Kaplan on Minecraft's future

Mojang's Daniel Kaplan has been speaking on stage at Gamelab Conference in Barcelona today.

Gamereactor's David Caballero is on site, and snagged an interview with the man. A full report of the Conference, as well as a full transcript will be online later, but for now, here are the bullet points from both conference and interview.

Conference highlights

Scrolls will follow Minecraft formula (launch when minimum playable, check possibilities regularly, always profitable).

Minecraft new features: Youtube API, Facebook Connect, more payment methods

Looking at publishing similar studios/projects

Passion, passion, passion. "It's why you guys are here!" "Markus started coding in BASIC when he was 10"

Minecraft key to success: it was something fresh almost every week. And community continuous feedback (they hire from that community).

Want to be in many platforms, but only if game is not handicapped on them.

Minecraft 1.7 available tomorrow, pistons included.

Kaplan Interview

Touch controls (iOS, etc) are not yet finished. Experimenting with them. First, it's Xperia, with classic controls.

Minecraft launch date: not 11.11.11 but week after. Not due to Skyrim! but due to "Minecon". Beta is 15 dollars, final game will be around 20 when it launches.

Scrolls could be aimed at a smaller audience, for it's more hardcore and will take more time to get into. Same dev formula, but pretty different game, more personal, everyone in the team look forward to it.

Hardware makers are slow on letting indie developers join the party and want big IPs near launch (discussing new hardware possibilities). For example, Wii U would take much more money and a long checking process, so they'll stick to PC mainly. No DS or 3DS in near future.

Not aiming at mass market, but making Minecraft easier to understand so they appeal to more people.

Minecraft art "works", but not making a big business out of it, merchandise not big focus. Thinking a bit about it, as something aside and for fans.