks like some kind of weird blocky roller coaster game, right?

There are some details about the picture that don’t quite match up with 99% of the other games you’ll find on the market:

• It’s not a roller coaster game, this just happens to be one of the features of the game, that you can build something that resembles a roller coaster (and of course you can ride on it with a first-person view)
• All those blocks were not there to begin with; they weren’t put together in that formation by some game designer in some well-funded high quality studio, they’re simply my creation for which I was able to take time to carefully craft how I wanted.
• Each block has its own functionality, and each block is destroyable. Some blocks are stronger than others, some have fluid physical properties, such as water, and some are dangerous. There are many types of blocks, but try to think of another game where you can build indefinitely into any direction using so many build materials?

Minecraft offers some really novel approaches to gameplay that have been explored by other developers before, but not put together with the quality and thoughtfulness that Markus has. The game he created deserves an introduction before I talk about the man himself, but there are a lot of other interesting qualities about his character that have driven his success; I’ll take a look at a few here.

Notch (Markus) started minecraft after quitting an earlier game development job he had. I won’t say I’m an expert on what happened during the initial period of minecraft development, but ultimately, he took some really simple concepts and expanded them beautifully.

Moreover, he has a welcoming, and friendly approach to the community which helped make minecraft popular, and that simple fact that he got that relationship right, along with the quality of the game, carried it incredibly far.

Of course, there has been a lot of direction directly from notch himself, but the feedback process with players, and the instincts of the main developer of the game really come through in the gameplay.

Personally, all I could really say, is that if you play the game in a dark room on a quiet night, and just let yourself get into it, it truly is one of the better “escapism” games where your focus really does get completely engrossed in what you’re doing in-game.

If I were to try to put into words what they really got right with minecraft, I’d make some of these main points.

• It’s not a static environment like you’ll find in 99% of other games
• There’s a real quality aesthetic to the game on the whole, down to every last bit.
• The number of possibilities when it comes to “what do I do right now to have fun in the game?” is just endless. The gameplay flows wherever you want it to.
• One gets the sense that it’s a game made for players. People don’t feel like they’re being taken for every last penny of custom artwork like you might find on other heavy-graphics titles.

In conclusion, if you haven’t, I recommend playing minecraft sometime. While playing it, you might try to think of how someone developed the entire experience, and where did the inspiration come from… Notch.

(Disclaimer, ya I know this is a totally biased piece of writing, that’s why it’s called a fanfic assignment. Also, sorry I forgot to mention that notch is a blogger)

ds106 assignment – blogger fanfic

(image credit: PC Gamer article)

Assignment: Write about your favorite blogger.

Process: In choosing to write about Notch, one of my favorite game developers by far, I will just highlight some of my opinions on the man. I’ll also take a look at why he’s a very prolific character in the software world (for some of us at least).

Story: So that’s “notch”, AKA, Markus Persson. No big deal right? Just some guy. Let’s take a look at something he made:

(image credit: me, I give it to the public domain!)

Okay, at a first glance, unless you’ve seen this before, you might think this is some type of roller coaster game. Looks like some kind of weird blocky roller coaster game, right?

There are some details about the picture that don’t quite match up with 99% of the other games you’ll find on the market:

• It’s not a roller coaster game, this just happens to be one of the features of the game, that you can build something that resembles a roller coaster (and of course you can ride on it with a first-person view)
• All those blocks were not there to begin with; they weren’t put together in that formation by some game designer in some well-funded high quality studio, they’re simply my creation for which I was able to take time to carefully craft how I wanted.
• Each block has its own functionality, and each block is destroyable. Some blocks are stronger than others, some have fluid physical properties, such as water, and some are dangerous. There are many types of blocks, but try to think of another game where you can build indefinitely into any direction using so many build materials?

Minecraft offers some really novel approaches to gameplay that have been explored by other developers before, but not put together with the quality and thoughtfulness that Markus has. The game he created deserves an introduction before I talk about the man himself, but there are a lot of other interesting qualities about his character that have driven his success; I’ll take a look at a few here.

Notch (Markus) started minecraft after quitting an earlier game development job he had. I won’t say I’m an expert on what happened during the initial period of minecraft development, but ultimately, he took some really simple concepts and expanded them beautifully.

Moreover, he has a welcoming, and friendly approach to the community which helped make minecraft popular, and that simple fact that he got that relationship right, along with the quality of the game, carried it incredibly far.

Of course, there has been a lot of direction directly from notch himself, but the feedback process with players, and the instincts of the main developer of the game really come through in the gameplay.

Personally, all I could really say, is that if you play the game in a dark room on a quiet night, and just let yourself get into it, it truly is one of the better “escapism” games where your focus really does get completely engrossed in what you’re doing in-game.

If I were to try to put into words what they really got right with minecraft, I’d make some of these main points.

• It’s not a static environment like you’ll find in 99% of other games
• There’s a real quality aesthetic to the game on the whole, down to every last bit.
• The number of possibilities when it comes to “what do I do right now to have fun in the game?” is just endless. The gameplay flows wherever you want it to.
• One gets the sense that it’s a game made for players. People don’t feel like they’re being taken for every last penny of custom artwork like you might find on other heavy-graphics titles.

In conclusion, if you haven’t, I recommend playing minecraft sometime. While playing it, you might try to think of how someone developed the entire experience, and where did the inspiration come from… Notch.

(Disclaimer, ya I know this is a totally biased piece of writing, that’s why it’s called a fanfic assignment. Also, sorry I forgot to mention that notch is a blogger)

ds106 assignment – blogger fanfic