The Spawn Chunks 146: From Modding To Mojang With Kingbdogz

Jun 21, 2021 | podcast

Joel and Jonny welcome Minecraft Gameplay Developer, Brandon Pearce (@Kingbdogz) to the podcast to talk about early days developing mods for Minecraft, working at Mojang Studios, and the inspiration for The Warden, and The Deep Dark.

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  • Joel
    • Went exploring for a geode on The Citadel server. No luck, but found lots of dripstone!
      • Tried to build a dripstone roof. “It’s only half done, and I only half like it.”
    • Booted up a Bedrock world on the Xbox Series X to be baffled by playing Minecraft with a controller.
      • Wicked cool seed though! “-11091183389”
  • Jonny
    • Still gathering copper, building blast furnaces, and trading with server-mates on the Empires SMP
      • Discovered pointed dripstone makes for a really nice wind-carved rock formations in the desert.
    • Working on auto-sorted storage in The Hardcore Survival Guide.

Minecraft News

Chunk Mail

FROM: Shepard – Landscape Artist Member
SUBJECT: Developing The Most Popular Game

Hi Kingbdogz, Jonny, and Joel,

First of all, Kingbdogz, congratulations on the successful release of a great new update! It made me excited to go out into my world and find all the new blocks and mobs, in particular all the deepslate ores.

How does it feels to have your professional work, work that you’re passionate about, scrutinised by such a large, and opinionated community, and how does this influence the development process?

In a Twitter thread a while back you talked about how it would be great to be able to add more experimental things to snapshots, even if they might not make it into the game. Do you think that this would have helped with the development of some of the features planned for The Caves & Cliffs Update? Is it possible to experiment with ideas like that where Minecraft Live already sets such high expectations for what the next update will contain?

Maybe something similar to the combat snapshots would be a viable option for experiments; A separate development track with no large official announcements. The amount of feedback would likely be lower, but so would the expectations.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Shepard signs off vewy, vewy quietly.

FOLLOW UP FROM: Oreli T.
How do you sort through complaints and genuine constructive criticism [of Minecraft players] without feeling discouraged?

FROM: Rabelais
SUBJECT: Aging Blocks

Hello Johnny, Joel, and Kingbdogz!

With the introduction of weathering copper in 1.17, is it all likely that we’ll see an aging mechanic added for other blocks?

I’m especially interested in seeing weathered woods and stone, but I’m not sure if that adds too much complexity for the game to keep track of. Is there a technical reason not to have this as a normal block variable?

Your primed and painted friend,

Rabelais

 

FOLLOW UP FROM: GeniusGeneral06
What [are the biggest] obstacles and challenges you encounter when adding features to Minecraft?

FROM: Tugi Fox
SUBJECT: Time Management Question

Heya Mr. Riffs, Duggan, and Dogz

With the multiple projects that Pixlriffs has going on currently, Joel’s busy podcasting and streaming schedule, and the release of The Caves & Cliffs Update: Part 1 for KingBdogz, I’ve been thinking a lot about time management.

How do each of you manage projects and content online, as well as balance things like sleeping, eating, and engaging in family time?

How do you keep it from getting on top of you?

How do you not get burned out, and run out of inspiration?

And how much of your schedule has changed with lockdown situations around the globe changing a lot of ‘normal’ day-to-day activity?

Thanks for the podcast, it has been a blocky staple of my online media consumption since about episode 50. Love what you do!

Remember, even if you get weary and sick of trying, that ol’ game Minecraft just keeps chunking along!

Yours,

Tugi Fox

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Join us on

Brandon Pearce – Kingbdogz – Interview

Brandon talks about his history with Minecraft as a player, mod developer, and now as one of the Gameplay Developers on Minecraft in Stockholm. With insights into development workflow, design considerations, and the pressures that come with working on a game followed by millions of people around the world, Brandon shares his favourite things about making games, and the inspiration behind The Warden and The Deep Dark, currently under development.

  • Caves & Cliffs Special: Mobs (Minecraft on YouTube)
    • Originally published May 28, 2021
    • Join Brandon and Nir for a look at the mobs that are joining Minecraft in Caves & Cliffs: Part I. Discover where axolotls, glow squid, and goats will spawn, how they interact with other mobs and blocks, and what a goat’s scream sounds like!