Overview
Fully released on November 18th, 2011, Minecraft is a game based around mining various kinds of minerals out of the ground and then building things using those minerals. The game is played from a first-person perspective with the ability to toggle to third-person. The game was originally developed by Markus "Notch" Persson and his development studio, Mojang AB, and is now under the direction of Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. Music and sound design is provided by Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld.
Since the Alpha stage of development, Minecraft has received much attention and critical acclaim. It officially broke the two-million sales mark on April 23, 2011, while still in Beta. As of April 27, 2012, more than twenty-seven million accounts have been registered, and the game has sold nearly eight million copies.
Development
Minecraft Classic
"Creative"
Notch began development of a "cave game" on May 10, 2009. Over the next week he designed a very basic engine, using his own physics, lighting, and fluid dynamics. Worlds were automatically generated on first spawn from May 16 on. On May 17, the game entered distributed from Minecraft.net with free and premium accounts allowing premium users to save levels and spawn points on a server supported by Notch. Multiplayer support was added on June 8, and support for customized skins was added on June 14. The Classic version now available for free on the Minecraft website is version 0.0.23a_01, released on July 12.
Survival Test
August 4th saw the introduction of "Survival Mode" as a new style of play. The player spawned with no items and had an inventory with limited space; blocks could be broken to yield items to build with. Hostile "mobs" (mobiles) such as skeletons, zombies and spiders spawned in the dark and attacked the player. Rain was also added as the first kind of variable weather. The addition of TNT made it possible for the player to put up slightly more of a defense. Minecraft took its last steps of initial development with the addition of a dynamic lighting engine on December 22.
Early Development
Indev
The Indev (In Development) stage of Minecraft's life brought it closest to the game it is currently, adding an inventory, crafting, specialized tools, torches, smelting, and enhanced A.I. Indev levels could be generated to different themes, such as general weather conditions or even levels resembling heaven and hell. Players were spawned in a rectangular house stocked with the supplies they needed to thrive in the Minecraft world. Indev also saw the addition of farming to Minecraft, which gave players and alternative early in the game to restore health.
Infdev
Notch's purpose for Infdev (Infinite Development) was to create a viable procedural generation system from Minecraft. The system was first tested on February 27, 2010, and went through numerous changes until the advent of Alpha in late June of 2010. Though Infdev was comprised primarily of improvements to physics and appearance, there were also numerous content additions including signs, doors, ladders, mine carts, and mob drops.
Minecraft Alpha
Though technically on the same development cycle as Indev and Infdev, Notch gave the game the "Alpha" suffix to indicate that the game was now moving at full speed toward release. The vast majority of Minecraft's content additions took place during Alpha, often through "Seecret Friday" updates where Notch intentionally neglected to provide the players with changelists so they could find the additions themselves. The addition of redstone and device automation marked a significant milestone in players' ability to customize structures and streamline simple actions such as opening doors. The game was also provided with a logic engine allowing players to build computers and other complex devices. Mob A.I. received yet another upgrade in order to prevent pathing into lava or off cliffs. The first visible biomes began to generate into new worlds, with snowfall in cold places and cacti in deserts. The number of placeable blocks now exceeded fifty.
Perhaps one of the biggest milestones in Minecraft's development, Survival Multiplayer (SMP), was patched in on August 4, 2010. In preparation for a massive update, Minecraft received mostly insignificant tweaks and bug fixes for about the next month and a half. On October 4th, the Minecraft Halloween update was announced promising new blocks, new mobs, fishing, and a brand-new biome generator. Most importantly, though, the Halloween update added the Nether to the game; a hellish realm flooded with lava and filled with enemy mobs. The update was applied on October 30th and remains one of the most significant updates in the game's history. The Halloween update also caused a massive number of bugs leading Notch to use the next few months as bug fix time. Most actual updates occurring during this time were esoteric or involved minor game mechanics which did not noticeably alter gameplay.
Minecraft Beta
Minecraft entered Beta on December 20th, 2010. The Beta development period had a wealth of content additions as well as the tweaking of gameplay balance. As Mojang grew, each subsequent major update had a longer and longer changelist. The Beta stage -- especially from 1.5 on -- saw massive improvements to gameplay in mob A.I., inventory management and environment generation. The game's code was overhauled to allow for an improved block I.D. assignment system and a statistics tracker which allowed the insertion of achievements. Update 1.6's changelist contains more than 100 bug fixes in preparation for the next massive update drop.
The Adventure Update
Announced on June 10, 2011, and implemented on September 14th with Beta 1.8, the Adventure Update was designed to make Minecraft feel much more like an RPG by adding hunger, experience and a multitude of new mobs, blocks, biomes and random structures. The combat system received a massive face-lift as well, allowing players to sprint and adding a drawback system for bows. Critical hits could be performed by jumping and hitting a mob on the way down, and mobs could be knocked back a long distance by sprinting and hitting them. The adventure update also added Creative Mode to compensate players who wanted only to build and not be bothered by the hunger system.
The Sound Update
The majority of the work for the so-called "Sound Update" was done by "C418." The patch did not alter gameplay whatsoever, and was silently applied on November 13th. It provided new sounds for chests, doors, fence gates, trapdoors, fishing rods and explosions; as well as a slew of new mob sounds and different injury sounds for the player which were controversial due to the attachment players felt to Steve's signature "ooh" each time he was hurt.
Full release
On his blog, Notch announced that Minecraft's "Full" release date was nigh. Leaving beta, the plan was for Minecraft to reach "Release" on 11/11/11. Though due to scheduling conflicts with Minecon the date was moved one week to 11/18/11. Notch stated that the chances are that the game will be very close to what it is now and that this date is merely a goal for the studio.
When the game was in the Beta stage, it allowed users to pre-order the full version of the game for 75 percent of the price as a special sale.
The game is also able to be "gifted." As of December 12, 2010, there are gift codes available for purchase for the same price as retail. Also, these gift codes can be purchased in packs of 1-10.
A demo version of Minecraft was released on April 19th that allows access to the full game for 90 minutes, after which the game must be purchased to continue.
A version of the game was announced for the Xbox 360 at E3 2011. The Xbox 360 version was released on May 9th, as part of the Arcade NEXT promotion. Kinect support was announced but was never implemented.
