Well, it was a long road to finishing my second map but it’s now being reviewed by Microsoft! This usually takes about a month or 2. They have a lot of maps to review. Still sick but much less so. I was going to go to the pastor’s house for a Thanksgiving feast, but I didn’t want to pass the sickness on. So, I ate alone and ordered some breakfast at Perkins (a midwest restaurant similar to IHOP). Why Perkins? Because they have apple pie!

To package a Minecraft map… very technical and hard to accomplish. A missing comma can literally fail validation. 

Here’s the boring to do list:

Marketing Art: this contains 5 screenshots, the keyart, and the partner art. Each one must be named properly and also they should be the correct size.

Store art: this contains 5 screenshots of a smaller size, the pack icon, the panorama, and the keyart which is also of a smaller size.

Description: I can only use 375 characters to explain the map to the potential purchaser.

Walkthrough: This is probably one of the most important things to get right. Tester spend hours playing maps. Anything I can do to make their job easier and quick in passing my map, all the better. Lifeboat maps are always featured on the front page. I believe the walkthrough is one of the main reasons for this. Who do you think the higher ups ask when it comes to popular maps? They ask the testers. So, you must be nice to them, give them coordinates to everyplace so they can teleport easily. Don’t sell the map to them, just explain it in a practical way.

Trailer: This is the second most important part of the marketing. Funny thing is, only about 30% of the market will even see the trailer. Those who own Minecraft on Xbox, Switch, or PlayStation can’t be linked to YouTube. This means only smart phones, pads, PCs, and Macs can view it. So, trailers are optional. But 100% of Microsoft employees will see the trailer. They are the ones who choose what goes on the front page. 

Placement is everything. Maps buried in the swamp won’t have as many eyes looking at it. That’s why it is always important to be polite to Microsoft employees. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!

Once Microsoft passes the map and I set a date, then I’ll start explaining what the map is all about. By that time, no one can steal it.

Until next time, friend, I hope you have a glorious rest of the year. I have no idea what will happen at Christmas, but finger’s crossed, it will be a very merry ending to a difficult year.