ArchiGa’s Sky Gardens put the ‘culture’ in ‘horticulture’!
We do love a good Greek temple here at Minecraft HQ, and today’s build, ArchiGa’s Sky Gardens, really ticks that box. It’s the crossover we never knew we wanted: somewhere between a wedding cake and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon!
Built for a Skyscraper Contest on Planet Minecraft, Sky Gardens is a towering giant of classical Greek architecture, with a detailed interior and probably at least 100 pillars on the inside and outside. That’s a lot of pillars!
The blue and yellow colouring of Sky Gardens is inspired by the real-life Hanging Gardens, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, along with other long-lost structures like the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes. Many people have tried to recreate the Gardens, in paintings, drawings, and poetry, imagining what it might have looked like when it still stood. It’s not even the first time the Gardens have appeared in Minecraft – it’s a popular project for people looking to show off their skills!
But ArchiGa’s Sky Gardens – also known as Caelestes Horti, or “Sky Gardens” in Latin – is not exactly the Hanging Gardens. Although it is inspired by the legendary building, it’s not an exact recreation, says ArchiGa, who describes it as an “idyllic place to be in contact with nature and art… a physical and mental escape from the daily world.”
Taking inspiration from the architecture of Naples, the west coast of Italy where Pompeii and Vesuvius can be found, ArchiGa decided to build something in a classical style. “I wanted to celebrate my territory,” says ArchiGa, who lives in the area. “It influenced not only my creativity and personality, but was also very important for the spread of Western culture.”
ArchiGa even visited the Neapolitan gardens, ranging from “monumental royal parks” to “small gardens with a breathtaking view of the sea”, learning about the colours, style, and symmetry of the buildings while he planned the Sky Gardens build.
By far the most challenging part of this colossal build wasn’t the height, or the symmetry, or even the gardens themselves – but the frescoes that can be found on the walls inside (a frescoe is a painting done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling).
“Frescoes were intended to ennoble the rooms where they are,” says ArchiGa. Each fresco was planned and built by hand. One is a mythological design, based on the work of Neapolitan Baroque painter Luca Giordano, and another is a map of the Gulf of Naples. It’s tricky to make detailed art with blocks, but ArchiGa definitely managed it!
The most impressive task that ArchiGa took on, though, is the attention he paid to the baffling rules of architectural mathematics. When making builds, he tries to stick to the principles of proportion, which ancient architects would use to build things according to specific ratios. He even wrote a blog about it! “I wanted to amaze people,” ArchiGa admits, “and I think I did it!” I think so, too!
What’s even more impressive is that ArchiGa didn’t even plan out the Sky Gardens before building it. “I directly built my idea in blocks, and there were a lot of attempts at colours, or shaping the elements and the structure itself.” He admits that this took a lot of time – at least three hours a day for 20-25 days. “Composing the frescoes and the gardens was slow and careful work,” he says, but it definitely paid off! The interior is just as impressive, if not more impressive, than the exterior, with fountains, pools, arches and ten statues representing the six architectural values as well as the four elements: water, fire, earth and air.
The only remaining question is: why don’t we have hanging gardens any more? Wouldn’t the world be a lot prettier if we knocked down a few buildings and replaced them with gigantic fountain-filled wonders? I know if I ever build a city, I’m hiring ArchiGa.
Renders by Palliotto, Tinctorium and Omegafoxx
REad more online: https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/reach-sky
The first snapshot for 1.14 “Village & Pillage” is here, and oh boy, it's a big one! With new items, new blocks, new mobs, new blocks, new enchantments, new blocks, new mechanics, even more new blocks, new commands, and not to forget all the new blocks – we're pretty confident there's something for everyone in this snapshot!
Best of all, this is just the first one! We have so many things coming to future snapshots, most of which you guys don't even know about yet! Hurray!
