How far will the game stray?
Now, from what I've heard, "Minecraft: Story Mode" won't feature a Steve backstory. It will, however, include new characters. Now, I myself write Minecraft stories which add new things (mainly, anything that can help create a working origin story for Minecraft). For more info on that, go here. But, this isn't about my story, it's about your story.
Mode.
So, Minecraft is known for its blockiness, cave diving, monster battling, and of course, crafting. Putting those elements into an actual story can be harder than it looks. A game where you can build anything you can imagine doesn't normally mash well with a game that follows a direct path. It becomes exponentially harder once you realize that the game series isn't going to use a origin story (and maybe not even Steve in general). So, if that is the case, than this game can either be really good, or really bad for your company. What's it gonna be like? Will you be able to customize your character like in Minecraft, or perhaps upload skins? Will you fight monsters, in a quest to eventually battle the Ender Dragon? Or will you use a popular Minecraft urban legend, such as Herobrine? What will the new characters be like? Will it be mainly new monsters, or allies? What will the allies be like? When will I stop asking questions?
I think that the real question is, how far will this story stray from the original game? It was OK'ed by Mojang, who vetoed an entire idea for a movie. So, it must be good, or Mojang must really not care. I, for one, am very excited for this game, whether it strays from the Minecraft norm or adds a completely new adventure. But, I am afraid that some people won't be that excited if you stray too far...
Comments
I think the story mode will focus more on the survival aspect than the creative aspect. Here's an idea of how the story could go:
The main character wakes up alone, not knowing how he ended up in the wilderness. While trying to find a town or village, night falls and mobs come out. Just as the main character is about to be swarmed and killed, a group of other people rescue him and take him to their camp. They all remember their lives before, but don't know how they got in this strange world, or why there are no civilisations.
As time progresses, the group encounters others who have experienced this as well, and they begin to build a thriving community. Some time later, however, supplies run low and there is unrest among the people. Soon, people begin to fight over food and other items, and a full-on war begins between communities struggling to survive as the natural resources run low. The main character, who has become something of a leader to his group, takes some trusted allies to explore other regions and dimensions, travelling to the Nether where an evil king rules over the land. During their journey, they are stalked by endermen, but the group traces them to the End, and they use a portal to travel there to confront the main villain of the game, perhaps Herobrine, who has perceived these human communities as a threat and hopes to turn them against each other and eventually destroy each other by fighting over resources. As the group tries to return home to find a solution, they suffer heavy loses, but survive and begin to travel to new lands to build up an army to fight this evil ruler. After a long war in which many die and so much is lost, a final battle sees this antagonist killed and peace is restored as the humans begin to rebuild what has been lost.
That's how I think the story will go. As for how the game looks, I think it will have the blocky Minecraft look, but with more lifelike characters that move more realistically and have voice and facial expressions, sort of like what you see in those Minecraft parody videos.
Considering it's going to be an Adventure Game expect quite A LOT of changes from the standard Minecraft formula.