The Modder So Good, He Got Hired by Mojang

[@OzPayn]

Nice video, I have some notes on the factual content though and some additional context that could explain some things. First off, the Aether, and its sequel Aether II, have historically been self hosted by our team via our own launchers or in the olden days via a mediafire host. So the downloads numbers on Curseforge only represent a small portion of the mod's total downloads over the years, only really reflecting the downloads in recent times when the mod's audience was mostly at its absolute smallest (that's changing now as we're getting the Aether on modern versions and getting modpack inclusion again but yeah) So that 15 million number is on the low low LOW end of the total downloads Aether 1 has had in its 12 year lifespan. Aether II also went through two distinct iterations, with the transition between them and experiments within being handled quite poorly, so it's worth noting that the versions people have played will differ depending on when they played them. The original alpha builds (titled Genesis of the Void) were more of a multiplayer remake of Aether 1, but we as a team struggled to get all the content ported and reworked with that in mind so it was eventually scrapped in favour of having Aether 1 be ported without changes and Aether II was restarted as more of a full on sequel. This rework, which is titled the Highlands Update, from 1.10-1.12 was full of design experiments and "game within a game" ideas from Brandon and the rest of the team that clashed heavily with the vibe of the original mod and vanilla game and largely drove players away. Brandon's involvement in this part of the project was quite turbulent and involved a lot of internal issues and technical problems which we as a team struggled to resolve. Unfortunately Brandon left mid-development to join Mojang which left Aether II, and Orbis (a set of technologies the mod was inherently interwoven with) in a sort of unsalvageable state that has led to the team's decision, following Brandon's departure, to restart Aether II following the successful rewrite/remaster of the original Aether mod on 1.19+ Aether II issues aside, Brandon remains one of the most inspiring and fundamentally talented designers in the Minecraft space, I consider him my mentor and a close friend. His influence on Minecraft and the modding community as a whole has been far more wide-reaching and positive than I think anyone really realises. And I'm incredibly proud of where his career has taken him even after his departure from my team. I greatly enjoyed catching up with him recently after the 1.21 announcement, and I really think people underestimate just how awesome the design concepts Mojang is working with are going forward, I think 1.21 is going to be an absolutely crazy start to a new era of Minecraft content. So yeah I hope this extra info and context around the Aether's development is useful! ~ Oz Payn - Project Lead and Creative Director at The Aether Team

[@OzPayn]

I wish I had exact total download numbers from our self-hosted days but unfortunately we had a history of losing a lot of that analytical data over the years. Sadness

[@xenosfur]

based

[@Junckalicious]

based

[@WhyamIalive123]

I ain't reading allat

[@OzPayn]

"Im not reading that" Sorry that summing up 12 years of project history isn't quick lmfao

[@reubengvTV]

Building a shrine to Brandon and chanting "All hail the Aether Mod" for 8 minutes isn't a documentary, SkyBoi

[@skyboimc]

LMAOOO

[@sky0kast0]

I would agree if I wasn't laughing

[@seekchan-xc2dy]

all hail brandon!!

[@nickmilano2516]

I want candy corn

[@voidvortex1902]

@@nickmilano2516 no

[@vomRests]

playing hermitcraft with grain must be the best thing he's ever accomplished

[@power_0007]

i love grain

[@someone7531]

can’t wait to watch some grain videos

[@therewarden9759]

I love grain

[@XxAvrielxxBluexX]

When the grain

[@ikosaheadrom]

He does good content and handles hate well, notably against grian whose clearly coping his contant

[@peety0792]

Petition for this guy to talk about Minecraft but videos and where they are now

[@iexistbro60]

YES PLEASE LOL

[@MahuevoJr0]

Hi you seem like u are a rizz God

[@MahuevoJr0]

I need your help

[@w_zizo]

@@MahuevoJr0 bro is 5 years old 😂

[@Anonymous09273]

​​​@@w_zizoTrue since hé is a robloxian.

[@Game_Blox9999]

I never could've guessed that the creator of the Warden _and_ the creator of the Aether mod are one and the same!! I actually somehow knew that the Mojang animators really quickly improved their animation skills, but I thought it was because they were learning more, not that they hired the freakin' _creator_ of the Aether mod!!