Minecraft was officially released live on stage at Minecon in Las Vegas with Notch pulling the lever to signify its transition into a retail product.
A retail Xbox 360 version arrived on June 4th in the United States. This discount-priced physical release includes all the features and content found in the current XBLA version. With an Internet connection, the disc version will also receive "all the same content and feature updates as the digital version ongoing."
In 2013, it was announced that Minecraft was to be targeting releases for the Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, and Playstation 4 which were all released in 2014.
Xbox Live Refunds
The Xbox Live Arcade iteration of the title features split-screen multiplayer, but requires a high-definition television. As this was understated in the title's original synopsis, Microsoft has added the text "To experience split-screen functionality a high-definition television is required.", alongside offering refunds to those who have complained via customer support.
Furthermore, Microsoft issued this statement.
"We updated our pre-sale notification to inform customers that an HD screen is required for the split-screen multiplayer feature on Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. If a player does not have an HD screen and purchased this game prior to the notification update, they are eligible for a full refund through customer support."
Gameplay Basics
Starting Out
When creating a new game in Minecraft, a world is generated and the player is spawned at a random spot. That spot is the player's spawn point and will remain his fixed spawn point until the player rests in a bed. From that point on the bed becomes his new spawn point. The world continues to generate around the player in all directions for a while, and as the player move around the world more of the world will be generated. The world is stored in 16x16 squares of blocks, called chunks. The world is created of same-sized blocks. The most common of these are dirt, sand and stone. Everything in Minecraft revolves around obtaining these blocks, placing them in the world, and crafting them into useful items.
To collect blocks, the player holds left-click on a block and cracks will appear in the block. If they continue to hold left-click until the cracks fill the block, the block will shatter dropping a miniature version of itself (or a particular material depending on the block type). The time it takes to collect a block depends on the block you are collecting and the tool (if any) that you are using. Most mineral-based blocks will require the proper tool to be harvested (stone will not yield cobblestone unless mined with a pick, snow tiles will not yield snowballs unless harvested with a shovel, etc.). Once collected, initial blocks will be placed into the player's hotbar (from left to right), with spillover collecting into the rest of the player's inventory. To place a block, equip it in the hotbar (with either the mouse wheel or corresponding number key) and right-click on another block. [NOTE: Some blocks when collected will yield an item instead of a block (such as diamond or coal) this item cannot be placed and right-click will do nothing.] Take care when using tools as using the incorrect tool on a specific block type will waste two uses of the tool instead of just one (for instance, using a pickaxe on a tree).
Collecting blocks is only the first part of playing Minecraft; more importantly is crafting. In the inventory screen (Default hotkey: E) there is a 2x2 square grid used for crafting. To craft an item, the player must place the correct ingredients in the correct shape in the square. Some items can be created with very simple diagrams (i.e. a single block of wood will create four wooden planks), while others can be very complicated. One very important early game craft is to create a workbench (which allows players to craft in a 3x3 square allowing them to create more advanced items). A workbench is created with four planks; one placed in each spot of the 2x2 grid.
Once players have crafted a workbench, the next step is crafting tools like shovels and axes. These allow for players to gather blocks quicker and collect more advanced blocks. After a player makes tools the rest of the game is up to them. Players can go mining for rare ore, build elaborate structures and much more.
Why craft all of these items? The main point of beta mode is survival, and that's a problem because of monsters. Monsters spawn during the night or anywhere that it is dark. Players have to create shelters to prevent monsters from getting in, lighting to keep monsters from spawning, and of course weapons to defend against monsters. The bulk of Minecraft's gameplay is spent finding ways to improve monster killing/protection.
Weather
As of update 1.5, Minecraft has weather in the form of rain, snow and thunderstorms. Rain will occur, if rarely, in all biomes except desert, tundra and taiga, and snow will fall only in the tundra and taiga biomes. Instances of each weather effect will last approximately 15 minutes, and during them both thunderstorms may occur. During thunderstorms the world becomes darker, dark enough that enemy mobs may spawn and lightning strikes setting fire to the block it hits. Snow fall will cover most blocks in snow and cause water to freeze and become blocks of ice.
Stats and Achievements
Stats and achievements were added to the game in version 1.5. The stats are not retroactive, so they only track what players have done since the update. Stats track information like the distance traveled, the number of each kind of block the player has mined and placed, amount of time player, the number of times the player has jumped, and other such things.
Blocks
The following is a complete list of the blocks present in Minecraft as of version 1.2.5. They are listed by their data values as used in the game's code. Items marked with an asterisk cannot be obtained without the use of a memory editor. Certain blocks with identical functions are identified with the same code with an extra digit appended to indicate a different appearance.
Items
All items in this section are organized by ID within categories.
Tools
Tools are used to perform specific tasks. Certain tools can be built out of different materials (wood, stone, iron, diamond, and gold). Swords are no longer included here because their cutting function has been replaced by that of Shears.
Items built of different materials have varying durabilities. Durability denotes the number of times an item can be used before it breaks and must be replaced. Gold is 33, Wood is 60, Stone is 132, Iron is 251, and Diamond is 1562. Gold, however, harvests standard blocks significantly faster than all other tools.
Combat Items
Minecraft contains many types of weapons, armor and ammunition.
Armour
Armour reduces damage taken from physical attacks by enemy mobs.
Different materials provide different damage reduction. Leather is 17.25%, Gold is 27.5%, Chainmail is 30%, Iron is 37.5%, and Diamond is 50%.
Weapons
Food
The player must eat to stay alive. Eating enables the player to regain health and to sprint, swim and perform other physically grueling tasks.
Mobs
Enemies, non-player characters, and neutral creatures in Minecraft are called "mobs". There are four kinds of mobs: passive, neutral, hostile, and utility.
Passive Mobs
Passive Mobs will not attack the player under any circumstances.
Cow
Cows are useful for two reasons, 1. They can be killed for leather which is used to make the lowest level of armor in the game, and 2. With a bucket players can harvest milk from cows. Since the beta 1.8 Adventure update, cows will draw raw beef which can be cooked to make steak
Pigs
Pigs can be killed for pork chops which serve as the primary healing item in the game. Eating raw pork chops heals a couple of hearts, but if placed in a furnace they become cooked pork chops which heals six hearts. If a pig is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm then it will become a zombie pigmen; a mob otherwise only found in the hell underworld of the Nether.
