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We know that getting started on the Minecraft Marketplace can be overwhelming, and oftentimes, you’ll run into loads of new terms and phrases you’ve never heard before. We want to help you understand some of these terms so that you can start your partnership with Waypoint Studios or directly with the Minecraft Marketplace without worry.
Common Terms
Bedrock Edition
This is the edition of Minecraft that the marketplace is available on and that you likely interact with. Bedrock Edition is the version you can play on mobile devices, consoles, and Windows 10+. It’s now the most popular edition of Minecraft and the most optimized for playing on any device.
Java Edition
If you’ve been playing Minecraft for years, you’ve probably heard of Java Edition; this is the first version of Minecraft that was released over 15 years ago. It’s the version that’s most popular on YouTube and has a long history of mods and mod packs. This is no longer the main platform to play Minecraft on, and we recommend playing Bedrock Edition, as it’s more optimized and widely available on all platforms. Java Edition is only available on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It is not available on mobile or console.
Vanilla
When we talk about “Vanilla Minecraft,” we’re talking about the traditional way to play Minecraft. You start in an empty world, punch trees to get wood, go mining, build a base, craft a nether portal, find the end portal, and beat the ender dragon to win the game.
Resource Pack
A Resource Pack is a space that alters all the textures in the game and allows you to add new textures if you’ve created custom mobs or blocks. You may sometimes see Resource Packs abbreviated to RP.
Behaviour Pack
Similar to the Resource Pack, a Behavior Pack is the space for you to create custom “behaviors” or the code and animations that make new mobs work, add new blocks to the game, and more.
OP
In gaming, OP is short for OverPowered. When we talk about content being OP in Minecraft, we’re talking about content that gives the player excessive amounts of power in an unreasonable time. If players are playing a vanilla world and spawn in with diamond weapons and tools, then they just skipped the process of building wood, stone, iron, and gold tools, and they can now fight just about any monster in the overworld or nether without having to do any of the mining or exploring that makes Minecraft the game we all enjoy.
QA
Quality Assurance, or QA for short, involves testing your product to ensure that it works on the most basic level and that, on a more advanced level, players can understand what they’re playing and how they need to engage with the content. This includes making sure your content loads as expected and that, as a player, you can navigate your world without getting lost and enjoy the story.
Minecoins
Minecoins are the currency you can buy on the Minecraft Marketplace to purchase character creator items or other types of content.
Types of Content
Skin Packs
A Minecraft skin pack is a collection of 2D skin textures that can be added to any Minecraft skin. Skins are the traditional way players customize their skin, and they can still be used on Java Edition and Bedrock Edition Minecraft. Skin Packs purchased on the Minecraft Marketplace can only be used on Bedrock Edition, and the player cannot download the skins. While Skin Packs still exist within the Minecraft Marketplace, the cosmetic system known as Persona or “Character Creator” introduced a new, more modern way for players to customize their skin.
World Spawns
World Spawns are among the most basic Minecraft Marketplace worlds you’ll find on the store. They are vanilla experiences that give the player a starting base to play the vanilla Minecraft experience. For this reason, at Waypoint Studios, we suggest that partners ensure that World Spawns are not overly OP. Doing this can cause players to skip the Minecraft experience completely and can make the game boring.
Minigames
If you’ve ever played a Minecraft server, you’ve probably heard of many of the more common minigame types. Parkour, Bedwars, and One Block all fall into this category. Minigames are repeatable, quick, and fun single-player or, more commonly, multiplayer experiences that can be played with friends to compete against one another.
Adventure Maps
This is among the most challenging map types to create but often the most epic to play. Have you ever played a Minecraft world that completely changed the game with custom voice acting, retextured blocks, dialogue, storylines you could follow, and much more? Adventure maps use Minecraft more like a game engine and completely change the gameplay of vanilla Minecraft.
Texture Packs
When you play Minecraft, you can apply a texture pack to your world. It adds nothing new but offers a new visual look to the game. Texture Packs are complete retextures of the base vanilla game. You cannot texture only half the games.
Other Terms
Keyart
If you’ve ever looked at the Minecraft Marketplace, you’ll see that there are renders or product images that display the content. Keyart is the term given to the main rendered image on the store page.
Package
When your content is ready to submit, you’ll want to package it. That’s when you collect all the necessary files and put them in the order Minecraft requires to understand the content when loaded into the game.
Publisher
When you’re new to the Minecraft Marketplace, the most effective way to become a Minecraft Partner is to apply to an official publisher, like Waypoint Studios. There are only a few official publishers, so you need to make sure that you only go through an official publisher. Some companies that promise to publish you are not legitimate and will exploit your skill to make money without giving you any chance of becoming a Minecraft Partner. If you’d like to join Waypoint Studios, you can apply using this link or by going to waypointstudios.com/apply.
