
So that’s what I’m going to do - munchor
http://notch.tumblr.com/post/58707926941/so-thats-what-im-going-to-do
======
breckinloggins
I can only imagine the kind of pressure someone like notch is put in from
their players and fans, but there's a little more to this story than "the
little side project that ended up owning me".

0x10c was a _thing_. It was announced, had a domain and website with
documentation and updates [1], had preview videos, etc. The point is that it
looked and was sold like a product, so it's perhaps understandable that lots
of people were waiting excitedly for it.

That said, there'd be nothing worse than notch feeling like he had to finish
the game no matter what. That would be a sure-fire recipe for a bad experience
all around. I think it's great that he's given his blessing to the independent
effort, because 0x10c is _just_ the kind of project that benefits the most
from a team of people who hardcore geek out on it.

[1] [http://0x10c.com/](http://0x10c.com/)

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ChuckMcM
Nice bit of introspection. When I first started working I found I could make
as much money as I could ever want by consulting and working. If you don't
sleep much and you live in a consulting friendly place, its quite viable. But
I too noticed that it made "home" also the "office" and you couldn't really
get away from it, and that made it less fun.

So I ended up limiting my consulting considerably, and instead working on
"fun" code (mostly robotics based) which as it turned out sometimes people
wanted to pay for, but for the most part has been just for fun.

Notch has a wonderful gift, and while I mourn the fact that 0x10c is unlikely
to ever see the light of day, I think having him make cool stuff is better
than having him burn out trying to live up to the expectation momentum that
0x10c had developed.

~~~
jberryman
OT but do you have any advice or have you written about your experience
managing that kind of consulting? I've been trying to figure out a style of
freelancing that works for my personality (fewer hours, more "asynchronous"),
but it seems like most companies are looking for folks to fill an employee
role.

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danso
> _Some people in the 0x10c community decided to work together to make their
> own version of their game, called Project Trillek. I find this absolutely
> amazing. I want to play this game so much, but I am not the right person to
> make it. Not any more. I’m convinced a new team with less public interest
> can make a vastly superior game than what I would make._

I've only read a few of the feature length articles on Notch (such as this one
in the NEw Yorker:
[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/04/the-m...](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/04/the-
minecraft-creator-markus-persson-faces-life-after-fame.html)) but he sounds
like a real stand-up guy. I love the statement above, because it's a graceful
concession as well as a statement that (hopefully) encourages creativity and
innovation, even if it's among other people. What a morale booster it must be
to have Notch believe that you (the team behind Trillek) can make a better
game than he can.

Also, I think it's cool to be reminded that notch is also a gamer, after all,
and that even he enjoys being a wide-eyed-consumer, something which he can't
be when he's _creating_ the game.

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mittermayr
It's refreshing that someone like him basically speaks out on an issue many if
not most of us face. If we had the freedom to work on anything we wanted, I
couldn't make my mind up. I'd start working on this side project, probably
shortly after switch to that other little idea, then maybe try out this gadget
and hook it up to that service and that would keep me going endlessly. I love
trying new stuff, figuring things out, hacking them. But turning these things
into products is a whole different game.

I deeply feel that very moment he describes, when a fun side project becomes a
real duty and you have to work on it because people demand it. If you're
without funds or income, it might be your only option, so even if it's not
fun, it doesn't matter as long as it might generate income eventually. But
once you're past that requirement, these things often stay little side
projects that rarely end up being finished.

But these little side projects are basically how I taught myself most of what
I know in programming.

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cmsimike
I've had tons of projects that I've started working on, really prototyping,
only to move on to something else once I figured out it wasn't something I
want to invest time in, so I know where Notch is coming from. I couldn't
imagine developing prototypes in a way that had tons of users watching me.

Notch knowing himself - knowing that he isn't the right person for the game,
is great. I hope the community does pick up the game. This was a game that I
was looking forward to playing (as I am sure most others were).

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nathas
I think people forget that Minecraft was literally just a side project for
Notch while he had a "real" job.

It was his fun thing to do when he was bored.

As a programmer, he's clearly capable, but I think he serves better as a
director than someone who is trying to tackle an entire game by themselves.

~~~
Macha
However, what he enjoys doing is developing games, not directing them or any
sort of management. In that respect, he wouldn't do very good in a purely
decision making role, and would probably burn out.

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graeme
Slightly OT:

How addictive is minecraft? It sounds great. But I quit video games a few
years back, and don't have good willpower with them.

I work from home as well, so there's no natural limits on my time. But I'd
love to try the game in a limited way.

~~~
driverdan
Minecraft can be _extremely_ addictive. I know from personal experience. To
give you an idea, I'm a freelancer and for a large percentage of last year I
was playing more hours of MC a week than I was billing clients.

You sound like you may be similar to me with games so let me lay it out for
you.

When you first start playing you know nothing. There's so much to do and
learn. You'll be scared of nighttime and dark caves. You won't know how to
craft anything. You'll probably get killed a lot and get lost. It will suck
you in for the first 30-60 hours while you learn how to play single player.

At that point one of two things happen. Either you really like building
structures and you keep playing a lot or you get bored. I got bored.

Then I realized I was only experiencing a small fraction of the game. The
modding community is HUGE, larger than any other game I've played. There are
hundreds of mods available that expand and modify gameplay making it far more
interesting than "vanilla" MC. Each mod can add 5-50+ hours of interesting
gameplay.

This isn't even accounting for multiplayer, which can be much different. PvP
servers with clans, mod servers with large towns, creative servers with builds
that take months to complete.

I'm not saying you shouldn't play. Minecraft is a _great_ game. Just be aware
of where it can lead if you don't plan your time well. I've since cut way back
and don't play games as much.

One way you can get a good feel for MC is to watch some of the popular
YouTubers. I primarily watch the Yogscast but there are plenty of other good
ones.

