I don't think it works like that exactly. While I don't believe a phenomenon like Minecraft can be predictably and consistently churned out, I also don't believe it's a given that it'll happen as long as you're not trying to make it big and stay humble or what ever.
And actually, Minecraft was ambitious, just not in the ways the game industry would think of as ambitious. The infinite open world, the surprisingly challenging combat, the varying ways to play the game.
Still, putting it on Notch to duplicate the success of Minecraft is ignorant of the reality that phenomenons don't happen very often. And I don't believe he even knows what made it a phenomenon. I don't think any people involved in the creation of such things understands what made them big.
Actually, I completely agree with you. I'm just saying that you can't figure out a priori what's going to be awesome and what's going to be lame. The best way to be "consistent" is to be consistently doing a lot of stuff and then prune the lame. The next Minecraft won't spring fully-formed from Notch's brain, it will be the result of some tomfoolery he's involved in that hits him in the right way and becomes amazing because it's still something he wants to work on day after day until it has evolved into a great game.
Thus, criticizing Notch for "messing around" and having "no focus" is actively interfering with the creation of the next Minecraft!
> While I don't believe a phenomenon like Minecraft can be predictably and consistently churned out.
And woe to those who've bilked others into thinking that from-the-ground-up hits are just an aspect of following a recipe.
Sure, The Planning Spreadsheet wants a new hit every year but it completely ignores the slow iterative process that it took to pull that rabbit out of the hat.
And actually, Minecraft was ambitious, just not in the ways the game industry would think of as ambitious. The infinite open world, the surprisingly challenging combat, the varying ways to play the game.
Still, putting it on Notch to duplicate the success of Minecraft is ignorant of the reality that phenomenons don't happen very often. And I don't believe he even knows what made it a phenomenon. I don't think any people involved in the creation of such things understands what made them big.