As you know, Minecraft is run using the Light-weight Java Game Library (LWJGL). We’ve been using a really old version of LWJGL because last time we tried to update it the game broke down and became unplayable for a lot of people. We are going to try to update it again once we release Minecraft 1.2.
However, the recent LWJGL version (2.8.3) includes a bunch of fixes for those of you who play with non-latin languages. If you want to try it out (to be able to chat in Japanese or Korean, for example), you should go to LWJGL’s download page and get lwjgl-2.8.3.zip (link for the lazy). In it you will find a folder called “jar” and a folder called “native.” Pick the files in those folders and replace the files located in your “.minecraft/bin” and “.minecraft/bin/natives” folders. Chatting in Korean should be a lot easier now.
The guys over at Oxeye have worked liked machines and they have released a new update for the alpha! It contains gazzillion of fixes and tweaks. You can read the full change log after the jump.
If you have the installer just start it and it will update automatically.
No sane person can be for SOPA. I don’t know if we’re sane, but we are strongly, uncompromisingly against SOPA, and any similar laws. Sacrificing freedom of speech for the benefit of corporate profit is abominable and disgusting. — Notch
We are excited to announce that Minecraft 1.1 is out!
Jeb and Jon have been hard at work squashing bugs and creating amazing new features.
Below is a list of some of the added features:
- Bow Enchantments
- Golden Apple recipe
- New language translations.
- Slightly smoothed color transitions between biomes
- Reduced brewing time to 20 seconds
- Added spawn eggs to creative (the colors of the eggs even look like the mobs)
- Added world type options (currently only super-flat and default)
- Removed collision box from ladders
- Sheep eat grass and regain their wool
Plus many bug fixes!
Want to see Minecraft 1.1 in action. Check out this video by the talented H.A.T. Films guys!
I hope you have had a great Christmas and a fun New Year’s Eve! Minecraft – Pocket Edition was released for iOS and Android in the middle of November. We went to Minecon, had vacation and then the Christmas came by and a lot of gamers got a smartphone/tablet and bought Minecraft – Pocket Edition. As I stated in a previous post we had an initial plan of making Minecraft – Pocket Edition more like Minecraft Creative. But alas we were wrong. We have read tons of comments and feedback and it seems like we made a huge mistake. You wanted monsters, resources, animals and more different blocks. This means that the initial code we had written didn’t exactly fit with the new plan where we wanted to add all the stuff you have been asking for. So we have been reorganizing, rewritten and changed the whole plan for Minecraft – Pocket Edition.
So where is my update?
We have planned to submit and update by February the 8th. Then Android Market and the iOS AppStore must approve it and it will be in your hands.
What will the update include?
In the background a lot of stuff has changed to support the survival aspects of the game. You will see some neat looking animals and new blocks. Crafting won’t be in this update since we need to redesign the GUI for it and it will need some iteration and thinking. But the great part is that the foundation for survival will be mostly done and we can throw out much more fun updates! Yay! :D And hopefully the progress of the updates will be much more faster. Oh, and of course some bug-fixing have been done too. Doors and fences will be in there it too!
I’ll keep you updated when we have more stuff to share. In the meantime, if you want to get in touch with me you can follow me on twitter: @Kappische
Finally time for the next snapshot! This snapshot has the following changes:
New language translations. We changed from using Google Docs to a new system, so these may still contain a lot of errors or missing texts. Please check the Minecraft forums (language section) for more info.
Slightly smoothed color transitions between biomes
Reduced brewing time to 20 seconds
Decreased randomness of Enchantment Tables
Changed colors of spawning eggs to more represent the mobs they spawn
Made biomes slightly more varied (hills in forests and deserts, beaches)
Added world type options (currently only super-flat and default)
Removed collision box from ladders
Updated fence gate collision box to align with fences
We are currently still preparing work for the mod API. The API is going to take some time to implement properly, so we ask for patience :) Also, Jon is currently working on improving the AI for mobs to make it easier for us to add new behaviors. The first goal is to add breeding support to wolves, and then move on to more useful / interesting villagers.
Since MineCon, the Oxeye team and the Mojang web team have been working day and night to make Cobalt available before Christmas. That’s what we promised . Today we’re thrilled to announce that Cobalt (Alpha) is out!
The game is still under heavy development and will be so for a long time. Just like Minecraft, Cobalt will be discounted during development and increase in price as it reaches Beta and finally the 1.o release. The Oxeye team posted an overview of the different milestones leading up to release along with some additional info, that you can read here. The full game will sell for €20 (≈ $26) and it will be discounted 50% to €10 (≈ $13) during Alpha. The Beta will have a 25% discount tag.
This release marks a big step for Mojang, entering a new phase for the company. Cobalt is the second game to be publicly available for us and also our first 3rd party developed game. Today we’re also taking the first step in introducing a unified Mojang account, that we recently announced. Users who already have signed up for Minecraft are able to use those accounts when ordering Cobalt.
