My weekend was assassinated by Minecraft

[CeeKay]

maps in 1.6. 

Okay. Now that's too awesome.

I'm starting to feel like the old man on the porch, shaking his cane at the youngsters yelling 'back in my day we didn't have any high falutin' in-game maps, compasses, time pieces or beds! now get off my lawn!' 

[Lordnine]

Maps are cool but I would much rather they hurry and get Pistons out.  Maps add convenience; Pistons would actually let us build things that are new.

[EngineNo9]

Maps are cool but I would much rather they hurry and get Pistons out.  Maps add convenience; Pistons would actually let us build things that are new.

As noted in the blog, Jens, the guy who was working on polishing the pistons, has been moved to another project for a while so you may not see those anytime soon.

First of all, Jens got temporarily moved to a new project, so I’m on my own on Minecraft for a while (not sure how long..).
...
Jens was working on integrating/tweaking the Piston mod, which will probably get delayed as a result of this. We don’t want to just add it as-is because it doesn’t quite feel “fantasy” enough, and there’s a lot of corner cases we need to solve.

[CeeKay]

LOL, Minecraftcon 2011 in Vegas: http://notch.tumblr.com/post/5388689217/minecraftcon-2011-in-vegas

if it does happen I predict a poor showing.

[CeeKay]

[baelthazar]

^ EPIC!

Is that a Minecraft Link too?

[CeeKay]

Minecraft Mobile at E3?

[CeeKay]

Minecraft Universe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B0gg58y02A&feature=player_embedded

[CeeKay]

1.6 is out.

[CeeKay]

ooooo.... can't wait for 1.8! http://notch.tumblr.com/post/7009276212/trickling-information-about-the-adventure-update

Since 1.8 is still a significant time away, we’re going to have to stop being as secretive about it as we have. We’ll provide information about it as we go, but we’ll keep actual details secret. So, for example, we could say “added two new colors” without saying which ones, or “testing experience and leveling to see if it’s fun” without giving details on exactly how it works.

The update is pretty big, and will change a lot of how Minecraft is played, focusing on making exploration and combat much more rewarding, and bringing in a bigger sense of adventure to the game.

Already implemented are new complex terrain features, at least one new mob, some interesting new combat mechanics, a new lighting engine, and some experimental new gameplay ideas. To come is more interesting farming, bigger incentives to explore, and npc villages.

[Covenant]

What happened to 1.7? I thought that was gonna be the adventure update.

[baelthazar]

What happened to 1.7? I thought that was gonna be the adventure update.

1.7 is going to just be pistons and be out today (probably). They pushed the adventure update back because they wanted more time to pilfer ideas from Terraria polish the system of NPCs, trophies, and possibly cool items/magic/whatever.

[Lordnine]

Hey! I WANT them to pilfer more idea from Terraria.  In-fact lets just give the licence to the Terraria team and see what they can do with a 3D engine.   

[EngineNo9]

What happened to 1.7? I thought that was gonna be the adventure update.

1.7 is going to just be pistons and be out today (probably). They pushed the adventure update back because they wanted more time to pilfer ideas from Terraria polish the system of NPCs, trophies, and possibly cool items/magic/whatever.

Hopefully you're joking, but if not Notch has been talking about adding the adventure elements to Minecraft since before Terraria even started development. 

[CeeKay]

What happened to 1.7? I thought that was gonna be the adventure update.

1.7 is going to just be pistons and be out today (probably). They pushed the adventure update back because they wanted more time to pilfer ideas from Terraria polish the system of NPCs, trophies, and possibly cool items/magic/whatever.

Hopefully you're joking, but if not Notch has been talking about adding the adventure elements to Minecraft since before Terraria even started development. 

plus modders have been trying to put them in too.  I wonder if they've picked up the one mod that put in the towers....

[baelthazar]

What happened to 1.7? I thought that was gonna be the adventure update.

1.7 is going to just be pistons and be out today (probably). They pushed the adventure update back because they wanted more time to pilfer ideas from Terraria polish the system of NPCs, trophies, and possibly cool items/magic/whatever.

Hopefully you're joking, but if not Notch has been talking about adding the adventure elements to Minecraft since before Terraria even started development. 

I was joking... but not. I know Notch wanted to put adventure elements into MC for a very long time, but now that Terraria is such a force, it will be difficult to say what was Notch's original idea and what was inspired by Terraria. And I don't think this is a bad thing, I want rule-breaking items and magic that give me a reason to go underground besides ore. In fact... a metal detector would be AWESOME.

I'm not much on his XP idea though. Meh.

And I have no clue how to use pistons. I'll probably just use them as floodgates mostly. Redstone circuits really baffle me.

[CeeKay]

Adventure Update playable at PAX Prime 2011!

