Introduction

Minecraft. This single word can make kids grin a mile wide and parents scratch their heads. It’s both phenomenon and mystery. Mojang (pronounced Moe-Yang, rhymes with Joe-Sang), the company that created Minecraft, made a fortune in game sales, merchandise, and Minecraft-related books—and then turned another fortune by selling the company. (And sales continue, with thousands of copies being sold every day as new fans discover the game.) Computer games come and go, but Minecraft survives; I am having a difficult time thinking of another game that continues to be played by so many fans, year after year, and continues to grow in popularity.

Game designer Markus Persson, known as Notch to his fans, released an early version of Minecraft in May 2009; the final version (with new features and fixed bugs) showed up in November 2011. Minecraft quickly became available on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS devices such as the iPad, and even game consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation. With sales of more than 60 million games (and climbing) and well over 100 million players, it’s not hard to understand why in 2014 Microsoft made an offer to purchase Mojang. In November 2014, three years after the full version of the game was released, Microsoft bought Mojang and its Minecraft game for $2,500,000,000.00. Yes, you read that right: $2.5 billion.

Mojang did sell a few other games, but let’s be honest: Microsoft bought Mojang because of the incredible popularity of one game and one game only—Minecraft. (Microsoft has even dropped a bit of news that it fully intends to make Minecraft 2, but they chose (wisely) not to share a release date.)

Ask Minecraft fans what they like best about the game, and you’ll get dozens and dozens of different responses. The game was designed first as a sandbox-style platform—which still exists in the Creative mode of the game—allowing players to build whatever they could imagine (within limits, of course). Another mode, called Survival mode, was added; in it, players are pitted against enemies and must scavenge for food and build shelter, among other activities. The Multiplayer mode allows more than one player to exist in the same play area (called a World); players can work together or compete. Additional modes and features have been added over the years, helping ensure that new players can find at least one mode that suits their style of play.

I prefer Survival mode. I like being dropped into a new game with no weapons, no food, and no shelter. It’s a fun challenge to survive that first night (and the creatures that magically appear when the sun goes down). My two young boys prefer Creative mode and Multiplayer. They love building tall houses with secret rooms, laying down miles of track for a custom-made rollercoaster, and creating traps to snare the bad guys. If you’re a Minecraft player, you’ve probably got your favorite things to do in the game as well.

Never played Minecraft? Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that dozens of books and hundreds of websites are available to help turn you into a Minecraft expert. Trust me: It won’t take long for you to learn your way around the Minecraft interface and all the various tools you can use in the game. The bad news is that the book you’re holding in your hands is not going to teach you how to play Minecraft.

But even if you’re not already a Minecraft player, this book is for you—not only will you discover the Minecraft game and just how much fun it is to play, but you’ll also learn some new skills that are useful outside of Minecraft. In it you’ll use a lot of non-Minecraft software to perform some amazing tasks. You’ll still be spending some time in Minecraft, too, if you follow along with this book’s projects, but as you’ll learn next, there are some interesting things you can do (and learn) outside of Minecraft to create some jaw-dropping creations inside the game.

Well…no. I don’t know anyone who gets paid to play Minecraft except for maybe Mojang’s employees. While there are people in the real world who get paid to play video games, that group is very small. (And most of them are playing ultra-competitive shoot-em-up-style games like Counter-Strike.)

When I say that Minecraft can make you money, I mean the skills you learn while inside the game are skills that many companies find useful. Companies that design physical products are often in need of employees who can visualize objects in three dimensions as well as create new and unique objects. Think about any modern-day electronic device you own; chances are it was first designed in software. Mobile phones, tablets, and game controllers are all objects that started out as ideas; someone thought up each one and then created it as a digital object on a screen for someone else to approve or reject. These designers use special software to create 3D digital objects, and they often get paid very well for their work.

And the same goes for software companies, especially game developers. Pretty much any video game today requires in-game objects (such as characters, weapons, or vehicles) to be created as three-dimensional objects that can be rotated around and viewed from any angle. Someone has to create those objects that are used in games, and game developers (such as Mojang) hire people who are skilled in designing 3D objects. Oh yeah…they, too, get paid very well for their work.

The software that these 3D digital designers use is special. While the software can be learned by just about anyone, it takes time to learn all the tools and capabilities the software has to offer and put them together to create advanced designs. Digital designers who dive deep into this special software and become skilled in its use are often sought out (and then paid handsomely) by companies needing those skills.

Throughout this book, you’re going to be learning about this special software, called CAD, which stands for computer-aided design, software. If you work through the book’s projects, you’ll gain some basic skills with the software. If you continue to dig deeper into the software when you’re done with the book, you can move from being a novice to having the skills of an expert. And, as you just read, those expert skills could come in handy one day.

Engineers design things—big things, little things, complicated things, and crazy things. Engineers also tend to use some of the most amazing tools on the planet, and that’s exactly what you’ll be doing by the time you finish this book. You’ll be pushing the limits of the Minecraft game, and you’ll also be pushing your creative skills to the max!

Trust me: If you enjoy playing and designing inside Minecraft, you’ll find the software I’m going to introduce to you just as enjoyable. You’ll also be spending more time playing and enjoying Minecraft once you’ve learned how to create the things you need much faster than you do now.

Throughout the book, as I introduce you to other specialty software, I’ll tell you where to find it, how to download and install it, and how to use it.

With a lot of books, you first learn some (boring) theory and do a lot of (boring) reading before you get to the fun stuff, right? Well, not with this book. I’m going to be doing things a little out of order. I’ve got a lot of projects to show you, and with each project I’m first going to show you the fun, cool, awesome stuff and how it actually works in Minecraft. Then I’ll get to the nitty-gritty details about the software needed, how to install that software, and how to use it. Why am I introducing projects in this order? Because once you see a special project actually implemented in Minecraft, I think you’ll be more curious and more energized to learn the ins and outs of the new software so you can modify the projects and make them your own. If you like my projects, you’re going to be going crazy creating your own with the tools I’ll be showing you!

Are you ready to make the jump from Minecrafter to Minecraft engineer? Of course you are! And I can’t think of a better way to start your journey as a Minecraft engineer than by creating the ultimate home for yourself: a castle that will protect your from enemies and make your friends green with envy. I’ll see you in Chapter 1, “Taking Over a Castle.”