Minecraft

Game: Minecraft
Platform Played: PC
Developer: Mojang
Release Year: 2011
Stephen's Rank: 8/10

Minecraft is the original sandbox adventure game which changed the way we think about games.

Basic Plot

There is no plot.

Gameplay

Regardless of what mode you play the game on there are some general principles which make Minecraft what it is:

• The entire world is made up of 3D cubes of material somewhat like a giant lego world.
• Different blocks have different properties and can be interacted with in different ways.
• Some blocks can be harvested to obtain raw materials. These raw materials can be held in the player's inventory.
• Raw materials can be combined in a number of ways to create complex tools, objects, and even engineering and electronics.

There are different modes of gameplay which provide the player with a different experience. Primarily there is survival mode and creative mode.

In survival mode the player joins or creates a random world to play in. You start with nothing except your bare hands and initially the goal is find food and shelter and survive. Gameplay is broken up into a fairly frequent day/night cycle. During the day the player is safe from enemy creatures and can focus on finding materials and food. At night time the player is encouraged to build or find shelter and wait for day time, as there are a multitude of enemy creatures who will try and attack the player on sight and even destroy their creations.

 An example of a player inventory. You can craft basic items from here in the space provided but you need a work bench to create complex recipes.

In creative mode the player is given a UI which allows them ot create an infinite number of any material. This is useful for creating masterpieces within the game engine. The objective isn't to survive, rather creative mode offers the player a canvas to create art.

The game is under constant development and from what I've read there will eventually be a way to beat the game, but for now it is truly a sandbox game which gives the player complete freedom to play in any way they choose.

Rather than talk in depth about the mechanics of the game I think it would be a lot more interesting to explore how we (myself and several others from Viva la Dirt League + my friend Matt) played Minecraft. We have a server hosted online and we play periodically. I'll cover that in the memorable moments section at the bottom

The work bench, used to create complex recipes.

You can also give your character custom skins which is always a source of entertainment. Mine is currently a Super Saiyan 3 Goku skin, while Hamish has a frog.

Comparisons

Obviously the closest thing I've ever played to this is Terraria which is essentially a 2D version of Minecraft. Terraria is slightly more adventure orientated and includes dungeons, boss monsters and quests which give it a slightly different feel.

Positives

Minecraft is a joy to play. It's deceptively simple from an initial glance, but has a lot of depth underneath. The vast array of recipes and interactions you can have with the world are immense and can provide you with many (many) hours of gameplay.

Multiplayer is the best. There's almost no point in creating wonderous works of art without someone to share it with.

Negatives

There is no online server for hosting your games, instead you need to set up your own server. This isn't an issue if you know how to open ports and set up a private server, or if you pay to have your server hosted, but if you don't know much about computers it can be a pain.

Memorable Moments

Myself and a group of friends have a server hosted online which we used to play a lot of.

We've set up a mini-town of sorts with different areas for different purposes. The areas are linked together with a powered rail which can be summoned from either end. I set up most of the rail and it was really fun. I highly recommend it! It makes any Minecraft town a lot more fun.

When we first started the server my friend Matt set up a basic base built into the side of a forested hill. We set up a basic living area with forges and work benches, chests for storage, and a wheat farm. We also dug a fairly winding mine shaft down to gather minerals.

From that area we built a tunnel which extends under the ocean a short way onto a large flat area of land. Here we decided to re-create the drama school that most of us went to for three years. It's a pretty unique building with a huge tall ceiling and lots of weird shapes and rooms, and it's still in progress. We call it "Te Whaea" which is the name of the building in real life.

A partially completed Te Whaea.

Next James and Paul set up a giant fortress in the middle of the ocean which looks like a giant head. I haven't had much to do with it but whenever I catch the train back to Te Whaea to see Matt... there it is, staring at me.

Then I had this "awesome" idea. I wanted to build a giant statue like the Collossus from Civilization but make it transparent and have light coming from inside it. I built a small base underneath and created a portal to the Nether. It turns out it looks freaking ugly and I hate it. I scorn the sight of it whenever I go past it now and will dismantle it in the future.

My failure of a statue.

