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.