[@ShiroCh_ID]

i thought that /tick in 1.21 and autocrafter were there becuase theres demands and coincidentally Carpet mod main devs Gnembon is Hired but i never think that almost all 1.19 and exploration part of 1.21 were there because mojang agrees and Kingbdogz too

[@cyber_robot889]

yeap, and he is doing whole work for this lazy studio

[@Ozz131]

thats what passion gets you. mojang is full of money grabbers, no passion. i miss notch and his passion project....@@cyber_robot889

[@elijahsmall5873]

@@cyber_robot889 That’s such a narrow minded thing to say. There are tons of other talented people working at Mojang who love what they do and put in hard work. They play a huge role in the development of Minecraft too and their work shouldn’t be overshadowed by Kingbdogz’s.

[@langletprolet8378]

Mojang has a team of animators . I dont think its kingbdogz’ job to animate

[@Star-Powder]

While Brandon was undoubtedly a great addition to the Mojang team I hope the community doesn't start to think that everything good comes from him. There's plenty of other talented people who also contribute to the updates even if they don't talk about it publicly as much as Brandon does.

[@vortozan5395]

It would be pretty narrow minded to think that, but good point.

[@tobywessling1282]

theres a lot of useless positions at mojang though, most of the work an the actual game comes from a handful of people

[@Ozz131]

correct. most work on the trash spin offs that are money grabbers, which is why i have no respect for them. i miss notch and his passion project....@@tobywessling1282

[@Braian9887]

1.22: the black update, now villager are more black than black because inclusion🤓

[@dingledoodles2615]

@@Braian9887 bros shower has been dry for months

[@lilkae]

I love your editing. Great job Skyboi! Amazing vid as always

[@lifelessed.]

I saw you latest vid and it was great :)

[@TranscorpHR]

from creating one of the most beautiful things to ever come from minecraft's community to creating one of the most horrifying things to ever come from minecraft crazy

[@PeteH-wc8wf]

Mojang literally hired this man.

[@zyrenfall]

He should hire Mojang.

[@ToastedNuggie]

Microsoft has more money haha@@zyrenfall

[@i_bee_slate]

@@ToastedNuggier/itsjustajokebro

[@jackthelocaldumbass]

@@ToastedNuggier/wooooooosh

[@Mismatched2]

u know this is actually me on a different account?

[@usegamey]

Great editing on this video, man!

[@sidbutreal]

Wow no @

[@vAEXv]

Report him,he botting his channel

[@naizy]

bot

[@ambasing_omaygot]

Botted reply. Nobody cares.

[@notvixios]

Im so late but Common SkyBoi W video

[@Powli]

I know it’s not about skyboi but I love your video and skybois

[@CraftyMasterman]

you made me NOTCH????? WHYYYY???? LMFAO

[@skyboimc]

LMAOOO

[@skyboimc]

(this was not a character judgement dont worry i promise)

[@stupiditzz]

not it

[@qcuzi]

Hi crafty

[@tyrantishrl]

Yo crafty

[@everythingdolphins1553]

Holy crap, this editing and video is actually insane, especially around 6:51

[@iTzzTronco]

Being crazy creative AND talented in coding is a blessing straight from the gods

[@LILAC_CHAOS]

Indeed but also somewhat of a curse having all those ideas floating around constantly

[@standardLit]

BLESS 🙏🏻

[@NathanielAzene]

the youtuber skyboi so good, mojang hired him

[@skyboimc]

NO WAYYYY TYY

[@NathanielAzene]

@@skyboimc omg no way lol you are my fave commentary yter

[@OkayIW]

​@@skyboimchi

[@Astro-M0]

Yeah a charity is definitely relevant to how good of a developer he is lmao

[@legendsneverdie6888]

7:28 ehh jeb's up there

[@skyboimc]

fair fair

[@Billbobs678]

@@skyboimc c418 too

[@Without_me150]

The funny bit is he lives in my home town perth and the picture that photo was taken was at Warwick train station at 0:10

[@satyaweda5332]

Lol

[@hustlerschecklist3291]

