Dundee’s Puny Astronaut is shooting for the stars after the fledgling games studio secured a six-figure cash injection from the developer behind the console edition of global sensation Minecraft.
City Quay-based 4J Studios, which is headed by serial entrepreneurs Chris van der Kuyl and Paddy Burns, decided to invest in the Abertay University graduate team after being blown away by Skye, the studio’s debut offering.
The 2016 Dare to be Digital award-winning team’s game is aimed at families and casual audiences and focuses on the adventures of Skye, the friendly flying dragon.
Mr Burns said: “When we met Puny Astronaut, and were first introduced to Skye, we could see instantly the team and game had enormous potential. Both are a perfect fit for 4J as our philosophy is based on developing ‘games for everyone’.
“Although the team was keen to bring Skye to market as soon as possible, Chris and I felt rushing it would be a mistake.
“So, we offered to invest in them instead, which would give them the time, space and resources needed to complete the game in line with their initial vision.”
Cian Roche, Puny Astronaut’s managing director, said: “With 4J’s investment, we’ll be able to produce the game we first set out to create and share our plans with the rest of the games community.”
Minecraft is getting ready to introduce a whole slew of new aquatic features to the mix, and players can now get a look at them a little early. The Minecraft team is now rolling out features from the Update Aquatic to for beta testing on Windows 10, Xbox One, and Android.
Not all of the features that are planned to accompany the update when it finally ships are available as part of this update, but it does give players a look at some of what's coming. That includes new Drowned mobs, along with new swimming animations and stripped wood. The update also brings the new Trident weapon, along with enchantments meant to help players explore the depth. Of course, a number of fixes are tagging along as well. Here's a look at all of what's new and fixed:
Added Drowned mobs
Added the Trident and new enchantments (Channeling, Loyalty, Riptide and Impaling)
Added Stripped Wood
Added Slabs and Stairs for Prismarine, Prismarine Brick, and Dark Prismarine
Iron Golems no longer spawn when Mob Spawning is disabled
Rain, smoke particles, and shadows are no longer visible through lava
Disabling “Visible to LAN Players” for one world no longer disables it for all worlds
Buttons cloned in a “pressed” state no longer remain pressed forever
A warning now appears instructing not to close the game when exporting a world
The power output of Redstone Comparators is no longer lost after a world is converted from Xbox One Edition
Pick Block no longer replaces the item currently selected in the hotbar if other slots are empty
When the update ships to everyone, it's planned to include coral reefs, shipwrecks, new oceanic species, and more.
Minecraft Bedrock Edition Update 1.2.13 is an upcoming patch to Minecraft. The patch is currently being rolled out to the Minecraft beta in stages, with 1.2.13.8 being the latest version.
Windows 10 players can opt in and out of the beta from the Xbox Insider Hub App. However, while previewing the beta, you will not have access to realms or be able to join non-beta players.
It’s also worth noting that beta builds are likely to be unstable and finished releases may not include all the changes and fixes from the beta.
Make sure you backup your world before joining the beta.
How to Activate Experimental Gameplay
Some features from Minecraft’s upcoming Update Aquatic are being tested on the beta via experimental gameplay. However, these features are incomplete and are not representative of final gameplay.
Experimental gameplay can be toggled in the world settings menu. To prevent your world from crashing, a copy of your world will be created with an [EX] before the world name.
Once experimental gameplay is enabled for a world, it cannot be disabled. Any progress will not be saved to your original world.
Minecraft Beta 1.2.13.8 Patch Notes
Experimental Gameplay
Added Drowned mobs.
Added new swimming animation.
Added the trident and new enchantments: channeling, loyalty, riptide, and impaling.
Added stripped wood.
Added slabs and stairs for prismarine, prismarine brick, and dark prismarine.
Fixes
Iron Golems no longer spawn when mob spawning is disabled.
Rain, smoke particles, and shadows are no longer visible through lava.
Disabling “visible to LAN Players” for one world no longer disables it for all worlds.
Buttons cloned in a “pressed” state no longer remain pressed forever.
A warning now appears instructing not to close the game when exporting a world.
The power output of redstone comparators is no longer lost after a world is converted from Xbox One Edition.
Pick block no longer replaces the item currently selected in the hotbar if other slots are empty.
Fixes for bugs introduced during beta
Increased stability and fixed several crashes.
Abandoned mineshafts no longer generate above ground.
Fixed improper mushroom block obtained from giant red mushrooms when using pick block.
Tools now work properly and no longer shake in-hand.
Sticky pistons no longer turn into regular pistons after being renamed.
Tripwire hooks once again appear in jungle temples.
Players can once again stand on top of ladders.
Mob heads can no longer be duplicated by placing them in water.
Strongholds once again generate with mossy stone brick and cracked stone brick.
