DualShockers recently talked with Hypixel Studio’s Chris Thursten about Hytale, discussing community mod support, post-launch plans, and more.
This year, Hypixel Studios’ debut game Hytale will be entering its first beta phase and preparing for a full release soon after. The game, which was announced in 2018 by the newly-formed company, is a fresh and exciting take on the existing blockgame genre; something that the team behind the game have incredible origins working on.
DualShockers recently talked with Chris Thursten – the Publishing Lead for Hypixel Studios. Chris talked to us about post-launch plans, community modding support, the team’s Minecraft origins, and much more. Here is our full interview:
Ben: Hytale is your first full game ever, and it seems you all are jumping into the deep end with it. Was there any doubt that you’d be going in the direction of what you were familiar with – e.g. Hypixel and Minecraft?
Chris Thursten: Yes. We spent a considerable amount of time not wanting to go in that direction, but we were naturally pulled towards it. Our team has a lot of experience in the blockgame genre, and it made sense for us to build on what we’d done before.
B: Riot Games are direct investors in the project – can you tell us about how that came to fruition?
CT: We approached Riot Games looking for advice, because they’ve got direct experience of building a professional development studio with modding community roots. We got on well, and that eventually led to Riot making an investment in Hypixel Studios.
B: Your studio runs the largest Minecraft server on the planet, and arguably the most diverse in terms of content. On that topic, what kind of support will Hytalehave for people who want to create huge server networks? Will there be any tools that you wish were in Minecraft for Hypixel to use that you’re bringing to the game?
CT: We’re planning to support people who want to create and run large server networks as well as anybody who wants to set up a server for their friends. Our server browser makes it easy for players to find, filter and rate community servers, and we’re investing in technology that’ll make it easy to jump into a server, or even adventure mode, straight from your friends list.
B: Are you planning to make community mod support a large part of the game, or are you just throwing the tools out there?
“HytaleModel Maker is the tool we’re using to create the game ourselves…It didn’t make sense for us to say ‘to mod the game you’ll have to learn a professional modeling package.’”
CT: We’ll be providing a huge amount of baseline content with Hytale, but we plan on giving the community lots of tools to find and play modded content too. We’re really looking forward to seeing what people do with the platform we provide.
B: Interestingly, Hytale is shipping with modeling and animation tools. Is there anything that prompted you to make this decision specifically? Are you excited about what your talented players could do with tools like that?
CT: HytaleModel Maker is the tool we’re using to create the game ourselves – it’s designed to make it as easy as possible to create and customize assets and load them into the game. We’ve put a lot of work into it, so it made sense to share it with the community too. It didn’t make sense for us to say ‘to mod the game you’ll have to learn a professional modeling package.
B: Do you plan on incorporating interesting but hidden lore into Hytale’s world and main modes?
CT: Yes. Exploration and discovery is a big part of adventure mode, and players who venture off the beaten track will have the opportunity to find secrets that others might miss.
“It makes sense that people will make the comparison, but blockgames are a genre and we believe there’s plenty of space for something new.”
B: You’re planning on adding minigames to feed the hunger of Hypixel fans who play the game – can you tell us more about these minigames?
CT: We’ve got a lot of experience building minigames and all of that is being invested into Hytale. We’re currently experimenting with a prototype variation of The Pit, a minigame that has developed a fun meta on the Hypixel server.
B: Do you think Hytale being compared to Minecraft constantly is a natural way of judging the game? How far from your Minecraft origins are you planning to stray with Hytale?
CT: It makes sense that people will make the comparison, but blockgames are a genre and we believe there’s plenty of space for something new. Hytale is its own game, and over time we expect that the comparison will be made less and less. We’ve got a huge amount of respect for Minecraft, Mojang and Microsoft – there’s definitely space for both to coexist!
B: How regularly will you guys be updating Hytale post-launch and does the team already have an idea of what they want to do with the game after release?
CT: We’ll be providing lots of support for the game after release. We’ll discuss more details about this further down the road!
B: How easy are you making the in-game scripting tools to use? Are you targeting advanced programmers and modellers, or are you wanting to create a system for beginners to turn into more advanced users?
CT: We’re targeting the higher end of modding – we know how good community mods can be. That said, difficulty really just depends on how ambitious your mod is – simpler mods will naturally be easier to make.
