This interview was our eleventh PMC Weekly Interview, featured in Volume 80! In this weekly, we interviewed Cavinator1! Cavinator has been a member of PMC for quite a while and is the creator of one of the more popular data packs on Planet Minecraft. Aside from that, he's created several advanced adventure maps, mini games and PVP maps! He's in the process of creating a super sci-fi map and we're really looking forward to its full release. We hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as we did!


Minecraft/Personalized Questions
How did your Minecraft experience begin?

I started playing Minecraft in June 2011 when the latest version was Beta 1.6.6. My best friend was the one to introduce me to the game when I went to his house one day, and my earliest experiences were spent on his server and also on a personal singleplayer world. Here's a picture of my house on that singleplayer world:




Do you still play Minecraft?

Technically yes, because it's very difficult to make maps and datapacks without launching Minecraft ;P

In seriousness, I don't play survival as much as I used to, but from time to time I do find myself creating a new world and playing. Most recently in December I played my datapack on a world with some of my friends, and we reached almost 700 advancements in total.


One of the top 3 most downloaded Data Packs EVER on PMC happens to be your Blaze and Cave’s Advancement Pack with over 500,000 views. What inspired you to create this pack?

Back in the early days of Minecraft one thing that interested me was the achievements, and I always felt like they could be greatly expanded upon so I would often find myself writing down ideas for new achievements. It even got as far as me making a checklist in a notebook and as I played a survival world I would tick off every achievement I got.

Much much later, 1.12 snapshots started being developed and it came to light that achievements were being replaced with advancements, and not only that, but they'd be fully customisable. This felt like the perfect time to dust off all my old ideas and finally put them in the game. Many of these old ideas would end up in the very first version of Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack, such as "Pick Like Silk" or "Death by Magic". A few weren't possible to code using advancements at first but one that finally got in in my most recent Alpha Build for the Caves and Cliffs snapshots was "One-course meal".




How does it feel to have one of the most downloaded packs on Planet Minecraft? Did you expect it to get as big as it did and do you plan on continuously updating it?

At first I treated Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack as like a fun side project, since it took a relatively small amount of work to develop compared to my main projects. I did see some potential in it, since I believe I was the first person to make an advancements pack, and for the first year or so it got about the same amount of attention as my other projects, which was about what I was expecting at first.

However, it was in 2019 that I feel it really began to get big, and even more so in 2020. I'm not sure exactly when it hit the top 3 on the list of data packs, though I wouldn't say I felt surprised that it got this big. I do feel quite proud to be the creator of something that thousands of people all around the world play on their survival worlds. Perhaps the biggest honour I've had is seeing the members of LegacySMP use it in their Season 2 world, causing many of them to dedicate several episodes and streams to completing the challenges I set in the datapack.

I plan on continuously updating Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack for every new Minecraft version for as long as I can. It has always been fun implementing new ideas and expansions and it is a nice change of pace from my larger map projects.


Do you know any programming languages and if so, which ones?

I've used Visual Basic, C++, MATLAB and R in the past. I've never used Java on its own, but because Minecraft's advancements and other components of datapacks use the JSON format, you could say I know my way around that.


We see you’re working on a sci-fi adventure map, Celestial Protocol. It looks quite complex! With over 25 different voice-acted characters and 9+ hours of gameplay, surely you’ve put a lot of work into it! How do you stay motivated when working on such a big project over a long period of time? What sort of obstacles have you faced?

It definitely is quite complex! Most of my maps are all very, very big compared to most other maps in existence, and they all generally take months or even a year or two to make. Celestial Protocol in particular has so far been in development for three years, and it's still not finished, however you can check out the second teaser trailer here for a taste of what to expect:




A few obstacles that I have faced include that sometimes I've had certain major voice actors step down from their roles due to inactivity, requiring me to seek out others. Also, in my past maps I often had problems with Minecraft updates breaking things like commands or other things in the map, however while this still sometimes happens, problems have normally been easier to fix in Celestial Protocol since everything is in command functions now, and it is easier to update functions this way.

Additionally, it has occasionally been difficult to stay motivated, and occasionally real-life commitments build up so much that little progress might get made for months at a time. However, during all these three years I have been able to slowly but surely progress through its development. Right now the map is over 80% complete, and I am excited to reach the end and begin the process of beta testing and eventually releasing the map for all to play.


Other than Celestial Protocol, are you working on anything in Minecraft?

I've always generally been working on and off on Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack, especially during Minecraft snapshot cycles. Right now I've been updating it for the 1.17 snapshots, and I just released the first Alpha Build of the datapack for these snapshots.




How has Minecraft influenced or changed you in real life?

Surprisingly, I wouldn't say it's impacted my real life that much, aside from the T-shirts I buy.

PMC Questions

How did you choose your PMC Username?

The first part of my name Cavinator1 is derived from the phrase 'cave-in', and the '-ator' part is like as in words like 'detonator' or 'terminator' or even 'creator', meaning my thinking was that 'Cavinator' literally means 'creator of cave-ins'. Of course, I created my username way back when I first created my Minecraft account and at the time I didn't know a huge amount about Minecraft, and in truth cave-ins actually rarely happen, unless you're dealing with gravel (which fun fact, is why the advancement for having gravel fall on you in my datapack is rather obscurely titled 'My work here is done'.)





