Throughout human history we've had various eras in which one resource or object is craved in great numbers — we had the gold rush in the US, the coal rush wherever it's found, Rush the movie, RUSH the game and plenty more besides (you got a bit lost there - ed). We're now in the midst of the Minecraft rush on Nintendo hardware, it seems, with barely a day passing before another indie effort replicating — or being "inspired by" — the Mojang behemoth. It's rather like the Flappy Bird clone bonanza of earlier in the year, albeit not even on the same scale of insanity.
The latest to throw its hat into the ring is Stone Shire from Finger Gun Games, a two man studio. It's a "voxel-based game inspired by Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, and DnD", with a heavy emphasis on the former, with the developer explaining that the GamePad is well suited to the genre; the 3DS is on the cards should this entry be successful. Being produced in the Unity engine and with procedural worlds, it'll be kept simple and without a levelling system, though there will be enemies (such as goblins) along with the usual traits of exploring, mining and building.
This joins Battleminer on 3DS — which is due soon — and the recently announced U Craft that's in development for Wii U. How well these titles deliver will be interesting to see.
[source forums.tigsource.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 56
My my the Minecraft clones are coming in hot and heavy on Nintendo platforms trying to fill the void of Minecraft's lack of presence.
I think it's shameful that so many developers are nearly entirely copying another persson's work to make money.
This how much indies care for Nintendo. The one console the game made a lot of sense to be on would never happen. 😩
Ewww, I hate the block-style. That's the reason I never played Minecraft. It looks so ugly to me. Why can't they try to copy something like Project Spark?
I hope this is the end of these announcements. One was too many.
Damn, what the actual hell?! Not a single trace of the original Minecraft on WiiU, but now that Mojang belongs to Microsoft, the clones come flooding out of all corners!
Ok that's enough...one title is good enough for both systems.
@Patchouli I see what you did there.
I wouldn't even mind a decent minecraft clone, but this looks very barebones right now. They would have to do a lot more work to make this worthwhile.
Be careful what you wish for, eh? Well, at least nobody will miss minecraft on wii u, this way. I don't understand what's the problem with this titles. Minecraft won't happen on wii u, now is MS. If someone only has a wii u, he can play something similar, I don't see the big issue really.
I think it's good that we at least are getting some Minecraft style gaming on the Wii U since Mojang won't listen to our wishes. Just hope that the games will be well made and not rushed to be first.
All of these clones have been the poor man's version of Minecraft, quite disappointing to be honest.
Great, why not some more ? Nintendo might even open up a seperate category for them in the eShop.
If we put 25 poor clones together, we might end up with something, that resembles alpha Minecraft.
Shovelware flood at 12 o clock. Full speed ahead....
I'll say it again - just buy Minecraft on the PC if you want to play it. Don't have a PC? Fricking get one - who buys a console as niche as a Wii U before a PC (or any other console that currently has Minecraft for that matter)? Don't bother buying into these clones - they are all worse than the original product.
@Mega719 - Indies ripping off a game to try and cash in on lots of money is somehow noble? Lol, yeah - sure.
This is getting silly. :/
Erm and why isn't Minecraft (actual) coming out on the WiiU/3DS?
(Not that I've played it myself).
@headfirstslide
Good catch! I didn't notice until I read your comment.
@Kit 1. Mojang said they don't want to do it
2. Microsoft now owns Mojang, so the likelihood of Mojang changing their mind is nil.
3. These things, they happen
@Kit Nintendo never stepped in to publish it like Sony & MS did.
MSs purchase of Minecraft worries me as a massive fan of Battletech/Mechwarrior. After MS bought out Mechwarrior, they released some poor games and then buried it.
Both of the Wii U clones aren't as appealing as Minecraft, graphics-wise, yet.
Battleminer just feels cheap.
(Will still snap them up anyway for my brother.)
This looks like a terrible Minecraft clone, just disgraceful really.
No textures and no detail. BUY NOW!
Okay, these Minecraft ripoffs are really getting out of hand. Plus they don't even look as good as the actual Minecraft, and the fact that the creators chose to ripoff someone else's work and not come up with their own idea for a game is kinda sad.
@ekreig You are being too generous. XBLA required a slot purchased by a publisher which prevented most indies from appearing. This is starting to look like the Xbox Indie Marketplace. While there were some gems there (Cthulhu Saves the World, Arcadecraft, and DLC Quest being some of them), it mostly was filled with cruft.
@Patchouli
Normally I'd agree with this sentiment. Original ideas will always trump lame-ass cloning. However, this is a kind of game that belongs on the Wii U and 3DS, and the touch-screens will heavily benefit the style. Given Notch's crappy attitude and Microsoft's acquisition, the very game that belongs with Nintendo is never going to happen, so these clones are filling a void that badly needs to be filled.
