Manic digger and what not?

A few days ago i mentioned that i was considering doing a minecraft game, no big surprise there... i have been doing both procedural generated content and 100% destructible game worlds over the last few years, so minecraft is right up my alley.

however, as i already mentioned... i don't want to create something that is exactly the same thing as minecraft, not only would the minecraft community send me death threats and pinky fingers from family members(presumably mine?), but it would not feel right for me... nor would it be very respectful against Notch.

In my previews post i almost made it sound like All i was going to add some texture quality, shaders and some security measures for online building, this of course is not true... i have tons of ideas i would like to have in a sandbox game, the problem is to filter out what fits and what people wants(i do care about the people).

So, about the whole Manic digger issue

I don't really have a problem with the manic digger client as an idea(exect for a few points), in fact... from a pure development aspect, it will be immensely useful for me so i can avoid some of those first time mistakes programmers tend to do on new projects.

but the problems i see with the project are as following:

- The graphics is so look-alike that it almost looks like you copy'd it straight over, but less accurate, this of course will turn minecrafter fans red of furry.

- The fact that it is free, and let you connect to Notch official servers makes it possible to take advantage of Notch hospitality... but not give him any money for it, not nice.

- Some people (not sure how official they are) made statements about how fast the manic digger client is growing and trowing some dirt on notch and his development, this is bad PR the project could do with out.

On the other hand, the minecraft community responded by a total "shit-trowing-duel" and displayed the maturity of a 12yr old youtube flamer, immature... but expected i guess.


The question is, can i avoid the same fate as Manic digger? well i hope so.
So... let me just make this very clear:

we shall all bow to our all mighty god Notch, may his power and divine wisdom shine upon us while we explore his glorious world! amen! ;-)

That said, i don't think i can create anything that can beat his game(but i will of course try), as far as i am concerned it is a master peace! (still don't think its totally original, but that don't make it any less awesome)

I will create a seperate post about some of the features i wanted to add, to make it a little bit more easy to overview and read :)