What PMC submission are you most proud of? Why?

Based on popularity and influence alone, definitely Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack. It exceeded my expectations, not just in how popular it got, but also in how it got played by the LegacySMP members (as I detailed above).

I am also so far rather proud of how Celestial Protocol has turned out so far. While it is not finished, I can say it is an experience quite unlike anything else I've ever seen made in Minecraft, and this fact alone makes me proud of it, because I know that when it is released and people play it, that they will be in for a treat. :)


What do you enjoy most about Planet Minecraft?

I like that it's an easy to use platform to upload maps, data packs, and other projects, and that there are rewards for doing well (levelling up). I also like the banner generator and the skin maker.


Do you have any goals on the site (subscriber goal, perhaps win a contest, host another contest etc)?

Currently the goal I have which I am currently very close to realising is hitting 100,000 downloads on Blaze and Cave's Advancements pack (at the time of writing this I am on 97k, and perhaps by the time you read this I will have hit that goal).

Aside from that I don't really have any other site-related goals. I have always generally been alright with slowly accumulating views, downloads and levels.

When it comes to non-site goals, my first goal is for Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack to contain 1000 advancements. The latest alpha build pushed the total number of advancements in the datapack up to 938, which is just 62 away. 1000 advancements will definitely be an incredible milestone to hit. Of course, I'm not going to just add random filler advancements that have little purpose to make up the numbers. I'm sure in-between the suggestions I regularly get and the fact that there are undoubtedly more Caves and Cliffs features to come, that 1000 advancements will be within my reach.

My other goal is to finish Celestial Protocol because I am very excited for people to play it. :))


Is there a specific member that inspires you or you look up to? Who/Why?

Back in the early days Hypixel's maps such as Herobrine's Mansion, Herobrine's Return, and Wrath of the Fallen were the primary inspiration behind the style of my Assassin of Steve maps. Other mapmakers since then have also inspired me in more recent projects, such as Piccomaster, the creator of Across the Time, and R3DsKingdom, who created the Exodus trilogy.


You’ve been on the site for a long time. In fact, you just passed your 7 year anniversary. Congratulations and thank you for being a dedicated, long time member! During your time here, there have been several changes and updates. What has been your favorite update?

In my time here on Planet Minecraft I have indeed noticed several changes, yet it has still remained the same sort of site it basically was at the beginning, which is what I've always liked.

The addition of the Data Pack category to the site was one of my personal favourite updates, mostly because it enabled Blaze and Cave's Advancements Pack to be able to stand in its own category. Initially when uploading it the datapacks category didn't even exist so, not being sure what to do, I just put it under 'Maps' (which at the time was called 'Projects' and was generally where worlds went). Maybe a year later a moderator moved it to 'Texture Packs', which still wasn't correct, but fortunately some time later the Data Pack category came in.

I also found the update when the ability to customise and move around the widgets on your profile was added rather useful, especially the wall post widget, since it gave me the ability to post news relating to my projects directly to my PMC account.

Fun Questions

What genre of music is your favorite? Do you listen to music while you’re creating in Minecraft?

I've always been listening to music while creating in Minecraft. Sometimes the artists I find myself listening to the most change, but my tastes generally remain the same.

My favorite genres of music include ambient, electronic and synthwave music. On the ambient side, everything C418 has ever produced are among my top favourites (including Minecraft's soundtrack of course, but also his other albums such as Excursions and 148). More recently I've also enjoyed listening to the Minecraft Dungeons soundtrack - as I type this sentence I'm listening to the music from the Creeping Winter DLC, which is very nice and atmospheric.

A lot of the electronic/synthwave artists I listen to include Scandroid, Magic Sword, Fury Weekend, Turboslash, Meteor, Lusine, Steve Hauschildt, Komx-Om-Pax, Carpenter Brut, and Makeup And Vanity Set. I might have put a few too many names there but there you go.

Lastly, I've used a number of royalty-free music tracks in the Assassin of Steve trilogy and also in Celestial Protocol, and I often listen to the library of music tracks that I've downloaded from those creators as well. In Celestial Protocol most of the music comes from TeknoAXE, who is currently one of my favourite artists to listen to.



Describe yourself in 3 words!

I don't know

I guess that's three words, so let's go with that :)


Are there any hobbies outside of Minecraft that you have?

I've always liked writing stories, which is one reason why I've enjoyed putting together maps such as Celestial Protocol, because it enables me to see what I've written come to life.


Do you have any pets?

Yes, I have a cat named Toby.
Click the spoiler for cuteness!





Is there any new skill that you’ve been wanting to try, but haven’t had the chance to yet?

Uh... I guess it would be pretty cool to learn how to ride a Segway. I've always found them hilarious for some reason.


Favorite quote or words of wisdom for the community? OR Do you have any advice for new members of PMC?

My advice is to make the things you want to make. Don't worry too much about trying to be popular or well-known or anything, just make what you want to make and be satisfied with the final product of your creations.


Anything you'd like to add?

I'm Australian, and I would just like to inform everyone in the Northern Hemisphere that we are not upside down.
You are.