Build the Earth

Last updated

Build the Earth
Type of project1:1 scale recreation of Earth in the video game Minecraft
FounderPippenFTS
EstablishedMarch 2020;4 years ago (March 2020)
Website buildtheearth.net

Build the Earth (BTE) is a project dedicated to creating a 1:1 scale model of Earth within the sandbox video game Minecraft .

Contents

History

Aerial render of the Build The Earth project on a modified Airocean World Map Build the Earth Modified Airocean Map Projection.png
Aerial render of the Build The Earth project on a modified Airocean World Map

Build The Earth was created by YouTuber PippenFTS in March 2020 as a collaborative effort to recreate Earth in the video game Minecraft . [1] During the COVID-19 lockdowns, the server aimed to provide players with the opportunity to virtually experience and construct the world. In a YouTube video, PippenFTS called for prospective participants to recreate man-made structures over a rudimentary model of Earth's terrain. [2] [3] A Discord server created to help coordinate the project [4] attracted over a hundred thousand users by April 2020. [5]

Following unsuccessful attempts to generate terrain using a Mercator projection, organizers opted for a modified version of the Dymaxion map projection. The alternative approach prioritized minimizing distortions in land masses, at the cost of highly distorted oceans. [6]

Minecraft developer Mojang Studios featured the project on their website on Earth Day 2020. [7] In July 2020, YouTuber MrBeast released a video where he and 50 other people built his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina within the project. [8]

In 2020, a full sized recreation of the Taj Mahal was completed on the server by Daniel Tan. [9] In 2022, a team of over 2,000 players constructed a recreation of many places in New York City on a 1:1 scale, including many famous sites such as the 9/11 memorial, New York County Supreme Court, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Soho. [6] A team of over 400 players has completed construction on multiple buildings from Portugal, including the Algarve International Circuit. [10]

Software

The Build The Earth project primarily depends on two Minecraft modifications to function: Cubic Chunks and Terra++. Cubic Chunks removes Minecraft's limitation on building structures beyond a certain height. Terra++ uses information from geographic data services, such as OpenStreetMap, [11] to automatically generate terrain to ease the building process. The project originally used the Terra 1-to-1 mod instead of Terra++. [4] [12] PippenFTS stated that "with the Cubic Chunks mod breaking Minecraft's vertical limitations, we can now experience the Earth in Minecraft, just as it is, with no downscaling of any kind." [4]

Related Research Articles

Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, it was developed over the span of two years, with many public test builds being released from May 2009 until its full release on 18 November 2011. After the game's full release, Persson gave Jens "Jeb" Bergensten control over the game's development. In the years since its release, it has been ported to several platforms, including smartphones and various video game consoles, primarily by 4J Studios. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion. Minecraft has become the best-selling video game of all-time, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly active players as of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markus Persson</span> Swedish video game programmer (born 1979)

Markus Alexej Persson, also known as "Notch", is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is the creator of the video game Minecraft, which since its release has become the best-selling video game in history. He founded the video game development company Mojang Studios in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojang Studios</span> Swedish video game developer

Mojang Studios is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jens Bergensten</span> Swedish video game programmer and designer (born 1979)

Jens Peder Bergensten, known professionally as Jeb, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is best known as the lead designer of Minecraft, and is the chief creative officer of Mojang Studios. In 2013, he, along with Minecraft creator Markus Persson, was named as one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world. As an employee of Mojang Studios, he had been co-developing Minecraft with Persson since 2010, became the lead designer in 2011, and assumed full control in 2014, when Persson left the company after its acquisition.

<i>FortressCraft</i> 2011 video game

FortressCraft is a video game by British indie developer Projector Games, released on Xbox Live Indie Games on April 8, 2011. FortressCraft cites Minecraft, Infiniminer and Dwarf Fortress as direct inspirations for the design aspect of the game. The game utilizes textured voxels to simulate landscapes, traditionally reminiscent of other titles in the genre.

Lego Minecraft is a Lego theme based on the sandbox video game Minecraft. The theme was first introduced in 2012.

<i>0x10<sup>c</sup></i> Cancelled sandbox science fiction video game

0x10c is an unfinished sandbox science fiction video game previously under development by Mojang AB. It was announced on April 3, 2012, by Markus Persson, the game's lead designer. The game was indefinitely postponed because Persson found himself burned out and demotivated after so much early effort were spent into planning and designing the game, up until the point that it "sucked out any fun from the project". Persson then stated he will instead most likely continue to work on smaller projects for the rest of his life, rekindling the reason he loves programming games in the first place. The game was later cancelled.

Minecon is an annual interactive livestream and fan convention about the video game Minecraft, hosted by Mojang. The first gathering in 2010 was known as MinecraftCon. The event then went by the Minecon name from 2011 to 2019. The Minecon 2011 convention was held in Las Vegas and celebrated the launch of the game with Minecraft-related discussion panels and gaming areas. The most recent in-person convention, Minecon 2016, held in Anaheim, had 12,000 attendees. An attempt at returning to in-person events was prevented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2 Player Productions</span> American video production company

2 Player Productions, Limited is a video production company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2005 by Paul Owens, Paul Levering, and Asif Siddiky. The company produces content relating to video game culture and the process of game production. They produced the documentary Reformat the Planet in 2008, and have since worked with mainstream companies including MTV and Spike.