Chickens
Chickens can be killed for feathers; feathers are used to make arrows. If left alive, however, chickens can leave eggs on the ground. Since the beta 1.8 Adventure Update, chickens drop raw chicken when killed which can be cooked in a furnace.
Sheep
Originally sheep could be punched with any non-tool to shear them for 1-3 blocks of wool. After beta patch 1.7, however, punching sheep does not accomplish anything. And while sheep drop wool upon dying, it is only a single block. Sheep must now be sheared with actual shears which harvest 1-3 wool per sheep. As of update 1.1, sheep now eat grass to re-grow their wool.
Squid
Introduced with beta 1.2, these mobs spawn only in water with a slight chance of spawning in the shallows. While these animals are peaceful they can be killed to gain ink packets. These packets can be used to dye wool black.
Villagers
Villagers are the NPCs who spawn in procedurally-generated villages. Originally they were meant to have names, though every last one of them had "Testificate" in their name plate -- a nickname that has stuck with them since their inception. Clearly inhuman, the villagers never interact with the player and they are completely passive; not even fighting back if attacked by the player. Although most mobs ignore them completely at night, NPC villages come under attack from massive groups of zombies (as seen below) who will go to such lengths as breaking down wooden doors in order to get at the delicious villagers inside. To protect themselves, villagers construct Iron Golems which are incredibly powerful constructs who will protect their masters to the death.
Neutral Mobs
These mobs will leave the player alone until provoked. The action causing provocation and the behavior of the mobs after they have been provoked differs between mobs.
Zombie Pigmen
Only found in the Nether, or if a pig is hit by lightning, Zombie Pigmen are peaceful with the player and will not attack unless provoked. They passively wander around and make sounds crossed between pigs and zombies. They become hostile and make loud angry shrieks when attacked or damaged, at which point any other Zombie Pigmen in the area also become hostile. A single player is generally no match for a group of angry Zombie Pigmen. They wield Golden Swords and drop cooked pork chops upon death. Textures exist within the game for a non-zombie Pigman creature, but there is, as of yet, no way to encounter one.
Wolves
Introduced in Beta 1.4, wolves are the game's first tameable pet. They can be tamed by feeding them 5-6 bones. Once tamed, hearts will appear and a red collar is present on their neck. You can tame more than one. The wolves will follow you and teleport to you if you get too far away. If you right-click on them they will sit, and if you feed them pork chops they will regain health. Their health meter is represented by their tail (vertical tail is full health, lowered is low health). They will attack any players or mobs that you attack, and defend you. Mobs will not attack them. In the wild they are neutral but will attack if provoked. They are somewhat rare but commonly found in forest-type areas.
Ocelots/Cats
Introduced in 1.2 of the full release, ocelots only spawn in the also-added jungle biomes, and while they will flee the player instead of engaging them if attacked, they will purposely hunt down and kill chickens. Like wolves, ocelots can be tamed, this time with the use of raw fish. However, unlike wolves, ocelots scare easily and will flee at high speeds (the only mob currently capable of sprinting) if the player moves or even looks around too suddenly near them. Once tamed ocelots inexplicably transform into house cats which come in three different varieties: tabby, siamese and tuxedo. Unlike tamed wolves, cats are not combat pets and will not defend their master if attacked by mobs (although they will still hunt chickens).
Enderman
The Endermen were added starting in Beta 1.8. Technically neutral, groups of endermen will slowly wander around picking up blocks and moving them around (making them the only mob capable of directly interacting with the world's blocks apart from creepers destroying them with their explosions). However, if the player looks directly at an individual enderman by placing their central reticule over one, it will stand motionless and stare back at them until they look away. At this point, the enderman has become hostile. Afterwards, the enderman will remain perfectly still while the player is looking at them, and run towards them extremely fast while their back is turned. In addition, endermen who are not being watched have the ability to teleport about once a second. Because of their similar appearance and names it is commonly thought that the endermen were inspired by "Slender Man," a fictional cryptid invented on the Something Awful forums. Some have suggested that the Minecraft mob should have a more unique name, with "Far Lander" being suggested after the area towards the extreme edges of a Minecraft world, known as the Far Lands. Notch has made it clear that he will not be changing the enderman name, and that he would be more likely to change the Far Lands to "the End". This was later revealed as a sly reference to the secret home of the endermen; an alternate dimension called the End.
Iron Golems
Introduced in 1.2 of the full release, Iron Golems are the automatons created by the villagers to protect them from the zombie hordes. Incredibly powerful, with more health than any other Minecraft mob save the Enderdragon, golems are completely harmless to the player unless deliberately provoked. On occasion, iron golems will approach villager children and present them with roses, a reference to a scene from the film Castle in the Sky. Although they will automatically engage zombies upon detecting them, iron golems will also do battle with any mob that damages a villager nearby. They will also protect the player in this manner, making them handy to have around. The player can also construct their own golems, should they wish. Though they still have the appearance of villagers.
Hostile Mobs
Each enemy type has its own special traits. Mobs can be killed with any tool/weapon. However, a sword does the most damage and only counts as one use per hit whereas any tool will do less damage and count as two uses per hit.
Zombie
The most basic of enemies, zombies are slow and moan incoherently. They can only attack from a close proximity and will only walk blindly toward the player once they see them. A recently-patched bug had zombies doing damage much more quickly than they were intended to making them incredibly dangerous opponents even for a well-armoured player. Now zombies are only a minor threat to an unwary player. Zombies drop feathers when killed and catch fire in direct sunlight.
Skeleton
Skeletons are ranged opponents; only getting close enough to fire arrows at the player. Their movement patterns often involve circling the player as they get closer. Skeletons make a bone-clattering sound, but are more often identified by the sounds of their arrows being fired. Skeletons drop bones and arrows when killed and catch fire in direct sunlight.