More than one line of text can once again be placed on signs.
The B button no longer has to be pressed twice on the controller to deselect a skin in the skin picker.
Heads and skulls that are placed on a walls no longer have incorrect hitbox positions.
Invisible vines no longer appear on jungle trees.
Torches can once again be placed in the same block occupied by a player.
Google search volume interest for “Fortnite” exceeded “Minecraft” and bitcoin in recent weeks.
Epic Games said in January the title has more than 45 million players.
The publisher launched the free-to-play “Battle Royale” mode for “Fortnite” on PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Mac in September, which led to a surge in the game's popularity.
“Battle Royale” type games have 100 online players violently battle to the death until only one player survives.
One of the hottest pop culture phenomenons right now is a game called “Fortnite,” attracting rap stars, top Twitch streamers and gamers alike.
The game, made by Epic Games, is surging in popularity. Google search volume interest for “Fortnite” exceeded “Minecraft” and bitcoin in recent weeks.
Source: Google Trends
At one point last month, 3.4 million people were playing the game at same time, likely making it “the biggest PC/console game in the world,” Epic Games said. The company revealed in January the game has been played by more than 45 million people worldwide.
Epic Games launched the free-to-play “Battle Royale” mode for “Fortnite” on PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Mac in September. Critics said the mode was a blatant knock-off of “PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds” [PUBG], which was a big PC gaming success story last year.
“Battle Royale” type games have 100 online players violently battle to the death until only one player survives.
“Fortnite” has surpassed PUBG due to its free-to-play no upfront cost business model, lower hardware requirements, less cheating problems and a more casual cartoon look that appeals to younger gamers.
Source: Microsoft
Top streamers such a Ninja, Shroud and Dr. DisRespect have flocked to playing the game.
Twitch is a live streaming video platform primarily used to stream video game play. It was acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014. Many streamers make a full-time living playing games from paid channel subscriptions and viewer donations.
Rapper Drake joined Ninja to play the game Wednesday night, breaking the Twitch record for most concurrent viewers in a non-tournament stream with 630,000 people watching at peak, according to The Verge.
Drake performing
The rising popularity of “Fortnite” is worrying financial analysts about the future prospects for large gaming companies.
“We believe the strong growth of Fortnite creates tactical risk to the video game publishers and could limit potential upside to consensus numbers,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren wrote in a note to clients last week. “The game is gaining momentum in Western markets, which is likely to impact engagement for all AAA games to some degree. We believe Fortnite is growing the overall gaming TAM [total addressable market], but some cannibalization is likely.”
The analyst predicted the monetization of multi-player games from other publishers will suffer by about 10 percent due to competition from “Fortnite.”
And the game is about to get even bigger as it launches on smartphones.
Epic Games announced last week that “Fortnite” will be released on mobile devices. An initial invite-only version launched on Apple iOS devices on Monday and an Android version will come out in few months.
While the whole world is talking about Fortnite, there's another pretty popular cross-platform game out there called Minecraft [$6.99], and it's a game that continues to grow even after all these years. Minecraft, as you probably know if you follow the game's development, is getting a huge update called Update Aquatic (the echoes of Life Aquatic are not accidental). And for once, Android players get all the luck since they can jump into the Update Aquatic Beta and check out all the new features. iOS players, we get to sit this one out unfortunately, as is always the case with Minecraft Betas. If you want to get into the Beta, you should head this way and follow the pretty simple guide provided. It really is a pretty simple procedure, so if you do want to experience the fun before everyone else, you can do so with barely any trouble. Just remember to back up your worlds, just in case.
Why would you want to, well, take a dive into Update Aquatic? Let's start off by saying that this update will add something to the game I've wanted to see ever since the early days of the PC version beta: breathe life into the huge oceans that cover most of the game's maps. The oceans will now have a lot more plant life, with things like Seagrass, Corals, and Kelp rescuing us from the endless monotony of sandy ocean floors. These new materials will give builders more to play with but also make buildings by the beach—or even underwater—look like they belong. We will also encounter bubble columns, which will change the buoyancy of anything floating above it. Initially the developers considered making the bubbles push things to the surface, but then they decided that it's actually more fun to pull you down (even though there's also the pushing up version but is more of an Easter Egg). I can't wait to see the crazy ways the community will use these bubbles and all the contraptions that will come of them.
We are also getting sea turtles, a mob that has been redesigned since it was originally announced. They are now much bigger and more complex. They have a beach home, which they will always return to no matter how far they swim away. Baby turtles will also remember where they were when they hatched, so we'll be able to use them as homing beacons by having them hatch at locations we want to return to. But keep in mind that some mobs will attack the baby turtles, and I hope you're not inhuman enough to let them die.
