Minecraft 2 has just been announced. Here's a rundown of how it changes the game:
Gameplay- Added new Super Hostile game mode, for a much more challenging Survival experience.
- Difficulty setting is now per-world and may never be changed once set.
- Added new graphics setting “Ultra Realistic” with new patent-pending experimental 4D-rendering.
- Added new chase-style 3D camera perspective.
- Added new realistic food/hunger system to animals.
- Overfeeding animals may have a negative effect on gameplay.
- Added a new “Horse” animal, with two different breeds to choose from.
- Each animal now has a gender and personality, introducing new farming mechanics.
- Added a new rare breed of chicken known as a “Diamond Chicken”.
- May lay diamonds or lapis instead of laying eggs.
- May also blow up from too much pressure. Handle with care.
- Added new friendly Pink Wither, which is the complete opposite of a wither.
- Shoots out Love, which heals the nearby land and causes things to grow faster.
- Known bug: Having both a Pink Wither and a Wither in your world at the same time may cause up to a 200% increase in framerate. Will be fixed for launch.
- All animals may be fed Golden Apples to unleash their hidden magical properties (see new Magic section).
- Chickens are now classified as a Monster and are no longer a friendly Animal.
- Chickens do not appreciate being looked at and may get upset.
- Attacking a lone chicken may summon additional chickens to its defense.
- Zombie Pigmen now spawn with battlesigns and no longer use swords.
- Fixed a bug causing Skeletons to miss their targets on occasion.
- Added new Redstone Bug monster (see Redstone section).
- Furnaces have a new “heat” mechanic.
- Heat needs to be regulated in furnaces or they will blow up.
- Torches now burn out after a period of time, but may be relit with flint and steel.
- Added new TNT slab, known as an Etho Slab.
- Renamed Droppers to floppers, by popular community demand.
- Droppers were deemed too powerful and go against our original vision of the game.
- Floppers now turn everything that passes through them into raw fish (see Fishing section).
- Added six (6) new decoration blocks:
- Mud.
- Hay bales.
- Lapis Lazuli.
- Slime blocks.
- Added new compressed storage blocks for commonly mined ores:
- Coal Block.
- Lapis Lazuli Block.
- Redstone Block Block.
- Lapis may now be used for new Lapis furniture.
- Added dyed glass.
- Walking over many blocks will gradually wear them down, creating many new block variants such as Cracked Stone and Muddy Grass.
- Removed all BUD behaviour, and added safeguards so that it may never come back.
- Made redstone bugs spawn actual Redstone Bugs to assist with debugging.
- Added new Quantum Entangled redstone, obtained by mixing 1 redstone, 1 diamond and 3 lapis.
- One entangled redstone dust will connect to another pair elsewhere.
- No current way of specifying the connection, may in fact connect to another player’s world.
- Added new BUD blocks.
- Added new Magic and Luck levels per player.
- Finding a Rainbow after rain passes will be the primary way of obtaining Magic.
- Finding a green-tinted horse will be the primary way of obtaining Luck.
- Added new spell system, costing magic to perform a spell.
- Spells may backfire, depending on Luck.
- Examples of new spells include:
- Turn any item into Fish.
- Turn current biome into another biome (bug: currently only turns into ocean).
- Ability to remove gravity from other creatures/players in the world.
- Overhauled fishing mechanics.
- New special types of fish may be found in various different biomes.
- Fish may become scared if too much noise is made nearby.
- Added 28 new achievements for fishing.
- Rare chance for extra items to drop when fishing, such as armor and maps.
- Removed fishing.
- Having a fish in your possession will drain your health by 1 each second, to help phase out fishing.
- Removed crossbows.
- To deter cheating players on PvP servers, the PvP system has been completely redesigned.
- Players may no longer attack other players directly, but must recruit an army of Monsters and Animals.
- Each monster/animal has different strengths, weaknesses and abilities whilst attacking or defending in PvP combat.
- New turn-based combat system will help create epic battles that may last hours at a time.
- Added many new mysterious adventuring locations.
- Added 6 new biomes.
- Reimplemented the Farlands.
- Going near the farlands will forcefully enable 3d anaglyph.
- Known bug: Teleporting towards the farlands may send you half way in the opposite direction.
- Added dozens of new village building templates.
- Flattened all terrain out slightly, with the exception of the hills biome to make it seem bigger by contrast.
- Added floating sky islands.
Happy April 1st!