Spiders
Spiders are dangerous foes being the only ground mob able to jump higher than a single block. In addition to being able to scale sheer walls at will, they move somewhat slowly but leap furiously at the player once they are in range to do so. They are also only a single block tall but two blocks wide, often getting past barriers meant for the humanoid enemies. They make loud hissing noises and have no footsteps. Spiders are docile during the day-time but will still attack if attacked first. A spider that becomes hostile to the player during the night will remain hostile to the player even once the sun rises only giving up once the player dies or it does. They drop string when killed.
Cave Spiders
A smaller, more deadly spider found exclusively underground and primarily in randomly generated mines. They have all of the skills of a regular spider (wall climbing, jumping higher, etc.) plus they poison you if they hit you. While this poison alone isn't deadly (as it will not take you below one heart) it makes it very easy for any mob to finish you off.
Creepers
Creepers are easily the most well-known creatures in Minecraft and arguably the most dangerous. They have movement patterns almost identical to zombies, but Creepers make absolutely no noise unless within attack distance, at which point they will make a loud hissing noise (similar to an old-fashioned bomb's fuse being lit), promptly before swelling up and exploding. This leaves the player about a second to get out of the blast radius. The explosion is 75% the strength of TNT, and like TNT it destroys blocks around it and does less damage the further you are from the epicenter. Sometimes when a creeper is triggered and the player moves away quickly enough, the creeper will recede to its normal size and will not explode. Creepers drop gunpowder when killed by normal means but will not drop anything if they detonate. They also have a chance of dropping an LP record if they are killed by a skeleton's arrow. If a lightning bolt strikes a creeper or hits very near one, they will become electrified and supercharged. Their explosion is then 50% more powerful than TNT and will usually one hit kill you. Be very cautious when you see a sparking creeper.
Slimes
Slimes are a very rare enemy that only spawn deep underground in special chunks of the world. Certain programs or mods can be used to find where they can spawn (mainly useful for creating a slime farm). As of now in the current Minecraft 1.8, slimes are limited to spawning between the layers of 0-16, but as of 1.9 pre-release this had been expanded to 0-40. Their attack is similar to a spider's as they simply jump towards the player, albeit not as ferociously. Slimes can spawn in various sizes, merging when they stay close enough to one another for long enough. The smallest slimes cannot do damage to the player. They also can only move around by jumping making plopping sounds as they land. They drop balls of green slime when killed which can be used (along with a piston) to create sticky pistons and both push and pull blocks. Slimes also spawn on peaceful difficulty (no enemies) but do no damage.
Ghasts
Mostly found in the Nether, Ghasts are huge, floating ghostly creatures that are characterized by their constant moaning when idle and blood-curdling screams when attacking. They launch explosive fireballs at the player that will destroy surrounding blocks, much like a creeper's explosion. It is possible to bounce the fireballs back at the ghast either by timing a hit on it with a sword or by shooting it with a bow and arrow. If a ghast manages to hit the player's portal to the real world with its fireball, the portal will close and will need re-igniting in order for the player to be able to leave. When ghasts are killed they drop gunpowder.
Notch has added a small chance that ghasts can spawn near active portals in the real world in the 1.5 update. However, this is not as terrible as it sounds given that the real world, unlike the Nether, has no ceiling, Ghasts in the real world will mainly just float off into the sky and harmlessly fly around the cloudline.
Spider Jockey
Spider jockeys, a spider being ridden by a skeleton, are very rare to see. Every time a spider spawns there is a 1% chance it will spawn with a skeleton on its back making it a Spider Jockey. The creature retains the ability of a spider to climb up walls and the skeleton's ability to fire arrows making it a formidable enemy. The game still treats the mob as two separate entities, though, with the spider and the skeleton having separate health and when one is killed the other will remain. The movement of the spider jockey is decided by the spider.
Blaze
Blazes are mobs found in the Nether. They usually spawn from monster spawners inside Nether Fortresses. Like most spawners, it will start spawning when the player comes within 16 blocks of the spawner. When they encounter the player, they will start flying and throwing fire charges at the player. When killed by the player they will drop Blaze rods.
Difficulty Levels
The game has four difficulties as well as a Hardcore Mode.
Peaceful
Peaceful mode was originally intended for players who preferred to build creatively, but the advent of Creative Mode caused this to become obsolete. However, it is still a viable option for players wishing to become accustomed to the more difficult mechanics of Survival Mode, such as gathering food and avoiding falling off cliffs or into lava. On peaceful mode hostile mobs still spawn but are removed the next time the world updates (1/20 second later). Players can gather food but the food bar does not deplete and thus they cannot eat.
Easy
Mobs spawn but deal insignificant damage. Creepers will "forgive" the player and stop their fuse a short distance away. Players are unable to be poisoned by cave spiders. The food bar will deplete but the player will only suffer starvation damage down to 50% health.
Normal
Mobs deal more damage. The game seems most "realistic" on this level. When the food bar is depleted players will suffer starvation damage down to 5% health.
Hard
Significantly harder than normal. Mobs deal significant damage and will path towards the player over longer distances. Creeper explosions are difficult to cancel. Poison can cripple the player, and it is possible to die from starvation damage.
Hardcore Mode
New in the game's full release, Hardcore mode is nearly identical to Hard difficulty, but with two major caveats: The player cannot change the difficulty mid-game, and upon death the world is deleted.
Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack was released on March 4th, 2011, under the name Minecraft: Volume Alpha. The compilation contains a total of twenty-four tracks, ten of which do not appear ingame. Those tracks with file names can be found within the install directory.
The second official soundtrack was released on November 9th 2013, under the nameMinecraft: Volume Beta. The album featured 30 full tracks which added new music to the game's menus, creative mode and the areas 'The Nether' and 'The End'. It also added in the music from the in-game records that was left out from the previous soundtrack.
The album features a song named 'Taswell', named after late Giant Bomb employee Ryan Davis.
Reception
While still in the alpha phase of development, in December 2010, Minecraft was listed #8 in Gamasutra's Top Ten Games of the Year and Top 10 Indie Games awards. ABC talk show Good Game listed Minecraft as their choice for the Best Downloadable Game of 2010.
At the 13th Annual IGF awards, Minecraft won the Audience Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
Notch and his team also won 3 awards at the Game Developers Conference Awards 2011: Best Debut, Best Downloadable Game, and the Innovation Award.
