On Thursday August 1st, Linden Lab launched Blocksworld, the latest in its new product line, a day later than anticipated.
Announced in a press release from the Lab, Blocksworld was originally the work of Boldai AB, a team of three programmers who jokingly refer to themselves as being, “From the country that gave you Minecraft and the country next to the country that invented Lego”. It is described as, “A perfect mix of Lego and Minecraft.” Boldai were acquired by Linden Lab at the start of the year.
The press release announcing the launch of the application for the Apple iPad states in part:
Blocksworld is a light-hearted build-and-play system for kids and grownups alike that brings the imaginative play of toy blocks to your iPad’s touch-screen, allowing you to bring your digital creations to life. Snap together colourful 3D blocks to create anything you can imagine – from crazy characters to cars, space rockets, animals, robots, planes, monsters, and much more – and then bring your creations to life and play with them! Simple drag-and-drop controls make it easy to add interactivity and animations to anything you make. Tap “Play” and get ready to smile as your creations walk and talk, jump, drive, fly, shoot lasers, fire rockets, or even explode.
A new video accompanies the launch, which sees a return of some of the humour found in Boldai’s own video promos.
In keeping with the Lab’s philosophy with its new products, Blocksworld creations can be shared with other users.
The app is available free of charge on Apple’s App store, with the Lab going with the model they eventually adopted for Creatorverse – sell “themed packs” as in-app purchases which users can then bolt-on to the basic application and increase their creative opportunities. The expansion packs can be seen in action on the Blocksworld website, and it would seem that some of them call into question as to what capabilities are actually available in the free product. The promo video shows rockets flying, for example, but the rocket capability is one of the in-app purchases, along with wheels and walkers, which also feature in the promo video.
As a 3D building tool which has already been shown to have appeal among children prior to Boldai being acquired by LL, and allowing for the possible need to buy the various expansion packs to do much of what is shown in the promo video, Blocksworld could prove to be far more of a success that Creatorverse, and more visually engaging (think electronic Lego).
Whether Blocksworld will debut on other devices – such as Android tablets – remains to be seen. Boldai did originally have plans in this regard, but little has been said on the subject since they were acquired by LL.
Related Links
- Blocksworld launch press release – LL
- Blocksworld website
- Blocksworld in the Apple App Store
- Blocksworld coverage in this blog
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
Blocksworld looks great. I love it. But ….. I hate Apple. They are evil!
LikeLike
Looks sweet. Is it MMO? Or single player?
LikeLike
I believe that, like Creatorverse, it’s single player, but creations can be shared between people, allowing them to be modified, etc.
LikeLike
Yeah… single player… that’s called “masturbation”… isn’t it? Haha, not being cheeky, but for me, and obviously millions of others, spaces as different as WoW and SL are engaging because they’re MMO’s.
LikeLike
Don’t forget that Blocksworld is aimed pretty squarely at youngsters, and as such could have a good deal of appeal even as a standalone game / app.
What’s more (and as the early Boldai videos, now sadly gone, showed) kids seemed to be happy to gather around an iPad and collaborate on building things. There’s also plenty of room for parent / child interaction with the app as well. So missing out on multiplayer aspects might not be a huge disadvantage (and who is to say it might not come along in the future, assuming this isn’t the done deal for Blocksworld?)
LikeLike