In addition to turtles, we are getting the Drowned, a new mob that will haunt your oceans as well as river and swamp biomes. They will often come from drowned zombies and can even carry a trident, which they'll use to attack from afar. Dolphins will also join the fun as will a ton of fish mobs, the latter being perfect for that aquarium you always wanted to build. And we are getting the Phantom, the flying mob players voted for during the last MineCon; make sure you get some good rest because this mob will attack those who stay awake for too long.
Update Aquatic is also adding icebergs, underwater ruins, shipwrecks, underwater caves and ravines, and much more, all of which should make exploring the ocean worth the time. And we are getting the Trident too, a weapon perfect for jousting underwater. It comes with some fun enchantments that can make it return to your hand after throwing or even drag you along as you toss it. Finally, the update will also add a few smaller touches that will make living underwater easier, including new swimming animations, faster underwater movement, and a tweaked light level so players can see slightly further.
As you can tell, Update Aquatic will open up great possibilities for building and living underwater, and I'm actually quite excited to get my hands on it. As is always the case, we don't yet have an official release date, but with the Android beta going live, full release shouldn't be too far out.
When your kid shows interest in a popular phenomenon, usually there’s not much to understand—you just help them turn on the videos, and put the toys on their birthday wish list. But it’s a little trickier when your kid comes home and insists that they need to play Minecraft. You have some learning to do.
If you’re nervous about letting your kid log on to a server with other people, it may help to know that they don’t have to. We’ll discuss below how to set up a multiplayer world, but there are plenty of ways to do that while keeping the world private. Minecraft is also tons of fun in single player mode. If you do end up introducing your child to public servers, you’ll probably want to have a talk with them about online safety, and it may be a good idea to play with them at first.
Pick a Platform and Install the Game
There’s a version of Minecraft for every platform. The cheapest, and easiest to install, is the Minecraft Pocket Edition app. It’s $6.99 on iOS and Android. Once it’s installed, you just hit Play, create a world, and you’re off.
Pocket edition has a limited set of inventory items and commands. You can still do a ton of fun things, but currently the game lacks large “boss” monsters to battle, and you don’t have access to some of the lesser used items. The mobile app will do almost anything you can think of, but if you want the most flexibility down the line and the physically largest worlds, go with the desktop version. We imagine though, that your child will probably have a preference as to the platform you buy and install on.
The traditional and most full-featured way to play is on a computer, with the version that runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux. The software is free to download, but you have to pay a one-time fee of $26.95 to create an account. The program won’t run unless you log in.
Minecraft is also available for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and 4, Wii U, and a handful of other console and mobile platforms,at varying price points in the $20-$30 range, with licenses available either through direct download or physical copies, whichever you prefer. Once you’ve installed the version Minecraft of your (or your child’s) choice, create a Single Player world for starters, and begin exploring.
Learn the Controls
Even if it’s your kid that will be doing the gameplay, you’ll want to have a sense of how to move around and use objects in the game. I can’t count how many times a kid asked me how to do something, I googled and confidently told them the answer, and then felt a little clueless when they handed me the device and said “Show me how.”
On a computer, the w, a, s, and d keys control which direction you walk, and your mouse position controls where you look. Left click destroys a block; right click places the block you are holding. Similarly, interact with objects with a click: left click to hit, right click to use an object. So, for example, hold a bone and right click on a dog to give the dog a bone. Left click to smack the dog with the bone.
The space bar lets you jump, and in creative mode (more about that below), you can fly. Double tap the space bar to start flying, and tap it again to move higher. Shift lowers you down, and another double space drops you to the ground.
On a touch screen device, you’ll have arrow buttons on the left side of the screen for walking, and a separate button for jumping or flying on the right. Swipe the screen to look around. Place blocks with a tap, and destroy them by tapping and holding. You can use some items by tapping, others by tapping and holding, and still others by looking for a special button to appear at the bottom of the screen. For example, if you hold an apple and approach a horse, there will be a “feed” button. You can read more about all the different controls for all the different platforms on the Official Minecraft Wiki.
To manage your inventory, press “e” on your keybord (on the desktop) or tap the “…” button next to the row of nine empty boxes at the bottom of the screen (on mobile.) Scroll through to see what you’ve picked up, if you’re playing in survival mode. In creative mode, you can also search and scroll through hundreds of items that are yours for the choosing. Those nine empty boxes, by the way? Those are your “hot bar” of readily accessible objects. You can drag items from your inventory into them to use them quickly, like with a single tap or keypress, which comes in handy later.
So, What Do You Do?
So what do you do in Minecraft, anyway? What is your kid trying to accomplish when they spend hours at the computer playing? You already know the answer, actually: you mine blocks from your surroundings, and you use them to craft new things. Imagine walking through a world made of lego blocks as far as the eye can see. You can break off a block from the ground, from a tree, anywhere you like, and then you can use the blocks you’ve gathered to make something new.
