The Minecraft studio and Minecraft YouTuber looking to transform sandbox gaming

gamesindustry.biz:

When I heard that Joseph Garrett, aka the Minecraft YouTuber known as Stampy, was 'joining' 4J Studios to work on a new game, I dismissed it as a bit of a marketing stunt.

4J is the Dundee studio that's best known for developing the console versions of Minecraft. They've worked with Garrett on numerous occasions, including appearances together at Minecon. And it was easy to assume this latest collaboration was an extension of that kind of promotional activity.

I was wrong.

"It's not full time, but this is the majority of my work week," Garrett tells us. "It averages out at about three days a week here. It's definitely not a thing where I check in once a month and give some notes and then go off and do my own thing. I have been incorporated as part of the team."

4J founder and chairman Chris van der Kuyl adds: "There have been plenty of cases where big teams bring in this consultant, or this amazing creative from the movie industry… but you know that means they come in for a day, the team has to listen and take notes, and then they head off and the team gets back to actually making the game. Joe is part of the team. He gets team tasks."

Garrett's switch from YouTuber to game designer may seem sudden, but it was actually not quite as surprising as it first appears. He explains to us that he's known for creating games within Minecraft, and when 4J came knocking, he'd already decided to end his popular series of Minecraft videos 'Stampy's Lovely World'.

"We'd always got on really well," explains van der Kuyl. "So Paddy [Burns], my co-founder, and I said to him: 'We're building this game. We think you're one of the smartest people in sandbox games. We've always loved your feedback. We want to build this with the community… what could be better than you joining?' And that's what has happened."

4J is lifting the lid on its major new original game: Reforj. It's a creative survival sandbox game and, considering the experience of the people involved, the comparisons to Minecraft are