A creative game developer has worked out a way to incorporate Minecraft builds into his game, turning the blocky builder into a level editor of sorts.
As you can see in this short video, the developer, r00nk, is able to place blocks into a configuration that matches the level size in his game, Back Into Orbit, a cutesy retro-looking isometric shooter, and then very easily import them (in the video it happens instantaneously.)
This is how it works, according to r00nkās comments in the related reddit thread:
āIn order to make the in game buttons do commands, I use a server wrapper which searches for the docmd keyword. Itās important to note that this is somewhat insecure, because anyone who writes ādocmd(banana)ā can make the server execute the ābananaā command, so donāt try this at home kids, unless you know youāll be the only person on the server.ā
R00nk can only export and use levels made with certain types of blocks, not the full arsenal of what Minecraft has available. Itās still an impressive feat, especially if you take it as a proof of concept. If you could get this working on a large enough scale or with enough ease, it could be one of the smoothest level creation tools since the days of Warcraft III.
Game development, especially at the indie level, is as often about whatās fun and interesting as about whatās efficient, and r00nk has definitely shown some serious chops here.
Rob Guthrie is a lapsed academic who writes about history, video games, and weird internet things. Follow him @RobertWGuthrie for pithy Tweets and lukewarm takes.