However, as always the first snapshot is always the riskiest. We're rewriting big chunks of the game with hopes of focusing on performance soon, so stability might be a little wonky at first. Please backup before opening your favourite worlds!
We've got a huge changelog for this snapshot, which we're really proud of. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you'll find instructions on how to play (spoiler: start up your launcher and enable snapshots!)
Now, without further ado, we present to you… a changelog!
CHANGES IN 18W43C Improved stuttering in client & server Improved performance! Still not quite where we want to be but this should help. Stopped the mob-cap from growing infinitely Added server tick-times to alt+f3 charts (in singleplayer) Added min/avg/max tick-times to alt+f3 charts (helps find stutters!) FIXED BUGS IN 18W43C MC-137903 – /fill command doesn't update light on client side MC-137715 – /drop dropping minecraft:empty 1 time for player causes unexpected error MC-137706 – Selecting obfuscated text in book crashes the game MC-137697 – NBT list using “interpret” not comma delimited MC-137602 – Block models do not render using Java 10 (ConcurrentModificationException) MC-137580 – Shulker Boxes reset assortment of inventory when broken then placed down again. MC-137571 – Cursor becomes misaligned after using ‘§' in book & quill MC-137537 – Walking into a different chunk causes lag MC-137521 – Entities become invisible on low render distance MC-137497 – Hundreds of mobs spawning MC-137487 – Crash: Ticking memory connection – java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: -1 CHANGES IN 18W43B We found a few memory leaks in the client and cleaned them up! Some textures were outdated and have been replaced with the proper new ones FIXED BUGS IN 18W43B MC-137530 – Inserted text for %s in a translation string shows ‘null' MC-137492 – Spruce trees drop leaves instead of saplings MC-137457 – Crash upon opening the F3 menu MC-137454 – Opening Loom GUI doesn't darken surrounding background MC-137443 – A few effect icons are swapped/missing CHANGES IN 18W43A Added Bamboo Blocks into the game Added Bamboo Jungles in the world Rewrote the book & quill editing to be more intuitive Added Crossbows! Added lots of new decorative blocks! Added new dyes and flowers! Added some community suggestions Updated the credits list Added in-game buttons for reporting bugs or giving feedback Added Illager Beast Added Loom into the game Special banner patterns can now be crafted into a new item, Banner Patterns We're now using the new textures! Added pandas! Added Pillagers Added suspicious stew – hmmmm! BAMBOO They call it exotic. Which is just people talk for awesome. Which it is, which is why we're so happy that we added it to the game.
Can be found in Jungles and the two new biomes: Bamboo Jungle and Bamboo Jungle Hills Can grow to a max height between 12 and 16 blocks When bonemealed, bamboo will grow a 1-2 bamboo on the top When struck with a sword, bamboo will instantly break Two bamboo can be crafted into a single stick Able to be used as fuel with 4 bamboo able to smelt a single item Bamboo is able to be placed into Flower Pots Bamboo can now be found in Shipwrecks and Jungle Temples COMMUNITY SUGGESTIONS As it turns out, you guys have great suggestions!
Leaves now have a small chances to drop sticks. Chorus Fruit Flowers now break when shot by an arrow. Dead Bushes can now be used as Furnace fuel. Rabbit Stew and Beetroot Soup has now been changed to a shapeless recipe. Creepers will now drop records when killed by Stray in addition to Skeletons. Dispensers with Shears in them will now shear sheep that have wool in front of them. CROSSBOWS This is such a fun weapon that it makes us quiver!
