Why aren't there any AAA Minecraft clones?
- Thread starter Ickabod
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My only guess is that they're all thinking: "Why would people want to play our Not-Minecraft when they are already playing Minecraft?"
I have faith in mankind, so I hope it's as simple as AAA-publishers being clever for once and not trying to cash in on a phenomenom they don't understand by way of homogenized knock-off rubbish.
Or perhaps the executives have contracted SGWW-vision, and can't see anything outside the AAA-FPS bubble. Well, they can see large collections of money, though. I'm sure the hounds will sniff that source out sooner or later. But then again, could the dowdy machinery that creates the stream of grey, cold shooters really make an engaging little crafting game?
Or perhaps the executives have contracted SGWW-vision, and can't see anything outside the AAA-FPS bubble. Well, they can see large collections of money, though. I'm sure the hounds will sniff that source out sooner or later. But then again, could the dowdy machinery that creates the stream of grey, cold shooters really make an engaging little crafting game?
Because Minecraft doesn't fit the "AAA Bestsellers" list at all.
They know that they can't just copy it concept for concept, they have to have their own original hook.
But they have no idea how to do that in a sandbox-builder context. It's too alien. It's like how European cartographers found out Africa exists, but had no idea how to fill it in for years, because no one had explored it. Minecraft has, in this example, shown that a continent the shape of Africa exists, and has mapped out the edges of it, but the variations and new ideas of the genre (the "middle" of the continent) aren't all there yet. So AAA publishers are afraid to touch it.
They know that they can't just copy it concept for concept, they have to have their own original hook.
But they have no idea how to do that in a sandbox-builder context. It's too alien. It's like how European cartographers found out Africa exists, but had no idea how to fill it in for years, because no one had explored it. Minecraft has, in this example, shown that a continent the shape of Africa exists, and has mapped out the edges of it, but the variations and new ideas of the genre (the "middle" of the continent) aren't all there yet. So AAA publishers are afraid to touch it.
Here's a practical issue with that idea: trying to do a minecraft with fancy AAA gfx is beyond the capabilities of high end gaming PCs.
If you just keep the blocky environments, then that's not what we normally associate with AAA production values, while really fancy looking game environments are static with only a few destructible props in order to maintain good framerates.
If you just keep the blocky environments, then that's not what we normally associate with AAA production values, while really fancy looking game environments are static with only a few destructible props in order to maintain good framerates.
It wouldn't be triple A but there is this engine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L3ZUQUGvxQ
This could open the door to the possibility of some decent graphic adaptations of minecraft-esque games.
Its a fairly efficient engine (at least from my own experience), I think it could be pretty neat. also there is an indie game out utilizing the crysis engine that aims to be in a sandbox defend style. Starforge?
Also theres another one that has robots that jumped around on meteors and planets and what not that had some decent graphics.. but point being these things I think will be soon upon us.
But yeah, current PCs can definitely do these things atm.
This could open the door to the possibility of some decent graphic adaptations of minecraft-esque games.
Its a fairly efficient engine (at least from my own experience), I think it could be pretty neat. also there is an indie game out utilizing the crysis engine that aims to be in a sandbox defend style. Starforge?
Also theres another one that has robots that jumped around on meteors and planets and what not that had some decent graphics.. but point being these things I think will be soon upon us.
But yeah, current PCs can definitely do these things atm.
I think Blitzvan...this dude summed it up quite well:Ickabod said:
Plus, the formula of Minecraft doesn't really lend itself to being a AAA game. Games are considered AAA when they have a high budget from a big-name dev and/or producer. Minecraft doesn't really need a big budget. What people want from it it basically already has: Building, survival, creativity, etc. Plus it's super cheap. When your choices are the very reasonably priced original that already has a plethora of mods to be tried, or a pricey copy that will never have as many mods or texture packs as the original it's pretty obvious which one the customer is going to go after.Baron von Blitztank said:
I think the thing about MMS and the such is that each company can put their own unique spin on it (or so they say.) CoD has CoD, EA has the better graphics and big multiplayer, Counter Strike: GO has the twitch arcadey gameplay. All really similar, but all fairly different.SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
With Minecraft... how do you make it different? Story would be... largely pointless. Features are being added by official sources or mods, graphics aren't a major priority, trying to add in some kind of "intense combat" results in poor sales and reviews (hi, Ace of Spades). So what else do AAA devs have to shoehorn in? Basically nothing.
Wasn't there like a HD Minecraft rip off coming to the X-box at some point? I remembered seeing some pictures, basically Minecraft without the Blocky Textures (Though everything was still blocks)
Think they had X-box Live Avatars on it.
/could be totally wrong.
Think they had X-box Live Avatars on it.
/could be totally wrong.
just what I would do - Horror, Something like Silent Hill, Some event that changes the area to become horror survival for a bit... But its a stupid idea and thats why I am not doing ithazabaza1 said:
<3Before you say Minecraft Night time, I mean something that actually changes the environment and changes the gameplay so that at this point its survival oriented, no Building, Just horror, Some sort of element like Adrenaline or something, So you'd want to run and hide in your creation. But that defeats the purpose of minecraft, albeit temporarily it still does so. But you wouldn't want a direct clone neither, I mean, at least I wouldn't. I'm literally offering a seconds of thought to put into a clone.
Minecraft has endless replayability. If you stop playing that's not because you're out of stuff to do. It's because you don't want to play that kind of game anymore.
For shooters, once the multiplayer wanes or you finish the solo campaign, your done with the game, whether you're done with the genre or not.
For shooters, once the multiplayer wanes or you finish the solo campaign, your done with the game, whether you're done with the genre or not.
Well there is Fortnite, which is being made by Epic Games. I'm not entirely sure how similar or different it will end up being to Minecraft, as there are clear differences in gameplay and visual style, but it still definitely the same type of game as Minecraft.
Thank you, that was bugging the hell out of me.megadraco said:
Yeah...There is your rip-off OP.Ickabod said: