Time: 5 Months
MARSCRAFT.ORG
PROJECT DETAILS
MARSCRAFT was my first successful, complete project, and the start of a new era of works for
me. I began work in June 2020 as a half-serious project with my best friend, but as time went on,
the project got a lot of popularity and reached nearly hundreds of thousands of players.
MARSCRAFT started out as a half serious project, but after a phase of early experiments &
understanding the market a bit better, we set a clear identity for it.
My best friend, Mica, and I, had a shared vision for MARS. We wanted a server that recreates
gaming experiences from our childhood with a more modern twist, where players experience
a recontextualized, fresher, longer lasting take on Survival Minecraft, which is something
many players at the time thought gets very boring a week in, and also adding a hint of
MMORPG/Guild gaming- as if Club Penguin, Stardew Valley and Runescape came together
to give a fresh twist on Minecraft's wide variety of content.
To connect this all together, I read Yu-Kai Chou's Actionable Gamification book, which was
heavily inspired by popular games at the time- Plants vs. Zombies, Candy Crush, etc. The
techniques & concepts did connect together & find a proper target audience, as the server was
ranked #151 in the world at one point, 78000+ players have joined, with nearly 22 YEARS worth
of combined playtime.
KEY DESIGN EXAMPLES
IN REFLECTION…
While it is by far my most successful project, MARSCRAFT certainly has some flaws that years later I can look back on.
The key flaw is that the design was aggressive- Everything was thrown in your face, and you didn't get the chance to learn things
at your own pace- The server threw a million things at you and sometimes gave you the solutions to problems you didn't really
know you had. For example, at the start of each game, you would be tasked with escaping a cave, however, most players do not
know about this, and the server sometimes throws tools to help the player get out.
Another flaw was the lack of respect to Minecraft's material. The server was built with the assumption it would never
need to update to a later Minecraft version, however, as time went by, Minecraft started displaying vulnerabilities, and
a lot of MARS' content was sometimes glitchy or lost in translation.
And finally, I did not feel like the chill, less grindy elements resonated with players too much. Sure, some players
enjoyed the ride, but it did not resonate with everyone, and players who reached Level 100 (which is known
as "beating" MARS) often quit a little after.
There are of course a lot more flaws to the server, however, those are the top 3 problems I can see affecting the server
in retrospect. Of course, a reboot would require some modernization, but that's an issue for later. Still, I was only 19 for
the majorityof the work on this page!
On a more positive note however, I credit MARS for giving me experience in a lot of very random fields. DNS Setups, Website SEO
Management, Community Management, Marketing, and a lot more, it would take a college program to truly wrap around this
behemoth of a project!
It also gives a new outlook on how things work. For games to succeed, by whatever definition of success you choose to follow,
perfection is not something to follow, but rather, a luxury. MARS was not perfect, and in fact some of its quirks dragged down
its quality, but the server was still very popular, and players, over time, come back to tell me they made a lot of memories here.
And most importantly, I was 19 in 2022. It was a perfect time to experiment with Design ideas, and I had the technology &
audience to do so.
Dozens of thousands of players played on MARS, and I can say I knew hundreds of them personally- as I would often tune in to my player's
messages on Discord and respond to every single player who had a complaint, idea or suggestion- for nearly 3 years.
Here are some reviews from my players to finish out this page. Enjoy!
RPG & Level Systems
The key mechanic of MARS is leveling up, an RPG element used to immerse players. This is something you do through several means- exploring caves, completing quests, and at later levels, you unlock much more grindy, cookie-clicker-like grinding methods. This tiering of grinds allowed for varied, unique gameplay experiences, but what was offered hit for most players.
Motivational Design
One key design method used while building MARS was pressuring. Players were pressured into increasing their level, building bigger homes or farms, stronger teams/guilds, simply beating short term quests, etc, by introducing a reason to do so. Competitive, personalization & in-completion goals all self-set by the players & leveraged by the server are how this pressure was created, and by making grinds stimulating (caves for example..), and collectively using a wide array of gamification tools in each sector, it added extra incentive to players to reach those goals.
