Notes

Mini-minecraft more than A Carbon Copy

Despite punching above its weight in the fields of music, film and literature, one part of popular culture where New Zealand has traditionally struggled to establish a global presence is the video game market. The list of Kiwi games that have received international recognition is disappointingly short and includes only Sidhe Interactive's rugby titles from Wellington and 1995's Megadrive classic Super Skidmarks.



Modern mass-market games with multimillion-dollar budgets and international publishers backing them, make it almost impossible for small businesses to gain traction. This is particularly the case for console games that are sold through off-the-shelf retailers. Mobile gaming is a viable alternative for developers with innovative ideas, as there aren't many developers from the country.



At the top of this new wave of Kiwi digital entrepreneurs is Hawke's Bay developer David Frampton who is already an App Store enthusiast after making his name with quick-fix hit Chopper and its imaginatively-titled sequel Chopper 2, Frampton hit the headlines earlier this month with a game that racked up more than a million downloads in just three days of its release and is on the verge of becoming the most downloaded iPad app in 15 countries around the world.



The Blockheads is a game without any narrative structure, storyline or overall goal. It's difficult to determine the "point" of The Blockheads. There's no princess to save or a hostile alien to repel or a plot to unravel. There's no high score or boss to beat. It's a game that has no end where your only objective is to explore and develop. This free-form, blank-slate approach lets you make of it what you will, take things at your own speed and let your imagination go wild.



Despite your muted protagonist having no personality You'll soon be caring about the cube-headed character as their mood is an integral element of the game.



Explore too much without sleeping or eating and they'll become exhausted and hungry , requiring you to gather resources to build shelter and to grow food. As you explore the virtual world, you'll come across materials that allow you to create elaborate palaces and more advanced tools.



While the game is free to play, its intensely addictive nature is perfect for the "freemium" structure that a lot of mobile games have adopted. SERVERS If you're patient enough to wait for your blockhead to finish tasks like building, mining, and sleeping then you'll never have to pay a dime but by investing in the game's currency, "time crystals", you can speed up the process and create more complex items.



With all the talk about mining and crafting it's difficult to review The Blockheads without mentioning the elephant in the room. Another idea from an indie musician and band leader, Markus "Notch" Persson's extremely successful Minecraft. The two games share several things in common, from their quirky low-fidelity graphics to their focus on exploration, resource collection, and expression of creativity.



When Nelson Mail's Adam Roberts interviewed Frampton earlier this month, online commentators were quick to point out the striking similarities between the two games, implying and insinuating that The Blockheads was little more than a "Minecraft imitation".



While it's understandable that some might jump to the conclusion, and there's no doubt that Notch's game was an evidently a source of inspiration on a certain level for Frampton There's more to The Blockheads than some of the other copy-cat cash in shovelware that finds its way on to the App Store.



It's also unfair and lazy to rely on the similarities between two games as evidence of plagiarism. Video games more than any other form of entertainment, build on the previous works.



As technology advances and trends become popular, developers will be able to refine and modify what "works" and take inspiration from games that have made waves. Just as Space Invaders led to a wave of space shooters Super Mario Bros set the trend for side-scrolling platforms, and Gears of War opened the floodgates to cover-based shooters, the unprecedented success of an innovative indie blockbuster such as Minecraft will inevitably cause ripples within the industry. It's not plagiarism, it's advancement.



If you're a Minecraft fan and you're a Minecraft fan, then you're bound to enjoy The Blockheads but it's more than a copy. While Minecraft works best with a keyboard and mouse, The Blockheads' 2-D approach to the sandbox genre is perfectly suited to the mobile format, and its touchscreen controls are well-designed and easy to use.


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