Overview
Fully released on November 18th, 2011, Minecraft is a game based around mining various kinds of minerals out of the ground and then building things using those minerals. The game is played from a first-person perspective with the ability to toggle to third-person. The game was originally developed by Markus "Notch" Persson and his development studio, Mojang AB, and is now under the direction of Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. Music and sound design is provided by Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld.
Since the Alpha stage of development, Minecraft has received much attention and critical acclaim. It officially broke the two-million sales mark on April 23, 2011, while still in Beta. As of April 27, 2012, more than twenty-seven million accounts have been registered, and the game has sold nearly eight million copies.
Development
Minecraft Classic
"Creative"
Notch began development of a "cave game" on May 10, 2009. Over the next week he designed a very basic engine, using his own physics, lighting, and fluid dynamics. Worlds were automatically generated on first spawn from May 16 on. On May 17, the game entered distributed from Minecraft.net with free and premium accounts allowing premium users to save levels and spawn points on a server supported by Notch. Multiplayer support was added on June 8, and support for customized skins was added on June 14. The Classic version now available for free on the Minecraft website is version 0.0.23a_01, released on July 12.
Survival Test
August 4th saw the introduction of "Survival Mode" as a new style of play. The player spawned with no items and had an inventory with limited space; blocks could be broken to yield items to build with. Hostile "mobs" (mobiles) such as skeletons, zombies and spiders spawned in the dark and attacked the player. Rain was also added as the first kind of variable weather. The addition of TNT made it possible for the player to put up slightly more of a defense. Minecraft took its last steps of initial development with the addition of a dynamic lighting engine on December 22.
Early Development
Indev
The Indev (In Development) stage of Minecraft's life brought it closest to the game it is currently, adding an inventory, crafting, specialized tools, torches, smelting, and enhanced A.I. Indev levels could be generated to different themes, such as general weather conditions or even levels resembling heaven and hell. Players were spawned in a rectangular house stocked with the supplies they needed to thrive in the Minecraft world. Indev also saw the addition of farming to Minecraft, which gave players and alternative early in the game to restore health.
Infdev
Notch's purpose for Infdev (Infinite Development) was to create a viable procedural generation system from Minecraft. The system was first tested on February 27, 2010, and went through numerous changes until the advent of Alpha in late June of 2010. Though Infdev was comprised primarily of improvements to physics and appearance, there were also numerous content additions including signs, doors, ladders, mine carts, and mob drops.
Minecraft Alpha
Though technically on the same development cycle as Indev and Infdev, Notch gave the game the "Alpha" suffix to indicate that the game was now moving at full speed toward release. The vast majority of Minecraft's content additions took place during Alpha, often through "Seecret Friday" updates where Notch intentionally neglected to provide the players with changelists so they could find the additions themselves. The addition of redstone and device automation marked a significant milestone in players' ability to customize structures and streamline simple actions such as opening doors. The game was also provided with a logic engine allowing players to build computers and other complex devices. Mob A.I. received yet another upgrade in order to prevent pathing into lava or off cliffs. The first visible biomes began to generate into new worlds, with snowfall in cold places and cacti in deserts. The number of placeable blocks now exceeded fifty.
Perhaps one of the biggest milestones in Minecraft's development, Survival Multiplayer (SMP), was patched in on August 4, 2010. In preparation for a massive update, Minecraft received mostly insignificant tweaks and bug fixes for about the next month and a half. On October 4th, the Minecraft Halloween update was announced promising new blocks, new mobs, fishing, and a brand-new biome generator. Most importantly, though, the Halloween update added the Nether to the game; a hellish realm flooded with lava and filled with enemy mobs. The update was applied on October 30th and remains one of the most significant updates in the game's history. The Halloween update also caused a massive number of bugs leading Notch to use the next few months as bug fix time. Most actual updates occurring during this time were esoteric or involved minor game mechanics which did not noticeably alter gameplay.
Minecraft Beta
Minecraft entered Beta on December 20th, 2010. The Beta development period had a wealth of content additions as well as the tweaking of gameplay balance. As Mojang grew, each subsequent major update had a longer and longer changelist. The Beta stage -- especially from 1.5 on -- saw massive improvements to gameplay in mob A.I., inventory management and environment generation. The game's code was overhauled to allow for an improved block I.D. assignment system and a statistics tracker which allowed the insertion of achievements. Update 1.6's changelist contains more than 100 bug fixes in preparation for the next massive update drop.
The Adventure Update
Announced on June 10, 2011, and implemented on September 14th with Beta 1.8, the Adventure Update was designed to make Minecraft feel much more like an RPG by adding hunger, experience and a multitude of new mobs, blocks, biomes and random structures. The combat system received a massive face-lift as well, allowing players to sprint and adding a drawback system for bows. Critical hits could be performed by jumping and hitting a mob on the way down, and mobs could be knocked back a long distance by sprinting and hitting them. The adventure update also added Creative Mode to compensate players who wanted only to build and not be bothered by the hunger system.
The Sound Update
The majority of the work for the so-called "Sound Update" was done by "C418." The patch did not alter gameplay whatsoever, and was silently applied on November 13th. It provided new sounds for chests, doors, fence gates, trapdoors, fishing rods and explosions; as well as a slew of new mob sounds and different injury sounds for the player which were controversial due to the attachment players felt to Steve's signature "ooh" each time he was hurt.
Full release
On his blog, Notch announced that Minecraft's "Full" release date was nigh. Leaving beta, the plan was for Minecraft to reach "Release" on 11/11/11. Though due to scheduling conflicts with Minecon the date was moved one week to 11/18/11. Notch stated that the chances are that the game will be very close to what it is now and that this date is merely a goal for the studio.
When the game was in the Beta stage, it allowed users to pre-order the full version of the game for 75 percent of the price as a special sale.
The game is also able to be "gifted." As of December 12, 2010, there are gift codes available for purchase for the same price as retail. Also, these gift codes can be purchased in packs of 1-10.
A demo version of Minecraft was released on April 19th that allows access to the full game for 90 minutes, after which the game must be purchased to continue.
A version of the game was announced for the Xbox 360 at E3 2011. The Xbox 360 version was released on May 9th, as part of the Arcade NEXT promotion. Kinect support was announced but was never implemented.
