Notch Cancels Space Sandbox Game, Fans Salvage It

[GoaThief]

Anyone really surprised? Guy doesn't even think Mojang needs customer support despite the massive revenue and player base, the expected reply time is 6 months (there was an issue with my Minecraft account) - I've no idea why he's considered some righteous indie messiah by a large segment of the PC gaming community. If the masses really believe his blueprint is the way forward I want no part of it. Give me EA over them any day, and that's saying something.

 

[DjinnFor]

Plenty of realistic science and engineering would be at work - your spaceship's computer would be a fully emulated 16-bit CPU to support custom programming.

Shit, that's a really good idea.

I was puzzling my way through a similar type of game, trying to figure out how to do customizable spaceships in a truly customizable way. That's a pretty smart way of doing it.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Anyways, FUCK YOU NOTCH.
First you spit into my face by refusing to give a small ammount of that cash that your house is made of for Pscyconauts2, and now you say - meh, not interested anymore, to somehting that has tons of potential!
You make me sick.

I assume this ia a joke. Making fun of the very real psychos that think this way.

I hope so, that is a very convincing impression. Even down to the spelling mistakes.

Fair play to the new devs. I hope it works out, it sounded like a great idea and it would be a shame to let it die. I don't think Notch would mind much. He is pretty used to getting his minecraft idea ripped off for cheap clones.

 

[talideon]

Damn. I was looking forward to 0x10^c. If nothing else, it would give me a chance to learn how to program a 16-bit CPU. That could have been fun.

There are plenty of 68000 simulators out there, along with assemblers, so you could still do that...

 

[Vivi22]

Well I do hope they work this out with Mojang beforehand so it doesn't end in court room tears, technically you can't trademark a game concept but them announcing that it's a copy would make a pretty solid case.

Actually, I don't think they'd have a case even if they are just trying to copy it since they haven't actually made anything, so any finished product from the fans would inevitably be implemented differently from whatever they had. Especially given how little was known.

But even still, I don't think Mojang is the type of company, nor Notch the sort of person, who'd sue them for running with an idea he abandoned. If anything, he'd probably wish them luck, if not release what he'd made already too them.

 

[Remus]

Notch strikes me as the kind of person who only sticks to ideas as long as they seem fun. Programming your own 16 bit CPU may seem innovative in theory but it is only fun if you're into programming. The general gaming populace would likely try the game for a few minutes, get to the programming bit, then immediately drop it as if it were diseased.

 

[RicoADF]

Well I do hope they work this out with Mojang beforehand so it doesn't end in court room tears, technically you can't trademark a game concept but them announcing that it's a copy would make a pretty solid case.

And I can't really blame Mojang for putting this on hold, it didn't really look like they had the full concept worked out into something worth our/their time, sometimes you just need to let ideas simmer for a while until the real taste comes out.
The other games currently doing their own take on the idea are caught in just about the same limbo where no one is really sure where things are going.

It can't enter court, as you said game concepts aren't protected. You can publically say "we're making a minecraft style game the way we want to play" and as long as it's your own game code, names, trademarks etc basically you make everything and your just using the minecraft idea theres nothing they can do. Why do you think so many RTS games, FPS modern military shooters etc exist, because theres nothing that can be done to protect the idea, just the game itself.

If they copy the designs (assuming notch released any designs) then yes he may have a case on that, but the concept of the gameplay etc no he wouldn't and I doubt he'd even try.

 

[RicoADF]

Well... they shouldn't monitize it if it was all a concept that was nearly realized by another person, even if they build from scratch.

The fact someone else came up with the origional idea doesn't stop them from making money on their own one. If we went by your logic only Westwood could make an RTS game and sell it, only id software could make and sell a FPS and only Rockstar could make a sandbox game (or whoever started that genre, often it's vague where a genre technically starts).

 

[KeyMaster45]

Pity, I had been wondering what happened to this game and now I guess that question is answered. I was looking forward to boldly going where no block person had gone before. Can't wait to see the direction the fan team takes it though, if for no other reason than to see how this kind of game would function.

 

[major_chaos]

Wait, so Notch isn't working on this, and my understanding is that he doesn't have much to do with Minecraft anymore, so what exactly is he doing? besides occasionally being a massive wanker that is.

 

[anthony87]

Wait, so Notch isn't working on this, and my understanding is that he doesn't have much to do with Minecraft anymore, so what exactly is he doing? besides occasionally being a massive wanker that is.

Spending his time tweeting I guess. And making the news via tweeting.

 

[Amaror]

Anyways, FUCK YOU NOTCH.
First you spit into my face by refusing to give a small ammount of that cash that your house is made of for Pscyconauts2, and now you say - meh, not interested anymore, to somehting that has tons of potential!
You make me sick.

I assume this ia a joke. Making fun of the very real psychos that think this way.

I hope so, that is a very convincing impression. Even down to the spelling mistakes.

Fair play to the new devs. I hope it works out, it sounded like a great idea and it would be a shame to let it die. I don't think Notch would mind much. He is pretty used to getting his minecraft idea ripped off for cheap clones.

This was more of a Bro-Team impression - exaggerated first thoughts.
But I still will never forgive him the Pscyconauts 2 ditch...

As far as i understand it, he just didn't have enough money.
You know, ... like thousand of other devs and publisher's that Tim approached before Notch.
In fact i think it's a good think he didn't try it.
Notch gives a lot of his minecraft money away to indie devs. (He's often the biggest pledge in humble bundle's and kickstarters)
And while it is sad that he couldn't fund Psychonauts 2, it at least showed that he's not mindlessly throwing money away at everything.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

i wonder if notch will get behind the project or hinder it

it'd be funny to see him get a slap in the face because of this lost potential

He can't really hinder it. They're not using his code, and besides...

You know what would be an awesome gesture? Notch releasing the current code under GPL or something similar.

... his code is absolutely terrible anyway. It's impossible to maintain. Just look at Minecraft, they're still cleaning up his mess.

 

[Yopaz]

I mean... the fans didn't really "salvage" it did they? They're just starting entirely from scratch.

Yeah, they saw an idea for a game they liked. The game was scrapped and they wanted to see a game like the one originally described made and decided to make one using a different name and different code. So salvaged isn't really the correct word.

OT: I'll be honest, this doesn't sound like my kind of game, but I hope that it's well made and manages to find an audience that will appreciate it.

 

[deathzero021]

this is no surprise at all. i called this when he first announced the idea.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I mean... the fans didn't really "salvage" it did they? They're just starting entirely from scratch.

That was my thought. I guess they're salvaging the idea at least. Or as much of the idea as anyone really knew about.

 

[ZexionSephiroth]

Hmm... Its a fan project now eh?

I'm not sure what to say... Other than... Would it be possible to have the 16 bit processor of the Ship be used to create physical effects on the world it exists inside?

If the programing of the emulated CPU uses actual folders and Files, it might be possible that with a little trick for going two files upward on the tree data structures, one could get the emulated CPU to open the folder its file exists inside and from there open the file of the world it exists within.

From there, one may require some major hacking skills, but one could create a low quality graphic representation of the world around them on the computer and then with a number of tools for usability, alter the world around them.

I imagine Homestuck fans will try to use this method to replicate the experience of playing Sburb. While other Homestuck fans will be content with just finding a way to create a Pumpkin looking thing and promptly making it disappear when someone looks at it.

...Even if none of this happens, I want it to.