I have an idea for a Minecraft-iterative game’s universe.
One weakness of MC is the divergent structures and tastes of the audience being shoe-horned into the creator’s idea of setting. Some people want to build futuristic landscapes full of flying machines, others steampunk carts with large amounts of brass, yet others pirate ships, or even simple medieval villages. The narrative setting is a mess. One way to tie it all together is to treat the setting as the dumping ground of a time-space-anomaly. Pirates, robots, cavemen, knights, stranded businessmen, mad scientists, dinosaurs - all are plausible in that scenario. No worry needed when adding a cart because it’s fun to use. Or a plane. The futurism is explained away by the central MacGuffin of this planet, this dimension, existing in a realm outside of time receiving all of time’s droppings. Your landscape can be as twisted and magical as you want. This is not normal land. This is a strange place.
Rather than a pickaxe, the central character could have a matter-eating gun which, not unlike the gun in portal, allows for dual uses. Receive matter one way, place matter another. Start with low tech solutions, craft towards higher tech ones. Build a medieval village staffed by peasants, a crashed rocket with a mad scientist inside, a pirate ship with working cannons, a laser silo deathray capable of destroying half the world, a grenade launcher, a magical sword. It would all fit. It is as much fantasy as it is science fiction. Sword and sworcery and lasers. The NPC and block possibilities are endless.