[EngineNo9]

And some things that will be in it as mentioned on his blog:

Here are a few of the things we’ve revealed so far:
NPC villages
Randomly generated dungeons
New biome code
Fully working Creative Mode (and individual admins can enter Creative Mode on a Survival Mode server if they choose)
Critical hits
Sprinting
More farming options

[CeeKay]

new mob coming:

Last weekend, I started working on a new mob because I was frustrated with the slow progress on some town code I was writing, and for some reason I decided to make yet another creepy one. It’s dark, it has long and narrow limbs, moves very slowly, and will pick up blocks and move them around. I wanted this to be a mob you only saw in the distance and a mob you’d be afraid of, but when I playtested it, it mostly felt like a regular zombie. There’s was a distinct mismatch between looking creepy and not actually playing creepy. When I made it move faster towards the player when attacking, and deal more damage, it got more difficult and I started respecting it, but it never felt creepy or scary.

So I thought some about what “creepy” actually is, and it’s more about trying to avoid something from happening than it is about actually having that thing happen. If you know something bad can happen if you do the wrong thing, you will start thinking about your actions, and that might make things more scary.

So I made it passive until you looked straight at it. And that was scary. Suddenly you could walk up to these looking beasts (they’re three meters tall) and watch them as they moved their blocks around, but as soon as you happened to look straight at them, they’d attack. And by “straight at them”, I mean putting the reticle on top of them. You can keep them visible on screen and actually look straight at them in real life, but as soon as your in game character looks straight at them, boom.

Still, that was more scary than creepy. It’s like a jump scare in a movie. You know it might happen at any time, and when it happens you freak out a bit. I wanted something a bit more psychological. So to really drive home the point of looking at them being bad, I made the Endermen freeze and turn towards you when you look at them. As long as you look straight at them, they stand perfectly still and look straight at you. As soon as you look away, they will run (very fast) towards you.

And they teleport. If they’re too far away to reach you in a short period of time, they will teleport about once per second. They try to make sure they always teleport to somewhere you can see, as I don’t want to confuse the player as to what is happening.

When they attack, you know it’s your fault. When you happen to look at one, you can keep looking at it to figure out how to deal with it, but you know it WILL reach you very fast once you stop looking at it.

[baelthazar]

The Endermen look frightening... very very creepy.

[CeeKay]

Creeper Vans! http://kyozokicks.com/2011/08/10/minecraft-vans-by-kyozokicks/

[CeeKay]

info on the next update from PAX:

Bows Get Mighty

Instead of bows that limply toss arrows a few feet, players will now be able to draw back arrows longer, firing farther and with great effect. Holding arrows will make you move slower, but make the bow an effective first-person weapon great for taking out the even tougher new enemies.

Poison and Night Terrors

Spiders are already a nuisance in the world of Minecraft, but now they poison their prey. The resulting moments of panic as you watch your life tick away even after their death are sure to make exploring all the more treacherous.

Also appearing are the Endermen, a new monster that will attack you if you look directly at it. You can try to run if you want, but it will teleport to your location repeatedly. They are apparently vulnerable to water, though, so find a pool to run into if you incur their wrath.

Lastly, players will soon be battling Silverfish. These monsters lurk inside the very blocks that players mine, making each swing of a pickaxe a potentially violent affair.

Quests, NPCs and Experience

No quests or NPCs were on display in the PAX demo, but representatives from developer Mojang said that NPCs will be added in the update. Players will then obtain quests from these NPCs. No details are available as to the nature of those quests, but it should give players more to do than build yet another effigy to whatever nerd god they worship.

Killing monsters and other creatures will yield experience, giving players skill points. How skill points will be spent is still being decided, but Mojang has decided that experience will be lost if the player dies. The goal is to make death even more costly, making survival all the more precious.

Eat to Live

Currently food is used in Minecraft to instantly gain health, but now food is necessary to exist. A hunger meter is being added, and the only way to gain health is to max out your meter. This means there's no more button mashing the food key at the last minute in a heated battle, as consuming takes time, with health regeneration taking even longer.

the Silverfish sound nasty.

[baelthazar]

I hope hunger is optional. And those Silverfish sound like a pain. I'm also hoping he puts in something allowing for easy corpse and item retrieval.

[Destructor]

I hope hunger is optional. And those Silverfish sound like a pain. I'm also hoping he puts in something allowing for easy corpse and item retrieval.

And if not, there will be no doubt a mod that does both the things.

[EngineNo9]

I don't mind the hunger thing too much, since it also gives you regenerating health.  I'll have to see the Silverfish in action, but so far I don't like the sound of them.

If you didn't see it, this video on Kotaku shows Notch going through and talking about some of the new stuff.

[CeeKay]

1.8 is due out this week, but the Adventure update was split into 2 at some point so it's also going to involve 1.9 at a later point.

[baelthazar]

1.8 is due out this week, but the Adventure update was split into 2 at some point so it's also going to involve 1.9 at a later point.

I hadn't heard it would be this soon! That's pretty good news!

[Destructor]

1.8 is due out this week, but the Adventure update was split into 2 at some point so it's also going to involve 1.9 at a later point.

I hadn't heard it would be this soon! That's pretty good news!

Sadly, the first part was delayed until the...12th, I think.

[baelthazar]

1.8 is due out this week, but the Adventure update was split into 2 at some point so it's also going to involve 1.9 at a later point.

I hadn't heard it would be this soon! That's pretty good news!

Sadly, the first part was delayed until the...12th, I think.

That's only 4 days. Not bad.

