Mojang working on three new games, two of which will be announced before Q3

by Jordan Mallory on Jan 13th 2012 7:00PM

Mojang seems to know that, like sharks, developers must continue to move forward at all times, lest they succumb to an early grave. The company's cuboid-smashing smash-hit Minecraft might be enough to allow Notch and crew a break, but rather than rest on their laurels the team at Mojang continues to plow ahead by working concurrently on three unannounced titles.

One title is, of course, being spearheaded by Notch himself. As Minecraft's shimmering golden crown has been passed to Jens Bergensten, Notch is now free to focus on his new project that, according to Mojang CEO Carl Manneh, is still a complete mystery: "What it is today, I don't think he knows himself," Manneh told Edge. "We certainly don't. It's probably going to be a lot of testing and playing around to see what works."

As for the developer's two other projects, Manneh says that Mojang is currently under non-disclosure agreements with other companies that prevent the developer from being as transparent as it would normally prefer. However, both games will be announced (and potentially even released) during the first half of 2012. Our gut instincts tell us that at least one of these new titles will be a Kinect-enabled rhythm/shmup thrift-store clerk simulator.

Source: Edge

Tags: android, carl-manneh, ios, iphone, Jens-Bergensten, mac, microsoft, minecraft, mobile, mojang, new-game, notch, pc, xbox

Reader Comments (25)

Notch's plan for today:

1) Write a blog about coding
2) Announce we've games coming
3) Plan what I'm going to do for my next holiday
4) Announce I'm taking a holiday after the release of Minecraft 1.1 (which came out yesterday)
5) Yay! Holidays!

@mrmobius

You have a very optimistic view of Notch's work ethic.

However, game-developing under a publisher can be very grueling. So I'm mostly okay with Mojang taking their time, they get to breathe more than their contemporaries in the professional side of things.

How 'bout finishing Minecraft on Xbox first? The one that was due in December?

@wunwunx Mojang isn't making that, it's a 3rd party port.

Seems unprofessional to do bit this and that right after you get some money. They're really going harm themselves if they release too niche game next. Scrolls sounds a bit niche, card games definitely don't have mainstream appeal. Multiple games also mean less media attention for some of the games. Some sort of focus would good idea, but perhaps this unorthodox way of going about things works for company like Mojang.

@Kyrx Yeah, but think about what his name adds to the game. I know lots of non-gamers that play minecraft, and know who notch is. I think the fact that his company made it is enough to push it, however niche it may be.

He never knows what he is doing, and when he does something he leaves it unfinished. Yay! 10/10...

I find it funny how there were people that complained that to join matches in BF3 you had to go to the browser on Origin, but when it comes to Minecraft having to not use the launcher and use their shitty forums to search for skins or texture packs or anything else. (i know one thing you do more often than the other)

Makes me appreciate other level/character-creation games like LBP/MNR and others. You can search what you want and find it easily through labels or tags! And even then it feels messy sometimes but oh boy MC is just the worst at it. Was this a rant? D:

@Eniko Do you guys know how to read? JENS IS HANDLING MINECRAFT NOW. Jens has been the lead MC programmer for quite some time now, and a couple of months ago Notch left Minecraft in Jens hands. They haven't dropped Minecraft, Notch has moved on to something else. Jens is still actively working on Minecraft.

@Eniko And what the hell are you going on about? Browsing for a match and looking for unofficial community made content are two completely different things.

Battlelog wouldn't be a problem IF they incorporated a web browser to launch it through in Battlefield 3. Having to start Origin, JUST to open up Chrome is annoying as hell for me, and most other people as well. It's just stupid when you can have the game do the same exact thing instead.

Browsing for skins, texture packs, mods, and all of that good stuff is a totally different scenario. Firstly, the forums aren't shitty. They're actually pretty well organized, and finding anything on there is a piece of cake. Secondly, the skins, texture packs, and mods are all made with tools that are NOT created by Mojang, so why should they have to archive them? Little Big Planet's community content is made using first party tools, and the game is on a console. Making flexibility for stuff like this extremely limited.

I really don't see what point you were trying to get at there, but if you were trying to say that the Minecraft system is busted, you're wrong. It's definitely not perfect, but it's not busted.

@VolcomStone32x I have been aware of that since day one. It does not change the fact that the game is unfinished and lacks features that should be available for it to be actually praised.

@VolcomStone32x I also did state that I was aware of the differences between browsing for server matches every other game and searching for texture packs every now and then. Being able to browse for packs/skins should be done from within the Minecraft Launcher and even include some form of ratings that players can add. You don't add the option for people to switch texture packs without giving them a proper place to actually get them. Forums are not the best form.

@VolcomStone32x It also cannot be perfect like you said, because the game is not finished. lol. My opinion is as good as yours, but the fact that the game lacks a feature it begs for is there.

@Eniko

The simple fact that most of the things you want them to archive/host/allow you to browse in the launcher are optional third party content kind of makes it impossible for them to host it all.

I wouldn't expect a company like Bethesda to keep a frequently updated list of all the mods for Oblivion or Skyrim. Why should they?