Shoots arrows with base power slightly higher than the bow, but less durability Three unique enchantments! Fun, challenging advancements! New loading mechanics! Unique load animation! ENCHANTMENTS Choose between the following three enchantments for your crossbow: MULTISHOT (I) Ever wanted to shoot more than one arrow at once? Look no further! With Multishot, your crossbow splits your arrow into 3, shooting the usual arrow straight ahead and two more at angles off to the sides! Cannot be combined with Piercing PIERCING (I, II, III, IV) With this pointy enchantment, arrows shot from your crossbow can travel through mobs, hitting more than one per shot The number of mobs that can be damaged by a single arrow is equal to the level of this enchantment + 1 Cannot be combined with Multishot QUICK CHARGE (I, II, III) Each level of quick charge decreases the amount of time it takes to fully charge your crossbow by .25 seconds LOADING MECHANICS To charge the crossbow, hold down the “Use” button Once the crossbow string has been pulled all the way back, let go Boom! Your crossbow is now loaded and ready to shoot with a single click of the “Use” button DECORATIVE BLOCKS Oh my, a bunch of new blocks!
Changed all existing Stone Slabs to Smooth Stone Slabs (same look, new name!) Changed all existing signs to Oak Signs (same look, new name!) Made Smooth Stone Slabs craftable from Smooth Stone Added spruce, birch, jungle, acacia and dark oak signs Added Stone stairs and slabs Added Granite stairs, slabs and walls Added Polished Granite stairs and slabs Added Diorite stairs, slabs and walls Added Polished Diorite stairs and slabs Added Andesite stairs, slabs and walls Added Polished Andesite stairs and slabs Added Sandstone walls Added Smooth Red Sandstone stairs and slabs Added Smooth Quartz stairs and slabs Added Brick walls Added Stone Brick walls Added Mossy Stone Brick stairs, slabs and walls Added Nether Brick walls Added End Stone Brick stairs, slabs and walls Added Prismarine walls Added Red Sandstone walls Added Red Nether Brick stairs, slabs and walls Added Smooth Sandstone stairs and slabs Added Mossy Cobblestone stairs and slabs Made Smooth Stone obtainable by smelting Stone Made Smooth Sandstone obtainable by smelting Sandstone Made Smooth Red Sandstone obtainable by smelting Red Sandstone Made Smooth Quartz obtainable by smelting Quartz Block Changed the recipe of Nether Brick Fence to 4 brick blocks and 2 brick items Changed the recipe of signs to require all of the same wood type, not any wood type DYES Dye all the things!
Separated Bone Meal, Ink Sac, Cocoa Beans, and Lapis Lazuli into their own dyes Unified all dye names (Red, Yellow, and Green dyes no longer have special names) Added new recipes to obtain coloured stained glass and coloured carpet FLOWERS Get your green fingers!
To celebrate our new dyes, we added… flowers! Be careful of the Wither Rose… don't let its subdued beauty lull you into a false sense of security! ILLAGER BEAST Ravager? Behemoth? Got a name suggestion? Let us know!
Fearsome new foe who packs quite a wallop, grab your sword and shield and prepare to get knocked around! LOOM Bröther, may I have some lööm?
New and easier way of being able to apply patterns to banners, can still only apply 6 max patterns to a banner Generic patterns now only require 1 dye in order to create patterns instead of 1 – 8 (depending on the pattern) Special banner patterns (Oxeye Daisy, Creeper Skull, Wither Skeleton Skull, Enchanted Golden Apple) can now be crafted. These patterns don't consume the pattern item when used in the Loom Old recipes for banners in the crafting table have been removed NEW TEXTURES The extraordinary Minecraft Texture Update has been available on minecraft.net for quite a while and now it’s finally available by default in the game
We’re renovating the old textures of Minecraft and polishing them up for a new beginning. We're still interested in feedback Playing on Bedrock ? Don't worry! These textures will come to the Marketplace in a near future for you to try out! PANDA We heed the call!
Pandas come in different variants and personalities! There is a rumour about a brown panda… Pandas love bamboo… they kinda like cake as well Pandas can be bred, and the variants are inherited by a special panda inheritance system Pandas spawn natuarlly in the new bamboo forest biome Pandas drop bamboo when killed Most importantly: pandas are cute and terribly silly! The babies are, in general, even more silly than their parents. PILLAGER Pillagers are new type of mob added to the game. For now, it can only be spawned with a spawn egg or commands, but they'll do more things in a later snapshot.
