Why Redstone Studios takes (a long) time to release a product
If there’s one thing Redstone Studios is known for, it’s taking forever to release a product (and talk about it) and Playground 2 is no exception. It’s not because we’re lazy (mostly), but because we can’t resist nit-picking, debating every design choice, and ensuring the user experience is what we envisioned. What starts as “let’s make a nice, simple GUI” quickly turns into a marathon of prototypes, passionate discussions, and the occasional team stalemate fuelled by differing objectives. At points, we find ourselves not even speaking about the same things. But through the chaos, we eventually find alignment, merge our ideas, and get the gears turning, toward a design that meets our shared visions: a final product that doesn’t just work, but feels right for every player who touches it.
The early prototypes for Playground 2 set the stage for both our ambitions and our challenges (as prototypes should). From the beginning, our vision was clear: create a user interface that captured the clean, organized feel of a modern code editor, but within the environment of Minecraft. We wanted the design to feel both easy and intuitive, with a strong visual identity anchored by the Catppuccin color palette; chosen for its balance of warmth and playful nature. Our first official prototype, designed by Lead Artist Pjma, was visually striking (our discussions had finally come to life in a way we can see). However, as pretty as it was, it didn’t fully align with functionality the team had envisioned when we initially began discussion. So, we got to communicating, discussing, sharing ideas, etc. until we developed another prototype. Then another, and another, and another… This kept us busy, and held us up on doing our best before even getting past our foundations.
Drafts showcasing our design choices
Making it work
With the visual direction locked in, colors, layout, and overall user experience, it’s time to talk about what really makes Playground v2 a whole new experience (and worth the wait). Unlike the original Playground or even Hypixel’s Housing, this version is powered by Minestom, a modern and lightweight server technology. This shift allows each sandbox (House) instance to operate independently in its own server environment, unlocking massive performance gains and scalability thanks to Minestom’s streamlined architecture.
We’ve put Minestom through some intense testing by running tens of thousands of custom AI entities on modest servers and the results have been nothing short of outstanding. Alongside that, we’ve gone back to square one and rebuilt Playground’s entire codebase. This fresh start means cleaner structure, smarter choices, and the flexibility to grow into something much bigger than before. We're on track to bring this new version to the public before the year end.
This is just the beginning. We’re unlocking a level of creativity and scalability that simply wasn’t possible before, and we can’t wait to show off more of what Playground v2 is capable of in the near future.
Our team
From the very beginning, Redstone Studios was a small team focusing on small projects. We grew to work this way. Currently our team of creators on large projects is limited to leadership, we’ve been more comfortable with it. However as things change, and we want them to, we have to look for a more sustainable and quicker paced work force. Through volunteers.
The Redstone Studios team isn’t an employed work force of professionals, it’s a group of friends with projects in mind. Volunteering is how we get anything done, but volunteering doesn’t build entire server infrastructures and communities as efficiently as any paid staff team would. So while we do want as many volunteers as we can get, even with that many, there’s a limit to what we can do and in what time frame.
We’ve famously fell behind on sharing any info on our projects, we’re looking to change that. While we’re working up to get more info our more frequently, if you ever have anything you’re curious about, ask! We’re more than happy to answer questions (we’re not trying to hide anything)!
If you’re interested in joining the Redstone Studios team follow this link.
