Minecraft player recreates the entire known universe

Big Picture: Minecraft players have built everything from famous architectural designs to working supercomputers. But Minecraft fan Christopher Slayton decided it was time to move on. And by big, we mean he recreated the entire known universe using only Minecraft’s in-game resources.

mine craft players created huge, complex creations for years, but Christopher Slayton’s latest project may have just earned him the crown of Minecraft’s new king. Slayton, also known YouTube like ChrisDaCow, spent two months exploring, recreating and sharing the wonders of the cosmos using only Minecraft materials and mods. The results are nothing short of stunning, especially given the environment and the amount of time spent creating it.

After his original post on Reddit p/MinecraftBuildsUnsurprisingly, Slayton’s video has over 3.2 million views and has over 225,000 followers. The video, which is also well shot on its own, follows the journey of a Minecraft enthusiast to not only build, but understand our planet, solar system, and everything beyond.

The video begins with Slayton’s hands-on approach to information gathering, which includes skydiving for inspiration on how to start building our own planet. Slayton told The newspaper “New York Times that the journey from an idea to a finished recreation of the universe made him “…even more aware of how beautiful it is.”

Slayton accurately recreated the Pillars of Creation Nebula

One of Slayton’s many challenges along the way was to find a realistic method to recreate the behavior of light in space and then apply it to his newly built celestial bodies. Slayton has used several Minecraft build mods, including World Edit, galaxy texture packs, distant horizons, Optifineand other tools to create the desired look and lighting effects.

Slayton says recreating one of the most powerful forces in the universe was his biggest challenge.

Slayton’s efforts are extraordinary given the amount of research, calculation, design, and application required to build each element of the model. At one point in the video, Slayton can be heard asking, “What am I doing with my life? I’ve been sitting in this tiny sweaty room for eight hours trying to plot a black hole curve.” His hard work has certainly paid off given the viral backlash to his creation.

Slayton hopes to continue developing complex Minecraft creations. If his model of the universe is any indication of what he has planned for the future, we also hope he continues. Fans and other Minecraft enthusiasts can find more information and download Slayton’s builds, including the universe, on his Patreon page.

Images of the Minecraft universe ChrisDaKow