In the six years since Swedish programmer Markus 'Notch' Persson rolled out the concept for his 'digital mining' game Minecraft, over 27 million people have entered its universe. Despite being marketed as a game about using harvested blocks to survive hunger, danger and (obviously) the occasional zombie battle (because, zombies), Minecraft has evolved into a platform that allows players to bring entire worlds to life, one block at a time.
Playing Minecraft is like playing with Lego ... in a Lego world ... where you control what material each piece is made of and how it fits with other pieces. This creative free-for-all has sparked millions of imaginative designs, from intricate architecture to epic landscapes like the one pictured in the video below.
For long-time Minecrafter Zeckou, the most fun comes from designing biological worlds he refers to as 'organics', the most recent of which is an incredible shark-shaped coral reef – complete with free-floating jellies and clownfish. Building worlds like Zeckou's shark can take a novice 'Miner' years to complete, but amazingly, he built the entire thing in just 5 hours after being challenged by members of a Minecraft fan site! "I'm not a shark specialist, but a challenge is a challenge," he says. "I was going to do a coral reef, but the reef by itself wouldn't have been crazy enough. I thought, 'What's cool in the ocean? Sharks!' I love building these organics in Minecraft."
Can't get enough? You can explore the shark world by downloading it here! And here's a bit of 'nature zen' – Minecraft style!
Art and Design
Art and Design
Art and Design
