Minecraft creator reveals 0x10c as next project

If the name "Notch" doesn't sound familiar to you, it should. He's the creator of the wildly popular Minecraft, created at the gaming studio Mojang. Minecraft has taken the world by storm, selling over five million units to date. Notch isn't involved with Minecraft anymore, but has revealed details on his next game, called 0x10c. Notch promises that this next project will include "hard science fiction" elements.

0x10c will be set in an alternate universe where the space race never ended, and space travel is predominant among corporations and wealthy individuals. In a geeky twist, the confusion between little and big endian causes cryo freezers to malfunction, with passengers sleeping for eons instead of a single year.

Players will find themselves waking up in the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, with the universe close to extinction. Gameplay will reportedly involve engineering, exploration of ships and planets, space battles with AI and real players, as well as mining, trading, and looting.

Notch says the game is in very early development, so there's no screenshots or any finalized information other than that he's provided on the 0x10c website. He does say that, like Minecraft, the game will be released in an alpha version and be developed in accordance with feedback from players. The cost of the game has yet to be decided, although there will apparently be a monthly fee.

[via The Verge]