Minecraft was officially released live on stage at Minecon in Las Vegas with Notch pulling the lever to signify its transition into a retail product.
A retail Xbox 360 version arrived on June 4th in the United States. This discount-priced physical release includes all the features and content found in the current XBLA version. With an Internet connection, the disc version will also receive "all the same content and feature updates as the digital version ongoing."
In 2013, it was announced that Minecraft was to be targeting releases for the Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, and Playstation 4 which were all released in 2014.
Xbox Live Refunds
The Xbox Live Arcade iteration of the title features split-screen multiplayer, but requires a high-definition television. As this was understated in the title's original synopsis, Microsoft has added the text "To experience split-screen functionality a high-definition television is required.", alongside offering refunds to those who have complained via customer support.
Furthermore, Microsoft issued this statement.
"We updated our pre-sale notification to inform customers that an HD screen is required for the split-screen multiplayer feature on Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. If a player does not have an HD screen and purchased this game prior to the notification update, they are eligible for a full refund through customer support."
Gameplay Basics
Starting Out
When creating a new game in Minecraft, a world is generated and the player is spawned at a random spot. That spot is the player's spawn point and will remain his fixed spawn point until the player rests in a bed. From that point on the bed becomes his new spawn point. The world continues to generate around the player in all directions for a while, and as the player move around the world more of the world will be generated. The world is stored in 16x16 squares of blocks, called chunks. The world is created of same-sized blocks. The most common of these are dirt, sand and stone. Everything in Minecraft revolves around obtaining these blocks, placing them in the world, and crafting them into useful items.
To collect blocks, the player holds left-click on a block and cracks will appear in the block. If they continue to hold left-click until the cracks fill the block, the block will shatter dropping a miniature version of itself (or a particular material depending on the block type). The time it takes to collect a block depends on the block you are collecting and the tool (if any) that you are using. Most mineral-based blocks will require the proper tool to be harvested (stone will not yield cobblestone unless mined with a pick, snow tiles will not yield snowballs unless harvested with a shovel, etc.). Once collected, initial blocks will be placed into the player's hotbar (from left to right), with spillover collecting into the rest of the player's inventory. To place a block, equip it in the hotbar (with either the mouse wheel or corresponding number key) and right-click on another block. [NOTE: Some blocks when collected will yield an item instead of a block (such as diamond or coal) this item cannot be placed and right-click will do nothing.] Take care when using tools as using the incorrect tool on a specific block type will waste two uses of the tool instead of just one (for instance, using a pickaxe on a tree).
Collecting blocks is only the first part of playing Minecraft; more importantly is crafting. In the inventory screen (Default hotkey: E) there is a 2x2 square grid used for crafting. To craft an item, the player must place the correct ingredients in the correct shape in the square. Some items can be created with very simple diagrams (i.e. a single block of wood will create four wooden planks), while others can be very complicated. One very important early game craft is to create a workbench (which allows players to craft in a 3x3 square allowing them to create more advanced items). A workbench is created with four planks; one placed in each spot of the 2x2 grid.
Once players have crafted a workbench, the next step is crafting tools like shovels and axes. These allow for players to gather blocks quicker and collect more advanced blocks. After a player makes tools the rest of the game is up to them. Players can go mining for rare ore, build elaborate structures and much more.
Why craft all of these items? The main point of beta mode is survival, and that's a problem because of monsters. Monsters spawn during the night or anywhere that it is dark. Players have to create shelters to prevent monsters from getting in, lighting to keep monsters from spawning, and of course weapons to defend against monsters. The bulk of Minecraft's gameplay is spent finding ways to improve monster killing/protection.
Weather
As of update 1.5, Minecraft has weather in the form of rain, snow and thunderstorms. Rain will occur, if rarely, in all biomes except desert, tundra and taiga, and snow will fall only in the tundra and taiga biomes. Instances of each weather effect will last approximately 15 minutes, and during them both thunderstorms may occur. During thunderstorms the world becomes darker, dark enough that enemy mobs may spawn and lightning strikes setting fire to the block it hits. Snow fall will cover most blocks in snow and cause water to freeze and become blocks of ice.
Stats and Achievements
Stats and achievements were added to the game in version 1.5. The stats are not retroactive, so they only track what players have done since the update. Stats track information like the distance traveled, the number of each kind of block the player has mined and placed, amount of time player, the number of times the player has jumped, and other such things.
Blocks
The following is a complete list of the blocks present in Minecraft as of version 1.2.5. They are listed by their data values as used in the game's code. Items marked with an asterisk cannot be obtained without the use of a memory editor. Certain blocks with identical functions are identified with the same code with an extra digit appended to indicate a different appearance.
Items
All items in this section are organized by ID within categories.
Tools
Tools are used to perform specific tasks. Certain tools can be built out of different materials (wood, stone, iron, diamond, and gold). Swords are no longer included here because their cutting function has been replaced by that of Shears.
Items built of different materials have varying durabilities. Durability denotes the number of times an item can be used before it breaks and must be replaced. Gold is 33, Wood is 60, Stone is 132, Iron is 251, and Diamond is 1562. Gold, however, harvests standard blocks significantly faster than all other tools.
Combat Items
Minecraft contains many types of weapons, armor and ammunition.
Armour
Armour reduces damage taken from physical attacks by enemy mobs.
Different materials provide different damage reduction. Leather is 17.25%, Gold is 27.5%, Chainmail is 30%, Iron is 37.5%, and Diamond is 50%.
Weapons
Food
The player must eat to stay alive. Eating enables the player to regain health and to sprint, swim and perform other physically grueling tasks.
Mobs
Enemies, non-player characters, and neutral creatures in Minecraft are called "mobs". There are four kinds of mobs: passive, neutral, hostile, and utility.
Passive Mobs
Passive Mobs will not attack the player under any circumstances.
Cow
Cows are useful for two reasons, 1. They can be killed for leather which is used to make the lowest level of armor in the game, and 2. With a bucket players can harvest milk from cows. Since the beta 1.8 Adventure update, cows will draw raw beef which can be cooked to make steak
Pigs
Pigs can be killed for pork chops which serve as the primary healing item in the game. Eating raw pork chops heals a couple of hearts, but if placed in a furnace they become cooked pork chops which heals six hearts. If a pig is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm then it will become a zombie pigmen; a mob otherwise only found in the hell underworld of the Nether.
