Minecraft: Story Mode

Minecraft: Story Mode
Developer(s) Telltale Games[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s) Telltale Games
Director(s) Rebecca Gamin Arcovitch
Dennis Lenart
Graham Ross
Jason Latino
Jonathan Stauder
Producer(s) Jennifer Hill
Lleslle Schroeder
Designer(s) Joe Ching
Michael McCormick
Stephen McManus
Grady Standard
Michael Kirkbride
Mark Darin
Brian Freyermuth
Luke Maulding
Programmer(s) Randy Tudor
Andrew Langley
Carl Muckenhoupt
Artist(s) Mark Hamer
Gian Ocampo
Writer(s) Michael Choung
Laura Jacqmin
Joshua Rubin
Eric Stirpe
Tim Williams
Brad Kane
Composer(s) ANADEL
Antimo
Welles
Series Minecraft
Engine Telltale Tool with the Minecraft Engine
Platform(s)

Release date(s)
Genre(s) Graphic adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Minecraft: Story Mode is an ongoing episodic point-and-click graphic adventure video game based on the sandbox video game Minecraft, with the first episode released worldwide in October 2015 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, and iOS, with subsequent episodes each following a month or two afterwards. The game is being developed by Telltale Games, in association with Mojang, the original developer company of Minecraft.

The game follows the episodic format that Telltale used for its titles The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones. The game centers around a new character, named Jesse, who can be either male or female, as they and their allies attempt to save their world by defeating the Witherstorm.

Gameplay

Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic interactive comedy-drama point-and-click graphic adventure video game similar to Telltale's other games, released as a number of episodes. The player will collect items, solve puzzles, and talk to non-player characters through conversation trees to learn about the story and determine what to do next. Like other Telltale Games, decisions that the player makes will impact events in the current and later episodes.[4] However, unlike Telltale's previous games that tend to carry more mature or emotional overtones including the death of major characters, Minecraft: Story Mode is aimed as a family-friendly title, so the decisions will still be pivotal and emotional but will not involve mature imagery or themes.[4] Elements of crafting and building, central to Minecraft, will be included in the gameplay, following a similar approach.[4][5] The game will feature combat and other action sequences, carried out through both quick time events similar to Telltale's other episodic games, and more arcade-like controls, such as steering around debris on a road.[5][6]

Synopsis

Setting

Minecraft: Story Mode takes place in an interpretation of the world of Minecraft. The main character is named Jesse, who sets out on a journey with his/her friends within the Minecraft world to find The Order of the Stone (Gabriel, Ellegaard, Magnus, Soren, and Ivor) – five legendary adventurers who saved the Minecraft world. Jesse is described as a newbie player of Minecraft, still learning how to build and craft but passionate about the Minecraft world.[7] The game will include a number of locations that exist in the real version of Minecraft that some players have difficulty accessing, including the Nether, The End,[7] and the Farlands. The end of the world has been removed in present versions of Minecraft.

Characters

The player can customize Jesse, including choice of gender and skin tone; as such, the male version is voiced by Patton Oswalt, while the female avatar is voiced by Catherine Taber.[8] Other characters within the Minecraft world include the humans Petra (voiced by Ashley Johnson) [5] Axel (Brian Posehn), Olivia (Martha Plimpton), Lukas (Scott Porter), Maya, Ivy, Fangirl (GK Bowes), Owen (Owen Hill), Gill (Phil LaMarr), Aiden, Otis (Matthew Mercer), Usher (Jason 'jtop' Topolski), Ivor (Paul Reubens) Sigge, Fanboy (Billy West), Lydia (Lydia Winters), and the Announcer (Erin Yvette), Jesse's pet pig Reuben (Dee Bradley Baker) and the four Order of the Stone members: Gabriel the Warrior (Dave Fennoy), Magnus the Rogue (Corey Feldman), Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer (Grey Griffin) and Soren the Architect (John Hodgman); Stauffer said that the human characters as a whole represent the different types of gamers that play Minecraft.[7] Billy West narrates the story.[9][10][11]

