I’m so very pleased to present our last survival map, MIDDLE OREGON.
This map represents the culmination of everything I’ve done in Minecraft since 2012. It brings me great joy to see it finished, and in the world. You can download it here.
There’s a book in your player inventory called The History of Middle Oregon. If you don’t want spoilers, and would rather read it in-game while you wait out the rain, I understand. I bid you a fun time exploring the map!
If you would like to take a little time and read it now, scroll past the pics.
History of Middle Oregon
By Greg Hiltz
Chapter 1
I’ve been a fan of the KOIN Tower in Portland, Oregon, since 1984, the year it was built. I remember seeing it from the freeway over and over with my parents.
This brand-new building that people had been working on “my whole life” was inspiring for little Greg. I only wish I still had those first crayon drawings!
The first time I saw Minecraft in 2012, I immediately connected the aesthetic to the KOIN Tower. They compliment each other; it was a natural project for me to aspire to.
Chapter 2
I started playing in October of that year, right before witches, beacons, and the anvil were added to the game. It didn’t take long for it to go from a thing I was doing with my kids to a thing I was just DOING, as often as I could.
I got pretty attached to that first map, and wanted to give it a name.
There was one I’d once been toying with for a fictional, semi-satirical modern-day fantasy world inspired by The Lord of the Rings: MIDDLE OREGON.
That original idea was too ambitious, given my lack of capacity to produce a major film project. But the name felt perfect applied to my new obsession: crafting worlds and stories in this new fantasy game.
Chapter 3
Minecraft had me hooked completely within weeks. It brought me a lot of joy (and distraction) during a difficult time, and sort of became my life going forward.
In 2013, I made a copy of the Middle Oregon world file, then shifted my attention to exploring creative mode. That’s a nice way of saying I discovered the /gamemode command and completely ruined the map with my indulgence.
Creative was fun, but there was a sense of earned reward and consequence that felt vital to the game, and it was missing.
This was an early defining lesson that shaped my views on what “my Minecraft” was going to be. SURVIVAL was my game: unmodified, as-Mojang-intended survival mode.
Chapter 4
In 2013, after a year in the original Middle Oregon, I made some videos with a character named Ed Laurence.
He was a “middle-aged” blue puppet with big white eyes and a mustache. “Ed’s Minecraft Training,” a 3-part YouTube series, taught players what to expect their first night.
In 2014, I started a Java server for my son and his friends (and myself) called Middle Oregon II. There I recorded a 32-minute-long, very involved, high-production video using Ed.
(Side story: the service that hosted it was shady. Logs showed that someone who worked there actually logged into my map and burned it to the ground. Lesson learned.)
“Part 4” of Ed’s Minecraft Training even included more live shots of Ed in his living room, puppet hand on the mouse and all. I spent a month of my spare time writing, building, recording, and editing, even mixing it in 5.1 surround sound!
Like almost every creative thing I do, it was a labor of love, and if I’m honest, a therapy project. See, Ed Laurence is a lot like my dad, the late Larry Edward Hiltz.
At the time, I said I wanted to make Ed a YouTube star and somehow make a living doing that. I really just wanted to stay connected to Dad.
Chapter 5
Minecraft never went away for me. I kept recording clips of the servers I made homes on, learning as I went.
In Merecraft, the players valued vanilla gameplay, until they didn’t. In Royal Rebels, a heavily modded RPG server, I became something of a celebrity in my EdLaurence skin.
I learned about server dynamics and saw the amazing survival advancements players shared with each other.
Chapter 6
In 2019, my girlfriend and I were playing in a map we called TorchLand Dertch. Something clicked for me while building a transport tunnel through the nether.
ONE, “This is a lot of work. It made more sense when it was for a server full of people.”
TWO, “Maybe someone would want to download survival maps as a turn-key template for a server?”
THREE, “Plus, then people can see my builds and know how cool I am.” LOLOL
Chapter 7
Usually, players want to make advancements on their own. That’s sort of the whole point.
But I’ve never been one to shy away from putting effort into a project that is mostly for myself. That’s art, baby.
So in 2020, during the fear and boredom of the pandemic, Legit Survival was born. Even then, I knew that my end game was 1.) to build the KOIN Tower in survival, and 2.) have an audience lined up to see it.
Chapter 8
For over two years, I’ve kept busy with Legit Survival.
I connected with the community for two collaborative maps, “Coastal Village II” and “Planet 1138,” and put out over a dozen of my own titles, with multiple advancement updates.
Across all platforms, those maps have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
My YouTube channel has reached 1.6K subs. Many people have thanked me privately for my efforts, or left overwhelmingly positive comments.
I’m liked, but not big, and I feel great about how far Legit Survival has come without me knowing what the heck I’m doing. 🙂
I am a solid Minecrafter, sure. I have a knack for video editing and a love of visual storytelling (and text storytelling, it seems). I’m not a marketing strategist. I still “don’t know what I don’t know.”
But the KOIN Tower, my friends, is built at last!!
Chapter 9
Before the Taiga Village seed from vanilla Minecraft became ‘Middle Oregon,’ I was working with ‘TV Station’ as a theme. I just felt like making a green screen studio.
Digging down, I realized this spruce tree-filled seed was loaded with clay, and it all clicked: it was time to build KOIN Tower, known for its TV station, and complete my long-time ambition.
Over the course of an entire calendar year, I developed the map as I would any other, building up resources and advancements. Middle Oregon soon surfaced as the obvious title.
Occasionally, I put out an “Untitled Taiga” update map, but with clues so obscure – and an audience so small – I didn’t expect you guys to get it!
In Part 1, for example, the area where the tower would go was a field of tree stumps. This is in reference to “Stumptown,” the nickname Portland earned in the 1800s when it looked just like that.
Chapter 10
So maybe someone could have picked up “Oregon” as a theme once Part 3 came out, with a trailer that revealed the name KOIN Tower. But how would anyone guess “MIDDLE Oregon”?
Open my profile on PlanetMinecraft.com and scroll all the way to the bottom of my listings, and you will find it: the original Middle Oregon, that first java map, preserved with all its “legit survival” charm.
That’s the one clue that would have got you there, but nobody did. Too bad. The winner was going to win an Oregon gift basket. Oh well, I’ll eat the hazelnuts and Tillamook cheese myself. 😉
Chapter 11
Yes, this is the end of an era, but Legit Survival continues.
True, I have no plans to release more survival maps. Instead, I plan to focus on my favorite part of the whole process. It’s not map release deadlines, that’s for sure!
It’s making videos. It’s telling stories, using gameplay and other visuals, and home-recorded music. It might mean growing the channel, but I think that just happens naturally when you put in the effort.
Middle Oregon and the characters of Legit Survival will live on. Keep engaging with me on YouTube and the website, and I’ll keep creating!
Legit Survival | Blog 
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