In survival mode, you arrive in Minecraft land with literally nothing. You can karate-chop the world with your hand to gather blocks of dirt and wood. You can make a pickaxe out of wood, and use it to mine for stone. Then you can make a better pickaxe out of stone. In the meantime, you’d better create a shelter before dark, because that’s when the monsters come out. If they get you, you die:
Survival minecraft can be challenging and fun, but young kids are often more interested in building things, spawning animals, and exploring all the different types of objects that exist in the universe. (Me too, honestly.) You can do all that without fear of being killed by Creepers if you play your game in creative mode. That means you don’t have any damage or hunger meters, you can fly, and you can have as many as you want of anything. Diamond armor? Golden apples? Potions that let you see in the dark? All yours!
Fun Things to Try with Your Kids
Here are some things you can do right away. They’re easy in creative, and possible (if you can gather the materials) in survival. Best of all, if you’re new to the game, you can do them yourself, or if you’re installing for your kids or playing along with them, they’re fun for everyone involved.
Watch the Sunset: A new day dawns in Minecraft every 20 minutes. You get 10 minutes of daylight, 90 seconds of dusk, seven minutes of night, and another 90 seconds for sunrise. It’s kind of beautiful.
See in the Dark: If a young child starts crying for seven out of every 20 minutes while playing, now you know why. After dark, just snag a Potion of Night Vision from your inventory. On the computer you can search for items by name; on mobile, scroll until you find it. It’s dark blue. Right click, or tap and hold, to drink the potion.
Change Your Skin: Gameplay is typically in a first person point-of-view, but if other players are around, they’ll be able to see you. You can also switch views while playing and see yourself in the third-person. If you’d like to tweak your look, visit minecraftskins.net, where you can choose a new skin. Hit Edit to customize it to your liking, and if you play the desktop edition, hit Change to submit it to Minecraft’s account servers. (Your skin is considered part of your account profile.) If you play on the mobile editions, Download the skin and save it to your device’s photo library. Then you can change your skin from within the game.
Tame a Wolf: No wolves? Look in your inventory for an egg called “spawn wolf.“ It does exactly what you’d think. Feed one of your new wolves a bone, and it will start following you and exuding hearts. Once the wolf has been tamed, it wears a red collar and is a dog. Do not hit your dog with a bone. They attack as a pack when one is hurt.
Ride a Pig: Hold a carrot on a stick, and all the pigs around will follow you. Place a saddle on a pig, and then you can ride it. The pig will walk constantly, but you can steer with your mouse as usual. To stop the pig, take the carrot and stick out of your hand.
Teleport: If you’re playing with your kid in multiplayer mode, they’re almost guaranteed to wander off. If you type a forward slash, you’ll find you can enter commands. A handy one is /teleport, or /tp for short, followed by your kid’s player name. You’ll teleport right to where they are.
Build a Beacon: Especially in survival mode, you’ll want to find a way to get back to your home. Build dirt, or whatever you’ve got, into a tall tower that you can see from a distance. While there are other ways to find your way home when you get lost, this is the simplest.
I learned all of these tricks from my six-year-old son, who in turned learned them from watching YouTube. As an adult, you may not have noticed, but roughly half of YouTube is just videos of people playing Minecraft. You can find a guide to the best channels, with notes on their kid-friendliness, at Common Sense Media.
Be warned: these videos often show features that go far beyond what you can find in an ordinary Minecraft installation. There are mods (modifications to either clients or servers), resource packs (which change game features like the appearance of blocks), maps (pre-built worlds), and mini-games (maps set up for solo or competitive games).
Playing With Others
In single player mode, you can set your kid up with a world of her own that she can build and proudly show you all about. But if you really want to play with your kid, you’ll need to learn about multiplayer Minecraft. There are three big ways to play multiplayer:
On a computer, after creating a single player world, you can choose “Open to LAN” to enable others to connect to the world you’ve created. Your friends will need to know your IP address and port to connect to your server. Don’t forget that each player needs their own Minecraft account, so you’ll have to pay again to play together: one account for you, one for your kid.
You can install a server on another, separate computer to keep your world running all the time. The server software is free, but again each player needs their own account.
You can sign up for Minecraft Realms, a subscription service at $9.99/month. Only the person who sets up the world needs a paid subscription, and they can invite others to play with them.
Pocket edition, Windows 10, and consoles support those same three ways of connecting with other players, but are incompatible with PC/Mac editions. Realms subscriptions are, likewise, available either for the PC/Mac edition or the Pocket/Windows 10 edition. That means you can’t play on your phone and connect to your kid’s desktop-based world. Try both if you like, but make sure you consider which ecosystem you want to stick with before your kid starts building that massive castle.
