9 ms·

Classic Minecraft now free online

187 points by danielam 7y ago

thedaemon 7y ago
Creative mode only.
- sosodev 7y ago
  Well, Minecraft didn't have survival mode originally. It was just "creative" multiplayer.
  - detaro 7y ago
    This version is actually the last before Survival test versions started, less than two months after release of the first version (which didn't have multiplayer either)
JeremyBanks 7y ago
The original created Minecraft Java applet was available on the website for a long time. It looks like it's now been converted to WebGL -- I wonder if it's compiled from Java or reimplemented.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- Jasper_ 7y ago
  Looking at the compiled bundle, it seems to be a custom recreation based on BabylonJS.
- faissaloo 7y ago
  You can still play the real Minecraft Classic via OpenClassic
z3t4 7y ago
I'm baffled why there are no Minecraft clones, a game created by a single person without a budget. The gaming industry is otherwise notorious for ripping of each other's games. Almost all successive games, Minecraft included , started by copying another game (Infiniminer). Or CandySwipe->CandyCrush et.al... I think a MMO version of Minecraft would be interesting.
- logicalmind 7y ago
  I think Roblox is the nearest clone. It is also very popular.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    Roblox predates Minecraft by a lot.
    - drdrey 7y ago
      It's also not like Minecraft at all
- donpdonp 7y ago
  https://www.minetest.net/ https://www.minetest.net/ is excellent
- deadbunny 7y ago
  There is Mine Test which is pretty much an open source clone. But competing with a behemoth is hard especially in Minecraft's target demographic. https://www.minetest.net https://www.minetest.net
  - kickscondor 7y ago
    Yeah, there are a lot of clones, including Survivalcraft (for iOS) and there was one for 3DS before Minecraft was released there. Linden Labs' Blocksworld wasn't a strict clone of Minecraft, but was definitely an attempt to improve it. Also, Fortnite's Creative mode is heavily inspired by Minecraft - many staples of the Minecraft scene, such as 'spleef' games, are being replicated there.
skykooler 7y ago
The mouse look doesn't seem to work in Firefox, unfortunately.
- breakingcups 7y ago
  Works fine in Firefox ESR on Debian.
  - RandomGuyDTB 7y ago
    Also works in latest on Windows 64-bit
- snek 7y ago
  works fine for me (macos)
  - skykooler 7y ago
    Interesting; after further testing it works fine in Firefox on MacOS but not Firefox on Ubuntu.
- mises 7y ago
  Doesn't work for me either (though not latest because of extension fiasco) Windows 64-bit. Maybe an extension? All I've got is ublock origin.
- ClassyJacket 7y ago
  Doesn't work on Chrome 56 either (Work enforced old version, sadly)
cheeseomlit 7y ago
I'm really glad minecraft became popular with kids. It lets them use their imagination and flex their creative muscles, I'm sure that's why they were attracted to it. It's a good change of pace from the mindless stimulation that most video games provide where they are just a passive consumer of the content.
- mruts 7y ago
  Is it still popular with kids? I was under the impression that it was replaced by fortnite. And what do both games have in common? They're both free.
  - sgarman 7y ago
    Minecraft hasn't been free until now.
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
      Minecraft Classic was free for a long time, it's just that it was taken offline at one point. (Note, Minecraft Classic ≠ "Minecraft Java" or whatever they're calling the primary pre-Microsoft PC version now)
      - ihuman 7y ago
        > Minecraft Classic ≠ "Minecraft Java It kind of is. Survival was added Java Edition Classic, then was spun out into its own version with Java Edition Indev. The modern Java version is a descendant of Indev.
        Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        I guess, but they kept up "Minecraft Classic" for many years as a separate (and free) thing. And I'm pretty sure this is just Minecraft Classic again.
        dangus 7y ago
asdfman123 7y ago
I've got a question since we've got a lot of developers together talking about Minecraft: why is it so inefficient? If I take a rowboat anywhere on my MC (decently spec'd) server the loading is horrible. Is it just because there's so much going on in every chunk, and the rendering engine has to load entire chunks all the way from the bedrock to the sky?
- voldacar 7y ago
  Minecraft IO isn't terribly efficient. The chunks don't get rendered bedrock to the sky, but the chunks have to be loaded from disk like that. Due to the way they are stored, there is no way to load only the visible/nearest part of a chunk. (I'm working on a minecraft clone with cubic chunks btw)
  - pythonaut_16 7y ago
    I'd be interested in checking that out! Is it open source? Do you have a Github link?
    - voldacar 7y ago
      It's very much a WIP and is not on any public git server yet. If it ever gets to that point, I'll probably post it on this site
  - zapzupnz 7y ago
    I wonder if cubic chunks is possible to add to Minecraft through modding, or to its nearest open-source 'competitor' (for lack of a better term), Minetest.
    - voldacar 7y ago
      It would require a hugely significant engine rework. Networking, IO, world generation, entity AI, etc Basically any part of the code that reads/writes chunks in the world or just references some kind of chunk-related data-type would have to be altered
faissaloo 7y ago
It's not the real thing, it's a Javascript remake of Minecraft Classic. You'll notice the blocks aren't correctly ordered, some blocks are missing and Minecraft Classic never had the 'breathing' block placement effect.
jtms 7y ago
Years ago I worked my way through some of the electrical schematics in the book “Code: the hidden language of computers” using a modded version of redbrick that added some basic support for cable bundles, junctions, a timing crystal, etc. started with basic logic gates and then eventually I was able to get as far as building an 8 bit ALU and 1kb of memory in game. I don’t think I’d understand even close to as well how these things work if not for this amazing creation!
- Aromasin 7y ago
  I'm an EE engineer now almost completely due to an obsession with Minecraft in my early teens. I used to hire myself out on multiplayer servers, designing and building various Redstone constructs. By the point I started studying electronics at A-Level, I'd already had almost 5 years of experience with Boolean logic, switches, latches, memory, timing circuits and the like. MC was a gateway drug for sure.
  - GaryNumanVevo 7y ago
    Hey me too! I'm a CprE grad, but I had the same obsession, doing in a video game somehow made it more "cool"
    - jtms 7y ago
      I’d argue it almost certainly is more cool :-)
  - jtms 7y ago
    I too might have followed a similar path if not for the fact I was already writing software professionally at the time. Your story definitely brought a smile to my face - thanks for sharing that!
OrgNet 7y ago
That's a really good start but it is not fluid on my laptop...
cr0sh 7y ago
Though not a game in itself, my favorite "minecraft"-alike engine for the web is this one: http://voxeljs.com/ http://voxeljs.com/
- deathcap 7y ago
  Glad to see a shoutout to voxel.js here! I worked on it for years and I had high hopes, wrote about my progress here: https://medium.com/@deathcap1/six-months-of-voxel-js-494be64dd1cc https://medium.com/@deathcap1/six-months-of-voxel-js-494be64.... Inventory, crafting, chests, texture packs, a plugin system, and embedded web views were some of my favorite features. My project was https://github.com/deathcap/voxelmetaverse https://github.com/deathcap/voxelmetaverse, hosted at http://voxelmetaverse.com http://voxelmetaverse.com. Unfortunately I haven't had time to develop it further, but it is all open source if anyone would like to pick up the torch.
  - fenomas 7y ago
    Hey DC, I found this thread very late so I guess you may not see this. I played with voxel.js for a while back in the day, but ultimately I wound up building a similar engine from scratch (I think we discussed it briefly, if this rings a bell). Anyway, I thought you might be interested to know that Minecraft Classic seems to be built on my voxel engine, the one I modeled after voxel.js! So there's a kind of circular lineage now, from minecraft to voxel.js and later back to MC...

