Coral Reefs

Do you enjoy carefree swimming in the ocean on hot summer days? No worries, just the blazing sun, water, sand, and you. However, I don’t want to shatter your dreams, but there are countless fish swimming alongside you in the ocean!

You might have just developed a case of thalassophobia—the fear of swimming in seas and oceans—but at least now you’re aware of the truth. Did you think I’d stop here? As of today, only 95% of the oceans have been explored, which means that all those familiar creatures we know represent merely five percent of the potential horrors lurking beneath the surface. How can one feel safe in the water when we have no idea what could be right under our feet? Perhaps a slimy jellyfish, hungry pikes, ancient beings from Lovecraft’s tales, or even rubber ducks that set off on a free journey through rivers and oceans back in 1992.

The person who shares my completely rational and justified fear of imagined marine life is a builder known as Minecraft user billoxiiboy. He’s not new to construction, so this isn’t his first project featured on our site. About a year ago, during our conversation, the Australian builder preferred to call himself a gardener instead. At that time, he created a massive forest island shrouded in mist. Now, he has traded his gardening gloves for a sun hat and diving gear, gearing up to build his new assembly titled Aquatica. This vast underwater world is adorned with corals, sponges, aquatic creatures, and even a sunken city.    “It’s true that I feel fear when looking into the unfathomable ocean waters,” says billoxiiboy. “I’m a confident swimmer and not afraid of depth. The only thing that scares me is the unexplored depths and the creatures that inhabit them. I grew up in Southern Australia and am well aware of the power and influence of the Great Southern Ocean on our shores. It’s a deep, hostile, and merciless ocean filled with some creepy creatures and very large fish. Anyone who has seen the movie ‘Jaws’ surely remembers all those terrifying scenes. Most of the locations were indeed in the area where I grew up. As a child, I was quite impressionable and still remember the storms of the ocean.”

Nevertheless, the tumultuous seas and memories of the terrifying ocean were not the primary motivation behind the assembly’s construction. The inspiration came from numerous festive visits to the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches along Australia’s tropical northeastern coastline. “The colors and diversity of the living splendor of the coral reef captivated my imagination. The intricate shapes of millions of corals, sponges, and fish appeared as if they belonged to another world.”

For billoxiiboy, the assembly Aquatica felt somewhat otherworldly, as he had never created anything like it before. His previous projects differed significantly from this new endeavor. Instead of adhering to trends in textures and models that could elevate the assembly among users, the creator took a risk by opting to utilize only the basic features available in vanilla Minecraft. This decision led him to encounter numerous challenges during the creation process, such as sculpting on the map. “Creating organic forms and capturing their essence with square blocks is an incredibly challenging task,” explains billoxiiboy. I believe this is precisely the kind of statement that shouldn’t be featured on the box when selling the game Minecraft Pocket Edition. “Crafting a humanoid shape may be the most difficult form for any sculptor. The musculature of the arms and chest, as well as the face, posed the greatest challenge I’ve ever faced in my building experience in Minecraft.”

The most challenging experience I’ve faced throughout my gaming years was when my enchanted diamond sword fell into a coral reef. At that moment, I found myself in a dire situation: I had to battle drowned enemies completely unarmed while they relentlessly hurled tridents at me. There’s no need to delve into the details of this tale. I’ll simply say that the coral reef created by billoxiiboy is far more appealing than the one where my sword now rests. The creator managed to bring the underwater forest to life with various blocks like wool, concrete, and glass. Instead of crafting a dark ocean devoid of sunlight, he opted for a vibrant coral reef.Fortunately, players visiting the map Aquatica face no real danger, but that doesn’t mean there are no hazardous creatures lurking about. They exist, yet they pose no threat to you. After designing the landscape, corals, sponges, and ruined structures, it was essential to fill the empty spaces above, or rather—underwater. This led to the creation of marine inhabitants, such as a black-tipped reef shark. “We named him Colin. Just because, it was a joke,” billoxiiboy explained upon seeing my fear at the sight of the shark’s cold, predatory eyes. “The map was designed to entertain players, not scare them. Colin is just an ordinary name chosen randomly; we didn’t intend to offend any Colins out there. When I built this shark, I remembered the cartoon ‘Finding Nemo,’ which featured a huge shark resembling ours. His name was Bruce.”

Hold on, hold on, hold on— Bruce from “Finding Nemo” wasn’t exactly friendly! I recall a scene where he tries to eat Nemo’s father in the 2003 animated film, and ever since then, I’ve had recurring nightmares about it. Billoxiiboy mentioned that his concept was to create a kind shark that any player could approach, emphasizing that Colin is not an enemy but rather the opposite. “I specifically chose a reef shark instead of a great white or what some call a man-eater because it looked too terrifying and didn’t fit my vision.” Alright, I’ll just try to accept his words and move on.In the case of the shark, Colin billoxiiboy aimed to make it appear animated. “Without movement, a sculpture in Minecraft Bedrock looks like a mere statue, a lifeless depiction. Until I started building living creatures, I didn’t realize how challenging it would be to achieve what I wanted,” he explains. “Of all the living beings on the map, the octopus was probably the most difficult. I put in a tremendous amount of effort to construct it, yet I still feel it turned out somewhat cartoonish. I aimed for everything on this map to look friendly and kind, but achieving that with the octopus was tricky since it has no mouth, making it impossible to give it a smile. Thus, the best idea was to create a cartoon-style octopus in Minecraft. Like the shark, it’s animated, but it has many more limbs. The arrangement of all its tentacles relative to each other was as crucial as it was complex to implement.” The build looks fantastic, but billoxiiboy isn’t planning to stop there. He intends to create more sea creatures separately so players can choose and load them into an already prepared map (let’s hope there are no man-eating sharks). Regardless of what will inhabit his ocean, billoxiiboy has set a clear goal and knows precisely what he wants to accomplish in Minecraft Bedrock.

“I enjoy crafting engaging and creative builds for Minecraft players,” says billoxiiboy. “I would be thrilled to join or collaborate with renowned teams like EverBloom Studios or Cyclone Designs. Overall, it’s fantastic to work with someone on a regular basis.”

I believe that soon progressive teams will recognize how talented an individual is who wishes to become part of any team. I’m confident that billoxiiboy will find excellent co-builders!

I think that soon forward-thinking teams will realize the potential of a skilled person eager to join their ranks. I have no doubt that billoxiiboy will discover great collaborators!