Pushing blocks

Much of Hypixel’s success as a Minecraft server was based on its knack for pushing

Minecraft into doing things it was never meant to, offering a network-wide party system, anti-cheat tools and new models and sounds. “Eventually we started to hit the technical ceiling of what Minecraft could do,” programmer Nick

Krecklow says. One game, Turbo Kart

Racers (which used the bat as the basis for the kart) was a remarkable achievement, but it suffered because it was stuck with Minecraft’s base camera and controls, so looking and driving directions were separate and the view couldn’t be set back far enough behind the kart. “Our mechanics couldn’t keep speed because we were still in Minecraft.” With its own game, Hypixel can break free.