The producers of Minecraft: The Story of Mojang planned on making a 20-minute short but soon decided that there was way more behind the story of Notch.
The story of Markus Persson, aka Notch, is almost as captivating as the game he coded and produced all by himself. The Swedish gamemaker released an alpha build of Minecraft last year and was completely taken aback by the smashing success. When 2 Player Productions heard that Persson was taking the money he earned from the game – at least $15 million judging by the 1 million sold – and incorporating a game design company called Mojang Specifications rather than take a job elsewhere, they flew out to Sweden to interview Notch and document the first week of operations at his new company.
Impressed with what they saw, 2 Player Productions (PATV, chiptune doc Reformat the Planet) thought that capturing Mojang’s first year on film would be important as a living document on 21st century game-making. In order to make that happen, the filmmakers have set up a KickStarter page to raise $150,000 to shoot and edit the film. As of press time, the initiative already has $16k pledged and with the large amount of swag and incentives offered for donations, it should have no problem raising the funds.
“For the first time, viewers will be given an in-depth look at both the triumphs and the challenges faced by a studio during their first year in existence,” the filmmakers state on KickStarter. “We will analyze the unprecedented success of Minecraft, gain insight into its impact from journalists and industry professionals, and meet the fans whose lives have been changed by the game.”
You can check out the KickStarter page here, as well as a six minute proof-of-concept video. If you have a spare $30, you could do a lot worse than donating it and scoring a two disc DVD set and a digital copy of the soundtrack.