A new type of illager that, well, pillages! Pillagers wield a new weapon, the crossbow! REWRITE OF BOOK & QUILL EDITING The pen is mightier than the sword! Unless you're fighting a Pillager…
Movable cursor for free text editing Selection support Copy & Paste Keyboard and Mouse handling Improved page filling and line wrapping Increased book length (100 pages) SUSPICIOUS STEW Hmmmm…
Found in buried ship treasure chests Also craftable! Whoever eats this stew will be imbued with an unknown effect for several seconds! Whoever crafts the stew will know what effect they gave it TECHNICAL CHANGES IN 18W43A Creative menu search box now accepts tags (starting with #) Tooltip in creative search menu now lists item's tags New item model property custom_model_data, backed directly by CustomModelData integer NBT field Extended NBT path syntax New sub-commands for NBT manipulation and querying New chat component for displaying values from NBT Added entity type tags. They work exactly the same as other ones (blocks, items and fluids, etc). Stored in tags\entity_types\ Added a feature registry Added a registry for decorators Added a registry for carvers Added a registry for surface builders Item lore tag now uses chat component syntax New Light engine! drop command – drops items in various contexts Block drops are now controlled by loot tables Performance Improvements Added schedule command for delaying execution of functions Time arguments in time set, time add and schedule function can now have units (t – ticks, s – seconds, d – days). Fractions are allowed as long as result is integer (for example 0.5d) ADVANCEMENTS Entity type predicates now accept tags (#baz) DAMAGE SOURCE PREDICATE Damage source predicate now has option: is_lightning.
ENTITY FLAGS PREDICATE Entity predicate now accepts flags field. Available tests: is_on_fire, is_sneaking, is_sprinting, is_swimming, is_baby.
CHAT COMPONENTS NBT CHAT COMPONENT Block variant {“nbt”: , “block”:{“x”: “y”:, “z”:}} Entity variant {“nbt”: , “entity”:} Additionaly, if field interpret is present and set to true, contents of selected tags will be interpreted as chat components COMMANDS type field in @ selectors now accepts entity type tags (type=#foo and type=!#bar) Item frame contents can now be modified with /replaceitem DATA data modify Apply operation to selected fields Basic operation: set – replaces value List operations: insert before index |insert after index|prepend|append Object operations: merge Sources: from – copies value from existing tag value – uses NBT literal DROP General syntax: drop Sources – `award` – uses advancement award context – `fish` – uses fishing context – `loot` – uses loot chest context – `kill` – simulates entity drops – `mine` – simulates block drops Targets – `world` – drops in world – `player` – puts in player inventory (as if picked) – `entity` – sets entity slots (same as `replaceitem`) – `block` – puts (`distribute`, as if shift-clicked) or replaces/merges (`insert`) items in container EXECUTE execute if data (and execute unless) when used as command, return count of matched elements when used as part of command, continues on non-zero(if) or zero(unless) count SCHEDULE Schedules function or tag to run in
NBT PATHS Can now return multiple values. When used as target, modification will be applied to every element When setting location and no elements are found, new matching element will be created: For example writing to Items[{Slot:10b}] will either found element in Items for slot 10 or create new one Add [{k1=v1,k2=v2}] to match objects in list that have matching fields Add {k1=v1,k2=v2} to match objects (selects 0 or 1 elements, mostly as safeguard against mismatched entries) Allow negative indices in [index] to select element from end (i.e. [-1] is last element, [-2] second to last, etc) Add [] to select all elements from list LIGHT ENGINE We are de-lighted to have a new light engine!
