How Minecraft Was Made

GUIDES JUNIOR Unofficial By Josh Gregory Was Made Was How Minecraft Minecraft How

Gregory How Minecraft Was Made

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How Minecraft Was Made

By Josh Gregory Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing Ann Arbor, Michigan www.cherrylakepublishing.com

Reading Adviser: Marla Conn, Read With Me Now Photo Credits: Cover, ©Bloomicon/Shutterstock; page 4, ©omihay/Shutterstock; page 6, ©Associated Press; page 8, Josh Gregory; page 10, © Poungsaed-Studio/Shutterstock; page 12, ©Surie/Shutterstock; page 14, ©Pe3k/Shutterstock; page 16, Kevin Burnett / tinyurl.com/y9a2xugk / CC BY 2.0; page 18, ©Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; page 20, ©DC Studio/Shutterstock

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been filed and is available at catalog.loc.gov

Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. Please visit www.p21.org for more information.

Printed in the United States of America Corporate Graphics Table of Contents

A Game Unlike Any Other...... 5

A Man Named Notch...... 7

The Early Days...... 9

Cave Game...... 11

Word of Mouth...... 13

Making Mojang...... 15

A Worldwide Hit...... 17

From Mojang to Microsoft...... 19

The Future of Minecraft...... 21

Glossary...... 22

Find Out More...... 23

Index...... 24

About the Author...... 24 Minecraft is one of the biggest success stories in video game history.

4 A Game Unlike Any Other

Minecraft is one of the most popular video games ever made. Since it was first released in 2009, more than 122 million copies have been sold. You have probably played it yourself. You may have watched your favorite streamers play it online. But do you know how the game was made?

5 Notch shows off one of the many awards he has received for his work on Minecraft.

6 A Man Named Notch

Believe it or not, Minecraft started as the creation of a single talented game maker. His name is Markus Persson. Minecraft fans know him better by his online name, Notch. Notch is from Sweden. As a kid, he loved playing with Lego blocks. He also loved to make his own computer programs. He made his first one when he was eight years old!

7 In Dwarf Fortress, characters and environments are represented with colorful letters, numbers, and other symbols.

8 The Early Days

Notch taught himself to be an expert computer programmer. He got his first job working for a video game company when he was just 18 years old. He also made his own games for fun in his spare time. In 2009, he started working on a game where players could break or place blocks to build their own worlds.

Notch’s Favorite Games Two of Notch’s favorite video games are Dwarf Fortress and Infiniminer. Both games have simple graphics. They also make players think creatively. These kinds of games helped inspire Notch to make Minecraft.

9 Glossary

beta version (BAY-tuh VUR-zhuhn) an early version of a video game or other computer program that still needs final testing

developers (di-VEL-uh-purs) people who make video games

graphics (GRAF-iks) the images that appear on screen when you play a video game

inspire (in-SPIRE) to provide ideas or feelings

mods (MAHDS) user-created modifications to a video game

streamers (STREE-murs) people who broadcast videos of themselves playing video games on YouTube, Twitch, and other video streaming services

virtual reality (VUR-choo-uhl ree-AL-uh-tee) an environment that looks real to the person experiencing it, but was created by a computer

22 Find Out More

Books Milton, Stephanie. Minecraft Essential Handbook. New York: Scholastic, 2015. Milton, Stephanie. Minecraft: Guide to Exploration. New York: Del Rey, 2017.

Web Sites Minecraft https://minecraft.net/en At the official Minecraft Web site, you can learn more about the game or download a copy of the PC version.

Minecraft Wiki https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki Minecraft’s many fans work together to maintain this detailed guide to the game.

23 Index

beta version, 17 Persson, Markus “Notch,” 7, 9, 11, 15, 21 Cave Game, 11 players, 9, 13 copies, 5, 19 Porsér, Jakob, 15

downloads, 11, 13 release, 5, 11, 13, 17, 19 Dwarf Fortress, 9 updates, 13, 17, 21 Infiniminer, 9 inspiration, 9 versions, 11, 17, 19 videos, 11, 13 Manneh, Carl, 15 virtual reality mode, 21 Microsoft company, 19, 21 Minecon, 17 YouTube, 11, 13 mods, 13 Mojang company, 15, 17, 19, 21

About the Author Josh Gregory is the author of more than 125 books for kids. He has written about everything from animals to technology to history. A graduate of the University of Missouri–Columbia, he currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

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GUIDES JUNIOR Unofficial By Josh Gregory Was Made Was How Minecraft Minecraft How

Gregory How Minecraft Was Made