Markus Persson
Markus Persson, known as Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer who created Minecraft and co-founded Mojang.
Jens Bergensten: A Swedish game developer who became Minecraft’s lead designer after joining Mojang. He took over Minecraft’s ongoing development as Persson stepped back.
Minecraft: A sandbox video game built around mining, crafting, exploration, and construction in a procedurally generated world. Persson created the game that became his defining work.
RubyDung: An unfinished isometric construction game Markus Persson developed before Minecraft. Its terrain and building ideas became starting points for Minecraft.
Microsoft acquisition of Mojang: Microsoft’s 2014 purchase of Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. The sale ended Persson’s ownership of the company he co-founded.
Carl Manneh: A Swedish entrepreneur who co-founded Mojang and served as its chief executive. He helped turn Persson’s independent project into a game company.
Minecraft Classic: An early browser-playable version of Minecraft released publicly in 2009. It exposes the simple building-focused form of Persson’s first public prototype.
Infiniminer: A multiplayer mining game by Zachary Barth, released in 2009, in which players excavate voxel terrain. Its block-based landscape directly inspired Minecraft’s initial visual and mining design.
Minecraft community: The worldwide network of Minecraft players, creators, server operators, and mod developers. Persson’s open-ended design enabled a community that extended far beyond the original game.
Jakob Porsér: A Swedish game developer and Mojang co-founder who worked with Persson on early games. He was Persson’s early collaborator and a fellow Mojang founder.
Ludum Dare: A recurring game-development competition in which participants create games under time constraints. Persson developed early games through the independent community surrounding this competition.