Chickens
Chickens can be killed for feathers; feathers are used to make arrows. If left alive, however, chickens can leave eggs on the ground. Since the beta 1.8 Adventure Update, chickens drop raw chicken when killed which can be cooked in a furnace.
Sheep
Originally sheep could be punched with any non-tool to shear them for 1-3 blocks of wool. After beta patch 1.7, however, punching sheep does not accomplish anything. And while sheep drop wool upon dying, it is only a single block. Sheep must now be sheared with actual shears which harvest 1-3 wool per sheep. As of update 1.1, sheep now eat grass to re-grow their wool.
Squid
Introduced with beta 1.2, these mobs spawn only in water with a slight chance of spawning in the shallows. While these animals are peaceful they can be killed to gain ink packets. These packets can be used to dye wool black.
Villagers
Villagers are the NPCs who spawn in procedurally-generated villages. Originally they were meant to have names, though every last one of them had "Testificate" in their name plate -- a nickname that has stuck with them since their inception. Clearly inhuman, the villagers never interact with the player and they are completely passive; not even fighting back if attacked by the player. Although most mobs ignore them completely at night, NPC villages come under attack from massive groups of zombies (as seen below) who will go to such lengths as breaking down wooden doors in order to get at the delicious villagers inside. To protect themselves, villagers construct Iron Golems which are incredibly powerful constructs who will protect their masters to the death.
Neutral Mobs
These mobs will leave the player alone until provoked. The action causing provocation and the behavior of the mobs after they have been provoked differs between mobs.
Zombie Pigmen
Only found in the Nether, or if a pig is hit by lightning, Zombie Pigmen are peaceful with the player and will not attack unless provoked. They passively wander around and make sounds crossed between pigs and zombies. They become hostile and make loud angry shrieks when attacked or damaged, at which point any other Zombie Pigmen in the area also become hostile. A single player is generally no match for a group of angry Zombie Pigmen. They wield Golden Swords and drop cooked pork chops upon death. Textures exist within the game for a non-zombie Pigman creature, but there is, as of yet, no way to encounter one.
Wolves
Introduced in Beta 1.4, wolves are the game's first tameable pet. They can be tamed by feeding them 5-6 bones. Once tamed, hearts will appear and a red collar is present on their neck. You can tame more than one. The wolves will follow you and teleport to you if you get too far away. If you right-click on them they will sit, and if you feed them pork chops they will regain health. Their health meter is represented by their tail (vertical tail is full health, lowered is low health). They will attack any players or mobs that you attack, and defend you. Mobs will not attack them. In the wild they are neutral but will attack if provoked. They are somewhat rare but commonly found in forest-type areas.
Ocelots/Cats
Introduced in 1.2 of the full release, ocelots only spawn in the also-added jungle biomes, and while they will flee the player instead of engaging them if attacked, they will purposely hunt down and kill chickens. Like wolves, ocelots can be tamed, this time with the use of raw fish. However, unlike wolves, ocelots scare easily and will flee at high speeds (the only mob currently capable of sprinting) if the player moves or even looks around too suddenly near them. Once tamed ocelots inexplicably transform into house cats which come in three different varieties: tabby, siamese and tuxedo. Unlike tamed wolves, cats are not combat pets and will not defend their master if attacked by mobs (although they will still hunt chickens).
Enderman
The Endermen were added starting in Beta 1.8. Technically neutral, groups of endermen will slowly wander around picking up blocks and moving them around (making them the only mob capable of directly interacting with the world's blocks apart from creepers destroying them with their explosions). However, if the player looks directly at an individual enderman by placing their central reticule over one, it will stand motionless and stare back at them until they look away. At this point, the enderman has become hostile. Afterwards, the enderman will remain perfectly still while the player is looking at them, and run towards them extremely fast while their back is turned. In addition, endermen who are not being watched have the ability to teleport about once a second. Because of their similar appearance and names it is commonly thought that the endermen were inspired by "Slender Man," a fictional cryptid invented on the Something Awful forums. Some have suggested that the Minecraft mob should have a more unique name, with "Far Lander" being suggested after the area towards the extreme edges of a Minecraft world, known as the Far Lands. Notch has made it clear that he will not be changing the enderman name, and that he would be more likely to change the Far Lands to "the End". This was later revealed as a sly reference to the secret home of the endermen; an alternate dimension called the End.
Iron Golems
Introduced in 1.2 of the full release, Iron Golems are the automatons created by the villagers to protect them from the zombie hordes. Incredibly powerful, with more health than any other Minecraft mob save the Enderdragon, golems are completely harmless to the player unless deliberately provoked. On occasion, iron golems will approach villager children and present them with roses, a reference to a scene from the film Castle in the Sky. Although they will automatically engage zombies upon detecting them, iron golems will also do battle with any mob that damages a villager nearby. They will also protect the player in this manner, making them handy to have around. The player can also construct their own golems, should they wish. Though they still have the appearance of villagers.
Hostile Mobs
Each enemy type has its own special traits. Mobs can be killed with any tool/weapon. However, a sword does the most damage and only counts as one use per hit whereas any tool will do less damage and count as two uses per hit.
Zombie
The most basic of enemies, zombies are slow and moan incoherently. They can only attack from a close proximity and will only walk blindly toward the player once they see them. A recently-patched bug had zombies doing damage much more quickly than they were intended to making them incredibly dangerous opponents even for a well-armoured player. Now zombies are only a minor threat to an unwary player. Zombies drop feathers when killed and catch fire in direct sunlight.
Skeleton
Skeletons are ranged opponents; only getting close enough to fire arrows at the player. Their movement patterns often involve circling the player as they get closer. Skeletons make a bone-clattering sound, but are more often identified by the sounds of their arrows being fired. Skeletons drop bones and arrows when killed and catch fire in direct sunlight.