Moved light storage from chunks to a separate structure Moved light calculation from all over the code to a self-contained place Moved light computation off the main thread (on the server) LOOT TABLES Block drops are now controlled by loot tables (stored in loot_tables/blocks/) Tables and pools accept functions Added new loot table entry types: dynamic, tag, alternatives, sequence, group Added new loot table functions: apply_bonus, explosion_decay, copy_name, limit_count, set_contents, set_loot_table Added new loot table conditions: entity_present, survives_explosion, block_state_property, table_bonus, match_tool, tool_enchantment and two special modifiers: inverted and alternative Integer values can now specify random number generator (available types: constant, uniform, binomial). If omitted, defaults to uniform Loot tables have optional type, used to validate function usage (available types: empty, chest, fishing, entity, advancement_reward, block). Using function that references data not available in given context (for example, block state in fishing table) will cause warning New entity parameter in predicates: direct_killer_entity – allows access to projectiles etc. MODIFIED CONDITIONS ENTITY_PROPERTIES Now uses same predicate syntax as advancements (like player_killed_entity). Parameters are now described in predicate field.
NEW CONDITIONS ALTERNATIVE Joins conditions from parameter terms with “or” (“disjunction”).
BLOCK_STATE_PROPERTY Check properties of block state.
Parameters block – id of block. Test will fail, if broken block does not match properties – map of property:value pairs DAMAGE_SOURCE_PROPERTIES Checks damage source. Same syntax as entity_properties, but uses damage source predicate (see player_hurt_entity advancement trigger).
ENTITY_PRESENT Returns true if entity is set (see entity_properties for list of entities).
Parameters predicate – predicate applied to location. Uses same structure as advancements. MATCH_TOOL Checks tool (available for block breaking and fishing).
Parameters predicate – predicate applied to item. Uses same structure as advancements. SURVIVES_EXPLOSION Return true with 1/explosion radius probability.
TABLE_BONUS Passes with probability picked from table, indexed by enchantment level.
Parameters enchantment – id of enchantment chances – list of probabilities for enchantment level, indexed from 0 WEATHER_CHECK No surprise here.
Parameters raining – optional boolean thundering – optional boolean NEW ENTRIES ALTERNATIVES Tests conditions of child entries and executes first that can run. Has no weight or quality, but may have conditions.
DYNAMIC Gets block specific drops. Currently implemented:
minecraft:contents – block entity contents minecraft:self – for banners and player skulls GROUP Executes child entries when own conditions pass. Has no weight or quality.
SEQUENCE Executes child entries until first one that can't run due to conditions. Has no weight or quality, but may have conditions.
TAG Adds contents of item tag. Fields:
name – id of tag expand – if false, entry will return all contents of tag, otherwise entry will behave as multiple item entries (all with same weight and quality) NEW FUNCTIONS APPLY_BONUS Applies one of predefined bonus formulas.
Common fields enchantment – id for enchantment level used for calculation formula – type of used bonus formula parameters – values required for formula (depend on type) Formulas (based on existing fortune bonuses): binomial_with_bonus_count: parameters: extraRounds : int, probability : float adds random value using binomial distribution with n < - level + extraRounds and p <- probabilty
uniform_bonus_count
parameters: bonusMultiplier
adds random value using uniform distribution from 0 to bonusMultiplier * level
ore_drops
no parameters
applies formula count * (max(0, random(0..1) - 1) + 1)
COPY_NAME
Copies display name from block entity to item (see enchanting table behaviour) EXPLOSION_DECAY
Applies flat chance (equal to 1/explosion radius) for every item to be destroyed (items in stack are processed separately) LIMIT_COUNT
Limits count of every item stack to range. Parameters
limit:
min - optional
max - optional
SET_CONTENTS
Populates BlockEntityTag.Items (works for shulker boxes, chests, etc.) with items from entries. Parameters
entries - list of entries (same as in pool)
SET_LOOT_TABLE
Sets BlockEntityTag.LootTable and BlockEntityTag.LootPoolSeed tags. Parameters
name - id of loot table
seed - seed (if omitted or 0, LootPoolSeed will not be set)
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
Improved performance of Redstone Wire when depowering.
