Mojang AB - Minecraft: Master Builds

Acknowledgments

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From the Author

First off, a massive thanks to every builder who spoke to me for this book. Your passion for Minecraft and the amazing things youve achieved with it were an absolute delight to discuss. Soon as I win the lottery, I look forward to deciding which one of you Im going to beg to design me a house in real life. Thanks to Alex Wiltshire, who gave great advice and tracked down the majority of the builders in this book. Seriously, Alex, do you know everyone whos built something amazing in Minecraft? I barely know enough people to fill out an acknowledgments page

Thanks to Ellie Stores, who edited my words into coherency, answered all my dumb questions without judgment (at least I hope so?), and cut some truly awful puns that would have had you demanding I never be let near a pen again. Thanks to the designer Andy Leung and the 3D illustrator Billy Budgen, for making every page of this book look so absurdly pretty. Thanks to Jen Simpkins for being a brilliant friend. One who once told me there was some game called Minecraft that I should consider playing and writing about. Ill begrudgingly concede that turned out to be good career advice. Endless thanks to Adele Major, the amazing producer who collaborates with me on almost all my Minecraft projects, with the exception of this book (but shes still getting thanked in it anyway shes that good). Finally, Id like to thank my housemates dog for only trying and failing to ruin one of my builder interviews with his incessant barking. Nice try, Odin. Better luck next book!

From the Publisher

Expanse would like to thank all the builders who constructed such impressive structures, and then took the time to talk to us about it afterward. In particular, thanks to Iskillia, SadicalMC, Thomas Sulikowski and Varuna Builds, Rigolo and Comeon, natsu3012, Rajkkor, Zeemo, qwryzu, Junghan Kim, Maggie Gondo Wardoyo, Arkha Satya Taruna, Sander Poelmans, Sayama Production Committee, Minecrafttalsi, Jossieboy, Blockworks, and Quantics Build. Thanks, also, to Kristin Bsse, LNeoX, LordKingCrown, and Craig Jelley.

A special thank you to all the people at Mojang for the guidance in bringing this book to reality. To Alex Wiltshire and Sherin Kwan, and to Cookiie and Yutaka Noma. Thank you to Mikael Hedberg for your insightful words.

Chapter One

Aman, The Immortal Lands

By Iskillia

I skillias main piece of advice to builders is, You have to finish it, and he believes its the secret to his success. I really take the time but I also finish the things I begin. Thats something I force myself to do. You have to finish it! says the French builder, talented renderer, and architect of these Immortal Lands.

After eighteen months of painstaking crafting, Iskillia proved his word by finishing the vast wonder Aman, the sum of many eclectic influences. Minas Tirith, the imposing city from Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings movies is a staggering feat of production design that clearly influenced the way Amans statue and citadel manage to look as intimidating as they do beautiful. The vegetation is inspired by the gorgeous green vineyards of the south of France, which Iskillia is lucky enough to live near. The influence of the slightly soggy (but magnificent) city of Atlantis can be seen in the use of aquatic colors and grand scale, while the eighth-century Round City of Baghdad, with its unique circular design, inspired the shape of the citadel.

When I found Minecraft, I was like OK, this is incredible. I was always a creative personI liked the game because of the possibilities, the freedom that it offered.

Considering the wide variety of influences not to mention all the other games, architects, fellow Minecraft builders, and much more that inspired Iskillia its amazing that his city of Aman (the name is another Tolkien nod: a reference to the continent to the west of Middle Earth) isnt an incoherent mess. Instead, its disparate parts flow flawlessly into a whole. From the red spires designed to resemble flames that twist around its landscapes to the enormous white-and-gold statue, worryingly close to slamming its horned head against the 256-block height limit of version 1.12.

Iskillia discovered the game nine years ago when he was still in high school. When I found Minecraft, I was like OK, this is incredible. I was always a creative person. I always played with things. The imaginative young builder loved to spend his time creating something new, whether an environment or a universe. So, even before Minecraft, he desired to build something big. He just needed to find the right tool to let him realize his ambitions. I liked the game because of the possibilities, the freedom that it offered.

Iskillias circular central sculpture was inspired by eighth-century Baghdad.

Left | The lush green of the vegetation and the flaming red spires are a dramatic backdrop for the pale buildings.

Right | The green serpentine bridge borrows its design from mythical creatures like a sea dragon or the Loch Ness Monster.

Golden God

Youll find this striking statue towering over the sanctuary part of the city. Iskillia was inspired by Egyptian gods, which often have an animal head and a human body, but he crafted an imaginary deity to make the connection less explicit. Though it looks like a stone statue, its actually mainly made from birch wood blocks, which Iskillia realized would have a sandstone or limestone appearance at this scale. The goal was to resemble an old stone monument, like the pyramids of Giza.

As for that outfit, Iskillia turned to the ancient divinities from Greece and Egypt who werent known for wearing a lot of clothes for his fashion research. I also added the flags in the back because it was interesting in terms of design shapes and composition.

After spending some time playing with friends, Iskillia entered the online Minecraft community, joining several French build teams. I ended up in NewHeaven, where Im a manager now. Looking at NewHeavens portfolio, the grand cities and imaginative statues have a familiar flavor. Iskillia is also well-known in the Minecraft community for his rendering skills, a service hes offered to many builders. These rendering skills would be vital for getting an overview of his own city midway through its construction, but thats jumping ahead of the story.

Before starting the Immortal Lands, Iskillia did some initial planning: doodling designs in the margins of his school papers. But he mainly preferred to dive straight into building and develop a plan on the fly. Its a very agile method. It changed all the time. Im building and building and building and at the end I have something. Something that was absolutely out of control at the beginning!