Twins' e-book offers advice to game newcomers

For at least a few hours a week, Andrew and Eric Smith can be found camped in front of their computer screens, absorbed in a fantastic world.

“Minecraft” takes gamers into a land as limitless as their imaginations. Playing “Minecraft” is not unlike like playing with Legos on a computer screen. Players can build and explore their own three-dimensional worlds with blocks, fight a dragon and travel to different dimensions.

It’s a difficult game to explain, as there is no overarching storyline or clear objective. It can be difficult to learn, too, which is why the 13-year-old twins have written an e-book to help “Minecraft” novices learn the ropes.

“How to Play Minecraft for Beginners” has been available as a Kindle download since late September. For its first several weeks, the book averaged one or two downloads a day. In December, the book is getting two to three downloads every day, the twins’ mother, Marianne, said.

“That may not seem like a whole lot, but it’s doing quite well on its own without any promoting,” she said.

The Smith brothers’ enthusiasm for “Minecraft” was born of their love for Legos. They first learned about the game while watching Lego animations on YouTube, Andrew said.

“We thought, ‘This game looks cool,’” he said.

The boys were attracted to the game’s open-ended aspect, he said.

“What makes ‘Minecraft’ really good is it’s just a game where you build and try to survive and take this over and find this,” Andrew said. “Also it’s in blocks, and who doesn’t like building with blocks?”

As the boys became more enthralled with “Minecraft,” their mother became more interested in finding out why they were so fascinated by it.

“They were driving me nuts. They always wanted to play it,” she said. “I said, ‘You guys have got to write and explain to me how to play this game.’”

That assignment for the home-schooled Smith brothers turned into a 131-page book.

“It’s everything you need to know” to play “Minecraft,” Andrew said.

“We’ve been playing it quite a while. We know what you need to know,” he added. “We also put in a lot of stuff that’s just extra stuff that you don’t need to know to get started, but it’s nice to know.”

It’s the book the boys wish they’d had when learning the game, Eric said.

“When we were first playing ‘Minecraft,’ it was really hard to understand it,” he said. “We got pretty good at it, and we wanted to help other people when they were starting to learn the game.”

After reading and editing the book, Marianne suggested making it available as a Kindle download. It wasn’t long before “How to Play Minecraft for Beginners” was doing better than “The Alienation of Mrs. Smith,” the sci-fi novel Marianne had put up as a Kindle download under the pen name Lizzie Bartek, and “What Is and What May Be,” a philosophical book on the true nature of life by Marianne’s husband, Brian, who writes under the pen name Orland Jefferson Jones.

“At first it was like, oh man, nobody’s buying my science fiction book,” Marianne said. “But it was fun for them. Also, for me, too, it was a way for them to do a game where I don’t feel bad about them playing the game.”

The boys are allowed to play three days a week for a couple of hours, she said. While they play on computers, the game is also available on Xbox 360 and for Apple and Android smartphone markets.

Their experience has led to another idea: The twins are working on a new book on Tekkit, a “Minecraft” modification for building machines.

“How to Play Minecraft for Beginners” is available for Kindle for $2.99. With the money they make, the boys plan to launch Smith Brothers Venture Capital for Kids, Andrew said.

“We want to help kids start businesses and learn about a bunch of different business ideas,” he said.

The twins’ business experience includes three years of selling tomato plants, baking and selling dog biscuits, and raising chickens and selling the eggs to mothers of their KATS swim team teammates. They plan to draw on those experiences to advise other young businesspeople.

“We would have people come to us with ideas and fund those if we think they’re going to be successful,” Andrew said.

They would also offer kid-specific advice.

“If you’re going to start a business, it’s good to have your parents’ support in it,” Andrew said. 

Other tips are available in “How to Start a Business for Kids!” The brothers wrote that book, based on their experience selling tomato plants, when they were 9. It, too, is available as a Kindle download.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/HowToPlayMinecraftForBeginners.

Kristi Albertson, editor of This Week in the Flathead, may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.