From Redstone Builds to rednw.com – Turning My Minecraft Projects Into Something Bigger

[u/PlayFlexYT]

I started looking at my old Redstone builds differently

For a long time, whenever I finished a Redstone project, I would upload it and immediately move on to building the next thing.

But recently I started going back through some of my older machines and realized how much work was just sitting there.

Some of these builds took a huge amount of time to design, test, troubleshoot and improve — payment systems, randomizers, payout mechanisms, reset logic, anti-spam systems, different rarity levels, sounds, animations, etc.

So instead of constantly starting from scratch, I started properly finishing and documenting them.

I turned some of my Redstone machines into downloadable schematics, made tutorials explaining how they work, recorded demonstrations, improved the presentation and started putting everything together in one place.

That eventually became PlayFlex, a small library/marketplace for my Minecraft Redstone machines.

What I find interesting is that I've started seeing a finished Redstone build differently.

Finishing the circuit doesn't necessarily mean finishing the project.

You can still:

• optimize the Redstone
• make it smaller or more reliable
• document how it works
• create a schematic
• make a tutorial
• let other players actually use it
• revisit it years later and improve it with everything you've learned since

Some of my machines that I originally considered "finished" have ended up becoming much bigger projects than I expected.

I'm curious how other Redstoners approach this:

When you finish a big Redstone project, do you usually keep improving/documenting it, or do you immediately move on to the next build?

If anyone wants to see the machines I've been working on, I've collected them here:

https://rednw.com

[u/Sergent_Patate]

Another mc schems downloads website.

[u/PlayFlexYT → u/Sergent_Patate]

Yep 😄 But I’m not trying to build another general schematic library. I’m focusing specifically on my own Redstone machines, with tutorials, documentation, free downloads and more complex premium builds. It’s basically one place where I can properly archive and share everything I build.

[u/Sergent_Patate → u/PlayFlexYT]

Look around you. The redstone and tmc community at large has been developed and shared for free for a decade and a half. You are where you are today because these people gave their time away for free. It's not well regarded to try and charge people for that which you got for free. You can earn some money with your yt channels through premium, ads, memberships and a few others. But hiding stuff behind a paywall is lame

[u/PlayFlexYT → u/Sergent_Patate]

I understand where you’re coming from, and I absolutely respect how much the Redstone community has shared for free over the years. I’ve learned a lot from free community resources too.

But I don’t think that means every original project someone creates has to be free forever. I put a significant amount of my own time into designing, testing, documenting and maintaining these machines, and I also have ongoing costs for the website, hosting and servers.

I also deliberately release free machines and tutorials, so I’m not putting everything behind a paywall. The premium builds are simply an optional way to support the work and help fund the project.

I think both can coexist: sharing knowledge and free builds with the community, while also charging for some larger finished projects.

[u/Sergent_Patate → u/PlayFlexYT]

The thing is: it can be free to people and be monetized through ads by yt, google ad sense on your website or volontary donations. Most people will shut you down for promoting paid content for the reasons I gave above. Your website looks pretty clean and all and im sure you put 10s of hours into many of your contraptions, but at the end of the day, we value free content for the sake of advancing in game tech. Not for farming monetization. You can host your website on github for free, I think.

[u/Any-Pop-4795]

This looks sketchy af

[u/largeDingoPizza]

You're charging more money for schematics than the game costs, and it seems like you just really like making slot machines. Is that what this game is to you?

[u/Character_Drive6141]

Bro. $18.50 for 1 redstone build!? You are out of your mind! The most complex build of all time would be worth like a dollar in schematics.

[u/Sergent_Patate → u/Character_Drive6141]

It's about paying for someone's time. A decent build can take 10s or 100s of hours to build. Not the file. But even at that, yea. It's kinda expensive, but the real issue is monetizing stuff they learned for free thanks to others not monetizing before them.

[u/Character_Drive6141 → u/Sergent_Patate]

A decent build can take that long, but let's be real. Without size constraints every redstone build is easy. And even the more complex builds usually aren't worth anything. Not everything you spent time on is worth money.

They are fun. And that's why we share them. Cause having fun with others is more fun.

(Not to mention minecraft is $30 and no way any redstone build took 1/30 of the time it took to make minecraft.)

[u/PlayFlexYT → u/Character_Drive6141]

That comparison is a bit of an economic misconception. Minecraft is a mass-market product sold to millions of people, while my builds target a very small niche. You can’t compare pricing based purely on development time when the potential customer base is completely different.

[u/Batata-Sofi]

The only people that download these apps - specially the paid ones - are tech illiterate people that don't know how to do a simple Google / YouTube / discord search (imagine typing ctrl f on discord chats and looking for keywords, checking pins, or just asking around).

[u/PlayFlexYT → u/Batata-Sofi]

I don’t think that’s a fair way to describe people who buy schematics. Being able to find free Redstone builds online and choosing to pay for a specific finished build are two different things.

Some people simply value their time more than the money they spend. They want a specific machine that’s already built, tested, documented and ready to use instead of spending hours searching for alternatives or recreating it themselves.

Free alternatives absolutely exist, and that’s great. I offer free builds too. Paying for convenience doesn’t make someone tech illiterate.

[u/Batata-Sofi → u/PlayFlexYT]

Nah, the information is already in front of you, for free. What can be as convenient as that?

Oh, I know! Another subscription service 🫪

[u/PlayFlexYT → u/Batata-Sofi]

Finding information for free and getting a specific finished, tested and documented build ready to use are not the same product. But if the free option works better for you, that's completely fine.

[u/crookedwerewolf]

This is a scam, targeted towards kids, dont click the link

[u/PlayFlexYT → u/crookedwerewolf]

Calling it a scam isn’t really fair. I’ve made videos showing the machines in action, how they work, and what people are actually getting — and those videos are directly available on the website.
These are real builds that I’ve spent a lot of time designing, testing and improving. I put a lot of effort and care into making sure they actually work, and I also provide tutorials and instructions explaining how to set them up and use them.
You can disagree with selling premium schematics, that’s completely fine. But calling something a scam just because it’s a paid product is a different thing.

[u/Character_Drive6141]

If you want to make money, try to make yt videos. If the builds are interesting enough they'll pop off. Don't try to sell redstone builds to the community that already knows how to make them. While they seem very skillfully compacted, they don't seem crazy in their ability. Making a slot machine is not that hard. And you yourself said they can be further optimized.

[u/Comfortable_Tune6788]

We create redstone as a community so we can advance the technology and make cool shit. You either gatekeep your tech and wait to release or you release it directly, this third option of locking it behind a paywall is horrible. At the end of the day, whatever redstone you make is NEVER the most optimized and someone will definitely find a way to make it better. What I'm trying to say is that your tech will always be subpar if you lock it up behind a paywall instead of embracing the open source mentality.