WEEKLY NEWSLETTER (Nov 24): Hytale, Game design, Java obfuscation

“Hytale is saved.” – Simon Collins-Laflamme, Founder, Hypixel (Thumbnail unrelated >.<)

DEAD GAME RE-RISING FROM GRAVE

Last week, Simon has bought back the Hytale IP from Riot Games in a transaction he described as “rare in the games industry”. They are re-hiring developers who are most intimate with the game, and returning to previous (presumably less ambitious and more manageable) plans for Hytale. Simon is “personally committed to funding Hytale for the next 10 years” showing passion and trust in the game’s final success.

READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT: https://hytale.com/news/2025/11/hytale-is-saved

BEDROCK EDITION: NEW BUGS EDITION

After a not-so-extensive look through Reddit’s “Bugrock” and “MinecraftMemes” communities, it’s clear Bedrock is doing as good as ever: Including an UI change to push ADD-ONS to the forefront. The rabbit hole led me back to YouTuber PhoenixSC, who summarized the drama around the new and old bugs.

JEB: DESIGNING THE GAME WE LOVE

The bug-torn PhoenixSC adventure led me to this video, addressing the creeper “controversy and hate”, AKA: The creeper started as a bugged pig, and would likely never be added today due to how disruptive and unpredictable this mob is, in a game that aims to put the player in full control of their adventure.

This led me to find the “Minecraft game design” book guide written by lead creative designer Jens “Jeb” Bergensten, published 2019, which offers insight into what Minecraft is: A multiverse, a scary yet limitless place, filled with multi-purpose items, mobs, humans, etc, etc, all co-existing together… READ IT:

https://archive.org/details/minecraftgamedesign_202308/Jeb_ENG/page/n15/mode/2up

By the way, I need to ask you something very important: Do you consent to the Creeper exploding?

MODDERS: REMOVING OBFUSCATION

Java Minecraft “has been obfuscated since its release.” The source code was scrambled “– and those who wanted to mod Java Edition had to try and piece together what every class and function in the code did.”

Now, modders can rejoice after an interesting move by Mojang: beginning with “the first snapshot following the complete Mounts of Mayhem launch, we will no longer obfuscate Minecraft: Java Edition.”

This change won’t affect the EULA, and gives the Java community more (easier) power than ever before. What does this mean for the future of Java and Bedrock? READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT ARTICLE HERE

CREATOR HIGHLIGHT: BUILDERS OF THE SIMPLE PAST

Builds created in the earliest days of Minecraft share that certain “ugly” yet nostalgic vibe: No advanced building tools, no fancy shaping, limited block palette, the harsh edges to Minecraft’s former textures!

Niche and/or impressive examples I’ve collected in a draft over the past months:

• The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum built in 2012 (imgur)
• Willis (Sears) Tower – black rectangles built in 2012 (imgur)
• MajorCraft’s surprisingly advanced castles in 2012 (YouTube)
• DAW’s 2012 building ideas series and city project (YouTube)
• Breathtaking fantasy greco-roman city built 2013 (reddit)
• UIE city (early modern realism!) published 2015-16 (PMC)
• BIG architecture inspired utopia in vanilla 2017-18 (imgur)

Check r/MinecraftCities on Reddit for many more self-made projects of all kinds!

OLD BUT GOLD: HATING ON GRAVEL AND SAND

Talking of (bad?!) game design:

Good day or night to you!