Improved performance of Fish.
Mobs that would spawn and then despawn from being too far away from the player the next tick no longer spawn.
WORLDGEN
Most of the biome related features now have a registry and their configuration can be serialized. I wonder what this is going to be used for...
Added "Bamboo Jungle" and "Bamboo Jungle Hills" biomes which behave like a normal jungle, but have bamboo!
FIXED BUGS IN 18W43A
MC-1578 - Cannot move backwards in Books/Signs while writing / Cannot copy anything from the book
MC-1692 - Excessive lag on lamp de/activation across chunk borders
MC-3329 - Naturally generated light sources (fire, glowstone, torches etc.) sometimes do not emit light
MC-3961 - Water, Cobwebs, Magma, Leaves and other blocks save sunlight
MC-4686 - Client movement when teleported
MC-9188 - Fires can leave ghost lighting behind
MC-11571 - Huge lighting updates lag the game.
MC-76278 - Lighting not updating until walked up or block update
MC-80966 - Lightcalculation of ChunkSelection faulty implemented resulting in client bugs (empty chunks don’t show light/render dark)
MC-88097 - Snow blocks receive (useless) random updates and can get destroyed when there is a light glitch
MC-91136 - Lighting update is delayed at chunk borders
MC-102162 - Some light-emitting blocks (magma, lit furnace, lit redstone ore) 'save' block light
MC-119932 - Light-emitting solid blocks (lit furnaces, magma blocks, glowstone, lit redstone ore) let light (sunlight, block light) through
MC-124395 - Beacon block entity contains code for custom names, despite not storing it to NBT and the beacon GUI not having one
MC-135453 - Crash while rendering block entity
MC-136526 - Crash when generating near top of world
MC-136759 - Spawn eggs do not make sure that the entity is valid for the egg, allowing for arbitrary command execution in certain cases
MC-137229 - Book corruption when 1.8 world is loaded in 1.13
MC-137300 - ConcurrentModificationException thrown when upgrading world
GET THE SNAPSHOT
To install the snapshot, open up the Minecraft Launcher and enable snapshots in the "Launch Options" tab. Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds. Cross-platform server jar: Minecraft server jar
Report bugs here: Minecraft issue tracker!
If you’re a regular, loyal reader of Minecraft.net (the kind of reader who re-reads every article we’ve ever written, each and every day) then you probably saw that earlier this week we released one of our biggest Java snapshots ever – the first snapshot to include features from our upcoming Village and Pillage update!
(If you’re not familiar, Snapshots are early builds that let you try upcoming features in Minecraft: Java Edition. Playing the Windows 10, Xbox One or Android version of Minecraft and want to try early features too? Click here to learn more about Minecraft betas!)
This new snapshot contains * takes deep breath * flowers! Suspicious stews! Pandas! Pllagers! Iillager Beasts! Crossbows! Dyes! LOADS of new blocks! Updated textures! Ex-Labour MP David Blunkett! Impressively, only the last of those features was a lie – the rest of them, along with so many more, were all included in the new snapshot!
“After 1.13, we finally didn't have a limit on the number of blocks in the game,” explains Nathan Adams, Lead Engineer on Minecraft: Java Edition. “Now that we have no limit, we've just gone crazy with adding everything we've ever wanted!”
“I love that we're releasing new blocks,” agrees Agnes Larsson, game developer. “It's so fun!”
Let's look at some of the new decorative blocks you'll find in this snapshot. Starting with the stairs:
OK, that's it for stairs, let's move onto – wait, there's more?
Yes, great job team – that's more than enough stairs for one snapsho-
ENOUGH.
Phew! And that isn't even close to all the decorative blocks the Java team have stuffed into this snapshot for your designing pleasure. A lot of these are also available as walls, normal blocks and more! You can finally build that dream Nether Brick cottage and retire, like we've always talked about.
