I think the only way I could make something fun and big is if I don't expect it to be.
Markus Persson
'Minecraft' is to a large degree about having unique experiences that nobody else has had. The levels are randomly generated, and you can build anything you want to build yourself.
If you build a car, you can only sell it once. If you paint a fence, you only get paid for it once. If you create a piece of software that's essentially free to reproduce, you can keep getting paid over and over perpetually.
I think the more realistic you try to make the graphics and the experience, the more you limit yourself to a single vision.
Infinite power just isn't very interesting, no matter what game you're playing. It's much more fun when you have a limited tool set to use against the odds.
Just make games for yourself and try to have a critical eye to what you do. If you genuinely like the game, there will be other people who like it as well.
I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not a CEO. I'm a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.
I've never run a company before, and I don't want to feel like a boss. I just want to turn up and do my work.
When I was young, we didn't have indie games. We had 'garage developers' or similar terms, who were just small teams making games out of passion.
I don't have the relationship that I thought I did with my fans. Maybe I did early on when I had a couple thousand fans, but it's not like us anymore. It's the idea of Notch and the 'Minecraft' community.
For 'Minecraft,' it actually started with an isometric strategy game.
I definitely think 'Minecraft' is a freak thing. There's no way you could replicate it intentionally.
I'm worried about the future of computer operating systems, as they all seem to be sliding towards a more controlled experience, taking away much of what makes PC games so much fun.
Turns out, what I love doing is making games. Not hyping games or trying to sell a lot of copies. I just want to experiment and develop and think and tinker and tweak.
The speed at which modern CPUs perform computations still blows my mind daily.
I already have it, but a good keyboard is invaluable when you spend a lot of time typing. My favorite one is the ancient IBM Model M I have at home.
If I had intended for 'Minecraft' to end up on consoles, I wouldn't have developed the game in Java. The decision to port the game to consoles came from a combination of player requests, a desire to play around with the brand on different platforms, and some interesting business deals.
When you have the kind of success 'Minecraft' has brought, you can just choose yourself the way you want to do things.
Having built-in video recording capabilities for a game that focuses on user-generated content might be a very good thing.
Gaming goes in trends, and for a bit of a too-long stretch, it focused on huge productions.
The more consoles the better, because if there's more competition, they might get more open.
By the nature of how a personal computer works and how open they are, modding has always been a big part of PC games, and it can really enhance the experience and extend the lifespan of a game.
I really wanted to make a dungeon crawler, but this game came out, 'Legend of Grimrock 2,' which was, like, the perfect dungeon crawler. It basically destroyed the genre for me, and no way could I make a game that good in that genre.
I used to be really stressed about that: like, how do I follow up on 'Minecraft,' because I have this weird expectation to. But after a while, what I realized I enjoy doing is prototyping and playing with ideas.
The first game I actually bought myself with my own money was 'The Bard's Tale.'
I am a romantic person and maybe have this Hollywood perception of love... but then, it's never really like the movies.
'Minecraft' certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it's changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It's certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.
I guess people feel like they kind of know me. The game developer me, or the Twitter persona, that's Notch. It's a censored version. The real me is Markus.
Any email that contains the words 'important' or 'urgent' never are, and annoy me to the point of not replying out of principle.
I remember disassembling and putting an old analog alarm clock together. It was a lot of fun figuring out why it still worked with that one spring missing.
I first wore a hat after seeing a friend wear a hat. It seemed like a neat way to keep snow off my head without having to wear a beanie, so I tried it on for a while. Turns out I started wearing the hat at around the time people took pictures of me and put them online and in newspapers, so it kind of became part of my public image.
I tried to use Tinder. It didn't work.
We lived in this area that was basically two circular roads next to each other. There were forests and pastures and stuff. I remember walking around the forest quite a bit.
I feel there is this looming cloud over my life.
I never really had the fun teens of exploring the world because I was sitting at home, learning programming.
We try to make games we want to make for the sake of making fun games and not necessarily to make a profit.
The only thing I think that is wrong with modern gaming now is the free-to-play stuff on mobile phones. I think it's very cynical and cold and weird.
I'm a little confused by love.
Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers.
I wouldn't want to do anything like 'Minecraft' again, where it's, like, an on-going thing, and there are customers I have to keep happy.
With the creative stuff, I have highs of being very productive and lows of being not productive. I have that in my moods as well.
PC gaming has always been strong, and I see it surviving for quite a few more years. It will be around for at least as long as people use PCs.
Partying is not a sane way to spend money, but it's fun. When we were young, we did not have a lot of money at all, so I thought, 'If I ever get rich, I'm not going to become one of those boring rich people who doesn't spend money.'
Specifically, my favorite tool in Java is hot code swapping in debug mode, meaning I can edit the code while the game is running and immediately see the results in the running game. This is super great for rapid tweaking.
If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I'll probably abandon it immediately.
I've been struggling with why are people so mean online. Not everyone, but some people. You see the mean comments; like, they seem like they're written in a bigger font size, almost.
Facebook creeps me out.
I have the ability to get code done, but I'm impatient, and it's scrappy as a result. Maybe that helped me with 'Minecraft,' as it came quickly. But, well, at some point, I'd like to actually become a good programmer.
I didn't really have much luck with women when I was younger, so on some level, I feel like I don't really belong.
The most interesting indie titles always tend to come out of nowhere for me. That's part of the fun for me.
