data/claims/infiniminer-history.yamlInfiniminer (history and reception)
Game: Infiniminer.
Zach Barth announced Infiniminer as available in a post on his Zachtronics Industries site dated 29 April 2009. To play it needed Microsoft's XNA 3.0 runtime and possibly the .NET 2.0 runtime. infiniminer-history/release
post header and bodyWritten by Zach on April 29, 2009Infiniminer — Zachtronics Industries · post bodyThat's right boys and girls – Infiniminer is now available! To play, you'll need the installer below, the XNA 3.0 runtime (linked below), and maybe the .NET 2.0 runtimeChecked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the date line and the opening sentence in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Barth updated the game through the following weeks. His replies in the release post's comments point players to v1.1 on 1 May 2009 and to v1.21, a crash fix, on 2 May; the post as captured offers v1.5. infiniminer-history/versions
comment by Zach, 1 May 2009, 10:58 amIf you grab the latest version (v1.1) you'll find a flag in the client configInfiniminer — Zachtronics Industries · comment by Zach, 2 May 2009, 3:09 pmv1.21 should fix your crash.Infiniminer — Zachtronics Industries · post body, download linkDownload Infiniminer v1.5 [1.45 MB]Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found both of Barth's comments and the download link in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Cascade PBS's 2015 profile says Infiniminer was released as a free download in the spring of 2009. infiniminer-history/free
paragraph after Barth's "hobbyist" quoteInfiniminer was released as a free download in the spring of 2009Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentence in the pinned capture; it is the reporter's narrationCited by: Infiniminer
Infiniminer is Barth's game, released under his studio name, Zachtronics Industries. Chris Gengler helped with the art. infiniminer-history/makers
post body, after the download linksThanks go out to Chris Gengler (tayrtahn@gmail.com) for helping with the artwork.Infiniminer v1.5 source code · bin/README.txt#L1-L7++ INFINIMINER ++
A GAME BY ZACHTRONICS INDUSTRIES
http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com
ART BY CHRIS GENGLER (tayrtahn@gmail.com)Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the thanks line in the pinned capture and read the shipped README at the v1.5 commitCited by: Infiniminer
Barth told Cascade PBS in 2015 that he made Infiniminer as a hobbyist, making games because he wanted to and releasing them so that people could play them. infiniminer-history/hobby
opening sectionThis was back in the period when I was a hobbyist," Barth says. "I'd make a game because I wanted to make it, and then release it so people could play itChecked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found Barth's quote in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Barth told Rock Paper Shotgun in 2011 that Infiniminer combined Infinifrag, Team Fortress 2, and Motherload, and that he wanted to make a competitive mining game. infiniminer-history/inspiration
answer to "Could you talk a little about what inspired you to design Infiniminer?"Infiniminer is a combination of Infinifrag, Team Fortress 2, and Motherload. I wanted to make a competitive mining game, and this was it.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the question and answer in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
The Minecraft Wiki describes Infinifrag, Barth's earlier game, as a multiplayer first-person shooter in which players could also place and break blocks, first released in November 2006. infiniminer-history/infinifrag
HistoryInfiniminer was inspired by Zach Barth's earlier game Infinifrag, a multiplayer first-person shooter which also included the ability to place and break blocks. Infinifrag was first released in November 2006.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentences in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Barth said in 2011 that he stopped working on Infiniminer when its source code leaked, which he called his own fault for releasing an unobfuscated .NET assembly. The leak let hackers make hacked clients, and let players unhappy with his balancing fork the game and write their own clients and servers. infiniminer-history/leak
answer to "What led to the decision that you were finished with Infiniminer…"I stopped working on Infiniminer when the source code was leaked. It was totally my fault, as that's what I get for releasing an un-obfuscated .NET assembly, but it nevertheless enabled hackers to create hacked clients and players upset with my balancing decisions to fork and write their own clients and servers.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the question and answer in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
On 16 May 2009 Barth announced that Infiniminer was open source, with an official branch on GitHub that he would maintain and asked contributors to submit to. infiniminer-history/open-source
post header and bodyWritten by Zach on May 16, 2009Apparently I’m now in charge of an open source project. · post bodyInfiniminer is now officially open source! http://github.com/krispykrem/Infiniminer/tree/master I'll be maintaining the official branch, which I encourage anyone who wants to help out to submit to instead of simply forking off into oblivion.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the date line and the post's opening in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
In a post of 9 July 2009 Barth wrote that in the aftermath of Infiniminer, "feeling nothing but disgust", he had told people he was done making games; a month later he knew he could not stop, but was done making "these games". infiniminer-history/goodbye
post header and bodyWritten by Zach on July 9, 2009“goodbye is only eybdoog backwards” · post bodyIn the aftermath of Infiniminer, feeling nothing but disgust in the pit of my stomach, I told people that I was done making games. A month later I knew it was a lie and that I could never stop making games, but the truth of the matter is that I'm done making these games.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the date line and the opening paragraph in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Rock Paper Shotgun's 2016 retrospective says hackers leaked the source code during development, the small community that had formed around the game dissolved in the wake of the modified versions, and Barth made the game open source and shelved it. infiniminer-history/community-dissolved
article bodyBut during development in 2009 the source code was leaked by hackers.Have You Played… Infiniminer? · article bodyIn the wake of new modified versions, the small community of players that had formed around the game dissolved. The developer made the game open source and shelved the project.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentences in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
