In the sandbox game Minecraft, players have created many stunning architectural creations. Minecraft Middle-earth (MCME) is one such server, where players build the world of Middle-earth conceived by British fantasy writer Tolkien brick by brick. Take a quiet stroll through the village of Hobbit or delve deeper into the sprawling underground city of Moria. Ever wanted to jump from the highest point of Minastilis, the capital of Gondor? I tried it and it felt amazing.
MCME celebrated its 10th anniversary in October, and founder Nicky Vermeersch talked to us about the origins of the project and some interesting facts about its development.
In 2009, Wichmisch was introduced to the game during the Minecraft beta and was quickly mesmerized by it. As the administrator of a Minecraft server in the Netherlands, he and several companions had the idea of shaping Middle-earth in the game.
Minas Tilis in MCME
"Like most people in their 30s, I grew up watching The Lord of the Rings." Vichmisch said, "At the Minecraft forum, a lot of people were interested in the idea, so there was a solid player base from the start. We started by building some basic locations, such as Breeland and Hobbit Village, and then posted some screenshots that attracted more people to join in. ”
For the MCME team, recreating a complete fantasy world in the game was no easy task, especially considering that many of the ancillary tools hadn't been available at the time. Tools such as Dymap, WorldPainter, and WorldMachine can now help Minecraft players plan for construction projects, but at that time, mcME teams often played haphazardly and lacked unified planning.
"It's really chaotic, our people can only run around and count the squares, and they often make decisions, such as 'Oh, we have to do this' or 'we have to put it in that position', which is a disaster... It's okay to build a hobbit village in this way, but if you want to build a hub between the two main locations, you'll run into big trouble. ”
Another important tool that the MCME team lacked was the customizable map generation function, which they had to start with a complete map of the living world and remove excess buildings or landscapes from it. If a mountain occupies the position of a forest, then it has to be torn down like a fool moving a mountain, which is really exhausting.
Doamlos Peninsula in southern Gondor
Over the past 10 years, the MCME team has grown to about 300 members, all of whom are actively building and supporting servers. In order to study and accurately restore Tolkien's vision of Middle-earth, the entire community needed to come together.
"The largest and most iconic buildings are usually done by our senior members or top architects." "Individuals are also organized to participate in construction competitions, such as having them build Minastilis' house on a blank map, and we'll provide guidance and show them some pictures and finally select the best work," Vihmisch said. ”
To construct Middle-earth, the team referenced the textual descriptions in the book and the landscapes shown in the film, though he added that they also needed to be creative in trying to "recreate" some of the scenes that Tolkien had little ink on.
"Mordor is a good example, we need to create something unique that has never been on a map. The situation is similar in Gondor, which is known in the film as a huge white city covered in ruins, but we also added a commercial port, Pelargir. If you visit Pelago, you will find that there are plenty of detached houses there, all built by hand. ”
From 2012 to 2014, the release of the Hobbit trilogy brought more fans to MCME. "After the release of the first Hobbit, we saw a significant increase in server traffic." "However, at the time, apart from a few places like Shire or Rivendell, we didn't build much of the film, so we had to disappoint a lot of people," Wichmisch said. Someone asked if we had built Lonely Mountain or Mordor, and we could only say that we had not yet. ”
Eisinger in the game
Currently, the MCME map measures 29,000 × 30,000 squares and covers an area of about 870 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to Dallas, Texas. This team may not yet want to restore the wider territory of Theodhan Universe. But if you want to visit Middle-earth, MCME is an ideal choice.
"When you enter the Shire at the server spawn point, you will find some footprints on the ground." Wihemisch said, "You can walk along the footprints and go to Mordor as you would under the guidance of the Ring Keeper." Sometimes the footprints appear branching, which indicates that the guardians have parted ways, and you can choose one of them. ”
The MCME team has been investing 10 years in the Middle-earth project, but they are still passionate about it and have no intention of slowing down. It's an incredible server, and it's a testament to minecraft's ability to create so many extraordinary things.
This article is compiled from: pcgamer.com
原文标题：《Meet the team who dedicated 10 years to building Middle-earth in Minecraft》
Original author: Rachel Watts