187 points by danielam 7y ago

thedaemon 7y ago

Creative mode only.

sosodev 7y ago
Well, Minecraft didn't have survival mode originally. It was just "creative" multiplayer.
- detaro 7y ago
  This version is actually the last before Survival test versions started, less than two months after release of the first version (which didn't have multiplayer either)

JeremyBanks 7y ago

The original created Minecraft Java applet was available on the website for a long time. It looks like it's now been converted to WebGL -- I wonder if it's compiled from Java or reimplemented.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Jasper_ 7y ago
Looking at the compiled bundle, it seems to be a custom recreation based on BabylonJS.
faissaloo 7y ago
You can still play the real Minecraft Classic via OpenClassic

z3t4 7y ago

I'm baffled why there are no Minecraft clones, a game created by a single person without a budget. The gaming industry is otherwise notorious for ripping of each other's games. Almost all successive games, Minecraft included , started by copying another game (Infiniminer). Or CandySwipe->CandyCrush et.al... I think a MMO version of Minecraft would be interesting.

logicalmind 7y ago
I think Roblox is the nearest clone. It is also very popular.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  Roblox predates Minecraft by a lot.
  - drdrey 7y ago
    It's also not like Minecraft at all
donpdonp 7y ago
https://www.minetest.net/ https://www.minetest.net/ is excellent
deadbunny 7y ago
There is Mine Test which is pretty much an open source clone. But competing with a behemoth is hard especially in Minecraft's target demographic. https://www.minetest.net https://www.minetest.net
- kickscondor 7y ago
  Yeah, there are a lot of clones, including Survivalcraft (for iOS) and there was one for 3DS before Minecraft was released there. Linden Labs' Blocksworld wasn't a strict clone of Minecraft, but was definitely an attempt to improve it. Also, Fortnite's Creative mode is heavily inspired by Minecraft - many staples of the Minecraft scene, such as 'spleef' games, are being replicated there.

skykooler 7y ago

The mouse look doesn't seem to work in Firefox, unfortunately.

breakingcups 7y ago
Works fine in Firefox ESR on Debian.
- RandomGuyDTB 7y ago
  Also works in latest on Windows 64-bit
snek 7y ago
works fine for me (macos)
- skykooler 7y ago
  Interesting; after further testing it works fine in Firefox on MacOS but not Firefox on Ubuntu.
mises 7y ago
Doesn't work for me either (though not latest because of extension fiasco) Windows 64-bit. Maybe an extension? All I've got is ublock origin.
ClassyJacket 7y ago
Doesn't work on Chrome 56 either (Work enforced old version, sadly)

cheeseomlit 7y ago

I'm really glad minecraft became popular with kids. It lets them use their imagination and flex their creative muscles, I'm sure that's why they were attracted to it. It's a good change of pace from the mindless stimulation that most video games provide where they are just a passive consumer of the content.