B: How do you plan on making Hytale appealing to YouTubers, streamers, and other content creators?
CT: We’re providing in-game cinematic tools to allow for advanced machinima creation, and we’re even letting players watch videos together in-game. It’s important to us that we support the needs of YouTubers, streamers and other content creators.
Minecraft and Undertale cross paths in a fan-created video, where Steve falls into Mt. Ebott recreating the intro of the low-fi indie game.
Both Minecraft and low-fi indie adventure Undertale with games like Fortnite and Deltarune stealing their spotlight. But creators are still working on making some cool fan projects — even if it means merging the two unlikely franchises together. A newly-created video focuses on just that, offering up the intro of the game in a new light.
Posted by Redditor u/Dodu-, the video seems innocuous enough. The 25-second video starts with Minecraft protagonist Steve climbing a gigantic mountain. Following the ascent, Steve falls through a crevice in the middle of the mountain, hitting a pitch-black section. Tiny, yellow flowers greet the player before he turns to a purple sheep.
You can catch the full video below:
Make no mistake–work was put into this. While there are naturally-developed caverns, caves, and sinkholes in Minecraft, Dodu explained that he had to blast this section out using TNT.
Now what does this have to do with Undertale — let me step in and deconstruct that for you.
For everyone who has never played the RPG Maker title that struck internet fame, each game begins with the same intro — following a war that broke out between Monsters and Humans. Despite coming out victorious and sealing the Monsters underground, in the year 201X humans have been falling through a hole at the top of Mt. Ebott. Those who manage to fall through that hole are never seen again.
You, as the game’s protagonist, trip and fall into Mt. Ebott, starting Undertale‘s adventure.
The game opens up to a quick dialogue section — you are introduced to Flowey, the seemingly innocent flower-like creature that “welcomes” you to the game. That is, before purple-clad goat mom (Toriel) drives the vindictive flower away and whisks you to her home.
So there you have it–Steve climbs the mountain, falls to the bottom, is greeted by flowers, and has his first encounter with Toriel.
Minecraft is currently available on quite literally everything — whether it be your Nintendo Switch, tvOS, or toaster. Meanwhile, Undertale is available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Vita. Oh, and Minecraft is purchasable on Amazon if you are interested and haven’t picked it up yet.
Parisian producer Le Dom returns to his own label Paradoxe Club with a new EP, Schism.
The release is described by the label as “an operation of musical Minecraft” and collects four crushing club compositions that feature “the full magnetic power” of the producer’s “abrasive rhythmic constructions”. Listen to a new track, ‘13 Layers Of Stone’, below.
Schism drops on April 5 and is available to pre-order now. Check out the Weirdcore-designed cover art and tracklist below.
Two months after the massive success of Marshmello’s in-game Fortniteconcert, a slew of musicians are gathering together to put on an entire in-game festival – this time in Minecraft.
Announced today, Pixel Festival will be held in the blocky mining and building game over the weekend of April 6-7 – or rather from midday on April 7-8 in Australia due to the time difference
Presented by URL Events, the festival will feature talent from all around the globe – as well as a good number of Australian artists. Heimanu is scheduled to perform on Pixel Festival’s first day, while the second day is packed full of Aussie talent such as What So Not, Slumberjack, Anna Lunoe, Blanke, Yvng Jalapeño and Made By Tsuki.
Incredibly popular Fortnite Twitch streamer Ninja will also be performing at the festival. No word yet as to whether he’ll try to make the crowd floss.
Admission to Pixel Festival is free, but you can buy a VIP pass for US$5 or an artist pass for US$25. However, exactly what these passes get you is unclear, as Pixel Festival’s website is currently down.
To attend the festival, you’ll need a copy of Minecraft. Once you’ve booted it up, select ‘Multiplayer’, click ‘Add Server’, then type in ‘MC.URL.EVENTS’.
This isn’t the first time a live performance has been held in Minecraft.
Back in 2016, Norway tech conference The Gathering held an event in which artists AlunaGeorge, Broiler and Lemaitre performed in real life, while volunteers copied their movements with in-game avatars.
In September 2018, performers including ANAMANAGUCHI and Electric Mantis took to the virtual Minecraft stage at Coalchella.
