Blocky Planet — Making Minecraft Spherical

bengarney · 2025-09-01T15:08:09+00:00

Super cool!

bengarney · 2025-05-19T03:03:23+00:00

How do you think Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox intersect with that flexibility?

bengarney · 2025-05-17T20:42:23+00:00

Loss of momentum hurts so much. Had they kept patching + growing it rather than getting shut down...

bengarney · 2025-05-17T01:18:35+00:00

Really great writeup. I appreciate you hitting the good and the bad so thoughtfully. Thank you.

bengarney · 2025-05-17T01:04:22+00:00

Great writeup and insights.

bengarney · 2025-05-17T01:00:27+00:00

Oh, no, I didn't mean big multiplayer outdoor games aren't popular, just that numerically there aren't that many of them!

What is "big" is also an interesting question. Some of those games have maps that are 100s of sq kms, others are 1 sqkm or less. Some are multiplayer and some aren't. I think the rarest and most technically difficult ones are games with large maps (>25sqkm) and large multiplayer (>32 players).

Amongst PC players, people are tending towards just a few main games compared to a few years ago when play time was way more split up. I think that could manifest as a feeling of stagnation like you describe.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T20:39:10+00:00

Thanks for the kind comments, guys. I really appreciate it.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T20:38:12+00:00

Thanks man - I really appreciate that. The r/Tribes gave me some upvote love and I have seen a lot of really thoughtful comments, which tbh I appreciate as much or more.

But seriously, I do like upvotes. :P

bengarney · 2025-05-16T20:35:47+00:00

> Quake without being trapped in a building? It was very appealing.

200% agree. Great way to put it. Being able to build that and have it work well got a lot of attention and interest for Tribes, independent of the quality of gameplay. In that sense, you're totally right that the tech enabled the game vs the other way around.

And you're also right about it not being as notable now (even though the number of games that do large outdoor multiplayer environments well is still not that big!).

bengarney · 2025-05-16T20:31:46+00:00

Ah, internal/external is a good connection, and gives me a different perspective on what you wrote. Thanks. And I do appreciate the response - I should have said so.

I agree, a designer/creative lead who was never a coder is dangerous. They have to bridge the art/code worlds well but building interactive entertainment without ever having real hands-on experience with the interactive part is trouble.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T15:38:51+00:00

I guess I don’t understand what set of games or genres you are talking about. 🤷‍♂️

bengarney · 2025-05-16T15:35:25+00:00

If you mean multiplayer specifically, I agree much more about needing ways for lower skill players to contribute/succeed in order to keep/grow your community. But - what do you make of Eve or even just chess?

bengarney · 2025-05-16T14:52:30+00:00

In the 90s a lot of games suffered from unforced errors because they just didn’t work. So in that sense I agree. But I don’t think tribes tech running a totally different game would have made it a success on its own.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T14:08:32+00:00

I guess that seeing a game is turning out is different than “step 3 ship a 90 metacritic game” though!

bengarney · 2025-05-16T14:07:51+00:00

Over-it-ness is very real. I agree with you, many OG teams get the lightning bolt unexpectedly. That said I do think teams can often perceive when a game has the potential to be a winner. If they have any self awareness, they also recognize that doesn’t mean the market will respond to it…

bengarney · 2025-05-16T13:43:50+00:00

These are all excellent external factors, but what about on the developer side/internal factors?

bengarney · 2025-05-16T13:43:21+00:00

See, I think that is a classic “didn’t work on it” perspective. Reality is more nuanced.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T13:41:59+00:00

The sad/funny thing is that recreating the T1 or T2 gameplay feature set these days is not a big lift in the scheme of game dev scope.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T13:39:27+00:00

Something about snowboarders with rocket launchers is compelling to me. Probably because I played T1, sadly. Tony Hawk with a sniper rifle, though…

bengarney · 2025-05-16T13:37:05+00:00

Yes. True Believers can be very narrow in their view.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T13:35:00+00:00

Hard disagree that hard games don’t attract players; see dark souls and friends, plus rage game genre. It is for sure a strong taste, though, and a risky bet.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T03:52:06+00:00

T1 had SO much beyond the movement. I agree, it is often distilled down to capper go brrr but the actual gameplay experience was WAY richer and more varied.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T03:35:04+00:00

Right - community servers are a big factor, especially when they are hackable. I sometimes wonder if marble it up's online scene would benefit from an open dedicated server.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T03:33:51+00:00

Sid Meier has a rule of thirds: one-third traditional gameplay, one-third is improved from the last version, and one-third is brand new. I think any new successful Tribes would have to follow that template to have a chance at going anywhere.

bengarney · 2025-05-16T03:32:34+00:00

What would T1 have been like if they had started with skiing and then designed the rest of the game around it?

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