I think that a major improvement to minecraft would be the emplacement of more half blocks. Specifically, half block versions of stone, dirt, grass, sand, sandstone, and gravel.
How would they work you may ask? Well, all of these blocks have 1 thing on common. They really only have 1 state, existence. That being the case, it would be very easy to give each of these new blocks a choice of 3 states, Full block, half block on bottom, and half block on top, excluding sand and gravel which could not be on top.
With these new versions of the main natural blocks, the world generation code could be redone to use these all over the place, making the entire minecraft world twice as smooth, and allowing you to WALK over hills, not skip merrily over them because you have to jump up every rise.
Sure there would sill be areas that you cant walk right over, but at least we would have a choice. It would also lead to the facilitation of standardized paths. By trying to find a smoothed path from point A to point B, the travel in minecraft would be more like it would be in the real world.
Sand and gravel would be able to have a half block on bottom state, which could fall just like normal, but if a full block lands on top of it, its state it changed to full block and the one on top is changed to half. If a half falls on another half, the state of the bottom is changed to full and the top on is removed.
Now those are just the natural blocks. There are already half block forms of cobblestone, planks, and sandstone, but they all share 1 block ID with different states, which causes that annoying mining of wooden steps problem. Rather than all those be 1 block, why not have them all be different forms of their larger cousins. Cobblestone half blocks could act like cobblestone and wooden half blocks could act like wood. You could also have more types, like brick or mossy cobble.
Also, since they have the option to be top side half blocks, there could be interesting things done with roof architecture.
Sandstone HAS a halfblock, gravel and sand would not work correctly due to their Physics but dirt and stone are good ideas...
Exactly why would that not work? I mean, aside from a different collision box (which wouldn't be needed as it falls) isn't the size of a block simply cosmetic?
Also, I can tell you didn't read the whole thing because I mention farther down that I am aware of the current sandstone half block, however it is a natural material first and a current half block second, so I mention it where it applies best first.
I think that a major improvement to minecraft would be the emplacement of more half blocks. Specifically, half block versions of stone, dirt, grass, sand, sandstone, and gravel.
How would they work you may ask? Well, all of these blocks have 1 thing on common. They really only have 1 state, existence. That being the case, it would be very easy to give each of these new blocks a choice of 3 states, Full block, half block on bottom, and half block on top, excluding sand and gravel which could not be on top.
With these new versions of the main natural blocks, the world generation code could be redone to use these all over the place, making the entire minecraft world twice as smooth, and allowing you to WALK over hills, not skip merrily over them because you have to jump up every rise.
Sure there would sill be areas that you cant walk right over, but at least we would have a choice. It would also lead to the facilitation of standardized paths. By trying to find a smoothed path from point A to point B, the travel in minecraft would be more like it would be in the real world.
Sand and gravel would be able to have a half block on bottom state, which could fall just like normal, but if a full block lands on top of it, its state it changed to full block and the one on top is changed to half. If a half falls on another half, the state of the bottom is changed to full and the top on is removed.
Now those are just the natural blocks. There are already half block forms of cobblestone, planks, and sandstone, but they all share 1 block ID with different states, which causes that annoying mining of wooden steps problem. Rather than all those be 1 block, why not have them all be different forms of their larger cousins. Cobblestone half blocks could act like cobblestone and wooden half blocks could act like wood. You could also have more types, like brick or mossy cobble.
Also, since they have the option to be top side half blocks, there could be interesting things done with roof architecture.
Exactly why would that not work? I mean, aside from a different collision box (which wouldn't be needed as it falls) isn't the size of a block simply cosmetic?
Also, I can tell you didn't read the whole thing because I mention farther down that I am aware of the current sandstone half block, however it is a natural material first and a current half block second, so I mention it where it applies best first.