Minecraft and Star Wars — one wouldn’t think the pair have much in common, but they share more common ground than differences. Both properties have enormous fandoms, for one, spanning a broad range of ages and backgrounds. They are the origin point of enormous displays of staggering creativity, across a multitude of skill levels and mediums … and as of roughly two weeks ago? Both are home to the planets of Tatooine and Coruscant.
Yes, you heard me right: thanks to the work of one person, you can go to Coruscant and Tatooine in Minecraft, and the project is just as ambitious as it sounds.
As announced on Reddit, user vistachess has built both well known Star Wars planets as part of a larger endeavor to bring the entire known Star Wars galaxy to Minecraft in an open world adventure map. The construction of just these two portions took a year, with incredible attention to detail in the layouts of both planets and the construction of various structures, as demonstrated in both the images made available on Reddit and the behind the scenes construction that have been uploaded to YouTube.
While there is no dearth of Star Wars mods for Minecraft, this project was an obvious labor of love on the part of the designer. Through the use of mods like World Editor and World Painter to aid in large scale terraforming and construction, large swaths of manual work can be done. However, it takes a creative mind to give life to such a beloved world as Star Wars with the right details and use of materials.
It is possible that could be the reason why the maps were created in a much older version of the game—version 1.12.2 to be exact. For the reference of those unfamiliar with the game, Minecraft’s current iteration is version 1.17.1 for the Java, or computer, edition, and version 1.17.30 for Bedrock, or the console/mobile edition of the game. More advanced versions of the game contain things such as altered textures, which may have proven critical in achieving the right effects in construction to ensure that the various buildings and well known locales on both planets were as true to life as possible—such as the fragments of stone wall that were used to recreate some of the towering structures visible in the images of Tatooine’s sparse and sandy landscapes.
The maps of Tatooine and Coruscant are currently available for download on vistachess’s website. Please note, as per the website, they are only compatible with version 1.12.2 of Minecraft, and are single player maps. Whether you are a Star Wars aficionado, or a Minecraft builder with hundreds of hours of time logged into the game, there is something for everyone in every walk of life to find in this incredible project. It will take your breath away.
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Liz Carlie (she/her/he/him) is a regular book, TV, and film reviewer for SCIFI.radio and has previously been a guest on ‘The Event Horizon’. In addition to being an active member of the traditional fandom community, she’s also an active participant in online fan culture, pro wrestling journalism, and spreading the gospel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She resides in Southern California with her aspiring superhero dog, Junior, enjoying life one hyperfixation at a time.