Holy shit this video is so well crafted. Story telling keeps me on the edge the whole time and the jokes land perfectly. Keep it up man one of the best minecraft essays I've seen

[@ShiroCh_ID]

lets not forget that 1.21 feels like Gnembon Carpet Mod and Kingbdogz Aether mod were packed in 1 package

[@its_bray_bray]

This is really peaking into the view of Mojang which is refreshing too see. Also LOVE THE EDITING

[@duckzxy1551]

the school i went to when i was younger was literally right next to the mojang office before, you can see it in the reflection at 5:13. i did meet Jeb one time and he gave me an autograph which is nice :)

[@1jgio]

Your videos are very well-put. I like the style of editing and great audio and background. Keep it up

[@Epacana5]

love the way ur channel is transforming, keep it up

[@masterbaiter8469]

0:36 just noticed the terraria ost started loading😂

[@joyforful]

Still always perfect! Hope you reach 100k because you’ve put hard work on videos! ❤

[@AjiZu-Archive]

theres been a decent amount of devs at mojang who were mod devs prior

[@MonkeyMan90.5]

They need to add the Aether mod to Minecraft officially.

[@arcane_spark]

I suspect that the autocrafter is mostly developed by gnembon developer of the carpet mod

[@SpectreProtomoth]

I adore your energy, dude. Seriously! I can hear the genuine passion in your voice when you talk about stuff, and it makes me smile. Keep being you!

[@Wanneshey]

This guy, I don’t mean kingbdogz. I mean skyboi, you are very underrated and need to get a million subs! Your editing is amazing and I love it! I will from now on watch every. Single. One. If your video’s! You deserve it!🎉

[@cwappstr]

Playing Hermitcraft with Grian for a day was the peak of his career

[@potat2707]

"gryan"

[@coinarcher]

6:28 is wild

[@Mega_Requaza_5210]

@@coinarcher I was not expecting that

[@asckey]

3:00 dawg 💀

[@improbablyfur]

bros gonna have a triple boss “fight”

[@marcelszafranski6473]

Yeaaaaa

[@vovacreator727]

@@improbablyfur quick time trio

[@wagger44]

💀

[@Fa1seP0sitive]

Kingbdogz and Henrik are the two most important minecraft developers in recent memory. In comparison, the rest of mojang is slacking to what they achieve, both creating some of the biggest and most prominent parts of the updates they worked on. Henrik I believe has left Mojang but was the person who was almost singlehandedly responsible for the Caves and Cliff world generation.

[@kmb600]

He tweeted the most about Caves & Cliffs world generation. Doesn't mean he did most of the work and everyone else did little work on it though. Behind the scenes there was most likely tons of work involved by everyone to develop the tech behind the world generation, raise the world height, implement chunk blending between old & new terrain, and get all that + the new terrain itself to work on both Bedrock & Java along with performance improvements to mitigate the impact of bigger chunks

[@PinkGoldPeach23105]

I remember Henrik being very open to feedback on the 1.18 world generation on his twitter page, he even followed me back, and i have like only 20 followers on twitter

[@ethanwho_]

I'm glad I came across this video. I would always brag about how the Aether was the best mod growing up. I grew up playing on Aether servers as a kid. It's good to see someone after all these years has recognized it's contribution to modded minecraft. I don't think people will understand how good it was back then, especially since if you were to try and play it now, you or others might feel like it doesn't have enough, or the graphics feel different.

[@BEEF-r2o]

He also played hermitcraft with graian for a day made me laugh out loud😂

[@globetracker917]

At this point, I am kind of suprised there an Aether in vanilla Minecraft. Maybe not the same as the mods, but more vanilla feel to it.

[@fireyfan25]

Top 5 Most Important People in Minecraft History 1. Notch 2. Jeb 3. Kingbdogz 4. Dock 5. EthosLab

[@c4nis.latrans]

@@fireyfan25 failed to mention C418

[@Smirkkk10]

@@c4nis.latrans fr

[@VERDSO]

Right my personal favorite is cat

[@bestia-n5s]

if we had a top 8, include c418, pewdiepie and techno (or dream)

[@zanewithdasideye]

@thirdromesoon I'd say Dan too

[@Humy.]