But if you are going to build a brilliant fortress with these new blocks, you're going to want to be able to defend it, especially with The Illager Beast out there. That's the perfect opportunity to test out the new crossbow.
“The crossbow itself is the only new weapon,” explains Cory Scheviak, game developer “but it has three different enchantments that are unique to it . There’s the quick charge where you can pull it back more quickly depending on what level it’s at, the multi-shot where you can shoot three arrows at one time using only one arrow from your inventory and then piercing which can go through up to five mobs in one shot!”
Cory then laughed in a not-at-all-scary-way and said “it's pretty cool!” Yeah! The crossbow is pretty cool! If you replace the word ‘pretty' with ‘very' and the word ‘cool' with ‘terrifying'.
The crossbow is coming to Minecraft to make a new enemy more of a credible threat. I speak, of course, of the Pillager.
Cory explains that the team felt they couldn't update the villages without giving them a new challenge, which meant introducing this threat. “We had to add the Pillagers as a rival to the Villagers, and the Pillagers had to be intimidating in some way. So the crossbow is the weapon of choice of the Pillager.”
“Although… maybe not all of the Pillagers prefer to use their crossbows,” Cory adds. “Maybe some of them take more… pillage-y weapons…” Intriguing!
“The original design of the Illager Beast basically had a ballista on top,” Nathan tells me. “Which is a gigantic crossbow made for sieges. That just got shrunk down over time during development. Now it’s a handheld version!”
Let's move on to something less violent and beasty. Something like flowers! Yay, flowers! Colourful wonders of the natural world, spreading cheer and joy in the fields of Minecraft! Flowers would never hurt anyone, right Java team?
…Why are the Java team suddenly coughing, pulling their shirt collars and refusing to make eye contact with me?
My suspicions increase when they tell me the three new flowers in the latest snapshot: The Cornflower (hooray!), the Wither Rose (hey, wait a second…), and the Lily of the Valley (horrified scream).
“One of the flowers we added was the ‘Lily of the Valley' which in real life is very poisonous,” admits Cory. “It’s a very pretty flower, but it’s very poisonous. So we wondered – how do we show the player that this is a poisonous flower?”
At this point in the interview, my stomach started rumbling so loudly I couldn't hear Cory anymore. But instead of complaining, the lovely Java devs poured me a bowl of Suspicious stew. Wow, thanks guys! I knew you liked me really! I slurp and munch it down while they tell me what it does in Minecraft.
The developers wanted to add dyes for every colour, so they decided to add more flowers which you could obtain those dyes from. “But for each of the flowers we added, we were like ‘could we add a special use to this?'” explains Cory.
“Nathan and I came up with this idea for a “Suspicious Stew” where if you take a Mushroom Stew and you mix in a flower from the game, one of the small flowers, then it gets a mysterious, suspicious aura and gives a small potion effect with it.”
…Uh oh.
“When you craft it,” elaborates Cory, as I look nervously down at my empty bowl. “You know what flower you’re putting in, you know the effect and what will come out, but when you give it to someone, all they see is “Suspicious Stew” – so they don’t know what effect they’re going to get from it.”
What kind of effects are there? Asking for a friend.
“We don't want to mention that,” says Agnes. “But there are some good ones. And some bad ones. And some…”
“…Funny ones,” hints Cory.
“It was so fun to come up with effects!” says Agnes, as I start to sweat. “I mean, we tried to make them make sense with the flower, so…”
I think it's time to wrap-up the interview now.
This only scratches the surface of the secrets this snapshot contains. I haven’t revealed the different suspicious stew effects, or how the Wither Rose is obtained (those are best discovered for yourself).
And this is only the beginning! We’ve got tons of more features to share with you in the coming weeks. But why ‘Village and Pillage’? Why were villages the next place to focus on after The Update Aquatic?
“It was the next area that we wanted to improve,” explains Nathan.