Working with the Oxeye team has been an awesome experience. Both companies have very similar views on game development and how we want to involve the community. We have travelled together to GDC (back then we weren’t actually weren’t working together yet), demoed Cobalt together at both PAX and on MineCon in Las Vegas. Tons of epic multi-player death matches have been battled out at these events. The reception has been overwhelming. thewreck, kinten, anosou, and jeb: you guys rock! We can’t wait to get more feedback from people who are joining the gaming festivities today.
This week’s snapshot barely has any changes since last week. All I’ve done is to add a few multiplayer spam protections (to prevent packet spam and chat spam). I’ve also added a few new lines to the splash texts. You can get the JAR files here:
(These JARs may still say 11w49a when you start them… It’s just a joke. Funny, eh? Haha…)
The reason why not so much has changed is because I’ve been busy with some Cobalt stuff, and reading tons and tons of emails (my inbox stream is finally starting to slow down a little). I’ve also been busy testing out different translation tools for the ingame languages. If you are interested in helping out with the translations, I suggest you try to locate the necessary information on the Minecraft forums. The reason why I’m not giving you a link here is because I don’t want to cause too much traffic to their servers ;)
I would also like to mention that I’ve received tremendous help from the Minecraft Coder Pack (MCP) team (http://mcp.ocean-labs.de/index.php/The_MCP_Team). They’ve organized an email correspondence with translators, handled Googledoc language lists and also helped filling out the new tool with latest translations.
Also, obviously, a big thanks to all of you who has helped me out with the actual translation work. The clip below warmed my heart! <3
For the record: Currently Sheep eat both grass from grass blocks and from tallgrass. They will eat grass regardless if they have been sheared or not, but baby sheep will eat more often than old sheep.
The guys at Oxeye Game Studio and the Mojang web team are currently hard at work with bringing the Cobalt pre-order to you ASAP. In preparations for this the Oxeye guys would like to share the visions of what Cobalt is and how the development of the game will play out over the coming months.
What is Cobalt?
Cobalt is an awesome platform game featuring several game modes in both hot-seat multiplayer and in singleplayer. Cobalt comes with a game editor where players can create their own maps and adventures. Cobalt is ALSO a platform game engine that can be used to create new modes or completely new games.
What are the plans for Cobalt?
Our vision for Cobalt is to expand on the in-game editor to the point where the player can create everything from single maps to whole campaigns from scratch, including adding their own units and characters and finally being able to share their creations with the community from within the game.
Meanwhile, the development team will continue adding their own maps and game modes to the game as well as continue work on the main campaign.
What will the player get when pre-ordering Cobalt?
When pre-ordering the game the player will get access to the current build of the game as well as all future updates up until and including the full release of the game. This is limited to the PC-version of the game (Mac, Windows, Linux). Pre-orders will of course be offered at a discount price.
By pre-ordering you support the continued development of the game. Think of it as part pre-order, part funding support.
Current status of the game – Alpha
The first alpha release includes two hot-seat versus game modes (capture the plug and death match) and a co-op game mode (survival). The number of players in hot seat mode is theoretically limited by the number of USB-controllers you manage to forcefully plug in to your poor computer. That and the hardware limitations of your computer. Theoretically.
Our development philosophy is to keep it simple and manageable by being a relatively small team. That is why the alpha will be limited to the features we know are reasonably stable. This will help to keep development focused which in turn will help us update the game more often.
Please note that the current alpha is only available for Windows.
What are the major milestones for the games development?
Alpha
Hot seat multiplayer
Continued work on singleplayer/co-op main campaign
Introducing the level editor
Windows only
Beta
Fully functional level editor
Continued work on singleplayer/co-op main campaign
Introducing in-game level sharing
Introducing more editors
Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
Gold – Feature complete game includes:
All editors fully functional
In-game level sharing
Completed main campaign
Hot seat multiplayer
What About Networking?
Since we know people will ask about this, yes, we would like networking too! And yes, we are actually looking at networking, but as it stands now, we are not including networking in our vision for the game because as it is now, networking remains uncertain.
Who develops Cobalt?
Cobalt is being developed by Oxeye Game Studio, which in reality means it’s being developed by three friends who all love making games: Daniel “thewreck” Brynolf, Jens “jeb” Bergensten and Pontus “kinten” Hammarberg. Thewreck is the main developer of Cobalt. He has pretty much single-handedly created the game with occasional help from the rest of the Oxeye crew.
Oxeye has also aquired help from talented musician Mattias “Anosou” Häggström-Gerdt, artist and game designer Gabriel Verdon and programmer Jacob William Jervey.
Since the summer of 2011 Oxeye Game Studio has teamed up with Mojang to help bring Cobalt to release.
Finally, a couple of recent Cobalt videos:
Stay tuned for updates about the upcoming release.
