These days it’s somewhat rare for a PC exclusive to cause a mass amount of hype prior to release, but a little game called Minecraft went on to change all of that. Since becoming a mega hit that has gone on to sell an ungodly high number of copies on XBLA, Minecraft may no longer be a PC exclusive but 0x10c, the follow-up game from Minecraft creators Notch and Mojang, is still bound for the PC first so there’s going to be some excitement over the next year or so.
Apart from the somewhat odd but unique name, not a lot has been said or shown of 0x10c so far. What we do know is that the game is following in the vein of Minecraft by allowing in-depth user content, but the setting of space will present a new flavor which has been likened to the classic PC game Elite. Still in the early of stages of development, Notch hasn’t shown much of 0x10c but today we do have a brief video, which despite being a tech demo of sorts, still offers a glimpse into the game.
If you’re hoping to see the grand sci-fi universe Notch is busy crafting, which reportedly will allow gamers to build the engines of their ships more or less, then sadly we don’t have a video featuring such a thing. Instead, the small glimpse that has been shown of 0x10c shows the basic lighting and physics work that Notch has been diligently working on for the past few months. I know it may not be anything so depth ridden that it’ll give you goosebumps whilst watching, but the visual tone of the game does look like a retro throwback of sorts to Quake 2, albeit without twitch shooting happening every four seconds.
This glimpse into 0x10c may be slightly infinitesimal in the amazement department, but the engine as it stands now is looking beyond impressive. Most of us knew that Notch wasn’t just going to do a copy & paste job and adapt the Minecraft engine to fit his needs, though I doubt any of us truly expected the next engine to be as detailed as it is now in the lighting department compared to what Minecraft provided. I don’t know about you, but this small snippet of 0x10c has me excited to see not only what wonders Notch will create but what the user base will bring to the table as well.