Episodes

The game will be separated into five episodes, released in intervals.
No.  Title  Directed by  Written by  Original release date 
1"The Order of the Stone"Dennis Lenart and Graham RossMichael Choung and Laura JacqminOctober 13, 2015[1]
While at Endercon, Jesse, Olivia, Axel, Reuben, Petra, and Lukas instantly face a creature named the Wither Storm, an world-threatening monster. It is up to Jesse and his/her friends to reassemble the Order of the Stone, a group of heroes who defeated the Ender Dragon.
2"Assembly Required"Jason LatinoJoshua Rubin, Eric Stirpe and Tim WilliamsOctober 27, 2015[2]
Jesse and Olivia/Axel must find Magnus/Ellegaard and go to Soren's fortress to find Soren.
3"The Last Place You Look"Jonathan StauderMichael Choung, Laura Jacqmin, Eric Stirpe and Tim WilliamsNovember 24, 2015[12]
Jesse and his/her friends must find Soren and ask for his help to destroy the Wither Storm.
4"A Block and a Hard Place"Graham Ross and Rebekah Gamin ArcovitchBrad Kane and Laura JacqminDecember 22, 2015[3]
Jesse and his/her friends must go to the Far Lands and find Ivor's Laboratory to destroy the Wither Storm, and will learn the secrets of the Order of the Stone.
5"Order Up!"Jason LatinoEric StirpeTBA
As the New Order of the Stone, Jesse and his/her friends must help the world as a new group of heroes.

Development

The idea for Minecraft: Story Mode came around the end of 2012 when Telltale was engaged in work for Tales from the Borderlands, an episodic series based on the Borderlands series. The idea of developing stories around other established video game franchises led the team to brainstorm the idea for a Minecraft-related game, given that the game was essentially a "blank canvas" for storytelling, according to Job Stauffer, and would create an interesting challenge.[4] The two groups recognized the amount of fan-generated narrative content that existed in the way of YouTube videos and other media forms that demonstrated the potential for storytelling in the game.[13] Many on Telltale's staff were also already fans of Minecraft, with a private server that they played on, with some of the incidents that occurred on there becoming ideas for the game's story.[13] Telltale began negotiations with Mojang in early 2013, and began work on the title shortly thereafter.[4] Stauffer noted that Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang was not a factor in the game's development, as their interaction with Mojang began well before Microsoft's negotiations.[4]

Telltale opted to create a new main character of Jesse for Minecraft: Story Mode instead of using default "Steve" character from Minecraft, feeling that they did not want to attempt to rewrite how players already saw this character in the game.[14] Other primary characters in the game are loosely designed around archetypes of common player-characters for Minecraft, such that those that engage in building, fighting, or griefing other players.[13] The game will not attempt to provide any background for some concepts in Minecraft, such as the creepers, as to avoid the various interpretations that fans have done for these elements, though they will be elements of the game's story.[13]

Stauffer stated that the game's story would be aimed as family-friendly, similar to the films The Goonies or Ghostbusters;[4] their intended content would be equivalent to a PG-13 or PEGI-12 rating.[7][13] A number of the voice actors are alumni of such films of the 1980s such as Corey Feldman who starred in The Goonies, and the game includes various references to these types of films.[13] Stauffer reflected that while Telltale's more recent games like The Walking Dead were more mature stories, their original adventure games like Sam & Max and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People were written as family-friendly, and that they consider their approach to Minecraft: Story Mode as "part of our DNA".[6] The story was aimed to be accessible to both existing players of Minecraft - both novice and advanced players - and to new audiences outside of the game.[4]

Minecraft: Story Mode was formally announced in December 2014 as a collaboration project between Mojang and Telltale Games; the announcement was presented as an interactive adventure game named "Info Quest II".[15] Its first trailer was released during the Minecon convention in early July 2015.[9] The game is planned for a five-episode series for release on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation and Xbox consoles by late 2015;[16][17] Telltale has confirmed that they will release the game for the Wii U, representing the first time a Minecraft game has been released on a Nintendo platform, as well as the first time a Telltale title has been released on a Nintendo platform since Back to the Future: The Game.[4]

