Editing 0x10c (section)

==Announcement==
[[File:0x10c Asteroid.png|right|thumb|360px|A spacecraft interior with an asteroid and star outside.]]
[[File:0x10c Planet.png|right|thumb|360px|A planet and star.]]
In March 2011, Notch was asked in an interview if Mojang had any plans for another game, and Notch expressed his desire to create an "extremely nerdy" space trading simulator.<ref>{{reddit2|sub=0x10c|id=tr1jf|text=History of pre-alpha 0x10c (wip):|author=jecowa|date=May 16, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-minecraft-creator-mojang|title=A Day In The Life Of Minecraft Creator Mojang|website=Rock Paper Shotgun|author=John Walker|date=March 7, 2011}}</ref> Later, in December 2011, Notch announced he would be stepping down as lead developer of ''Minecraft'', and that he would begin working on another project.<ref>{{citation|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813083715/https://notch.tumblr.com/post/13633493969/och-med-dom-orden-s%C3%A5-passar-jag-micken|title=Och med dom orden så passar jag micken.|website=Tumblr|author=Notch|date=December 2, 2011}}</ref> Mojang CEO [[Carl Manneh]] said in an interview with Edge Online in January 2012 that Mojang was committed to supporting a new project that Notch was developing.<ref>{{citation|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115211340/http://www.edge-online.com/news/mojang-working-three-new-games|title=Mojang working on three new games|website=Edge Online|author=Nathan Brown|date=January 13, 2012}}</ref> In March 2012, he revealed that there were three different projects he was working on, but he had yet to decide which one he was committed to.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.vg247.com/2012/03/17/notch-hoping-to-focus-on-a-new-project-by-this-summer/|title=Video: Minecraft boss talks three projects, BAFTA thrill|website=VG24/7|author=Staff|date=March 17, 2012}}</ref> On March 13th, he announced he would begin prototyping a space game,<ref>{{tweet|notch|179614763750400001|Screw it, I know I'm working on two projects already, but I'll start prototyping the space game now.|March 13, 2012}}</ref> and on March 21st, in an interview with PC Gamer magazine, he announced that he was working on a space-themed game that was inspired by the television show ''Firefly'' and the video game ''Elite''.<ref name=firefly>{{citation|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/notch-wants-to-make-a-firefly-inspired-sandbox-space-game-like-elite-except-done-right/|title=Notch wants to make a Firefly-inspired sandbox space game like Elite "except done right"|website=PC Gamer|author=Tom Senior|date=March 21, 2012}}</ref>

On April Fools' Day 2012, instead of a typical ''Minecraft'' [[April Fools]] joke, as was the case the prior year and every year since, Mojang launched a satirical website for a space game entitled ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120402231307/http://marseffect.net/ Mars Effect]'',<ref>{{tweet|notch|186155683677351937|Some information on my new game: http://marseffect.net|March 31, 2012}}</ref> citing a lawsuit with Bethesda regarding the title of the Mojang game ''[[Scrolls]]'' as an inspiration.<ref>{{citation|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402174313/https://www.shadowlocked.com/201203312487/news/minecraft-creator-scores-april-fool-with-project-mars-effect.html|title=Minecraft creator scores April Fool with 'Mars Effect'|website=Shadowlocked|author=Rebecca Fields|date=March 31, 2012}}</ref> However, the gameplay elements remained true, and on April 3, 2012, Mojang revealed it as an actual space sandbox title, ''0x10<sup>c</sup>.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/04/03/mojang-registers-website-for-its-new-game-0x10c/|title=Mojang Registers Website For Its New Game '0x10c'|website=Forbes|author=Alex Knapp|date=April 3, 2012}}</ref>

The game's backstory, as told by Notch on the website, was this:

{{q|In a parallel universe where the space race never ended, space travel was gaining popularity amongst corporations and rich individuals.

In 1988, a brand new deep sleep cell was released, compatible with all popular 16 bit computers. Unfortunately, it used big endian, whereas the DCPU-16 specifications called for little endian. This led to a severe bug in the included drivers, causing a requested sleep of 0x0000 0000 0000 0001 years to last for 0x0001 0000 0000 0000 years.

It's now the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD, and the first lost people are starting to wake up to a universe on the brink of extinction, with all remote galaxies forever lost to red shift, star formation long since ended, and massive black holes dominating the galaxy.<ref>{{citation|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405053335/http://0x10c.com/|title=0x10c.com (first version)}}</ref>|Notch}}

The game was to feature:
*Hard science fiction
*Lots of engineering
*Fully working computer system
*Space battles against the AI or other players
*Abandoned ships full of loot
*Duct tape
*Seamlessly landing on planets
*Advanced economy system
*Random encounters
*Mining, trading, and looting
*Single and multi player connected via the multiverse

Of particular interest was the in-game computer, the DCPU-16. This was a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU that could be used to control the entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish. Full specifications of the CPU were released soon after the game's announcement, so the more programatically advanced of the playerbase could get a head start.<ref>{{citation|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524201825/https://notch.tumblr.com/post/20056289891/startclassifiedtransmission?is_related_post=1|title=START_CLASSIFIED_TRANSMISSION|website=Tumblr|author=Notch|date=March 28, 2012}}</ref> These specifications, along with the specifications for several pieces of in-game hardware that would be able to interface with the DCPU-16, can be found [https://github.com/lucaspiller/dcpu-specifications here].

''0x10<sup>c</sup>'' was planned to require its players to pay a monthly subscription fee in order to access the global multiplayer server that was planned to exist, due to the computational cost of simulating the trajectories and onboard systems of all the players' ships, even when the players piloting those ships weren't logged in.<ref name=pc1/> A recurring fee would not be required to play singleplayer, and it's likely there would be the option to play on smaller, privately hosted servers for free, as in ''Minecraft''.<ref name=multiplayer/> The initial cost of buying the game was planned to start out small and increase as the game was developed, similarly to how ''Minecraft's'' price increased during the first few years of its development.