Really enjoyed the Video the Editing is insane

[@bbernyy64]

What a great modder, mojang should hire him!

[@jojoojoratti123]

**ahem**

[@PurpleBroadcast]

7:48 im never pronouncing grayan the same way ever again

[@milly-s1z]

So real

[@HexiKat]

wow this minecraft video is so minecraft, this minecraft minecraft is so minecraft it can almost be considered "minecrafty" (minecraft)

[@MichaelTenn-w4g]

Having a well known modder be an actual developer for the base game is the absolute best case scenario

[@robbiegarber898]

You can really see his effect on Mojang with the new uodate... the challenge areas definitely remind me of the aether dungeons.

[@sweadishfisk]

saying " it had a pretty adventure-y feel " with terraria music playing in the background is god tier explanation

[@Erinnoble1]

really well edited, cant wait to see where your channel goes

[@spiritblue5139]

he might be the only person actually working at mojang

[@skyboimc]

LMAO

[@MalevolentAB]

2:51 omg I watched that video and tried to make it on my grandmothers computer when I was little... the memories

[@XTRgames2024]

"Minecraft but chickens drop 9,000 diamonds on death and it crashes your game"

[@ShadowMageYT]

Yet another Great video By Skyboi! Your content inspires me with my own videos. Keep up the good work man!

[@MnMGaming69]

It's kinda funny that you have more subs than skyboi

[@ShadowMageYT]

@@MnMGaming69 Well, he's probably gonna pass me up soon lol...but he deserves it!

[@raichu4023]

insane editing skills, good humor, nice video. Definitely subscribing.

[@gamma_02]

I'd like to believe the autocrafting table is Gnebmon's influence, but that's probably just the vanilla feel

[@GeorgeJacks2012]

Mojang: Brandon, you're hired!

[@thewock_cs]

The little alchemist music, i love itttt

[@oddgorl23]

kingbdogz being at mojang immediately destroys the whole "mojang lazy mods better" argument

[@rainbowdash3419]

the Warden is not a boss it’s a force of nature 💀

[@richterman3962]

Mojang tried to hire the optifine guy for quite awhile, but optifine man wanted too much money

[@Nebula-qq8sg]

“The Mod Developer So Good, He Got Hired by Mojang”… a solid chunk of Mojang’s staff…? Dinnerbone…?

[@PepsiMan42069]

“He uses this thing called modloader” made me feel so old

[@elstarnor4628]

2:42 did you put this clip in specifically to remind us that his Lovely World is over? If so, it worked.

[@skyboimc]

i edited that before the video dropped its just coincidental

[@hater11227]

​@@skyboimcgood morning

[@Zandrox]

3:54 No way you used Blocksworld music as the background music!! I recognized it instantly… it caught me so off guard lmao. Man I miss that game..

[@cc3]

Jeb is obviously the second most important player in minecraft history after Notch but it's shocking to me that he was rejected originally considering the influence he'd had over the games development so early on but i understand that senior sotfware engineers require different skillsets. I think they desperately need somebody who specialises in performance though. I like what they did with data packs but I also think there's a lot of room for improvement when it comes to control and ease of use. It would be nice to finally get the native mod support that has been talked about since 2011 without the need for modloaders etc.

[@ItzAbstract]

bedrock is a semi solution they did for the native mod support.

[@SSSC_lol]

This man single-handledly lied to me since I was a child thinking that The Aether Portal is a real thing in Minecraft.

[@LunarRumour]

7:30 c418:

[@WatercraftGames]

"All great ideas start with chickens that drop diamonds." -A wise man

[@tdplayer9582]

I think that sky is one of the best mc channels of 2023

[@Dingus-fg6if]

That obviously denied is crazyyy XDDDDDDDDD

[@TitanChromeE]

0:37 terraria music

[@carlo._.]

