Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Changing the Skin You're In
I haven't mentioned this before, and you may know it already, but your character in Mine-
craft actually has a name. Sort of. The original developer, Markus “Notch” Persson, was
askedonetimeifthecharacterhadaname,andhejokinglydubbedhim
Steve
.Themoniker
seems to have stuck, a little like Herobrine, the character that doesn't actually exist in the
game but has become the stuff of legend through mods, Internet memes, and so on.
Note:
Who Is Herobrine?
Herobrine is supposed to be a somewhat spooky character who haunts
the game, building strange structures and tunnels and doing all manner
of dastardly things to the player. He looks the same as Steve, but with
eyes lacking pupils, and has become a favorite discussion point for
Minecraft-playing kids. Mojang, the makers of Minecraft, have stoked
the fires several times in version release notes by including among the
usual list of bullet points about things that have changed, a not entirely
innocent nod to the meme that they have “Removed Herobrine”. Add
that to the hoax videos, the actual mods that do add a Herobrine char-
acter, and talk among kids, and Herobrine has become as real as the
Slender Man, that other Internet spook.
It's all in good fun, of course, especially at Halloween when Herobrine
comes knocking at your door.
So, anyway, back to Steve. Want to spruce him up? Maybe change his look entirely? Make
him a her? It's nice to be distinctive, especially in a Multiplayer world. You can, and it's
quiteeasytodo.TheXboxeditionhaseightskinsbydefault,andadditionalSkinPacksare
released now and then as paid downloadable content.
On a PC there's just one skin initially, standard Steve, but you can find multitudes more
online.Alternatively,youcancreate yourownusinganumberofeditingtoolsorevenstart
from scratch if your graphical skills are up to the task.
The first thing you need is a skin file.
Figure 13.1
shows the default skin splayed out. Each
section corresponds to a particular facet of the character, the top half dealing with the head
and the lower half, from left to right, the legs, torso, and arms. Each section wraps around
the 3D model file generated by the game.