I'm eager to see what these developers can do, and I hope for some strong, unique ideas to carry the games forward.
There are some very good Minecraft Clones on the android market. These could be very nice as well. Block Story was pretty cool. If these are near that good they will be fine.
The project has been in progress less than a month, and people start bashing the graphics...
@jariw Ok, if it doesn't release for a year or 2, then I might give it a chance. To be honest though, the graphical style was the main interest for some people to check minecraft out in the first place. Yes, there was also the creativity, but we're talking about a clone about a game about creativity (confusing I know.)
These guys should also consider online multiplayer play as that would just be a huge draw to Wii-U owners buying it.
The third MineCraft clone on Wii U? It's way too early to tell how good they will be, but at least there's gonna be a selection to choose from by 2015. Fortunately it's not too hard to make them better than the original, especially on Wii U.
Oh these look terrible,they're just preying on the Wiiu owners who want minecraft for the Wiiu and they can't cause of Microsoft and now they have to buy this crap to fill the gap.
@KHaceattorney I think the point is that this project has only been announced on a discussion forum for developers yet and not announced to the gaming audience, but the Nintendo-centric sites nor their users don't seem to know how to handle such info.
Maybe the plan is to all combine together as an ultimate minecraft clone.
Well now 3 Minecraft clones coming to Nintendo systems.
We just need 1 of the 3 to be good. Odds are starting to get into gamer's favor. I personally like Battleminer's look the best right now, because well ants taking over the world is at least a unique idea.
@midnafanboy Graphically they look pretty much the same as Minecraft. So them looking terrible implies you think Minecraft looks terrible. Which is fine, but let's not be negative just to be negative.
At the very least, this game has the best title of the lot!
In my opinion, Minecraft is its own genre, calling it "theft" or a knockoff misunderstands the nature of innovation. Unless you build on another's ideas, you can't make anything. See the YouTube documentary "Everything is a remix." I say let as many developers as possible make Mining/crafting style games, one is sure to emerge as the best, and there's no guarantee it will be Minecraft. Why let Mojang reign supreme just because they had the idea first? I wish these developers the best of luck.
Remember: The second game in any genre was likely considered a knockoff.
@Patchouli I think Mojang had their chance. If they even hinted that they had plans to make Minecraft for the wii u or 3ds I would agree with you.
I'd be more likely to complain about a flood of clones if the original IP owner had any interest in publishing on Nintendo consoles.
Mojang has clearly indicated they aren't going to do it, so it looks to me like there are other developers hoping to help fill that hole. Hard to tell yet if any of these clones will be worth playing. Very unlikely any will be as well developed as MineCraft... but them's the breaks.
(Disclaimer: I think MineCraft is an interesting novelty that has far outlived it's value as a game. Obviously others feel differently.)
I hope Microsoft decides to release it on Wii U
For them it means more money
Uh, the next clone needs to look NOTHING like Minecraft. Get rid of the 16-bit art style, keep the blocky look (for mining, obviously. There's no workaway there).
Day one buy for me
looks more boring than the original Minecraft. >.>
Not at all impressed, theres too many copies of Minecraft what we need is the real Minecraft for Nintendo systems.
Minecraft fans are dying right now.
The more, the better. I hope everyone and their mother makes a Minecraft clone for the eShop. It just gives me more to choose from. My plan is to wait until all of them come out, then choose the best one for both systems.
( U ____ U) ~ Sigh...
@XCWarrior This does not look like Minecraft just because it stole the style of the game doesn't mean it's Minecraft.And they just stole the style of the game and are using it too make a quick buck from Wiiu owners who want to play some kind of Minecraft on their system.It's pathetic and sad,so yes i will be negative towards this.
@MajinSoul Project spark?
now, if phr00t software ports 3079/3089 to the WiiU, I will be set.
@ryanator008
Do you mean like this?http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/30/a-mother-wasnt-happy-with-minecraft-so-shes-making-her-own-game/
I guess its better than no minecraft....
@NintendoFan64 Minecraft is ripoff of Infiniminer.
I hope that these "inspired" games catch the attention of Microsoft. They were pretty adamant about getting minecraft on as many platforms as possible and maybe seeing all these third party versions coming to WiiU will give them the push to put it on the system. At the very least look into putting it on New 3ds, they can't argue that there is no user base there.
I seriously hate microsoft they suck they always make other peoples lives harder by buying EVERYTHING because now the wii u has NO chance of getting minecraft ughhh stupid microsoft.
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