Even more recently, Fire Festival (not to be confused with Fyre Festival) was held this January in Minecraft, featuring performances from artists such ARTY, Ekali, Hudson Mohawke and Luca Lush.
However, the incredible success of DJ Marshmello’s Fortnite concert last month has renewed interest in the still relatively experimental format. In a statement to The Verge, Epic Games said that 10.7 million people attended Marshmello’s concert, making it the game’s largest event to date.
The idea was that children might engage more with the Bible if they had a familiar vehicle – in this case, religious stories in a game-themed book — helping them do it, according to the Bailiwick Express.
In the British Isles, the schools received “The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters – Stories from the Bible told block by block,” which gives children ages 7 through 11 3-D versions of Bible stories such as the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark.
The Rev. Beverley Sproats of St John’s Parish Church said the game-themed religious books made the Bible more “accessible.” Her church donated 30 such books to St. John’s School.
Francesca Allen, who heads Humanities Faculty at Le Rocquier School, said her school “gratefully received” the donation.
“We were previously having to print extracts from the Bible to support students in their Judaism and Christianity studies,” she said, “which meant they never got to grips with how to negotiate a real Bible.”
The book that was donated to the 24 schools is one of a series that tells religious stories through a Minecraft approach. Other books in the series include, “The Story of Moses, A Children’s Guide to the Old and New Testament, Life of Jesus, and Heroes and Villains.”
The schools in Europe have a lot of company when it comes to using Minecraft to connect children to the Bible.
“Because Minecraft is so open, any player can design a world,” said Vincent Gonzalez, a scholar who has examined Christian video games, to USA Today in an interview last year.“And whenever things are open, religious people tend to use it to express themselves.”
Professor Rachel Wagner of Ithaca College sees parallels between video games and religion. Both, she noted to USA Today, have rituals, rules and structure.
“Even if they are ‘open’ in the sense of allowing players to construct entire worlds for themselves, as Minecraft does, games always offer spaces in which things make sense, where players have purpose and control,” Wagner added. “For players who may feel that the real world is spinning out of control, games can offer a comforting sense of predictability. They can replace God for some in their ability to promise an ordered world.”
On a broader scale, educators are finding Minecraft an effective way to teach other subjects.
“We first heard from kids themselves about Minecraft, and we started watching a lot of YouTube videos to see what the buzz was about,” said Debra Dorfman, Scholastic’s vice president and publisher for licensing, to The Associated Press a few years ago.
“Kids, parents and teachers were all saying Minecraft was good for you. Kids are given free rein to play, build and watch YouTube videos of other people playing. Teachers were talking about the educational aspects of creative thinking, geometry, geology and problem solving so parents were agreeing to let them play for hours at a time.”
“Minecraft” is set in a procedurally generated blocky world whose trees, terrain and bodies of water can be mined for resources to build things like shelters, tools and armor to protect players from the zombies, skeletons and creepers who come out at night. The calculatedly simple mix of survival gameplay and Lego-like digital construction has captured the imagination of players who’ve recreated landmarks like Walt Disney World, the White House and Westeros from “Game of Thrones” across the game’s sprawling virtual landscape.
If you have chased your fair share of Minecraft Achievements, chances are you are aware how precious individual shared worlds can be for efficient hunting. The last thing anyone wants is to lose all of their hard work, so players should be particularly cautious about accessing the 1.11 beta which they may have received an invite to — even if they weren’t invited to the private build.
We’re running into an issue where players are receiving the Minecraft 1.11 beta on Xbox One without being opted into the beta program. While we work on a fix, DO NOT open your worlds with the beta.8112:40 – 26 Mar 2019Twitter Ads information and privacy38 people are talking about this Matt Gartzke is the Community Manager for Minecraft, and while no further details have been given it seems like beta invites have gone out to people who haven’t signed up — and therefore haven’t read all of the rules, warnings and details included in the sign-up page. One of the most critical aspects to understand about the beta is that crashes and lost saves are perfectly possible. If players access the Beta unawares, they may find themselves losing their meticulously crafted worlds.
At present there is no ETA on a fix to this accidental access, so the general consensus is to avoid the Beta invite completely for the time being. Perhaps this time around it’s best to simply wait until the features being tested in the Beta arrive in the final game.
