Two young lads have recreated their hometown of Stockport in the ever-popular video game Minecraft and it looks absolutely incredible.
Showing some pretty admirable teamwork, brothers Elliott, 13, and Ted, 10 – both from Heaviley – joined forces with their dad Paul and spent over two months building some of Greater Manchester borough’s most iconic landmarks as part of a new interactive gaming experience.
Paul Jones runs children’s party business TechTruck, which usually offers a mobile gaming cafe experience from the back of an adapted van, but due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, he had to come up with a new way of providing the unique service.
And he did so by moving it online, opening up opportunities for residents in Greater Manchester and beyond.
Paul and his two sons developed a new game based on a book called The Puzzle Cube.
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Using characters and locations from the story, children play together online in a Minecraft world to complete a series of challenges, while a TechTruck host guides them through the world of the Puzzle Cube to search for clues and solve the cryptic riddles, with plenty of familiar landmarks along the way too.
The games have already proved to be popular, with recent parties having connected friends from Muscat, the United Arab Emirates and the UK via the online events.
Speaking on his adapted business venture, Paul said: “We have a gaming business where we do children’s parties, but due to lockdown we’ve had to shut up shop in March and in the summer we realised the only way we could carry on would be to do it online.
“That way we could still offer the parties during lockdown.”
He continued: “My sons Elliott and Ted are massive Minecrafters, especially my eldest son, he’s Minecraft crazy and he’s helped me out in a huge way,”
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“The game itself, you follow clues based on a book called the Puzzle Cube, and as you go around the world, you find lecterns that offer clues and hints about where to go to next.
“Once you reach the end of a section you are given a piece of a puzzle that you throw into a hopper.
“My son has coded the game so that once you throw the piece into the hopper, you get transported to a different place [and] there’s a bit of VT over Zoom that then explains the next part of the story and then you continue somewhere else.”
TechTruck
TechTruck
TechTruck
TechTruck
“In [The Puzzle Cube book], there are two children who are trying to find their way back,” Paul explains, “and we were influenced by wanting to recreate part of the book in our game.
“We know Stockport, my sons see the Viaduct all the time, so they could pretty much build it from memory.
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“At the moment we have the pyramid, the viaduct, and then we’ve got the Plaza which you can actually go in. One of the clues is to go where the actors get changed to in the game you have to go all around the theatre, back stage into the little dressing room which gives you the next clue.
“We’ve also got the factory, which is a disused cotton mill based on Houldsworth Mill in Reddish.
It’s got all the looms, but they aren’t working any more [so] you’ve got to find your way around the mill to the top floor to find the next clue.”
TechTruck
TechTruck
There’s no denying that the game has been a labour of love for the Jones’, taking several months to create and still being a work in progress.
But they’re not stopping yet, as a second game is already in the pipeline.
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Paul added: “We’ve put hundreds and hundreds of hours in. It must have taken since the start of summer until October and it’s still being worked on now, so a really really long time.
“The games are an hour long each, but we’ve found that people who have been on parties with friends have gone on to book a session for themselves [and] we don’t want people going through the same experience a second time, so we are building game two at the moment.
“We’re hoping to include the church, the old infirmary and the marketplace in this one, but the world is our oyster really and we are open to ideas for what’s next.”
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TechTruck parties – which are recommended for ages between seven to 11 – can be booked online, with 60-minute events for up to 10 children setting you back £99.
You can find more information and book yours here.
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Horror film due to be released in the UK this week is so scary it’s triggered Apple Watch high heart rate alerts
Daisy Jackson
A film that’s been labelled a ‘horror nightmare’ is set to make its big screen premiere in the UK this week.
The Outwaters has been disturbing audiences across the USA with its ‘found footage’ format, which follows four travellers as they encounter a menacing phenomena while camping in a remote stretch of the Mojave Desert.
Cinema-goers have reported extreme reactions, like having to leave screenings to vomit and also smart watch heart rate monitors showing alerts.
One scary movie fan said it ‘more effectively scares me than anything I’ve ever seen’.
Another labelled it ‘Goddamn terrifying stuff’.
One person said: “I’m still processing #TheOutwaters. I am not sure if it worked for me. The sounding made me so uncomfortably dizzy that I had to leave the theatre to vomit. This never happened to me before. It’s more disturbing than scary if that makes any sense.”
Credit: The Outwaters
Another said: “@TheOutwaters has solidified my opinion that I believe this to have one of the most horrific and traumatizing sequences i’ve ever experienced in a found footage horror film.”
One review reads: “the outwaters is possibly the most upsetting movie i’ve ever watched. and i mean that as a compliment.”
One more said: “The Outwaters may be my new favorite horror movie, highly recommend if you’re into weird f*cked up shit.”
Someone else posted: “Watched The Outwaters the other day and immediately fell in love – it’s the kind of mind-bending indie horror nightmare I’m constantly looking for, just unfiltered awesome creativity firing on all cylinders. Major props to everyone in front of and behind the camera, I loved it!”
And one person described it as a ‘surreal blood soaked mindf*ck through hell’.
Now, The Outwaters Twitter account has confirmed that the film will be streaming in UK cinemas from 7 April.
Screenings may be few and far between to start with, but horror fans, this looks to be one well worth seeking out.
Chris Pine took part in one of the north’s most infamous pub crawls… weirdly
Daisy Jackson
Hollywood star Chris Pine has revealed this week that he spent a year at uni up north – and even took part in one of the country’s most infamous pub crawls.
The Star Trek star was interviewed on Capital FM, where he touched on his memories of studying in Leeds, and on tackling the legendary student drinking challenge that is the Otley Run.
Chris Pine is an American actor best known for his roles as Jamie T. Kirk in Star Trek, Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman and Lord Devereaux in The Princess Diaries 2.
Appearing on Capital FM’s breakfast show this morning with Roman Kemp, Sian Welby and Chris Stark, Pine reminisced on his days studying in Yorkshire.
Kemp kicked off the show with “It’s Capital Breakfast and this morning we are joined by probably the only Hollywood A-lister to attend Leeds university.”
Chris Pine in Don’t Worry Darling. Credit: Warner Bros
“I don’t know, you’ll have to check the alumni book but I’m pretty sure that’s probably accurate” the actor admitted.
Pine explains that he studied in Leeds for one year as an exchange student, when he was just 19 years old.
Chris Stark quickly jumped in to ask Chris about the iconic Leeds student pub crawl, The Otley Run, and whether or not he’d done it as a young undergraduate.
“I don’t remember much of it but yes I have done it.”
“Do you remember what you wore?” Stark responds.
“No I don’t, I remember…nothing.”
Image: Esquire (via Twitter)
He admits that although the crawl consists of 18 bars, he himself has never made it to each one.
He continues to explain that although he now lives in sunny California and has done for most of his life, he in fact lived in the UK for a total of four years between the ages of 29 and 40.
“There’s so much Hollywood work over here but I have yet to go back to Leeds.
“I have all these memories. I lived on Brudenell road and I can see the market across the street and I know the walk to school and the great old cinema on the corner of Brudenell and Hyde Park. I just have these images of school there.”
Image: University of Leeds
So next time you’re wondering down Brudenell Road or catching a flick at Hyde Park Picture House, just know that those hallowed halls were once home to Hollywood royalty.
And who knows, Pine might be hopping on a plane to Leeds Bradford airport after being reminded of such happier times – so make sure to keep an eye out.