[Gryndyl]

A pre-release of 1.8 is now available on the official forums. An "official leaked beta". Very buggy but definitely worth running around in to see the loads of new stuff. At the moment, Endermen are much less scary than I was expecting. The new mob that is terrifying is the Silverfish.

http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/214-want-to-play-18-early-heres-how/

[EngineNo9]

So a leaked beta the week that the update was supposed to come out?  And it is still very buggy?  Hmm...  

[baelthazar]

So a leaked beta the week that the update was supposed to come out?  And it is still very buggy?  Hmm...  

How is this different than most released versions... the initial is always a bit buggy. I thought we were expecting this Monday, but it looks like maybe not.

[CeeKay]

damn, reading over some of those threads I think I'll just wait for the official release.  of course I'll have to scrounge up a game or two to play now.....

[CeeKay]

OK, after stumbling onto this I may not wait.....

[Covenant]

I played a good amount of this over the weekend and didn't encounter a single bug.

1) New lighting engine is beautiful.  Much smoother and moody.
2) New world generation code seems to make the landscape much more interesting. Mountains look to have alot more character, the new swamp biome is cool, forests feel much more like actual forests.
3) New health system.  I had doubts about this at first, but I'm completely loving it now.  If your food bar is full, you will regen health slowly. Food now simply fills that bar up rather than directly adding health (you also have to hold the right mouse button to eat rather than just click). Sounds odd, but works perfectly in my opinion and makes it a bit "easier" to stay alive. The bar also goes down really slowly, so it's not hard to keep it full at all.
4) Dungeons or wahtever they are called.  Underground exploring is a ton more exciting now.  I explored some huge cave systems and ran across generated mines with tracks laid out, new mob types (green spiders that poison you), chests, etc.  Supposedly there are ruins and strongholds as well, but i didn't see anything like that yet.
5) Villages. Definitely rare as I travelled all over the place trying to find one and didn't run across anything. This was my one disappointment, as I wanted to find a village to set up as my home but couldn't
6) New mineral rates.  Seems like iron is much more common now which I appreciate as it gets me into good armor and tools a lot sooner.  Gold/diamonds still seem just as rare though the veins might be a bit larger; not sure about that.
7) Experience. Doesn't seem to be doing anything yet.  I've gained plenty of levels but there is no way to assign skill points that I have found.  Not sure if this is a 1.9 feature or they are just keeping it a secret?
Sprinting.  Fun but I don't really use it that much, probably as I'm just not used to having it.
9) Endermen. A fun new enemy.  Not as hard to kill as I was expecting but the porting mechanic makes them interesting.  They also drop ender pearls sometimes. Not sure what those are used for.

That's about all I can remember off hand.  My experience has been that personally it's bug free and really enjoyable. I'll be sticking with this version until it becomes official.

[CeeKay]

2) New world generation code seems to make the landscape much more interesting. Mountains look to have alot more character, the new swamp biome is cool, forests feel much more like actual forests.

I saw some mention on the Minecraft forums (not sure which thread, hit a lot yesterday) some people think the mountain and forest generation is bugged because it can go overboard.  from the pics shown I kinda hope they keep things that way;  barring that they should make world generation a bit more customizable with sliders or something so you can specify more mounttains or plains or whatever.

[Covenant]

Overboard?  I would completely disagree.  I expect forests to be jam packed with trees where you have to thread your way through them to move, and that's exactly what we are getting now.  As for the mountains, I guess that would be a personal preference.  I myself enjoy the interesting peaks/valley/outcroppings/shapes.  Realistic? No, not really but really fun to look at and explore.

[CeeKay]

personally my inner pyromaniac if looking forward to seeing these forests.  I didn't get a chance to grab the file yet (figured I'd try and finish a couple of games first before getting hooked again) but hopefully by this weekend I'll be digging some massive pits again.

[baelthazar]

I played last night, but I was using a non-updated version of John Smith and realize now that my food bar was probably not showing up. I also didn't find out how to sprint, what is the key?

As to the additions, the major amazing change is that the world is so much more interesting now. On one world I spawned up in the trees of a giant redwood forest (it was fun getting down) and I was in awe at the cool tall trees everywhere. In my first test world my spawn point was right next to a surface ravine that cut all the way down to lava level. I built myself a stairway down and found abandoned mine shafts and rail (THAT will be awesome, being able to cannibalize generated rail for your projects). I didn't encounter too many bugs, I did have this strange "boot me off of my world" bug, but I think that might have had something to do with some wonky internet.

The new lighting engine is quite nice, highly atmospheric.

I also agree with the comments on the mineral spawn change - iron was much easier to find and in "veins." Coal was also a LOT more plentiful, and I appreciate that. The ravine I found made it easy to sight spot gold veins... of course a skeleton killed me before I could get the gold ore to a safe location.

No idea what experience points do or will do. They did seem to heal me, but I might have been crazy. I absolutely love the regen and food system, much better than before and the regen rate is pretty speedy.

[Covenant]

sprint = hit W then quickly hit/hold it again.  You will see the screen do a fancy little warp effect.  Agreed on the world being much more interesting.  A much more conceise way of what I was trying to say.