While players were still debating online about how the piano in Minecraft had been made, three more days passed.
Lucas released another video.
The content was simple: "How to build a working calculator in Minecraft."
The video showed a calculator and its parts built completely out of blocks, followed by demonstrations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Players who thought the piano had already been outrageous had to admit — this was on another level.
Calculators themselves weren't unusual. Many games even included calculator tools.
But the difference was, in those games the calculator was pre-programmed.
Here, in Lucas's Minecraft video, it was built from scratch.
Did that mean they, too, could build one in the game?
From the first video until now, Minecraft's popularity had skyrocketed.
It could be said that the entire gaming industry's attention was now fixed on it.
You could even say that as long as someone was still online and checking out gaming forums, more or less they had already heard of this game.
"Holy crap, holy crap, is this some crazy new trick every three days?"
"You can even play the game like this? I'm totally shocked!"
"Looks like that preview trailer wasn't lying at all! The only limit really is the player's imagination!"
"This is insane, I've got to make one myself later!"
"Come on, don't brag, that thing looks terrifying in size. Even if you had a hundred years, you couldn't pull it off!"
"Damn it, don't look down on me! Once I figure out how it works, I'll grind one out for sure!"
"This is way too awesome. If someone can make a calculator in the game, why not just make a computer too!"
Along with these four brand-new videos, countless players were amazed.
What they didn't know was that, yeah, you really could make a computer in this game.
As long as the player's PC was powerful enough, you could even play Minecraft inside Minecraft.
Of course, the system requirements for that were ridiculously high.
But building a computer that could run Snake, type characters, or even play Minesweeper was totally possible.
The reason no one had done it yet was simply because the piano and calculator demos were already impressive enough.
Choosing these videos wasn't just about showing off Minecraft's charm and potential.
The Ancient Rome and the Forbidden City didn't need much explanation—they were just there to show what the "block-building" gameplay could really achieve.
The piano performance and the calculator, on the other hand, showed how far players could go with redstone technology.
And for the fifth video, Lucas had his own plan.
He wanted players to see that Minecraft wasn't only a block-building game, and it wasn't just an adventure RPG either.
Amid the players' huge anticipation, the fifth video finally went live.
This time, it showed an amusement park.
A series of twisting tracks carried pixel characters on roller coasters, letting them enjoy the thrill.
In the southwest corner, a carousel and a Ferris wheel spun slowly.
At the center of the park was a massive redstone-powered maze that reshuffled itself every so often, where countless little pixel characters played challenge games.
On the water, there was also an obstacle course like something out of Fall Guys, where many players raced each other.
The core gameplay was still Minecraft, but with creative builds and redstone mechanics, it turned into a completely different experience.
You could play hide-and-seek, race on tracks, or even ride on a looping racetrack while shooting moving targets with a bow.
The players were stunned and couldn't stop talking about it.
Time moved forward to New Year's Eve, the very last day of the year.
And on this day, the video Lucas released was different from the others.
It wasn't some flashy tech demo or brand-new content.
It was a New Year's celebration made entirely inside Minecraft.
There wasn't anything new, just modified versions of the earlier videos.
The Forbidden City was the same build as before, but now it was filled with NPCs, making it lively and festive.
The piano still played, but instead of the sad "To Watts," it was a cheerful New Year's song.
At the end, the video cut to the amusement park. Fireworks exploded as the camera zoomed in on the pixel characters there, and one by one their names or nicknames appeared above them.
They were all Nebula Games employees.
.........
On New Year's Day, right after the holiday, Minecraft officially launched.
Meanwhile, SkyNova's Sailing finally announced it was delayed.
The usual excuse: they wanted more time to polish the game, so they had no choice but to make the tough decision to delay it.
Normally, announcing a launch date and then delaying it would get a company roasted by players.
But this time, no one really cared.
Because all eyes were on Minecraft.
On New Year's Day, Minecraft officially unlocked.
......
In the capital, at Zack's home, after visiting relatives and doing the New Year's greetings, he—like most players who had been hyped up by all those videos—rushed back home to finally try Minecraft for himself.
His hands were itching too much to wait any longer!
Those earlier videos had completely fired up his creativity.
After logging in, Zack quickly noticed something.
Hannah, Ben, Wells, and Joey were all online.
"Everyone's here!?" Zack entered the voice chat, and right away he heard a wave of shouting.
"We were just talking about you! Zack, you still haven't met each other's parents yet?" Ben teased.
"Fourth day of the New Year. Hurry up and join the game, I'll pull you in. You won't believe how stunning this is! Lucas actually made a special server. The Ancient Rome and the Forbidden City—we can go inside and explore them, plus some scenes that weren't even shown in the trailers!" Hannah said excitedly.
"Wait for me, I'm coming!" Zack's own voice was shaking with excitement.
Being able to experience it in the game?
That was insane!
He clicked to update the game. The patch was big.
Luckily, his internet at home was fast.
Once he got in, Zack realized right away this felt different from before.
For example, after skipping past the Nebula Games logo,
the opening animation had changed.
The sun slowly rose over the eastern sea.
Under the sunlight, beaches, grass, mountains, and forests all looked beautiful.
Then Steve appeared on the beach, with the surroundings shifting again and again.
From the beach, he was suddenly walking along the Bian River from a thousand years ago, seeing the sights and life of that time.
The next moment, he arrived at the grand Forbidden City.
Then he sat for a bit by the bonfire at the Firelink Shrine.
After that came some scenes Zack didn't recognize… one by one flashing past, until Steve was playing in an amusement park.
Finally, as the sun set, the scene returned to the Ancient Rome.
Before he could take it all in, Hannah sent him an invite, asking if he wanted to join their server.
Without hesitation, Zack clicked confirm.
As the screen went black to load, his heart filled with excitement.
And he already had a plan.
He was going to learn a thing or two.
There was no way he could recreate the Ancient Rome.
but the residential houses inside it—those he was definitely going to study and copy for himself!
(End of The Chapter)
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