You've played somebody else's minigame. Bedwars, a parkour map that took you three hours and one perfect jump, a Skyblock server with rules you had to learn the hard way. Somebody built that. Somebody decided how many lives you get, where the chests spawn, what happens when you fall. This is your chance to be that somebody

The games don't stay in the server Most game-design classes end with a project nobody plays. This one ends with other Recessians playing what you made. When your squad decides a game is ready to test, it goes out as a Recess event. Real players, none of whom built it, none of whom know what you intended. They'll find the thing you didn't think of. That's the point.

How sessions run

• Your guide runs the server while Nate guides the group.
• The squad decides the shape. Roles, deadlines, what gets built next, when something's finished - that's yours to work out together.
• Builds persist between sessions. You come back to what you left.

What you could make

• PVP zombie minigame, where you design special kits and abilities for both the survivors and the zombies
• PVE survival games, where the players get special equipment as they progress and face harder challenges
• Spins on games such as bedwars or spleef that include unique rules or features

Pick what you work on

Will you be a:

• Builder. Maps, arenas, the sightline that makes an ambush work. Not decoration — a bad arena makes a good game unplayable.
• Game designer. Rules, objectives, win conditions. The person who says out loud that the match is thirty seconds too long.
• Technical designer. Commands, datapacks, mods. Scoreboards, /execute, function files — the same tools the servers you play on are built with. You'll probably do all three. Half of finding out what you're good at is doing the job you assumed you'd hate.

What you'll learn

• Iteration. Playing your own thing enough times to stop seeing what you meant and start seeing what's there.
• Reading a playtest. People are bad at saying what's wrong. They're excellent at showing you - where they hesitate, where they quit, where they stop talking.
• Scope. Telling the difference between an idea that's too big and an idea that's too big right now. Taking feedback on something you made. Handing it over. Watching people play it wrong and deciding whether that's their problem or yours.

Who it's for  You don't need to be a pro, but you need some history:  you've messed with mods, or built something in a datapack, or designed a map somebody else played. If you've never installed a mod, this isn't the place to start.

The recommended age range is 10-15 years old

What you'll need

• Minecraft Java Edition, installed and working
• Permission to join online Minecraft servers
• The Essentials Mod - Click here to learn how to download it
• A working camera and microphone
• A game you wish existed

Before you join Closed squad, limited spots. To get in:

• Message Jayden or Nate directly
• Answer a few questions about what you've built and what you want to make