Mojavatar

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Mojavatar Maker
MojavatarMainImage.png: Infobox image for Mojavatar Maker the program in Minecraft
Author(s)
Platform(s)

PC only

Written in

Unity[1]

Latest version

?

Release date

?

Size

?

License

?

Source available

No

A Mojavatar (a portmanteau of "Mojang" and "Avatar") is an avatar created to represent a Mojang Studios employee.[2][3] Almost all developers and employees at Mojang have their own Mojavatar.[4] Mojavatars can usually be seen in news articles on minecraft.net or on the Mojang Staff's social media profiles.

The current Mojavatars are made with the Mojavatar Maker, an internal private program for creating 3D avatars in a style similar to the Minecraft look. While this current iteration is most common, the two previous styles are still in use by some developers to this day, and can still be seen in some news articles.

Mojavatar Maker[edit | edit source]

The Mojavatar Maker is the avatar creator program made by Mojang Studios to help themselves create new avatar images for the new or current staff, it uses a 3D Minecraft Chibi style with a low pixel resolution for the avatars and include a large variety of cosmetics, hair styles, etc.

It is for internal use only by Mojang Studios staff and there's currently no public version for public use.[5]

History[edit | edit source]

2010–2016: The original Mojang AB drawings[edit | edit source]

Mojang avatars were initially created as 2D hand-drawn illustrations by Markus Toivonen[6] as 2D hand-drawn illustrations for the core Mojang AB team in 2010.

2016–2021: 3D renders[edit | edit source]

Starting in 2016, Mojavatars transitioned to a 3D format, also hand-crafted, featuring a Minecraft-inspired chibi style with higher pixel resolution, similar to the Super Duper Graphics Pack.

2021–present: Mojavatar Maker[edit | edit source]

As the number of employees at Mojang grew, it became no longer viable to create avatars manually. In 2021 after the Mojang Studios rebrand, a group of developers therefore created an internal program, the Mojavatar Maker, to make the avatars more quickly and easily.[8][4]

This is the current version of the Mojavatars. They are presented as a 3D model with a chibi and low pixel resolution style that almost all employees use currently.

Contest winners[edit | edit source]

Two first-generation Mojavatars were awarded to non-developers through a contest held during a Minecraft Marathon event.[2][9][10]

The first person outside of Mojang to use the Mojavatar Maker was a girl named Star, who won a Blue Peter competition in 2023 and created her own Mojavatar during a tour of Mojang Studios in Stockholm.[11]

Another person granted access to the Mojavatar Maker was Lucie, a modder who won an auction and received the opportunity to visit Mojang’s office in Stockholm.[12]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Mojavatar maker concept art[edit | edit source]

In other media[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "Yeah it's in Unity! Was a fun opportunity to delve more into UI / UX design stuff since I haven't really done much in the past! :D"@artofsully on X (formerly Twitter), January 30, 2021
  2. Jump up to: a b "Only 1 day left to bid on all the @MC_Marathon auctions. If you've ever wanted a Mojavatar, this is your ONE chance! minecraftmarathon.org/prizes-and-auc…"@jnkboy (Markus Toivonen) on X (formerly Twitter), January 14, 2012
  3. "I realized I haven't shared my Mojavatar! Quite late - but here it is! It was a lot of fun to create ☺️

    Just epic work on the Mojavatar Maker @artofsully, @cookiecat_9, @JohanAronson, @slamp0000 and the rest of the team! 🌟"
    @_LadyAgnes (Agnes Larsson) on X (formerly Twitter), April 11, 2021
  4. Jump up to: a b "Some of you might have noticed a lot of @Mojang employees updating their profile pics recently, and I've finally got the go-ahead to share a sneak peek at the internal app I helped develop for us using @unity3d to create these lil avatars! (will showcase more later!) ❤️"@artofsully on X (formerly Twitter), January 28, 2021
  5. "And alas no sorry friends, this isn't going to be a public tool since that would kindaaa defeat the purpose of giving Mojang staff our unique identity haha! That said, do check our jobs page and join us if u wanna be a part of the family! 😄

    (or open Photoshop 😉)"
    @artofsully on X (formerly Twitter), January 28, 2021
  6. "@notch @_andrio That's a cool one. I'm still looking forward to get my Mojang avatar from @jnkboy, he'll have time for it eventually :)"@SeargeDP (Michael Stoyke) on X (formerly Twitter), January 21, 2014
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20120116153304/http://minecraftmarathon.org:80/prizes-and-auctions/
  8. "Wow - thanks for the warm response to the Mojavatar project guys! Very much a side gig to normal work, it's nice to see it completed! ❤️

    Traditionally avi's were made by hand but since Mojang has grown so much it's not as viable to do that anymore, thus Mojavatar Maker was born!"
    @artofsully on X (formerly Twitter), January 30, 2021
  9. Prizes and Auctions | Minecraft Marathon – archived on January 16, 2012
  10. "I bet if someone really went digging they could find out about the only two first gen Mojang avatars that Junkboy made for non employees, through a contest for an event I ran called Minecraft Marathon."@marc-irl.bsky.social (Marc Watson) on Bluesky, December 9, 2024
  11. "What Does Minecraft HQ Look Like? ⛏ 🇸🇪 | Blue Peter | CBBC" – CBBC on YouTube, February 26, 2023
  12. "Jag vann precis auktionen! Ska bli så underbart att få träffa er alla 💕
    Translated from Swedish by Google
    I just won the auction! It will be so wonderful to meet you all 💕"
    @DeveloperLucie on X (formerly Twitter), December 18, 2022
    "It was a dream come true, meeting you and @wChiwi was so amazing!"@DeveloperLucie on X (formerly Twitter), March 10, 2023
  13. https://x.com/jeb_/status/1603371767250157569
  14. https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/diversity-inclusion/women-behind-minecraft-are-building-a-better-world-through-the-power-of-play-block-by-block/

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