Minecraft – The Ultimate Sandbox Video Game
In a world populated by hostile creatures and dangerous landscapes, the survival game minecraft has become one of the biggest games ever. Its open-ended gameplay has given it a wide following among players of all ages, making it a key player in the sandbox video games genre.
Minecraft was first released in 2011 and was created by Swedish programmer Markus Persson and his company Mojang Studios. It is played on computers, smartphones, tablets, laptops and games consoles – either in an app or through a web browser. Players can play in a creative mode, or’survival’ and ‘adventure’ modes.
When a player first starts the game, their world is randomly generated. This can be anything from a sprawling city to a humble dirt hut. Once a player has a home, they can build on and explore it. The game’s blocky, cartoon-like graphics evoke memories of Lego bricks. Players move around the world using a keyboard, mouse or controller and can also chat with other players in the same game through an integrated messaging system.
The basic controls are easy to learn. Moving left and right moves the player around their world, while hitting the centre button (the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons on a mouse) makes your character look up or down. To collect materials, simply punch a tree or a piece of dirt until it breaks into blocks and appears in your inventory (as shown below). To pick up a material you need to drag it over a fourth square, which is your crafting area. For example, if you picked up a piece of wood, dragging it over to the crafting area will make four pieces of wood plank appear in your inventory, ready for use in a structure.
In the survival mode, players are given tools like a shovel or pickaxe to break down stone and other materials. They can also hunt for food and animals or search the world for treasure in caves, dungeons and shipwrecks. The game also includes a night/day cycle where players need to defend themselves from hostile mobs that spawn during the dark. If a player dies in the game, they can respawn at their last home, which gives it an element of replayability.
Players can also join’servers’, which are run by independent members of the community. These can be public or private and provide a community of gamers to talk with, share ideas and create together. Some servers have their own economies, allowing players to earn in-game currency by running businesses or services. Other servers host online multiplayer games.
The game has received multiple updates over its years of existence, adding more depth to the gameplay and the range of materials available for a player to collect and use in their creations. A multiplayer version was added in late 2017 that allows up to 64 players to compete against each other in various types of online competitive multiplayer mini-games. A Netflix TV show and immersive theme park are due to be launched in the next two years as part of a multi-million-pound licensing deal with Merlin Entertainments, the owner of Alton Towers and Legoland.