“A Minecraft Movie” is coming to theaters on Friday, April 4 starring Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers and Jennifer Coolidge.
In the film, four misfits are taken through a portal to a land made out of blocks. While there, they meet Steve (Black), an expert crafter.
Together, they all must fight to protect the world of creativity from those who are set on destroying it.
If this is the first time you’ve heard of “Minecraft,” here is a quick introduction to the game that inspired the upcoming film.
What is ‘Minecraft’?
The blocky world of “Minecraft” is known as a “sandbox game” — meaning that there is no set goal in the game, making it a literal “choose your own adventure” kind of game.
It has a Everyone 10+ rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), according to the game’s official website.
The game drops players into an open world with mountains, forests, caves, plains and oceans, where they are able to use their imagination as they remove, destroy, build or replace blocks made of all kinds of materials, according to Red Bull.
The “Minecraft” official website also explains that the game has two different standard game modes — Creative and Survival. Here’s how it works.
With unlimited resources, immortality and the ability to fly, Creative mode allows players to create anything they could imagine. From villages and towns to giant statues — the possibilities are endless.
Now on the other hand, in Survival mode, things get a little bit more challenging as players earn experience points, explore the world and craft all while also having to fight off monsters that are creeping around the corners. Their health and hunger are now something that they have to be aware of to make it through the day.
Both modes also have four difficulty levels that players can choose from, including Peaceful, Easy, Normal and Hard. While it doesn’t make much of a difference while in Creative mode, it does in Survival mode as the different difficulties become “very important,” according to the official website.
The creator and inspiration of “Minecraft”
Markus “Notch” Persson, a Swedish software programmer, first began to create the world of blocks in 2009, according to IGN.
The idea for “Minecraft” came from an “isometric base-building game” — that Persson was developing — titled “RubyDung,” as well as a block-based mining game titled “Infiniminer,” per IGN.
After alpha and beta tests were released in 2010, the game was officially released in November 2011 on PC. The mining game is now available on mobile devices, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Playstation, according to Britannica.
Persson stayed with the company until 2014, when it was sold to Microsoft for $2.5 billion. After his departure, the lead designer for “Minecraft” since 2011, Jens “Jeb” Bergensten, accepted full creative control, per IGN.
Yearning for the mines
According to Red Bull, “Minecraft” became an instant success after it was officially released in 2011 and has not stopped growing since then.
In 2023, the mining game was named the second highest selling title, just behind Tetris, according to Britannica.
With major updates throughout the years — from the “Pretty Scary Update” in 2012 to “Trials and Tales Update” in 2023 — the future of “Minecraft” is just as unlimited as the game itself, according to IGN, and you will just have to wait and see what they surprise fans with next.