Omg giant chrome A

[@therobloxbaconman]

Only dev at mojang working rn

[@Bladeswiper]

Get him the most subbed kid named "Sky"

[@jasonclerck]

@@Bladeswiper I GET THE REFERENCE

[@Bladeswiper]

@@jasonclerck LOL

[@The_NightFlame]

The pvz music in the background got me vibing... Making me automatically love this video so much more...and even the sound effects!!❤❤❤ Great video editing!😊

[@ketchupgrandma1]

I love ur content so much omg w video 10/10

[@tylerplayz8134]

7:18 Bro TF is this? Love it. The randomness and escalation of it had me dying

[@Showing_nim]

Skyboi video is always so amazing omg

[@skyboimc]

hi showing

[@lizuryt]

Dude this guy is genuinely more important than Dream in Minecraft. Also PLANTS VS ZOMBIES MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND!!!!

[@AwesomeStarGamer]

4:04 rip Caleb dude

[@MrBrineplays_]

This guy changed mojang's direction from going downhill to going uphill, props to him

[@notaidan6083]

3:55 blocksworld model music (Now blocksworld is shutdown)

[@wastedwanderer420]

king didnt make the crafter it was probably inspired by gnembon carpet mod back when gnembom was a huge modder before his carreer at Mojang now im sure king and gnem have both put into this but its more like a dropper block that gnem made along time ago

[@Partypooper038]

hes like what would happen is a genuine modder that makes top tier mods for a game is hired to work on that game

[@ChiffoiMC]

this is so minecraft the video. i wtached

[@MahuevoJr0]

I know u are a rizz God help me pls

[@soniccd9983]

Its really annoying how provably easy minecraft is to work on yet mojang acts like theyre trying to make mario 64 for the first time still.

[@DailysasterXD]

7:09 the music 💀💀

[@melonachii]

@@DailysasterXD What's wrong with it?

[@Athithan_2000]

No way is that the background track of Lil’Alchemist😂

[@Spelis]

8:00 young fly on the track

[@explosivetolgagunpowder]

@@Spelis brownie brownie brownie

[@t7bh]

@@explosivetolgagunpowder monkey monkey monkey

[@Cacodevidro432]

Meanwhile Nintendo: -You are... -Hired? -Sued!

[@CakeOnBake]

Holy Moly the PvZ Remix ay the end goes HARD

[@MeepsFTW]

3:54 bro thought he could sneak in some of the blocksworld soundtrack and we wouldnt notice

[@papery004-eh8tk]

1:07 BACON BLOCKSSSSS

[@Hood_Lemon]

I feel pretty privileged to be Brandons brothers friend. I used to Alpha test the Aether mod as a kid and give feedback. only was able to do so much ofc as I was just a friend of a friend, but it's amazing to see how well he has done with himself. Also, he designed like giant creepers with his obsidian gear mods back in the day, I remember that. I'm pretty sure it crashed his game if I can remember that far back, I was like 11/12.

[@livekazumareaction]

Yeahh right bucko HEY LETS GET A LOAD OF THIS GUY!

[@GoldestFlash]

How do we get a fact check?

[@X3600MC]

its actually grain

[@dzzenok4136]

hearing someone say ''this thing called mod loader'' makes me feel so incredibly old you cant even imagine

[@N04444HHH]

Wow, an australian developer made it THIS far??

[@Branyxdabestreal]

im getting racist vibes from this comment

[@N04444HHH]

@@Branyxdabestreal I’m not trying to be

[@N04444HHH]

@@Branyxdabestreal I’m just happily surprised

[@Branyxdabestreal]

ok then nice :D@@N04444HHH

[@lordgemini2376]

@@Branyxdabestreal Australian is a race now? 😂

[@NolaTheSilly]

"they should hire this guy to work at mojang" this guy: i already did.

[@tidalbow8969]

6:48 WARDEN IS NOT A BOSS You aren't supposed to fight with it. It's a mob you should AVOID using snowballs and wool.

[@ezriha]

You CAN avoid it, but some people decide to fight it.

[@AlifRizqi-sz9vn]

Ah, yes! Terraria song on Minecraft video

[@Waltnut]

0:27 nah its more like a fundy thing

[@ezriha]

by time of creation fundy is the most 2010s thing.

[@Invalid-user13k]

He got hired by Mojang

[@xivit]

7:18 🤨📸