0x10c shelved, fans to continue Minecraft creator's vision

Mincecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has apparently cancelled 0x10c, his ambitious space sim, but a group of fans is hoping to bring it back to life.

During a livestream of Team Fortress 2 on Twitch, Persson said he would no longer be working on 0x10c, and would prefer to spend his time on smaller projects. He noted that another member of the Mojang team could pick 0x10c up, but gave no indication that this was likely to occur.

All is not lost, however; a group of Mojang fans who had been eagerly anticipating the title gathered on the 0x10c subreddit with the ambition to create a game that might not be precisely what Persson had in mind but will recreate its core design features.

Speaking to USGamer, members of the fledgling development team, all volunteers with no expectations of financial gain, pleaded for privacy while the project gets off the ground, as it's still in very early days.

0x10c was a space sim in which players would manage a ship equipped with a fully programmable 16-bit computer. They'd have to manage every aspect of the ship's functions as they explored space. Persson said in April that the project was "on ice"; he seems to be suffering serious creative block in a kind of second novel syndrome. That said, he has produced a number of free, small games which have been pretty delightful - his latest efforts include zombie arena battler Shambles and typing game Drop.

Thanks, Joystiq.