The developer of Minecraft has partnered with another high-profile company on a major expansion to the popular online game.
Telltale Games on Thursday announced the development of Minecraft: Story Mode. Minecraft developer Mojang presented the news through a mini-game called Info Quest II.
Telltale is tapping into a game that is already rich in non-traditional narrative. Minecraft is about making your own stories—as in literally constructing them from the raw materials given to you by a world seed. The slew of popular Minecraft “Let’s Play” videos are all player-created stories; “Let’s Play” live-streams construct the story right before the viewer’s eyes.
Minecraft: Story Mode is obviously going to be a more traditional form of storytelling, using plot and characters that don’t depend on the player for their very existence. Details are slim on how exactly Telltale plans to integrate these elements into a format that is both beloved and familiar to Minecraft players.
Mojang promised to work with the Minecraft community to make Story Mode consistent with the game’s existing feel. Hopefully this involves Mojang working closely with Minecraft Let’s Play YouTubers.
The idea of setting a traditional narrative within Minecraft has some precedent, such as the machinima series Seedlings, which has aired 24 episodes so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6SDsnvZ04I
Minecraft: Story Mode is being developed for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Mac, and iOS and Android devices. It will be released sometime in 2015.
Image via Microsoft