Should every server ever made (thousands of them) be publicly listed? What about servers that require you to join their community site first? Have various plugins/mods installed? Bukkit vs. vanilla MC servers? What if some replaces core server files with infected ones and people join from the launcher expecting it to be official/safe? I think their current server/MP list is probably the best solution.

A lot of the mods, texture packs, and servers are still WIP, and many are constantly being updated. To list them all would just be a waste of resources that could be going towards new vanilla Minecraft updates.

@sonicspike41 I'd agree with you it that were true, but the option to change texture packs is in the Minecraft Launcher, but where are they? - the forums.

Some of the recent changes like being able to see the number of players on the server you are connected to as well as your connection to the server are things that go in a good direction. Mods I can understand, texture packs not though since it is offered in-game. I like the game, but I dislike the fact that it is reviewed as a 10/10 game by some sites or praised when it is not finished.

@Eniko I have a sickening feeling you're one of those peeps who appreciates "professionalism".

@Eniko Like I said, they are created using tools that Mojang don't create, so they really shouldn't have to manage them. I suppose you could ask them to integrate a way to browse and download texture packs from the game, but the best they would be able to do is create some in game web browser that navigates you to the "texture packs" section of the forums. Hosting them would be a TON of work on their part and would hammer their servers even more than they already get. (Minecraft used to have a ton of problems with server downtime, this would bring that problem back."

@Eniko

You're familiar with the Painterly texture pack right? It's got tons and tons and tons of options to customize it exactly to your liking. That wouldn't be possible from a simple texture-pack browser from within the Launcher.

There are also a million variants of the Duku RPG texture pack, each with minor or major changes. Some of them are near-exact replicas of the original while some are inspired by the original.

Not all texture packs are built with the same thing in mind. I've seen a few geared more towards just changing the foliage and grass colors and others that mix up the animals. There's also the issue of 16px vs. 32px vs higher sized ones. There's custom animations. There's texture packs designed solely for mods.

No matter how you look at it you're going to need more than what Mojang can officially afford to offer. They can't create an official texture pack site or likely even include a list of them in the launcher because it would probably cause a lot of people to assume they're official texture packs made by Mojang.

@sonicspike41 If the MC forums allow people to browse texture packs regardless of variation quantities, I do not see why there cannot be a list for it within the launcher. Like the theme or background from a laptop, there are some that are already built in and you can change. It could be a list with a preview image, all this loaded from the internet just like the forums, what would it help with? exposition to custom themes of course and a much more organized interface than that of a forum.

I don't see why wanting that means I hate the game or anything, I like it, don't regret my purchase.

@Eniko

They don't actually. All the ones that have multiple choices are hosted off-site from the forums with a link in the forum post. Partly due to the success of the Painterly pack a bunch of Minecrafters got together to make that multiple choice texture pack tech available to all creators. It's all offsite of the forums and is a bit more complicated than just listing texture packs by name/preview image.

I'm also not saying you hate the game at all. I hope I didn't come off as being rude. That wasn't my intention.

I just think this is too complex a problem for any one simple solution. It's a question of if the extra work of making it work (and making it work really well so it can accommodate everyone's needs) is worth the benefit. The forums are just 1-2 clicks away, are (mostly) easy to browse, and offer much more flexibility to the content-creators.

If anything though I think the forums should be improved, not the launcher. It'd be nice if the forums had a dedicated download section that didn't allow any comments and just had links to download, links to any extra required mods, links to the original thread and some extra info.

I think it's a good idea. I think the Angry Birds guys need to do that, it's only a matter of time before thats over with.

@kcswanko
I guess, it will be something like Happy Cats or Miserable Mongooses....

I'm curious to see what they're coming out with next. I'm looking forward to Scrolls, and Minecraft is fantastic. Cobalt is really fun as well, but I can't even guess what they would attempt to create next.

Also, what's up with all of these spam bots? This is getting ridiculous, Joystiq.

Is there a release date for Minecraft for Xbox?

store clerk simulator? Me like.

I've quickly learned not to get into arguments with Minecraft nerds. I can't wait to see what's next!

Mojang working on three new games, two of which will be announced before Q3

Reader Comments (25)

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 7:09PM mrmobius said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 11:52AM yoshiru said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 7:13PM wunwunx said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 8:20PM VolcomStone32x said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 7:13PM Kyrx said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 7:27PM MBMBaM fan said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 7:19PM Eniko said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 8:20PM VolcomStone32x said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 8:30PM VolcomStone32x said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 11:50PM Eniko said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 11:52PM Eniko said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 11:53PM Eniko said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 12:43AM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 2:05AM Eniko said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 4:38PM martinthew said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 9:28PM VolcomStone32x said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 10:40PM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Jan 15th 2012 9:00PM Eniko said

Posted: Jan 17th 2012 12:42AM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 8:04PM kcswanko said

Posted: Jan 14th 2012 5:39AM SoldierShredder said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 8:32PM VolcomStone32x said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 10:07PM Warlock234 said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 11:20PM JakeAuditore said

Posted: Jan 15th 2012 2:37AM Martin C said

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