Design Principles Learned From Minecraft
At first, Minecraft may just seem like a childish video game with a unique art style. However, as players delve further into the game’s mechanics, it becomes very clear that Minecraft can teach players much about engineering design. From the first moments in a Minecraft world onward, the game demonstrates the importance of user-centered design, how constraints spark creativity, and why iteration and prototyping are critical in the design process.
Figure 1: A player’s first moment in a new Minecraft world. They are greeted by a blocky world and given very little instruction as to what to do [1].
User-Centered Design
When designing a product, it is absolutely critical that a designer considers the customer and how they will interact with a product. If the design is not intuitive, a customer is less likely to understand or buy a product. One reason why Minecraft is so beloved is that it is user-oriented and easy to grasp. When a player opens up Minecraft, they are greeted by a world made of blocks. With little to no instruction, they begin to understand the game as they test the controls. The player learns quickly that if they break blocks with a particular button, they can store them in their inventory. They can use those blocks to build structures and to make tools and other resources.
Constraints
Constraints are also an important part of design. Oftentimes, higher quality work is produced under constraints as opposed to when there are no limitations. Some constraints in the real world include limited time and resources and the desires of stakeholders in a project. Some may view constraints on a project in a negative light; however, they help to provide a clear set of guidelines for a project and can spark creativity, as they challenge designers to innovate within the project’s boundaries [2]. In Minecraft’s survival mode, a very clear constraint is starting with no resources. Because of this, players must spend valuable time gathering materials in order to craft tools, construct buildings, and interact with other game mechanics. As such, time is another constraint. Both of these constraints influence players to make design decisions that they might not have otherwise made.
Another constraint when designing in Minecraft is that the building materials are blocks. This means that a player cannot make a perfect circle when designing a circular tower, nor many other shapes. This promotes problem solving and innovation. It has led many players, such as the Hermitcraft community, to design imaginative structures, as demonstrated below..
Figure 2: Structures made in Minecraft’s survival mode by the Hermitcraft community [3].
A real world example of constraints leading to innovation is the Apollo 13 crisis. Their constraint was time, in order to avoid death in the vacuum of space. In order to safely return the crew home, they needed to perform tasks at a quicker speed than they normally would. Instead of using their equipment for what it was designed to do, they explored other potential uses for their equipment. The final result of this was that the Apollo 13 team made it home safely from outer space [4]. Their time limit led to inspired actions that saved their lives.
Iteration and Prototyping
Another important aspect of design is iteration and prototyping. Prototyping allows designers to see how well initial tests of their design meet the design requirements and constraints. Then, designers iteratively improve their design through further prototyping. This is critical in almost every aspect of Minecraft. For example, when a person first builds a house in Minecraft, they learn valuable lessons from that first iteration of house building, such as what looks good and what could be improved about the design of their Minecraft home. Furthermore, when players first interact with Redstone, the game’s primary resource for electrical engineering in the game, they learn by prototyping and iteration to see how the resource works and what kinds of devices they can make. No player gets it right on the first try (unless they are watching a tutorial).
Just as no one gets a design in Minecraft right the first time, the same holds true in the real world. The first iteration of a design is rarely ever the final design used for a product. In the Space Race, Apollo 11 was the mission that led to the first man on the moon. However, that came after iteration, prototyping, and many other missions to meet intermediate steps. For example, Apollo 1 was a simulation of the launch pad in Florida that failed, leading to the death of 3 astronauts. This catastrophe led NASA to “re-examine all aspects of the program and rework many of the spacecraft’s systems” [5]. In this example, some preliminary design decisions led to catastrophe. However, this led NASA to be more careful, to spend more time iterating designs, and eventually led to Apollo 11.
Final Thoughts
Minecraft clearly demonstrates how good user-design, constraints, and iteration throughout the prototyping process positively impact the design of effective products. Designers in the real world must do the same.
REFERENCES
[1] Parkin, Simon. "Minecraft - PC/Mac review." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Limited, 9 Dec. 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/dec/09/minecraft-pc-mac-review.
[2] "Grian's Monument." Hermitcraft Wiki, Fandom, https://hermitcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Grian%27s_Monument. Accessed 27 Oct. 2025.
[3] "Boatem Town." Hermitcraft Wiki, Fandom, https://hermitcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Boatem_Town. Accessed 27 Oct. 2025.
[4] Bradt, George. "Why Adding Constraints Increases Innovation." Forbes, Forbes Media LLC, 9 Mar. 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2016/03/09/why-adding-constraints-increases-innovation/.
[5] NASA. "Missions." NASA, https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/missions.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2025.
To cite this article:
Hardman, Nicholas. “Design Principles Learned From Minecraft.” The BYU Design Review, 27 October 2025, https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/design-principles-learned-from-minecraft.