Hamish creates his home base a fairly long way away in the side of a desert mountain area. It's huge and epic but the problem was it took us too long to meet up (this was before we laid down the rail). So we met half way and created a new home base. We included a vast array of farms with pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, wheat, watermelons, and bamboo up the top. A stone platform was our starting point and has become a sort of "hub" we use to catch trains and store items in a row of chests. There is a tunnel that goes through the mountain here toward Te Whaea but most importantly our mine shaft is in here. To get down you simply fall vertically to the bottom into a pool 3 tiles high of water. It's a rush every time I fall down. There's a second shaft with a ladder to the top and several exits at different levels; for example at the right levels for mining gold, diamond, or iron.

Hamish has extended the home base a lot including turrets, and we've linked all of our current and previous bases with a pair of railways. The goal is in the future to set up a circular railway which is always on with minecarts going past every few seconds. Then we can jump on from anywhere without having to call a cart.

Overlooking the top of our home base with the turrets and farmland visible. The mines are underneath. To the right in the distance you can see the transport hub with access to both railways and the storage chests. The stone path Hamish is on (he took the screenshots) is going to be part of the circular rail system.

Black & White

Game: Black & White
Platform Played: PC
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Release Year: 2001
Stephen's Rank: 6/10

Black & White is an unusual strategy game developed by Lionhead Studios.

Basic Plot

The player takes on the role of a newly created god, created by the prayers of a small family. The player is then tasked at looking after the family with the help of his or her Creature.

The story kicks in when the player is introduced to another god called Nemesis. Nemesis is seeking to re-create the Creed so he can destroy all the other gods and become the one god to rule them all.

The player faces off against Nemesis by taking over villages and gaining pieces of the Creed until Nemesis is defeated leaving the player as the only remaining god.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty unique and doesn't have a lot of precedents before it. It plays out somewhat like a real time strategy game in that you are an external player who manipulates the world around them.

Here you can see the hand and a Creature.

The player's primary interaction with the world is the Hand. The hand follows the mouse cursor and is able to interact with many objects in the world including picking up and throwing objects (and people), casting miracles, knocking on houses to wake up the inhabitants, etc. The appearance of the hand changes depending on the actions the player takes (looking pure and clean if the player follows a strict no-harm policy to villagers, or red and spiky if the player commits evil acts).

The other primary form of interaction with the world is the Creature. Each god has a Creature which is a magical pet which can be trained to perform various tasks. The player trains the Creature by placing a leash on him while performing various acts with the Hand. The Creature AI remembers those actions and will repeat them automatically. Using this technique the player can train their Creature in any way they choose. Creatures grow in size and strength over time.

A lot of the gameplay involves taking over villages by performing miracles which cause the villagers to believe in you as a god. Other ways of winning over villages including providing resources such as food or wood, or creating a building.

As mentioned earlier the player gets a choice; whether to be a good and compassionate god or an evil twisted one. The choice is made by the actions the player takes, and the user interface changes depending on the player's alignment. Additionaly gods with different alignments will use different strategies in the game; a good god might provide care and help to a village while an evil god will strike fear into them in order to force them to obey. Villagers get immune to different kinds of miracle and help over time, so the player is forced to keep trying different tactics to impress them.

The player's temple, where the Creature sleeps and the player saves and loads their game.

There are two kinds of quests; golden scroll (primary) and silver scroll (optional). Silver scroll quests provide additional rewards which help the player advance.

Miracles are spells which the player casts with their hand. They cost worship or sacrifice to cast. To perform a miracle the player makes a Hand gesture which means the player has to remember the gestures for all the Miracles they know.

Comparisons

The fact that you play a god and are controlling the people not directly but indirectly reminds me of Populous 2.

Positives

Innovative idea, fun concept. Nothing like it out there (at the time).

Negatives

The story is a little weak.

For me the game missed the point of its own innovation. The story is actually quite restrictive and forces the player into situations where their freedom to explore is reduced significantly. I think this game would have had more success in a sandbox environment where there wasn't necessarily any story.

Memorable Moments

No matter how hard I tried I always ended up sliding toward evil alignment. It's very tricky to stop your Creature from accidentally eating villagers... It got too hard for me, I stopped enjoying it once I encountered other gods.