~~~
VLM
"The modding community is HUGE"

This makes the pocket and xbox edition experience quite a bit different from
the PC/servers version.

My experience was I made a lair basically tunneling out an entire 100x50 ish
island, built a tower going up until I was bored and a spiral staircase from
top down to bedrock, then dug what amounts to a giant multi-lobed endless loop
subway just above sea level around the map (probably about 4 minutes, yes that
is indeed a lot of mined/smelted iron, and gold/redstone to boost my cart up
to speed) diverted into optimized partially-automated chicken production, then
got kinda bored. I think I got about a hundred hours of fun out of it, which,
for what it costs, is an excellent rate of return.

It reminds me of an old saying about "second life" from about a decade ago,
where if you can't be entranced by it for at least a dozen hours, there's
probably something wrong with you, but much after a hundred hours or so, its
kind of boring.

A third comparison of about equal depth and entertainment was playing
Eve:Online also about a decade or so ago without joining any social groups
(which was impossible because I was scavenging random hours here and there,
and clans wanted dedicated scheduled mining/raiding nights and such)

All three share the characteristic that its hard to go beyond a hundred or so
hours without the community, although if the community drags you in, then
you're stuck in there forever.

There's probably a startup lesson in here that if you want more than 100 hours
of engagement, its going to come from the community, not the programmers /
artists / suits.

~~~
webjprgm
I've gotten to the point where I'm not sucked in and addicted to MC anymore,
but since it was the building part that I got stuck on, never modding or
multi-player, I still get plenty of enjoyment when I periodically think of
something new to build.

(E.g. I built a residence, garden, etc. in a cloud then decided I could expand
that to a several-cloud city. Then decided I could build a tower with railroad
in an attempt to bring cows and pigs up there. The next project might be an
underwater city, or play around with the new horse stuff they added.)

New content is added occasionally. I'm not entirely sure why, since they don't
have continuous subscription revenue like WOW does. I actually find it kind of
annoying since then I need to explore another huge swath of territory to get
new chunks to generate with the new stuff in it. Or worse, if the new stuff
breaks the timing on some of my red stone circuitry or the effectiveness of my
experience generator.

------
yaddayadda
A generalized version of one sentiment really, really resonated with me ...
"Turns out, what I love doing is _personal passion_. Not hyping _personal
passion_ or trying to sell a lot of copies. I just want to experiment and
develop and think and tinker and tweak." What working adult among us hasn't
felt this at some point?

------
petercooper
_This is what I want to do. I want to do smaller games that can fail. I want
to experiment and develop and think and tinker and tweak._

Sounds promising for him being back in Ludum Dare this weekend! :-)

~~~
willvarfar
Exactly my first thought too!!!!

------
joshdance
I like the honesty. And the humility. Nice to see a public figure say, not for
me.

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agumonkey
I guess that's why book writers used pseudonyms.

Suggestion : blueharvester

~~~
runevault
Eh. There are lots of reasons writers use pseudonyms. Separation of their day
to day life from their writing life (one author I can't think of ATM did that
because her academic coworkers would look down on the stuff she writes).
Keeping writing that would appeal to different audiences easy to differentiate
(Seanan McGuire does this, her zombie books are under the name Mira Grant).
Searchability (whenever I am ready to publish something this will be my reason
because my real name is far too common, winning the SEO war is almost
impossible).

Obviously this is the reason Rowling did it with her recently uncovered book,
but plenty of other reasons exist to use pseudonyms, both for existing and new
writers.

------
Nekorosu
It's really refreshing to get such fair retrospection on himself from such a
pillar of indie game dev.

------
gboudrias
" I really really don’t want to turn into another under delivering visionary
game designer."

That's what I like about Notch: He's got a conscience and great self-
awareness.

I can find issues with his games but I've always liked the guy and continue to
do so. Great success, Notch!

------
jberryman
Good for him.

Just watched a monumentally depressing (IMHO) documentary called "Indie Game"
about indie game devs with various flavors of mental and physical illness,
putting themselves through hell to get their game out. All of them seemed to
find the buzz and pre-launch expectation/pressure, as well as the public
response after (both good and bad) to be extremely distressing.

------
runevault
I find it interesting from the point of view that, to me, I assumed he would
have at least somewhat internalized how closely he and his work is watched
now. The fact that isn't the case is interesting.

I wonder if this will be the lesson that gets him to shift into that last bit
of understanding as to what it means to be so watched by the wider world,
awaiting your next bit of output.

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jdmitch
smaller is better :)

Thanks for doing what you do!

maybe game haiku?

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tootie
This is like when Dave Chappelle walked on his show because he couldn't deal
with being so successful. I honestly don't understand, but then again I've
never been within 100 miles of that kind of problem.

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nickstinemates
Just played Shambles for about 5 minutes. Loved it. This type of stuff is
generic, but fun. I'm not sure I'll ever play it again.

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AMcQuarrie
This is one of several reasons why most developers don't announce a game until
they have a reasonable chunk of it done.

------
groundCode
Nicely done - good luck to you sir!

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rckrd
_> "Back before anyone knew who I was, I used to wanted to make huge games"_

Glad he didn't want to be an english teacher.

~~~
drivers99
> Glad he didn't want to be an english teacher.

"English" should be capitalized. People who live in glass houses shouldn't
throw stones.

~~~
sejje
The sentence could also use a subject and verb (implied "I am").

Notch's native language isn't English, is it?

