‘It took four days’: We spoke to the Ulster student who recreated Limelight in Minecraft

Bringing Sketchy to your front room


Presently, students up and down the country are finding themselves on the exact same boat. Due to the arrival of old buddy old pal COVID-19, we’re on lockdown and my God are we bored shitless.

I mean, yes of course us third and fourth years could actually be doing some work (if the uni confirmed we still have to hehe), but instead we find ourselves mercilessly binging Tiger King, and learning the TikTok dance to Say So by Doja Cat.

But fourth year Interactive Multimedia Design student Jack Alexander did something a little different to pass the time. Clearly missing Belf a bit too much, he created an entire Minecraft village which is an exact replica of our beloved Limelight.

The video which has been shared far and wide online, including by local band Brand New Friend and the official Limelight page itself, has made us all have a chuckle as we reminisce about our Covid free times of having a boog at our dearly held Limeshite.

Full footage of the Limelight reconstruction can be seen on The Belfast Tab Instagram story.

Jack said how he made the video to make people smile adding, “I thought and hoped that it would bring back some good happy memories as I know it did for me making it”.

During this time, we are all missing our dear Limelight. Credit: @jessica_cargill

He described to The Belfast Tab how whilst the feedback has been mostly positive, mixed reviews have floated in nonetheless saying that many people were, “impressed by the accuracy and eye for detail”. Which lets be real, no matter how many times we have all been clean couped in Limelight 1, we all still know our way around it like it’s a Boojum menu.

As Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was Jack’s replica which was engineered, “over the course of about 3-4 days”. But, this may not be the final draft just yet, with the student who is originally from Antrim adding, “I am sure I could make it even better with a bit more time”.

Like the common acknowledgement of not all heroes wearing capes floats around, such a claim may be true. Not all heroes wear capes, but maybe they do study Interactive Multimedia Design at UU, with Jack adding that he has, “made the file available for download so anyone can play and do what they want in Limelight Minecraft. I am currently working on putting it up on a server so people can party virtually in Limelight as if there were there with their friends”.

From the traction which has been received, this may not be the cul-de-sac for Jack’s iconic modelling, with plans already in the pipeline to create other city attractions such as City Hall or our soon to no longer be with us, Movie House on Dublin Road.

The whole video of the Limelight recreation can be seen on The Belfast Tab Instagram story here, and the files are available on DropBox here.