A more literal kind of world-building

For those who don't know what Minecraft is, here's the tagline from the official website:

Minecraft is a game about breaking and placing blocks. At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the game grew players worked together to create wonderful, imaginative things.

It can also be about adventuring with friends or watching the sun rise over a blocky ocean. It’s pretty. Brave players battle terrible things in The Nether, which is more scary than pretty. You can also visit a land of mushrooms if it sounds more like your cup of tea.

I don't much like it as a video game, but as a lego-style building simulator, it's pretty great. Or, for the people that have played the game, I play Creative instead of Survival. The game has a pretty thriving brony community, with several mods to inject it with more ponies.

Why do I mention this? Well, I play on a server called Brohoof that's dedicated to building as accurate a representation of Equestria in Minecraft as possible. And it's pretty cool.

Ponyville

I built the Carousel Boutique and Rainbow Dash's house in the background there

Crystal Empire

I built the palace

Manehattan

I built the statue over on the right and the tallest gray building in the middle

Weather Factory
Reference Image

I built that too. Unfortunately the bottom had to be cut out due to Minecraft height restrictions

Note that these are 3d renders of the ingame worlds; if you actually logged into the game and looked at any of these, it'd look something more like this.

Incomplete model of Canterlot I built

Why is this relevant to Fimfiction? Well a long time ago, when the current storyline for Fragment didn't exist yet, Brohoof had a competition for non-canon town ideas. I had already an idea for Solarium floating around in my head, but this competition was what led me to flesh it out.

And that's how my cover art was made!

The front gates of Solarium

The idea has evolved a lot since then, but I really have Brohoof and Minecraft to thank for my Fragment being the way it is now. Without them, it may never have just been more than a vague idea in my head.

Anyways, if you happen to play the game and want to get on this particular server, the Minecraft IP is mc.brohoof.com, and the website is at www.brohoof.com. Getting on is a bit difficult if you're a guest though since slots are limited, but shoot me a message here and I'll try to help you get on if you promise to be good.

Comments

[wanderingbishop]

Ah, now I have a better idea of how the shields quadrants are divided up.

Alas, my mind will not let go of the image of a steampunk Minas Tirith covered in shield bubbles ;_;

[Heliostorm]

749858

Don't let your mental image be bothered by it too much, there's not a lot that original incarnation of Solarium has in common with how I envision it now.

[Connor085]

I can't remember the last time I played minecrafted. I might get back into it just to take a look at this server.