Wed, Apr 04, 2012 | 17:06 BST

Mojang’s new subscription space game is 0x10c

Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has revealed the title of his new subscription game – but wants players to figure out what it means.

Notch won’t yet reveal how to pronounce the game’s title, which he says is a riddle, but he has launched a website for 0x10c (the c is superscript). “It’s going to be a space game, and it’s quite ambitious,” he wrote.

Every player will be equipped with a ship, and each ship’s generator will produce a fixed amount of power. Players need to decide which devices they use to maximise the potential of their generators; Notch gave the example of a cloaking field requiring everything else to be unplugged in order to function.

Players also get their own “fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU” to control the ship – or play games on. Players will be able to program the CPU themselves – literally – and Mojang will release the full specifications soon.

It certainly does sound ambitious; Mojang will charge a monthly fee to cover the costs of emulating “all computers and physics” even when players aren’t logged in.

0×10^c is set in a parallell universe where the space race continued until 1988, when a “deep sleep cell” compatible with “all popular 16 bit computers” was launched.

“Unfortunately, it used big endian, whereas the DCPU-16 specifications called for little endian. This led to a severe bug in the included drivers, causing a requested sleep of 0×0000 0000 0000 0001 years to last for 0×0001 0000 0000 0000 years,” Notch wrote.

I see. (I don’t see.) Anyway:

“It’s now the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, and the first lost people are starting to wake up to a universe on the brink of extinction, with all remote galaxies forever lost to red shift, star formation long since ended, and massive black holes dominating the galaxy.”

Oh! Now I see.

Mojang released a list of features it expects the finished game to include: Hard science fiction; Lots of engineering; Fully working computer system; Space battles against the AI or other players; Abandoned ships full of loot; Duct tape; Seamlessly landing on planets; Advanced economy system; Random encounters; Mining, trading, and looting; Single and multi player connected via the multiverse; The Generator and the Computer.

Mojang plans to release the game in a very early form and built it with players onboard, just as it did with Minecraft. No word yet on a launch date.

22 comments

LOLshock94
04/04/12, 12:17 am

did he make that title on paint?

treborr
04/04/12, 12:22 am

WordArt.

Logic Incarnate
04/04/12, 12:26 am

I think that is expressed incorrectly.
So instead of sleeping for 0×0000 0000 0000 0001 = 0 years
They slept for 0×0001 0000 0000 0000 = 0 years
0x anything is 0.

Mr-Brett
04/04/12, 12:31 am

No, he made it in a 3D package, probably Blender.

I don’t know about subscription but otherwise it sounds good.

Phoenixblight
04/04/12, 12:49 am

Its Hexadecimal…. yeesh people.

Talkar
04/04/12, 1:40 am

If it is going to be subscription based, and rely heavily on the programming skills of the user i can only see 2 paths for this game.
1: A lot of people learn to program and really enjoy the game.
2: people can’t be arsed to pay to learn to play and the game will fail.

I’m hoping for the first option, as it is a bit dull not to be able to talk about your work to anyone, but the second option unfortunately seems more likely to me.

TheWulf
04/04/12, 1:44 am

This seems oh so very “I can has be EvE nao?”

Hmmmmn.

…

Late April Fools?

—

Also, I see letting everyday people script their ship’s computer being kind of disastrous.

“LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARE NOW OFFLINE, NO MORE RECYCLED AIR PRESENT!”
“Ffffffff… WHY?!”
“REACTOR IS NEARING CAPACITY, OVERLOAD IMINENT.”
“!!! …oh, there, missed a semico–”
*boom!*

Brenna Hillier
04/04/12, 4:00 am

@7 it does sound a little EVE, it’s true – but EVE isn’t the only game about exploring space, gathering resources, and trading. There are plenty of 4X titles on the same theme.

I think the real hook here is the programmable computer thing. It’s going to make the game largely inaccessible to many of us, but those who get it will probably produce some amazing things. Think of all those working computers built in Minecraft – what could those guys make with an actual emulated computer?

SD456
04/04/12, 8:39 am

I hope Notch will forget about this monthly subscription. I am really looking forward to play with 0x10c, as I did for Minecraft when I first saw it . I just hate monthly fees, they are destroying every game for me. So, please Notch, if you are reading this, forget about monthly fees. I am willing to pay $60 once rather than paying $15-$20 every month.

#10

back_up
04/04/12, 8:57 am

why MMO because Mojang knows PC gamers are pirates

#11

silkvg247
04/04/12, 9:01 am

I don’t get it. I love new ideas, but the subscription thing is utterly mind boggling. Why would he need to “foot processing power”? Surely each client would run a 16bit emulator? I mean there’s emulators out there now.. which do just that.. and.. run on the client. Like I said, I’m confused. I don’t see why the CPU’s have to do anything when the player is offline, and if it saves on paying a subscription fee (and no doubt a lot of dev time), then don’t bother because I’m sure most players would vote for offline idle CPU if it meant no sub.

So in summary it would be more logical to take this approach:

Online = client emulates CPU, sends required responses to Mojang server.
Offline = Player/CPU is hibernated, their story “pauses”.

Also what programming language would be used, or would it be a totally new one? I can only think of basic really.. anything like assembler or C would be too complex for any non programmers.

#12

silkvg247
04/04/12, 9:02 am

@10 What would you call an actual real life pirate sailing the seven seas, that paid for PC games?

#13

back_up
04/04/12, 9:05 am

@12
pirates selling at seas have PC LMAO

PC gamers don’t buy games

#14

The_Red
04/04/12, 9:24 am

Hey, this has actually the exact same look and feel of “Mars Effect”, their April’s Fools site. Nice. Also, it indeed feels like EVE though mixed with MineCraft and Evochron Mercenary (Neat space sim game that has seamless landing on planets).

#15

silkvg247
04/04/12, 9:26 am

@13 Sure they do, how else do you think they manage their booty? They use an excel spreadsheet on their laptop. They recharge it by making the cabin boy run around a giant wheel and if they need internet, they attach a receiver wire to the parrot who flies as high as possible.

Also, what would you call a pirate, who pirates a game about pirates?

#16

OrbitMonkey
04/04/12, 9:51 am

@15, Captain Inception Beard?

#17

back_up
04/04/12, 10:21 am

@15
PC gamers

#18

OwnedWhenStoned
04/04/12, 10:25 am

@15

Nice try, but Sony has declared that a sense of humour is proprietary, and isn’t compatible in this case

#19