“We felt like there was a lot missing from villages and villagers and there was a lot of cool ideas we had floating around. We decided to put them all together and see what could we do to make them look a bit more alive and smarter, like an actual place inside the world of Minecraft and not just something to invade and then leave rotting in the dirt!”
Don’t deny that that’s exactly what you do to villages when you play Minecraft. You know what you did.
Click https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-snapshot-18w43a to try the new snapshot!
Minecraft, Mojang’s crown jewel continues to refine itself with an all-new update that looks poised to get 2019 going in style.
With a series of tweaks including those in Update Aquatic, Village and Pillage will take the community by storm with a barrage of new features which breathe more life into the wealth of content already on offer.
Most notably is the introduction of Pillagers. Armed with crossbows and Illager Beasts, this new addition to the ominous Illager mob will prove a formidable foe to players as they lay siege on NPC villages across the world.
Aside from villages receiving a new feature, more focus has also been turned towards building, 14 new stair and slab blocks will be added, as well as 12 new wall textures. Scaffolding will be introduced, allowing players to quickly climb and scale any obstacles or projects they are working on.
Minecraft Developer Talk Reveals Village and Pillage Update Details – n3rdabl3
Much like its predecessor, the Village and Pillage update looks to further improve the game’s already diverse and colorful natural environment. This includes the introduction of two new animals: foxes, which can be found in Taiga biomes, and pandas, that can be discovered in Jungles. Edible berries will also be added as well as bamboo and new dyes.
The release date for Minecraft’s Village and Pillage update is assumed to be set for 2019 so stay tuned for further announcements. You can read the full developer update https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/java-developers-talk-village-and-pillage.
When developer Telltale Games laid off most of its staff in September, it temporarily retained a skeleton crew to finish up work on a Netflix version of Minecraft: Story Mode. The first three episodes of the “interactive adventure” are now available on the streaming platform.
The adaptation is not so much a fully-fledged game as a choose-your-own-adventure experience — you don't actually move protagonist Jesse around, for instance. Instead, you're occasionally given choices on how to move the story forward. The series starts with a character named Petra guiding you through a brief tutorial before asking whether you'd like to play as a male or female version of Jesse.
The final two episodes of the season will drop December 5th. It's not clear, however, whether the second season of the game will be adapted for Netflix.
You can check out Minecraft: Story Mode on Netflix on iOS, smart TVs, consoles and computers. If you'd like to experience it on an Android device, however, you'll need to grab the Minecraft: Story Mode app.
Read more online: https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/27/minecraft-story-mode-netflix/
Bluetooth headphones sound a lot better than they did a few years ago, but they’re still generally a pain in the butt to pair to multiple devices. Relatively few headphones allow you to be paired multiple devices, and even then, you still have to go through the pairing process with each new device.
Apple is the only company that’s really simplified the multi-device pairing process, tieing Bluetooth headphones with its W1 chip to your Apple ID, and allowing them to automatically work across your Apple devices – and only your Apple devices. Now Google is taking a page out of Apple’s book, implementing similar functionality on Android devices, with Chromebooks soon to follow.
According to Google, accessories that have implemented the company’s Fast Pair protocol will be tied to your account and be able to work on any of your current devices running Android 6.0 or higher. Support for Chromebooks is coming in 2019.
Fast Pair devices are still pretty rare, but naturally, Google says it’s working to implement the protocol on more headphones, citing Jaybird, Anker, and Bose in particular.
Of course, the new pairing abilities won’t solve all your Bluetooth woes, as you won’t be able to sync the headphones to your PC or Mac; I assume more people will want to sync headphones between their laptop and phone than between multiple Android devices.
Still, it’s a step forward. Who knows, maybe one day Bluetooth headphones will actually be as convenient as every company wants you to believe.
Fast Pair Update on Google
Read more online: https://thenextweb.com/distract/2018/11/28/netflix-gets-an-interactive-minecraft-choose-your-own-adventure-show/