The Minecraft Wiki says Infiniminer was released in incremental updates in late April and early May 2009 and quickly gathered a following on message boards. infiniminer-history/following
Historyreleased in steps of incremental updates during late April and early May of 2009. It quickly garnered a following on message boards around the internetChecked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentence in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Cascade PBS's 2015 profile says Barth built the game as a team competition for points, but players soon saw its potential for exploring and building. infiniminer-history/players-built
paragraph after Barth's "hobbyist" quoteBarth programmed the game as a team-based competition for points, but players quickly realized the game's potential for exploring and building objects in the game's open world.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentence in the pinned capture; it is the reporter's narrationCited by: Infiniminer
Markus Persson wrote in October 2009 that he played Infiniminer in multiplayer for a while and "had a blast", but found it flawed: building was fun, but there wasn't enough variation, and the big red and blue blocks were "pretty horrible". infiniminer-history/persson-verdict
The origins of MinecraftI played it in multiplayer for a while and had a blast, but found it flawed. Building was fun, but there wasn't enough variation, and the big red/blue blocks were pretty horrible.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentences in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Rock Paper Shotgun wrote in 2011 that both games let players strip blocks away with ease, but where Minecraft was about building, exploring, and excavating, Infiniminer was about competing, exploring, and excavating. infiniminer-history/competing-not-building
article bodywhile MineCraft is (currently, at least) about the joy of building, exploring and excavating, Infiniminer was about the joy of competing, exploring and excavating.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the sentence in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
Asked in 2011 whether having made Minecraft's precursor raised conflicting emotions, Barth answered that borrowing ideas is integral to the creative process. Asked whether he saw value in building for its own sake, he said he thought it terrific: "That's why I made a game about it!" infiniminer-history/barth-on-borrowing
answer to "Do you ever lie awake at night, howling into your pillow?"The act of borrowing ideas is integral to the creative process. There are games that came before Infiniminer, and there are games that will come after MineCraft. That's how it works.My Chemical Romance: Zach Barth Interview · answer to the question on building and landscaping for its own sakeHell no; I think it's terrific. That's why I made a game about it!Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found both questions and answers in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
In September 2010 a player asked in the release post's comments whether he could use the idea for his own game "like Minecraft did". Barth replied that he couldn't give permission "because there's no such thing. Go on and have a blast!" infiniminer-history/barth-permission
comment by mirhagk, 25 September 2010, 7:00 amI guess what I'm asking is if I can use this idea like Minecraft did?Infiniminer — Zachtronics Industries · comment by Zach, 25 September 2010, 7:45 pmI can't give you "permission" because there's no such thing. Go on and have a blast!Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the question and Barth's reply in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
On Minecraft's success Barth told Cascade PBS in 2015: "It was never my plan to have what happened, happen. You don't plan things in life." infiniminer-history/barth-unplanned
section on MinecraftIt was never my plan to have what happened, happen. You don't plan things in life," Barth says.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the quote in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
The README of Perttu Ahola's Minetest-c55, as of November 2011, opens by calling it "An InfiniMiner/Minecraft inspired game". infiniminer-history/minetest
README.txt#L1-L3Minetest-c55
---------------
An InfiniMiner/Minecraft inspired game.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — read the README's first lines at the pinned commitCited by: Infiniminer
Rock Paper Shotgun announced Zachtronics' Infinifactory in 2014 as linking SpaceChem with Infiniminer, which it called never finished or released commercially and best known as part of the inspiration for Minecraft. Cascade PBS wrote in 2015 that Barth was adamant Infinifactory was not a retread of Infiniminer, despite the return of the block engine. infiniminer-history/infinifactory
article body, first sentenceZachtronics has linked the SpaceChem molecule to the Infiniminer molecule to create and announce their new game: Infinifactory.Infinifactory: By The Maker Of SpaceChem And Infiniminer · article bodyIt was never finished or released commercially, but it's best known now as part of the inspiration for Minecraft.The local origins of Minecraft: A conversation with indie gamer Zachary Barth · section on InfinifactoryHe is adamant that Infinifactory is not a retread of Minecraft's predecessor, despite the return of the block engine.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found all three sentences in the pinned captures; Cascade's is the reporter's narrationCited by: Infiniminer
Zachtronics' later page for the game calls Infiniminer "the game that started the 'block genre'", and also "quite buggy and old", listed "purely for historical reasons". infiniminer-history/block-genre
About InfiniminerThat's because Infiniminer is the game that started the "block genre" that everyone knows and loves! It's also quite buggy and old, and is listed here purely for historical reasons.Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the paragraph in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer
A first-person post of 15 March 2014 on Zachtronics' Infiniminer page says the Channel 4 series Fresh Meat asked to use Infiniminer footage and references, which the writer first took for a mix-up with Minecraft, and that it aired at the end of the previous year. infiniminer-history/fresh-meat
"Infiniminer on… television?", March 15, 2014Last year I was contacted by a production coordinator from the Channel 4 show Fresh Meat about including some Infiniminer-related footage and references into their show. I was convinced that it was a mistake and they had really intended to use Minecraft, but apparently it wasn't, and it actually aired on television at the end of last year!Checked by claude, 2026-10-26 — found the post excerpt in the pinned captureCited by: Infiniminer