mruts 7y ago
Is it still popular with kids? I was under the impression that it was replaced by fortnite. And what do both games have in common? They're both free.
- sgarman 7y ago
  Minecraft hasn't been free until now.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    Minecraft Classic was free for a long time, it's just that it was taken offline at one point. (Note, Minecraft Classic ≠ "Minecraft Java" or whatever they're calling the primary pre-Microsoft PC version now)
    - ihuman 7y ago
      > Minecraft Classic ≠ "Minecraft Java It kind of is. Survival was added Java Edition Classic, then was spun out into its own version with Java Edition Indev. The modern Java version is a descendant of Indev.
      - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        I guess, but they kept up "Minecraft Classic" for many years as a separate (and free) thing. And I'm pretty sure this is just Minecraft Classic again.
      - dangus 7y ago

asdfman123 7y ago

I've got a question since we've got a lot of developers together talking about Minecraft: why is it so inefficient? If I take a rowboat anywhere on my MC (decently spec'd) server the loading is horrible. Is it just because there's so much going on in every chunk, and the rendering engine has to load entire chunks all the way from the bedrock to the sky?

voldacar 7y ago
Minecraft IO isn't terribly efficient. The chunks don't get rendered bedrock to the sky, but the chunks have to be loaded from disk like that. Due to the way they are stored, there is no way to load only the visible/nearest part of a chunk. (I'm working on a minecraft clone with cubic chunks btw)
- pythonaut_16 7y ago
  I'd be interested in checking that out! Is it open source? Do you have a Github link?
  - voldacar 7y ago
    It's very much a WIP and is not on any public git server yet. If it ever gets to that point, I'll probably post it on this site
- zapzupnz 7y ago
  I wonder if cubic chunks is possible to add to Minecraft through modding, or to its nearest open-source 'competitor' (for lack of a better term), Minetest.
  - voldacar 7y ago
    It would require a hugely significant engine rework. Networking, IO, world generation, entity AI, etc Basically any part of the code that reads/writes chunks in the world or just references some kind of chunk-related data-type would have to be altered

faissaloo 7y ago

It's not the real thing, it's a Javascript remake of Minecraft Classic. You'll notice the blocks aren't correctly ordered, some blocks are missing and Minecraft Classic never had the 'breathing' block placement effect.

jtms 7y ago

Years ago I worked my way through some of the electrical schematics in the book “Code: the hidden language of computers” using a modded version of redbrick that added some basic support for cable bundles, junctions, a timing crystal, etc. started with basic logic gates and then eventually I was able to get as far as building an 8 bit ALU and 1kb of memory in game. I don’t think I’d understand even close to as well how these things work if not for this amazing creation!

Aromasin 7y ago
I'm an EE engineer now almost completely due to an obsession with Minecraft in my early teens. I used to hire myself out on multiplayer servers, designing and building various Redstone constructs. By the point I started studying electronics at A-Level, I'd already had almost 5 years of experience with Boolean logic, switches, latches, memory, timing circuits and the like. MC was a gateway drug for sure.
- GaryNumanVevo 7y ago
  Hey me too! I'm a CprE grad, but I had the same obsession, doing in a video game somehow made it more "cool"
  - jtms 7y ago
    I’d argue it almost certainly is more cool :-)
- jtms 7y ago
  I too might have followed a similar path if not for the fact I was already writing software professionally at the time. Your story definitely brought a smile to my face - thanks for sharing that!

OrgNet 7y ago

That's a really good start but it is not fluid on my laptop...

cr0sh 7y ago

Though not a game in itself, my favorite "minecraft"-alike engine for the web is this one: http://voxeljs.com/ http://voxeljs.com/

deathcap 7y ago
Glad to see a shoutout to voxel.js here! I worked on it for years and I had high hopes, wrote about my progress here: https://medium.com/@deathcap1/six-months-of-voxel-js-494be64dd1cc https://medium.com/@deathcap1/six-months-of-voxel-js-494be64.... Inventory, crafting, chests, texture packs, a plugin system, and embedded web views were some of my favorite features. My project was https://github.com/deathcap/voxelmetaverse https://github.com/deathcap/voxelmetaverse, hosted at http://voxelmetaverse.com http://voxelmetaverse.com. Unfortunately I haven't had time to develop it further, but it is all open source if anyone would like to pick up the torch.
- fenomas 7y ago
  Hey DC, I found this thread very late so I guess you may not see this. I played with voxel.js for a while back in the day, but ultimately I wound up building a similar engine from scratch (I think we discussed it briefly, if this rings a bell). Anyway, I thought you might be interested to know that Minecraft Classic seems to be built on my voxel engine, the one I modeled after voxel.js! So there's a kind of circular lineage now, from minecraft to voxel.js and later back to MC...