History VideoGame / MineCraft

''Minecraft'' is notable in that it follows an MMO-style support model despite being largely single-player and receives updates from time to time. The game also began as an indie game and was created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson as a SpiritualAdaptation of a [[FreewareGames freeware]] game from Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries called ''Infiniminer''. First released in 2009, ''Minecraft'' started very basic and only had the equivalent of Creative mode. Various other modes, such as Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev were slowly added in and refined/renamed, as well as many of the now-standard features (like the day/night cycle). In the summer of 2010, it was updated to [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Alpha]] status and moved to Beta status later that year. Despite the game being "officially" released in 2011, many new features have continued to be added. As previously mentioned, in 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang (and thus ''Minecraft'') but assured fans they planned to continue the game's ongoing development, which they have by releasing usually one to two updates per year. As of 2024, the game is on version 1.20.5.

''Minecraft'' is notable in that it follows an MMO-style support model despite being largely single-player and receives updates from time to time. The game also began as an indie game and was created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson as a SpiritualAdaptation of a [[FreewareGames freeware]] game from Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries called ''Infiniminer''. First released in 2009, ''Minecraft'' started very basic and only had the equivalent of Creative mode. Various other modes, such as Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev were slowly added in and refined/renamed, as well as many of the now-standard features (like the day/night cycle). In the summer of 2010, it was updated to [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Alpha]] status and moved to Beta status later that year. Despite the game being "officially" released in 2011, many new features have continued to be added. As previously mentioned, in 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang (and thus ''Minecraft'') but assured fans they planned to continue the game's ongoing development, which they have by releasing usually one to two updates per year. As of 2023, the game is on version 1.20.4.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minicraft}}'': An 8-bit styled top-down game based on ''Minecraft'', made in 48 hours for a Ludum Dare competition.

'''''{{T|ropeCodifier}}he''''' [[WideOpenSandbox Wide-Open]] SurvivalSandbox.

See also ''VideoGame/{{Minicraft}}'', a spin-off game by Notch; ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', a 2D title that is the most popular of several games with [[FollowTheLeader similar "blocky sandbox survival" themes]] to ''Minecraft''; and ''VideoGame/{{Hytale}}'', another such game developed by some of the creators of the Hypixel maps and minigames listed on the [[FanWorks/{{Minecraft}} Fan Works]] page. There's also a ''Minecraft''-inspired Youtube Red series called ''WebAnimation/KingsOfAtlantis''.

->''You died!''[[note]]or if you're playing the classic version, ''Game Over!''[[/note]]

->''Score: 0''

->''[[{{VideoGame/Minecraft}} Respawn]]''

->''[[HomePage Title Screen]]''

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1368982419065917100. Please do not change or remove either without starting a new thread.
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minecraft_cover.png]]

''Minecraft'' is notable in that it follows an MMO-style support model despite being largely single-player and receives updates from time to time. The game also began as an indie game and was created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson as a SpiritualAdaptation of a [[FreewareGames freeware]] game from Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries called ''Infiniminer''. First released in 2009, ''Minecraft'' started very basic and only had the equivalent of Creative mode. Various other modes, such as Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev were slowly added in and refined/renamed, as well as many of the now-standard features (like the day/night cycle). In the summer of 2010, it was updated to [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Alpha]] status and moved to Beta status later that year. Despite the game being "officially" released in 2011, many new features have continued to be added. As previously mentioned, in 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang (and thus ''Minecraft'') but assured fans they planned to continue the game's ongoing development, which they have by releasing usually one to two updates per year. As of 2023, the game is on version 1.20.2.

'''''{{T|ropeCodifier}}he''''' WideOpenSandbox.

The soundtrack is by composers Music/{{C418}}, Lena Raine, Kumi Tanioka, and Aaron Cherof. The GameModIndex has a ''Minecraft'' section which has pages for various mods and maps. There is also another page reserved for fan-made [[VideoGame/MinecraftAdventureMaps Adventure Maps]]. The unofficial wiki can be found [[https://minecraft.wiki/ here,]] which is an extremely valuable tool, though each recent update has decreased the need to rely on it by providing in-game hints regarding all major features.

See also ''VideoGame/{{Minicraft}}'', a spin-off game by Notch; ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', a 2D title that is the most popular of several games with [[FollowTheLeader similar "blocky sandbox survival" themes]] to ''Minecraft''; and ''VideoGame/{{Hytale}}'', another such game developed by some of the creators of the Hypixel maps and minigames listed on the Adventure Maps page. There's also a ''Minecraft''-inspired Youtube Red series called ''WebAnimation/KingsOfAtlantis''.

The soundtrack is by composers Music/{{C418}}, Lena Raine, Kumi Tanioka, and Aaron Cherof. The GameModIndex has a ''Minecraft'' section which has pages for various mods and maps. There is also another page reserved for fan-made [[VideoGame/MinecraftAdventureMaps Adventure Maps]]. The official wiki can be found [[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki here,]] which is an extremely valuable tool, though each recent update has decreased the need to rely on it by providing in-game hints regarding all major features.

