Mini-minecraft more than Carbon Copy

New Zealand is a strong country in music, film and literature, yet it has struggled to make an international impact in the video games industry. Aside from Wellington-based Sidhe Interactive's popular rugby titles, as well as 1995's iconic Megadrive classic Super Skidmarks, the list of Kiwi games that have earned international recognition is a disappointingly small.

With the advent of mass-market games involving large budgets of millions of dollars and the support of international publishers with large pockets, it's nearly impossible for startups to gain an edge, particularly for console games released through the off-the-shelf retailers. With limited options for domestic developers are concerned, developers with a great idea have looked to mobile gaming as a way to make it into the game industry.

At the forefront of this new wave of Kiwi digital entrepreneurs is Hawke's Bay developer David Frampton who is already an App Store fan after establishing his name with the quick-fix hit Chopper and its imaginatively named sequel Chopper 2, Frampton hit the headlines earlier this month by releasing a game that racked more than a million downloads within three days of its release on the way to becoming the top iPad app in 15 countries around the globe.

The Blockheads does not have a storyline, narrative structure or a general goal. In fact, it's difficult to put a finger on what the "point" of the game is - there's no princess to save, alien invasion to repel or a storyline to unravel, there's not a high score to beat or an end-of-level boss to take down. It's a game without end in sight where your sole goal is to discover and create. This blank-slate approach allows you to experiment and create at your own pace.

Even though your protagonist is muted and has no personality You'll soon be caring about the cube-headed character as their mood is an essential aspect of the game.

If they spend too much time exploring and aren't in a position to sleep or eat enough. This can make them hungry and exhausted. You'll need find the resources needed to build shelters and food. Starting with simple structures like huts as you explore more of the vast virtual world you'll discover materials that will enable you to build more sophisticated tools and build massive palaces.

The game is completely free to play however, its addictive nature makes it a great fit for the "freemium" model that a lot of mobile games use.  Minecraft-servers.live If you're patient enough to wait for your blockhead's completion of tasks such as mining, building, and sleeping, then you will not have to pay any money. However, you can invest in the game's currency, called "time crystals" to speed up the process and build more complicated items.

With all the talk about crafting and mining, it would be impossible to talk about The Blockheads without not mentioning the elephant in our room, another brainchild of an indie band of one man, Markus "Notch" Persson's phenomenally successful Minecraft. Both games have a lot in common, from their quirky, lo-fi graphics, to the focus on exploration, resource gathering and expression of creativity.

When Nelson Mail's Adam Roberts interviewed Frampton earlier this month, online critics were quick to point out the striking similarities between the two games, implying and insinuating that The Blockheads was little more than a "Minecraft copycat".

It's normal for people to be quick to draw this conclusion. While there's no doubt that the game of Notch was a clear source of inspiration for Frampton but there's a lot more to The Blockheads that the other copies of cash-in-sploderware that is available on the App Store.

It is also unfair and lazy to rely on the similarities between two games to establish plagiarism. Video games more than any other form of entertainment, build on the precedents of previous games.

As technology advances and trends become more popular developers will continue to refine and improve what "works" and take inspiration from groundbreaking games. Just as Space Invaders led to a wave of space shooters, Super Mario Bros set the trend of side-scrolling platformers and Gears of War opened the floodgates of cover-based shooters. the unprecedented success of an innovative indie blockbuster like Minecraft will surely cause ripples within the industry. It's not plagiarism, it's progress.

If you're an avid Minecraft fan and you're a Minecraft fan, then you're bound to enjoy The Blockheads but it's more than just a copy of. While Minecraft works best with a mouse and keyboard, The Blockheads' 2-D take on the creative sandbox genre is perfectly suited to the mobile format, and its touchscreen controls are well-designed and user-friendly.