Epic doesn't begin to describe it.
July 23, 2011 10:46 AM   Subscribe

Minecraft: Middle Earth - A tour of a nearly full scale recreation of Middle Earth in Minecraft.
posted by empath (25 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
God damnit you are not making me go back to minecraft.

( adventure update adventure update adventure update)
posted by The Whelk at 10:51 AM on July 23, 2011 [3 favorites]


Westeros must be next!
posted by kbanas at 10:55 AM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm thinking of using Minecraft as my game table for my upcoming pen-and-paper-over-internet-protocol roleplaying campaign. What mods should I use?
posted by LogicalDash at 11:01 AM on July 23, 2011


I am in awe of the scale of this thing. I've participated in some big excavation projects on Apork and various Temporkaylpses, and I can't imagine how long it would take to build that by hand. Must've been at least inventory hacks to get more blocks without mining.. right?
posted by Alterscape at 11:04 AM on July 23, 2011


that's insane.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:33 AM on July 23, 2011


These guys deserve an award of some kind. Is there a Nobel Peace Prize for minecraft?
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 12:09 PM on July 23, 2011 [2 favorites]


On Bree: A: "This field has 27,000 individual things of wheat". B: "Why would you do that? Who does that?"
posted by Winnemac at 12:39 PM on July 23, 2011


I know it's passe, but who the fuck has this kind of free time?
posted by Brocktoon at 1:21 PM on July 23, 2011


Their rendition of Moria is stupendous in scale...
posted by Harald74 at 1:49 PM on July 23, 2011


Drunks, the unemployable, angry loners.....
posted by The Whelk at 1:51 PM on July 23, 2011


Jeez. This is cool but yeah, the fact that some of it was made entirely by hand - there aren't very many things where I say "don't you have something better to do" but at that point I'd feel compelled to. Really impressive, the way things like this are impressive - half in how impressive it is, and half in how depressing it is.

The guy doing the talking is obviously deep into it. You can tell from the casual disdain he has for the vulgar non-elvish name for Rivendell.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:52 PM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Drunks, the unemployable, angry loners.....

17 year old boys, which is who I think is doing most of this.
posted by empath at 2:56 PM on July 23, 2011


Although while I can't imagine the motivation for this (at a smaller scale, sure, but this?), I would certainly pay for access. Why not? Like paying for a movie or a ride. Video game tourism. I thought about it once when I started playing Guild Wars - there were some really beautiful vistas and I considered starting a sort of tourism business, escorting low-level players to these great locations. Take only screenshots, leave only monsters.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:59 PM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Why would you do that? Who does that?

People who can find no broader canvas. They wanted to make something beautiful on a scale so grand that it takes hours to walk through. I wish my obsessions produced such awe inspiring results.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:11 PM on July 23, 2011 [4 favorites]


Why would you do that? Who does that?

To build an entire world? To play god?

I'm reminded of limbo from Inception, tbh.

And they're only less than half done.
posted by empath at 3:27 PM on July 23, 2011


I just hit the 33 minute mark.

Pardon me while I pick my jaw back up off the floor.
posted by Uncle Ira at 6:00 PM on July 23, 2011


I don't have words for this.
posted by meinvt at 6:36 PM on July 23, 2011


I've played Minecraft for a grand total of about 10 minutes, so I need some questions answered.
1) When they say it is made entirely by hand, does that mean one block per click or what? Do they have macros and multipliers or are these worlds done voxel by voxel? Do you have to go through all the bullshit crafting to get a brick, then you can carry it to your Mines of Moria and place it, then go back and do some more crafting?

2) How do they do the custom bricks with designs on them?

3) How do you play the multiplayer? Can you download these maps?
posted by pashdown at 8:30 PM on July 23, 2011


(1) There are plenty of people who "cheat" in minecraft by designing their world outside the game, in an editor, then importing the finished creation. I hate these people. I'm going to assume THIS video wasn't produced like this, because I have faith in humankind.

(2) You can create texture packs for Minecraft, and make the blocks look like however you want.

(3) In the case of this world, I don't know. If they have it sitting on a multiplayer server somewhere, they'd have to have some serious griefing protection.
posted by Jimbob at 8:53 PM on July 23, 2011


1) According to the video, they did everything by hand at first (including making the rivers and cliffs in Rivendell), but they've started using tools for landscaping and making repetitive stuff, but the detail is still done by hand. I'm also sure they cheat to give themselves items so they don't have to mine and harvest everything.

2) All the textures in minecraft are stored in a single image file and it's easy to edit it.

3) You can't download the maps, but there instructions on their page for being allowed on their server. You need to apply, i think, right now.
posted by empath at 12:18 AM on July 24, 2011


Can't wait for the other installments.
posted by Eideteker at 1:52 AM on July 24, 2011


Yes, this is absolutely awe-inspiring...

However, it's really clear how much they borrowed from LoTRO, which is arguably even greater in scale -- and certainly in resolution -- than what they are doing.

I remember the first time I managed to make the trip from Bree to Rivendell, as a relatively low-level character. After going through so much wasteland to get there, it was absolutely epic and joyously beautiful.
posted by markkraft at 5:18 AM on July 24, 2011


I love that parts of this map are simply too epic to render with the present engine. Even better is that they built it out anyway, knowing that one day it will be seen.

One day the engine will show the full extent of their ambition. Brilliant.
posted by vicx at 7:14 AM on July 24, 2011


Somehow Minecraft makes these scenes feel much more real and immediate to me than the official LOTR games, despite those being amazingly detailed and pretty.

Maybe it's because I know that you can actually interact with everything in the Minecraft world, and that the ground beneath your feet isn't just a surface. Something about it really tweaks the exploring! bit of my brain in a way that normal games don't, even if they're technically better versions of the same place.
posted by lucidium at 9:43 AM on July 24, 2011 [2 favorites]


Maybe it's because I know that you can actually interact with everything in the Minecraft world, and that the ground beneath your feet isn't just a surface.

That's it exactly. If you could take a pick and start digging in the caverns of LOTRO's Moria, you'd find that it's just a facade, like a movie set. A hollow shell with pretty pictures painted on it.

If you take a pick and start digging down beneath the caverns of Minecraft Moria, you might find lava-filled caves, underground rivers, and scary monsters that the crafters of this thing didn't put there and might not even know about.
posted by straight at 11:58 AM on July 24, 2011


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