'''{{T|ropeCodifier}}he''' WideOpenSandbox.

The game's popularity cannot be overstated. With over 238 million copies sold, it is the number one best-selling game ''of all time'', surpassing the previous record-holder ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''. The game's popularity is so high and its fanbase so large that [[Creator/XboxGameStudios Microsoft]] bought ''Minecraft'' for over two billion dollars in 2014. Part of the game's success can be credited to its deep and open-ended gameplay that encourages creativity and exploration: there is no fixed or structured storyline or narrative, and players are given utter freedom to decide how they want to interact with the world, as well as make their adventures within the game.

''Minecraft'' is notable in that it follows an MMO-style support model despite being largely single-player and receives updates from time to time. The game also began as an indie game and was created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson as a SpiritualAdaptation of a [[FreewareGames freeware]] game from Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries called ''Infiniminer''. First released in 2009, ''Minecraft'' started very basic and only had the equivalent of Creative mode. Various other modes, such as Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev were slowly added in and refined/renamed, as well as many of the now-standard features (like the day/night cycle). In the summer of 2010, it was updated to [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Alpha]] status and moved to Beta status later that year. Despite the game being "officially" released in 2011, many new features have continued to be added. As previously mentioned, in 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang (and thus ''Minecraft'') but assured fans they planned to continue the game's ongoing development, which they have by releasing usually one to two updates per year. As of 2023, the game is on version 1.20.

''You died!''[[note]]or if you're playing the classic version, ''Game Over!''[[/note]]

''Score: 0''

''[[{{VideoGame/Minecraft}} Respawn]]''

''[[HomePage Title Screen]]''

The three main modes in ''Minecraft'' are '''Creative''', '''Survival''', and '''Hardcore'''. In Creative, the players can destroy and place blocks with a single click. They can use any block in the game, cannot die[[note]]Barring using the "/kill" command or, on Java, falling below Y=-128 in the void[[/note]], and can fly. For the most part, it's focused solely on building, and can be used to easily make very large structures or pixel art. Monsters and animals still spawn in the game world, but are passive and will not attack the player. On the other hand, survival forces the players to manually collect the blocks they want to use and give them a health bar and the possibility of death. It also introduces crafting and [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly hunger systems]], and monsters will be aggressive and attempt to kill players. The players are forced to scrounge for supplies, building up a base to protect themselves from monsters while also mining deep underground for valuable materials. Players must craft various equipment to help them survive, such as pickaxes to make mining blocks quicker, or swords and armor to help fend off the monsters that come each night. Hardcore mode is almost identical to Survival except for the fact that [[HarderThanHard the difficulty is locked on hard]], and if you die, [[FinalDeathMode you'll respawn in Spectator Mode, which cannot interact with the world]].

''[[https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/ Minecraft]]'' is a block-based [[WideOpenSandbox sandbox]] [[SurvivalSandbox survival]] game. The game drops players into a wide-open [[ProceduralGeneration procedurally generated world]] where everything is made of blocks that the players can break down and place elsewhere, rearranging things as they see fit. The game is noted for its creative appeal, often described as "Digital [[BuiltWithLego Lego]]".[[note]]Incidentally, LEGO [[http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=1982 currently offers ''Minecraft''-themed sets by popular demand.]][[/note]] ''Massively'' popular, the game was originally released on PC by developer Creator/{{Mojang}}, but has since moved to every major video game console and mobile platform.

''Minecraft'' is notable in that it follows an MMO-style support model despite being largely single-player and receives updates from time to time. The game also began as an indie game and was created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson as a SpiritualAdaptation of a [[FreewareGames freeware]] game from Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries called ''Infiniminer''. First released in 2009, ''Minecraft'' started very basic and only had the equivalent of Creative mode. Various other modes, such as Survival Test, Indev, and Infdev were slowly added in and refined/renamed, as well as many of the now-standard features (like the day/night cycle). In the summer of 2010, it was updated to [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Alpha]] status and moved to Beta status later that year. Despite the game being "officially" released in 2011, many new features have continued to be added. As previously mentioned, in 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang (and thus ''Minecraft'') but assured fans they planned to continue the game's ongoing development, which they have by releasing one to two updates per year, save for 2015 where it was not updated. As of 2023, the game is on version 1.20.

The soundtrack is by composers Music/{{C418}} and Lena Raine. The GameModIndex has a ''Minecraft'' section which has pages for various mods and maps. There is also another page reserved for fan-made [[VideoGame/MinecraftAdventureMaps Adventure Maps]]. The official wiki can be found [[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki here,]] which is an extremely valuable tool, though each recent update has decreased the need to rely on it by providing in-game hints regarding all major features.