4 ms·

That's what minecraft should look like.

by rorrr 16y ago

mambodog 16y ago
I've given it a lot of thought, and I don't think Minecraft would be so easy to pick up and play if in weren't so 'blocky'. At least not without some really good design. The size of the blocks in Minecraft really lend themselves to being able to put together things that approximate real life structures, while maintaining a sufficient level of simplicity. This simplicity makes reasoning and manipulating the game world less challenging, resulting in the game being more accessible to a wide variety of players.
- dazzawazza 16y ago
  Similarly we don't give children atoms to play with, we give atoms constrained into lego blocks.
  - wlievens 16y ago
    Constraints give rise to creativity. Just compare that to the "1K" or "7 day" competitions.
    - 1337p337 16y ago
      Or even compared to, for example, the constraints on plays in the Elizabethan era when Shakespeare wrote, or the syllabic constraints on haiku. One would think that there would be a bigger "dancing bear" (it's amazing that the bear dances at all, not that the bear dances well) factor, but not many playwrights match Shakespeare, given fewer (or no) constraints. I've had to switch languages a lot when coding, but even in a constrained or flawed language, you see code that is beautiful and amazing. Constraints free up thought, as when you stop rebelling against a framework, you can excel in it. It's hard to push your brain into what feels like a hole; I can't get anything done in Perl because I spend too much time being repulsed, but some people embrace the language and produce great software. Having just praised restrictions like that, though, I still have to mention that this game looks really cool.
- johnyzee 16y ago
  This is probably why the old 8- and 16-bit games seem to have so much more compelling gameplay than ultra-realistic modern games. Well, that or we are just cranky oldtimers.
malkia 16y ago
You don't wanna be in the Uncanny Valley - Minecraft is cute, because it's not real - hard from real. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Splines 16y ago
A thought that crossed my mind some time ago is some consequences of fine-detail in Minecraft. You would be able to create objects of higher complexity packed into a manageable size. Would you pay money to someone who created a really useful (or cool) object in high-fidelity Minecraft?

That's what minecraft should look like.

by rorrr 16y ago

That's what minecraft should look like.

I've given it a lot of thought, and I don't think Minecraft would be so easy to pick up and play if in weren't so 'blocky'. At least not without some really good design. The size of the blocks in Minecraft really lend themselves to being able to put together things that approximate real life structures, while maintaining a sufficient level of simplicity. This simplicity makes reasoning and manipulating the game world less challenging, resulting in the game being more accessible to a wide variety of players.

dazzawazza 16y ago
Similarly we don't give children atoms to play with, we give atoms constrained into lego blocks.
- wlievens 16y ago
  Constraints give rise to creativity. Just compare that to the "1K" or "7 day" competitions.
  - 1337p337 16y ago
    Or even compared to, for example, the constraints on plays in the Elizabethan era when Shakespeare wrote, or the syllabic constraints on haiku. One would think that there would be a bigger "dancing bear" (it's amazing that the bear dances at all, not that the bear dances well) factor, but not many playwrights match Shakespeare, given fewer (or no) constraints. I've had to switch languages a lot when coding, but even in a constrained or flawed language, you see code that is beautiful and amazing. Constraints free up thought, as when you stop rebelling against a framework, you can excel in it. It's hard to push your brain into what feels like a hole; I can't get anything done in Perl because I spend too much time being repulsed, but some people embrace the language and produce great software. Having just praised restrictions like that, though, I still have to mention that this game looks really cool.
johnyzee 16y ago
This is probably why the old 8- and 16-bit games seem to have so much more compelling gameplay than ultra-realistic modern games. Well, that or we are just cranky oldtimers.

malkia 16y ago

You don't wanna be in the Uncanny Valley - Minecraft is cute, because it's not real - hard from real. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

Splines 16y ago

A thought that crossed my mind some time ago is some consequences of fine-detail in Minecraft. You would be able to create objects of higher complexity packed into a manageable size. Would you pay money to someone who created a really useful (or cool) object in high-fidelity Minecraft?