Notch and his company, Mojang, have been busy developing new ideas after he left Minecraft in the capable hands of Jeb. One of those games was Scrolls which got the company into hot water with Bethesda over its The Elder Scrolls trademark. It seems the developer has not learned its lesson as its next game is even more infringement friendly.

Notch announced Mars Effect today. It promises to be an innovative sci-fi game, the likes of which the world has never seen. While there aren’t many details yet on what the game is going to be about or include, Notch has provided a few teases to get us prepared for what is obviously going to be the biggest game this year. The list of confirmed features so far are thus:

Hard science fiction.
Lots of engineering.
Fully working computer system.
Space battles against the AI or other players.
A game ending that makes sense.
Abandoned ships full of loot.
Waist high walls.
Seamlessly landing on planets.
Advanced economy system.
Mining, trading, and looting.

This game is already looking to outshine Minecraft as a paragon of indie gaming. The mere promise of a game ending that makes sense is enough to inspire hope in the hundreds of fans who are still upset over another similarly titled game.

I bet you all are now already salivating at the idea of Mars Effect and have your money ready to buy it. You had better put your wallet back because the game isn’t real. Game developers are one of the most notorious April Fools Day pranksters and this is just another one of them. This is obviously one of those times, however, when you wish it wasn’t a prank. The game actually does sound pretty awesome.

Twitter has come to the same realization that this prank game sounds way too awesome to just live out its life as a joke.