Trailer

A promotional trailer created with Sony Vegas Pro.

Escalated hobby

Something that started as a hobby and eventually turned into a part-time job. Players could buy in-game content and there was a business model for generating revenue and keeping up with maintenance and marketing costs. To explain why this project is relevant to mention I need to explain what Minecraft actually is. It's a sandbox game which allows not only players total freedom in creativity, but also developers who can create plugins using open-source server software like Bukkit or Spigot. But because I didn't know how to write Java, I started using a framework called SkUnity that made scripting possible for someone who did not know how to code. I could create anything for the players and do it pretty fast as well. The official game served as a client (front-end), but I could change everything that happened in the back-end (mechanics, logic and systems).

Custom coded

Even thought minecraft was an existing and official game made by Mojang, it was surprisingly easy to create server-side plugins and totally change how the game is played on your server. The base (vanilla) game how Mojang intended Minecraft to be, is about survival, crafting and building freely with blocks. But with the bukkit api everything that happened - from breaking a block to typing in chat - has listeners, events and effects. So everything that happens between the player doing something and the server processing it, was customisable to your own imagination. For example: a stick is a harmless item in normal minecraft. But if you wanted to, you could create a plugin which makes it shoot exploding fireballs.

Eventually, the server I developed was a RPG-styled server, with elements from games like World of Warcraft. With different kind of classes, races and special abilities. I wrote a leveling-system so that players could level-up by earning experience and have a sense of progression. And a team-system that divided the player base into 2 separate teams that competed against each other 24/7.

Automated webstore

And as I created new content for the players of my server, I also created "premium" content which players could pay for. Through a website with an automated store that was linked to the server players could buy this premium content with real money and receive their paid content seamlessly.

What I learned

I learned a great deal from this escalated hobby. The server and website I hosted had a maintanance cost of about ~100 Euro p/m. Next to that the server needed an inflow of new players continuously through advertising (~20-50 euro p/m). I would try to get the lowest "rejection rate" possible. During this time I was about 16 years old. So, paying monthly bills of ~150 euro was a big deal for me at that time. Fortunately, the server did well and it generated a lot more than that for a couple years.

Knowing what people really want and what makes them play your game or buy your product is really hard. I also learned that making a good investment in the right time and place can be really worth it. Genuinely listening to your customer and figuring out what they really want is key. I didn't do everything alone, except for the coding part. I had a small team of volunteers who previously were just players that loved playing on the server. I had to manage a group of Moderators (who monitor the chat and would keep the peace between online players), Builders (they created the virtual world itself, block by block) and the players themselves (receiving feedback from them).

Want to know more?

This project or hobby is the reason that I started coding when I was still in college. Many things happened over the course of 4 years running this project! I succeeded, I failed and I learned. If you want to know more about this project just ask me!