A Minecraft mod is a mod that changes aspects of the sandbox game Minecraft. Minecraft mods can add additional content to the game, make tweaks to specific features, and optimize performance. Thousands of mods for the game have been created, with some mods even generating an income for their authors. While Mojang Studios does not provide an API for modding, community tools exist to help developers create and distribute mods. The popularity of Minecraft mods has been credited for helping Minecraft become one of the best-selling video games of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SethBling</span> American video game commentator and live streamer

SethBling is an American video game commentator and Twitch video game live streamer known for YouTube videos focused around the 1990 side-scrolling platform video game Super Mario World and the 2011 sandbox video game Minecraft. He created original and derivative video games, devices and phenomena in Minecraft, without using Minecraft mods. He created an interpreter for the programming language BASIC and an emulator for the 1977 home video game console Atari 2600 in Minecraft. In addition to Minecraft builds that run without mods, he created plugins for the game.

<i>Minecraft Dungeons</i> 2020 video game

Minecraft Dungeons is a 2020 dungeon crawler video game developed by Mojang Studios and Double Eleven and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a spin-off of the sandbox video game Minecraft and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2020. It was also adapted into an arcade video game by Raw Thrills. The arcade version released in May 2021. The game would later cease development on September 28, 2023.

<i>Hytale</i> Upcoming video game

Hytale is an upcoming sandbox game by Hypixel Studios. Production began in 2015 by developers from the Minecraft multiplayer server Hypixel with funding from Riot Games, who later bought the studio in 2020. It is scheduled to release for Windows and macOS as well as consoles and mobile devices.

Mineplex was a Minecraft minigame server created in 2013 by Gregory Bylos and Jarred van de Voort. In 2016, Mineplex had millions of unique players monthly. At its peak, the server had around 20,000 concurrent players at any given time. Mineplex won the Guinness World Records award on January 28, 2015, for having 34,434 concurrent players, the most on a Minecraft server at the time. This record was later lost to Hypixel the same year.

<i>Minecraft Earth</i> 2019 video game

Minecraft Earth was an augmented reality and geolocation-based sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird interactive and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the video game Minecraft, it was first announced in May 2019, and was available on Android and iOS. The game was free-to-play, and was first released in early access on 17 October 2019. The game received its final update in January 2021 and officially shut down on 30 June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Minecraft server is a player-owned or business-owned multiplayer game server for the 2011 Mojang Studios video game Minecraft. In this context, the term "server" often refers to a network of connected servers, rather than a single machine. Players can start their own server either by setting one up on a computer using software provided by Mojang, or by using a hosting provider so they can have their server run on dedicated machines with guaranteed uptime. The largest server is widely accepted to be the minigame server Hypixel.

Minecraft is a media franchise developed from and centered around the video game of the same name. Primarily developed by Mojang Studios, the franchise consists of five video games, along with various books, merchandise, events, and an upcoming theatrical film. Microsoft acquired Mojang Studios in 2014, alongside the Minecraft franchise and its editions.

Blockeley is a Minecraft server created by students of the University of California, Berkeley, which is a 1:1 scale reconstruction of the university campus.

Block by Block is a charitable initiative founded as a partnership between Minecraft developer Mojang and the United Nations which aims to encourage young people to get involved in urban regeneration. The scheme uses Minecraft to allow children to rebuild and reimagine their hometowns.

Greenfield (<i>Minecraft</i>) Fictional city created in Minecraft

Greenfield is a fictional city created in the sandbox video game Minecraft. As of May 2022, the city is one-fourth complete and has a size of 20 million blocks. The city was started by Minecraft user THEJESTR in August 2011. As of April 2022, there are approximately 1.3 million downloads of the city map. According to Planet Minecraft statistics, Greenfield is the third-most downloaded Minecraft map of all time.

References

  1. ↑ Cooke, Alex (2020-10-21). "Halifax teen working to 'Build the Earth' in Minecraft". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
  2. ↑ Clayton, Natalie (2020-03-28). "Minecraft mod recreates the Earth to scale – and now it wants players to fill in the gaps". Rock Paper Shotgun . Archived from the original on 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  3. ↑ Gault, Matthew (2020-04-02). "Thousands of People Are Building a 1:1 Recreation of Earth in 'Minecraft'". Vice . Archived from the original on 2020-09-13. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  4. 1 2 3 Kent, Emma (2020-03-27). "Someone's built the entire Earth in Minecraft - to scale". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  5. ↑ Cuthbertson, Anthony (2020-04-07). "Tens of thousands of people are building the Earth on a 1:1 scale in Minecraft". The Independent . Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  6. 1 2 Karel, Daniel (2022-03-10). "The 2,731-Person Project to Build New York City in Minecraft". Curbed. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  7. ↑ Dankis, Sofia (2020-04-22). "It's Earth Day Again!". Mojang Studios. Archived from the original on 2021-04-11. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  8. ↑ Aldridge, Bailey (2020-07-06). "North Carolina-based YouTube star MrBeast builds his hometown Raleigh in Minecraft". The News & Observer . Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  9. ↑ "Gamers Recreated the Taj Mahal in Minecraft With 1:1 Ratio & It Looks Stunning". MensXP. 2021-07-04. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  10. ↑ "Building Portugal – Virtually". www.theportugalnews.com. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  11. ↑ "Home · BuildTheEarth/terraplusplus Wiki". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2022-03-13. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  12. ↑ Prescott, Shaun (2020-03-30). "A 1:1 scale model of Earth is possible in Minecraft, with mods and your help". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on 2020-10-10. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.