Cave Teleportation
One of the most efficient leveling up methods before Level 100 is to explore caves and mine ores. MARS had a custom built-in Cave Exploration system where players would get warped to a random cave with ores, and would be surrounded by mobs of enemies they would have to clear for EXP. This design, and the potential for planning & reward for diversity in skillset, made for very engaging gameplay.
Unique Enchants/Weapons
MARS took advantage of every single inch of movement space Minecraft allowed us to modify- the game was pushed to its absolute limit, and a little more, featuring cutting edge concepts that are still not universally used in 2025. The custom weapons were not entirely out of Minecraft's normal, but were unique and completely revised the meta.
High-Level Grind
One very important aspect of MARS' Empire elements were the levels of late-game grind available to players. Above Level 100, you could simply just rest & play standard MC, or you can go the grindy route, where you can get a larger level/money value (in Cookie Clicker style), build a fancier base, a more formidable superteam, or even compete in the server's leaderboards with thousands of players and get yourself a fancier ranking number. Players would often stay on MARS for months!
Pets System
Players could enlist the help of assistant "pets" on MARS, which truly sold a connection between the player and the world surrounding them. Pets can be used to teleport around the map and to other caves, to simply follow you infront of players, adding flair & personality. It was a simple system, but a successful one that we monetized & players supported greatly.
PLAYER TESTIMONIES
GAME IDEATION
KEY DESIGN PILLARS
MAIN INSPIRATIONS
MARS started out more as a marketing question rather than a Game Design one.
At the time, my Game Design knowledge came mostly from YouTube videos and my personal observations playing games. The server wasn't that serious yet, and it was New Year's Eve in 2022, Mica and I got on a Discord call and planned the vision. We watched the clock hit 2022 and barely cared- we locked in and kept refining our vision for the project. The goal was simple: try to recreate a feeling from our childhoods and present it in a fresh way to a large audience.
I began studying marketing off YouTube videos- what clicks on Social Media nowadays? Then I began studying some of the most anticipated/hottest games; Stardew Valley, League of Legends, even Elden Ring which was days away from release at that point. We finally realized what was the glue- players didn't want engaging mechanics to grind for weeks/months, immersive worlds, or TikTok trends to share with their friends. What players wanted was all 3- A shared experience with friends they can get immersed in, have "Kodak Moments", and play for months. Focusing on one would miss the point completely- it's not what you can do so well, it's more about a joint package you will want to deliver.
We took something that almost worked (Survival MC), added hundreds of hours worth of content, and made it feel alternative. It wasn't just OP Survival, it was a completely new experience. And you had to keep playing it because we kept throwing reasons at you to do so: it was made clear you're not top dog yet (Other players had flashier armor, your built-in level was too low, and you took a lot of damage to mobs). You had to look after your own player, then always run into players through the minigame rotation system- going solo was an option, but you ideally would always run into & with other players.
The rest is history.
Gameplay loops that mod Minecraft's survival mechanics, and re-contextualize them- allowing for nostalgia that doesn't insist upon itself.
Expand on MC's farming & empire elements (mining Diamonds, building Megafarms) and making them purposeful. Players will have the option of teaming up to build bigger empires & enter new team minigames, but won't be forced to do so.
RPG elements that expand Minecraft's standard player system- every player is unique in MARS.
Consistent pressuring & stimulation to keep you focused & engaged, both consciously & subconciously.
Focus on creating Multiplayer "Kodak Moments", always working to create funny moments, or just simple wows.
Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, Public MC Survival Servers at the time (Farming)
GTA Vice City Stories' Empire State minigame, MTA's CIT server, OP MC Servers (Empire elements)
Club Penguin, Runescape, Football Manager (RPG/Community/Guild elements)
Engine: Minecraft
Time: 3 Years
Team: 20+