Spiders
Spiders are dangerous foes being the only ground mob able to jump higher than a single block. In addition to being able to scale sheer walls at will, they move somewhat slowly but leap furiously at the player once they are in range to do so. They are also only a single block tall but two blocks wide, often getting past barriers meant for the humanoid enemies. They make loud hissing noises and have no footsteps. Spiders are docile during the day-time but will still attack if attacked first. A spider that becomes hostile to the player during the night will remain hostile to the player even once the sun rises only giving up once the player dies or it does. They drop string when killed.
Cave Spiders
A smaller, more deadly spider found exclusively underground and primarily in randomly generated mines. They have all of the skills of a regular spider (wall climbing, jumping higher, etc.) plus they poison you if they hit you. While this poison alone isn't deadly (as it will not take you below one heart) it makes it very easy for any mob to finish you off.
Creepers
Creepers are easily the most well-known creatures in Minecraft and arguably the most dangerous. They have movement patterns almost identical to zombies, but Creepers make absolutely no noise unless within attack distance, at which point they will make a loud hissing noise (similar to an old-fashioned bomb's fuse being lit), promptly before swelling up and exploding. This leaves the player about a second to get out of the blast radius. The explosion is 75% the strength of TNT, and like TNT it destroys blocks around it and does less damage the further you are from the epicenter. Sometimes when a creeper is triggered and the player moves away quickly enough, the creeper will recede to its normal size and will not explode. Creepers drop gunpowder when killed by normal means but will not drop anything if they detonate. They also have a chance of dropping an LP record if they are killed by a skeleton's arrow. If a lightning bolt strikes a creeper or hits very near one, they will become electrified and supercharged. Their explosion is then 50% more powerful than TNT and will usually one hit kill you. Be very cautious when you see a sparking creeper.
Slimes
Slimes are a very rare enemy that only spawn deep underground in special chunks of the world. Certain programs or mods can be used to find where they can spawn (mainly useful for creating a slime farm). As of now in the current Minecraft 1.8, slimes are limited to spawning between the layers of 0-16, but as of 1.9 pre-release this had been expanded to 0-40. Their attack is similar to a spider's as they simply jump towards the player, albeit not as ferociously. Slimes can spawn in various sizes, merging when they stay close enough to one another for long enough. The smallest slimes cannot do damage to the player. They also can only move around by jumping making plopping sounds as they land. They drop balls of green slime when killed which can be used (along with a piston) to create sticky pistons and both push and pull blocks. Slimes also spawn on peaceful difficulty (no enemies) but do no damage.
Ghasts
Mostly found in the Nether, Ghasts are huge, floating ghostly creatures that are characterized by their constant moaning when idle and blood-curdling screams when attacking. They launch explosive fireballs at the player that will destroy surrounding blocks, much like a creeper's explosion. It is possible to bounce the fireballs back at the ghast either by timing a hit on it with a sword or by shooting it with a bow and arrow. If a ghast manages to hit the player's portal to the real world with its fireball, the portal will close and will need re-igniting in order for the player to be able to leave. When ghasts are killed they drop gunpowder.
Notch has added a small chance that ghasts can spawn near active portals in the real world in the 1.5 update. However, this is not as terrible as it sounds given that the real world, unlike the Nether, has no ceiling, Ghasts in the real world will mainly just float off into the sky and harmlessly fly around the cloudline.
Spider Jockey
Spider jockeys, a spider being ridden by a skeleton, are very rare to see. Every time a spider spawns there is a 1% chance it will spawn with a skeleton on its back making it a Spider Jockey. The creature retains the ability of a spider to climb up walls and the skeleton's ability to fire arrows making it a formidable enemy. The game still treats the mob as two separate entities, though, with the spider and the skeleton having separate health and when one is killed the other will remain. The movement of the spider jockey is decided by the spider.
Blaze
Blazes are mobs found in the Nether. They usually spawn from monster spawners inside Nether Fortresses. Like most spawners, it will start spawning when the player comes within 16 blocks of the spawner. When they encounter the player, they will start flying and throwing fire charges at the player. When killed by the player they will drop Blaze rods.
Difficulty Levels
The game has four difficulties as well as a Hardcore Mode.
Peaceful
Peaceful mode was originally intended for players who preferred to build creatively, but the advent of Creative Mode caused this to become obsolete. However, it is still a viable option for players wishing to become accustomed to the more difficult mechanics of Survival Mode, such as gathering food and avoiding falling off cliffs or into lava. On peaceful mode hostile mobs still spawn but are removed the next time the world updates (1/20 second later). Players can gather food but the food bar does not deplete and thus they cannot eat.
Easy
Mobs spawn but deal insignificant damage. Creepers will "forgive" the player and stop their fuse a short distance away. Players are unable to be poisoned by cave spiders. The food bar will deplete but the player will only suffer starvation damage down to 50% health.
Normal
Mobs deal more damage. The game seems most "realistic" on this level. When the food bar is depleted players will suffer starvation damage down to 5% health.
Hard
Significantly harder than normal. Mobs deal significant damage and will path towards the player over longer distances. Creeper explosions are difficult to cancel. Poison can cripple the player, and it is possible to die from starvation damage.
Hardcore Mode
New in the game's full release, Hardcore mode is nearly identical to Hard difficulty, but with two major caveats: The player cannot change the difficulty mid-game, and upon death the world is deleted.
Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack was released on March 4th, 2011, under the name Minecraft: Volume Alpha. The compilation contains a total of twenty-four tracks, ten of which do not appear ingame. Those tracks with file names can be found within the install directory.
The second official soundtrack was released on November 9th 2013, under the nameMinecraft: Volume Beta. The album featured 30 full tracks which added new music to the game's menus, creative mode and the areas 'The Nether' and 'The End'. It also added in the music from the in-game records that was left out from the previous soundtrack.
The album features a song named 'Taswell', named after late Giant Bomb employee Ryan Davis.
Reception
While still in the alpha phase of development, in December 2010, Minecraft was listed #8 in Gamasutra's Top Ten Games of the Year and Top 10 Indie Games awards. ABC talk show Good Game listed Minecraft as their choice for the Best Downloadable Game of 2010.
At the 13th Annual IGF awards, Minecraft won the Audience Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
Notch and his team also won 3 awards at the Game Developers Conference Awards 2011: Best Debut, Best Downloadable Game, and the Innovation Award.
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