The series released for most systems on October 13, 2015, with the PlayStation Vita and Wii U versions to follow at a later date. A season pass of the game was available for purchase on October 27, 2015, which allows the player to access the other four episodes once they are released.[1] Retail versions of the game were released on October 27, 2015.[2]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
Game GameRankings Metacritic
Episode 1: The Order of the Stone (PC) 73.53%[18]
(PS4) 73.29%[19]
(XONE) 78.59%[20] 		(PC) 71[21]
(PS4) 71[22]
(XONE) 77[23]
Episode 2: Assembly Required (PC) 60.00%[24]
(PS4) 56.67%[25]
(XONE) 60.00%[26] 		(PC) 59[27]
(PS4) 53[28]
(XONE) 61[29]
Episode 3: The Last Place You Look (PC) 74.57%[30]
(PS4) 76.67%[31]
(XONE) 71.43%[32] 		(PC) 73[33]
(PS4) 73[34]
(XONE) 75[35]
Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place (PC) 68.50%[36]
(PS4) 72.67%[37]
(XONE) 75.38%[38] 		(PC) 68[39]
(PS4) 72[40]
(XONE) 71[41]

Episode 1: The Order of the Stone

Episode 1: The Order of the Stone received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 73.53% based on 16 reviews and 71/100 based on 25 reviews,[18][21] the PlayStation 4 version 73.29% based on 21 reviews and 71/100 based on 23 reviews[19][22] and the Xbox One version 78.59% based on 11 reviews and 77/100 based on 13 reviews.[20][23]

Episode 2: Assembly Required

Episode 2: Assembly Required received mixed reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 60.00% based on 7 reviews and 59/100 based on 13 reviews,[24][27] the PlayStation 4 version 56.67% based on 6 reviews and 53/100 based on 7 reviews[25][28] and the Xbox One version 60.00% based on 7 reviews and 61/100 based on 8 reviews.[26][29]

Episode 3: The Last Place You Look

Episode 3: The Last Place You Look received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 74.57% based on 7 reviews and 73/100 based on 10 reviews,[30][33] the PlayStation 4 version 76.67% based on 6 reviews and 73/100 based on 7 reviews[31][34] and the Xbox One version 71.43% based on 7 reviews and 75/100 based on 9 reviews.[32][35]

Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place

Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 68.50% based on 5 reviews, and 68/100 based on 8 reviews,[36][39] the PlayStation 4 version 72.67% based on 6 reviews and 72/100 based on 8 reviews[37][40] and the Xbox One version 75.38% based on 8 reviews and 71/100 based on 8 reviews.[38][41]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ In association with Mojang.
Footnotes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nunneley, Stephany (September 16, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 1 release date set for October". VG247. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Karmali, Luke (October 27, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 2 Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Reilly, Luke (December 11, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 4 Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Webster, Andrew (August 26, 2015). "Giving Minecraft a story". The Verge. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 McCaffrey, Ryan; Petty, Jared (August 28, 2015). "PAX 2015: MINECRAFT VET, ROOKIE EACH PLAY TELLTALE’S MINECRAFT: STORY MODE". IGN. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Matulef, Jeffrey (September 9, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode: A chip off the old block". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Dredge, Stuart (July 4, 2015). "New Minecraft: Story Mode details revealed at Minecon 2015". The Guardian. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  8. ↑ Marchiafava, Jeff (August 28, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode". Game Informer. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Albert, Brian (July 4, 2015). "First Minecraft: Story Mode Details Revealed at Minecon". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  10. ↑ Hall, Charlie (October 1, 2015). "John Hodgman to star in Minecraft: Story Mode". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ Perusco, Laura (October 1, 2015). "Attend the Minecraft: Story Mode Premiere in Hollywood, New Cast Details". PlayStation Blog US. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  12. ↑ O'Brien, Lucy (November 19, 2015). "New Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 3 Trailer Reveals Release Date". IGN. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moss, Richard (October 9, 2015). "The unlikely creative relationship behind Minecraft: Story Mode". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ Stewart, Keith (December 19, 2014). "Minecraft: Story Mode spin-off game announced by Mojang". The Guardian. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  15. ↑ Murphy, David (December 18, 2015). "Telltale Games, Mojang Team Up for 'Minecraft: Story Mode'". PC Magazine. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  16. ↑ Copeland, Wesley (December 18, 2014). "Telltale and Mojang Announce Minecraft: Story Mode". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  17. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (December 18, 2014). "Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic series from Telltale". Eurogamer. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  19. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  21. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  24. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  25. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  26. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  27. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  28. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  29. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  30. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  31. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  32. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  33. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  34. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  35. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  36. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  37. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  38. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  39. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Placek". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  40. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  41. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.

External links

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