I find it fascinating to think in 10-20 years many will be looking back fondly on how they learned to hack with an unassuming little game: Minecraft.
Video of CraftStudio in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1QbJO3y_O0
Hacker News thread from yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3751455
Clones have also started to appear but it's still small indie companies making them, meaning it'll take time before many are at the same level as Minecraft.
However, the bigger companies do seem to be paying attention (an EA bigwig spoke about Minecraft in a Gamasutra piece the other day [1], though he was saying fairly obvious things), so it'll be interesting to see what the genre's like in 5-10 years' time.
[1] http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/167137/Minecrafts_future_...
I'm surprised it hasn't spawned "sandbox games"
as a completely separate and significant genre
And there are already a dozen or so commercially successful ones on steam and XBLIG.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/365357-123-eloraams-mods...
The mods are really what set Minecraft apart.
[1]: http://www.mod-buildcraft.com/ [2]: http://wiki.industrial-craft.net/index.php?title=Main_Page
You might be on to something there.
I really hope talented people like this guy be given full-throttle. They are the real capital, not the tools.
So THAT'S what was causing the memory corruption.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120312.html
[NB It's just to the left of Neptune]
I know you get 1x1 blocks of wood/stone/etc. How do the pieces move? Are there simple on/off switches? Gunpowder + fire for wires?
There are not really any repositories of existing designs, so the logic was probably all done 'by hand'.
http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Redstone_Circuits
You can build any logic gate you want, with layout being the hard part (just like IRL...). You can build a computer in Minecraft if you want to. I believe that several people have [1].
To be honest, I think it's a great way to learn about electronics. I know what all the gates do from having taken EE classes, but Minecraft has made some of them a bit more intuitive. Maybe it's just because you can see the things being energized/de-energized, but it does help me think about the different gates/latches/etc. and their interactions.
[1] This is but a small sample of things that might be called computers that have been built in Minecraft:
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/30/working-16-bit-computer-bu...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB684ym3QY4
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/15/10-incredible-minecraft-cr...
Some other blocks can be powered or triggered by redstone, for example pistons that push blocks, doors and item dispensers.
And, depending what media you have access to, there's not often good news about young people.
But part of me always wonders, "I wonder what this kid could've built if he had a more meaningful project in mind?"
I understand that you need to have a certain amount of "fun" before you can do "serious" things, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed that he didn't "dream bigger."
It's not really a criticism. This kid is probably really smart, but I wish it was easy to create environments for such people to really flourish to their full potential.
That shows a lot of skill and resourcefulness, it also shows quite a bit of dedication and stamina. All of those are great traits and I'm sure the experience improved on these.
This impresses me very much.
Can you give an example of what you would consider to be a more meaningful project? Something that you would consider to be approaching full potential?
Imagine what that kid could build if a tool existed that was as interesting as Minecraft, but tailored toward making iPhone apps (or another very specific type of application). In the same amount of time, he could've probably made something even more impressive.
I was trying to express a slight disappointment that the tools were a limiting factor to the ability of people (like this kid) to build amazing things.
Instead of building a calculator, would he be able to do more in the same amount of time?
In that case, could he build a game? An app? Really, it doesn't matter what the end product (or the project) is. I was only trying to express a little disappointment that there wasn't a more efficient way to channel his energy into a final product that would allow him to accomplish an even more ambitious goal.
It’s totally fun to just have fun without necessarily learning any important skills or developing a product that helps you make money.
I am curious why so many people interpret this as a sign of an addiction and wasted time instead of a purely awesome accomplishment in self-education. Few people keep "build something cool in Minecraft" as their only aspiration in life.
I hope the kid gets a lot of mileage out of it and goes onto great things. At the very least, he has earned his geek union card for life.
Because Minecraft is purely a game, it limits what a kid can accomplish from the start. A kid can only interact with their creations through the game itself, which is fine, but could it be better?
After the war, he built that clock and it worked.
Seems like a massive achievement to me, and that such effort and focus will translate well into the real world and if it doesn't for him personally, it could well spur others on.
I'd knock him too.. if I were intimidated as opposed to impressed.
I don't think HardyLeung understand that this kid had to handle every bit. Had to build his own integrated memory. This young man obviously has an incredible understanding of binary math. Beyond all this He had to deal with the weird physics, and rules of circuits in Minecraft.
If I was this kids parents, I would let him play Minecraft all he wants. In fact, don't stop playing Minecraft.
And I said I am very very (doubly) impressed. When it comes to the freaking next project, branch off, do something else, don't constrain yourself in the Minecraft world. Instead, this kid should use his immense talent/patience/creativity that he/she has and applies to something more substantial. That's what I said. I don't understand why I got downvoted for saying that. You see it as a criticism; But what I gave was a constructive criticism. If you don't see it, pay more attention to the words "very very impressed" and especially the word "next".
I get that Minecraft is fun, but wouldn't it have been more practical, in the long run, to have built something equally cool in a real CAD/HDL/etc. software?
It'd be really cool if someone could build a CAD/HDL/programming "IDE" that was as "fun" to "play" as Minecraft, but still as "useful" as something used in "the real world." But I suppose this is the same desire that drives all of those "programming language for kids" projects that never really seem to catch on.
I find it all the more impressive because he used an environment that was not meant to be used like this.
That's like running the marathon with a handicap and still winning.
And if he can do it in minecraft I think that he'll take like a fish to water once he gets his hands on other, more powerful tools. That's mostly a matter of access, 16 year olds are more likely to have minecraft on the machines they have access to than CAD/HDL software and the hardware to go with it.
When I was his age, I was using the Lego Mindstorms heavily. At first I started with the built in GUI language, which was extremely limiting. After that I moved to progressively more advanced languages and IDEs until I was using Not-Quite-C, a version of C compiled for the Mindstorms.
These things tend to work as stepping stones. Had the kid started on something like CAD, he may have gotten stuck at an impasse that was too difficult for him, lost motivation and went back to playing Call of Duty.
Perhaps his next project will be in a "real" application, instead of Minecraft, because he has the motivation and knowledge to move forward.
Really, this guy just needs a bit of sponsorship and guidance. Some tech company should send him "stuff"[1] and they'd earn some nice publicity.
[1] Development kits or test equipment or robots or whatever. And good books for it all. And maybe a gentle syllabus.