The world’s gone topsy-turvy. Rumours involving Minecraft being sold
for outrageous sums popped up last week. Now it turns out that such talk wasn’t
to be taken with a pinch of salt; a better accompaniment would be the whopping $2.5
billion Microsoft paid to get hold of developer Mojang and their mega
franchise.
Equally surprising was the announcement which followed. Before the news
broke, there was bitterness around what this would mean for the game on other
platforms. We shouldn’t have worried. As it turns out, it’ll still appear on
practically everything (including PlayStation). I imagine many of us feared
Minecraft becoming exclusive if this deal went through.
Because we’re now guaranteed plenty more updates – possibly even a
sequel somewhere down the line – I’ve already got a tick-list of what I hope to
see hashed out.
1. Bonkers physics
Gravity is something Minecraft cheerfully ignores. This flouting of
Newton’s law gives it the edge. Realistically, it’d be a pain to create a city
from Game Of Thrones if the buildings kept falling down like Jenga towers.
At the same time, interesting challenges arise when you work with
gravel, sand or water. Namely, they don’t want to stay put and will come
pouring out if you snatch the ground from under them. Punch the wrong block and
you might flood everything.
Advancing these physics would present more problems. Yet by the same
token, they’d provide opportunity. By making the movement of liquids more
realistic, water-features, waterfalls and oceans take on new life; picture building
a castle over thundering rapids, or sailing down them. Then, with debris that
rolls down slopes, you’ve got a ready-made landslide or the potential for
defences.
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