I first obtained Minecraft about a month and a half ago, so I don't really know much about the way Minecraft used to be. I've read several posts about how the landscapes used to be more varied and interesting. I really have no idea because I obviously have never played those versions. But what I DO know is that I agree with the fact that landscapes/biomes need some improvement. I myself am an AVID survival mode player. That's really all I need. So after a good 20 hours of game time, landscapes got boring. Sure, when you first start off, you go "Wow, these landscapes are great!" and when you find your first Extreme Hills you go crazy. But then, you know what to expect. Same stuff as always. Now, snapshots 12w21a and 12w22a helped this by adding the pyramids and jungle temples, respectively. Why? Because now the feeling of discovery was back. You can traverse many biomes, and only see a couple temples. It makes the game feel more realistic. To players like me who's imagination is the number one thing that draws us into minecraft, this was an AWESOME snapshot. It adds....depth. And, personally, the desert temple for SOME reason makes me think of the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time (half of my childhood is that game).
So, what's my point with this?
I'm saying Mojang has something with these temples. Now, they should use that same concept and use it in landscapes.
Here's some of my 2-bit ideas.
Big Bad Geographic Occurrences.
Volcanoes. I don't know about eruptions, because that would have to be a lot of new game physics. But maybe lava flows out of a very tall hill. And rare minerals.
Mountains. I aint talking about big hills here. I mean something that gets very close to the sky limit. Something that would span a good 400 blocks, and of course it would be snow-capped.
Rare and Strange anomalies. Like natural bridges, arches, cliffs, a VERY large tree, etc.
With all of these, one obvious thing is that they'd be very rare. (I.E. if you made 10 maps along a north/south plane, you'd find one mountain.) This would add SO much depth to the environment. The world is so monotonous. Sure, there is no distinct patterns, but there is only a certain level of variety. What they can do, is add more rare, and random occurrences as such listed. And if you make each feature have many, or possibly infinite, variant.....it changes the whole experience. Once you've seen one jungle, you've seen them all. But what if you find a jungle, but it surrounds a mountain. Or maybe you come out of a cave onto the side of a mountain. Or maybe you find a large, tall, and flat plateau covering majority of a Plains biome? The possibilities are endless. Not only are you a miner now, but an explorer. Yes, this IS called minecraft. But then again, this IS a suggestion.
Less Biome Contrast/Biome Mixing.
I have heard someone touch upon this subject. The Biomes now are too specific. There is ONLY the set biomes, and they never mix. Snow doesn't ONLY fall on Tundra, does it? A jungle isn't always hilly. Extreme Hills would be cool if once in a while there were some trees covering it. Again, this wouldn't mean that ALL biomes would be mixed....you'd still have your usual ones. But toss in some random to the mix (other than locations)
More Above-Ground Generated Structures.
As far as ALL generated structures go, I think things are great. But right now, all we have above ground are villages and temples. Here's some of my thoughts:
Mineshaft entrances that start on the side of a cliff, or something in the like. ("Speak 'Friend', and enter". LOtR fans go crazy)
Castles. Something like a Nether Fortress, except above-ground. I realize this is quite like a Stronghold.
Abandoned houses. Something you'd find in the middle of the woods. With a bed, some food, and a chest with goodies.
Ruins. Not exactly what this would entail, maybe a big, open stone floor with doorways and chests.
Mob villages. Okay, to be honest with you, I just came up with this one on the top of my head. Completely crazy.
Watchtowers. A random tall stone tower you would find. Kinda goes along with the ruins.
So, what I'm getting at with this, is to SPICE up the Overworld. Give it real life. Not saying it doesn't, mind you. Yes, these would all be rare, but wouldn't that give you more of a thrill when you found one? I am a HUGE non-linear, open world game player. And one of the coolest things about those gamesis discovery. That feeling that you don't know what's over the next hill. Or that huge grey thing is that you see on your map. Or what's inside this chest you just found. Creativity is obviously the biggest function of this game. But I believe Discovery is just as important. I know my voice is most likely going to go unheard, but hay, it's the internet, at least I'm giving it a shot. Please y'all, give some feedback. Am I completely crazy? Or maybe you have some stuff to add. I know you guys have some pretty sweet ideas.
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"Miner singing in the dead of night
Take these broken picks and learn to mine." -Steve McCartney
I like the ruins idea, and completely agree with the discovery portion. I have owned MC since Alpha stages, and the discovery portion is slowly dying out. It is almost the same thing over and over again.
I am with you Mistercrtaz, alpha was one of the best times of my life, and like you said beta/full (I still call it beta lol) is more of you found diamond, get exp, get enchantments, get potions, fight dragon, reapeat.
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If facebook, Myspage, and Twitter were all destroyed, 90% of teens would go insane. If you're one of the 10% that would be laughing at them, copy this into your signature and hope it happens.
E = MineCraft²
beta/full (I still call it beta lol) is more of you found diamond, get exp, get enchantments, get potions, fight dragon, reapeat.
No, that's just nostalgia kicking in. Theoretically, you could say all Alpha was was "get blocks, place blocks, repeat". And even if you're saying that, I'd much rather have "found diamond, get XP, get enchantments, get potions, fight dragon, repeat" over "get blocks, place blocks, repeat". Either way, it's just nostalgia.
Luckily, most of your ideas are ones I support. New structures are always nice to add if they're good ones like watchtowers, but not if they're something just completely random and rather stupid like mob villages.
Volcanoes are nice, so long as they don't explode. Having them in their own biome is nicer. So are mountains, same conditions apply.
Bridges are something I've never actually seen before, so good there.
Now the problems, only two:
Generation is not boring, and not everything is the same in each biome. People seem to think this, for whatever reason, but no, generation is not boring. Secondly, 20 hours is a rather long time to be playing Minecraft, so 20 hours of gameplay is not something that you're going to accumulate in a day.
Most people complain biomes aren't unique enough, and I happen to agree with portions of that. You want to make them less unique? I'm sorry, but then we'd all be living where there were only a few biomes, all the others would look too similar.
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[quote=Badgerz]You have to keep in mind that people are stupid.
[quote=Catelite]Just because you don't understand how something works, doesn't make it broken or pointless. >_<
So, what's my point with this?
I'm saying Mojang has something with these temples. Now, they should use that same concept and use it in landscapes.
Here's some of my 2-bit ideas.
Big Bad Geographic Occurrences.
- Volcanoes. I don't know about eruptions, because that would have to be a lot of new game physics. But maybe lava flows out of a very tall hill. And rare minerals.
- Mountains. I aint talking about big hills here. I mean something that gets very close to the sky limit. Something that would span a good 400 blocks, and of course it would be snow-capped.
- Rare and Strange anomalies. Like natural bridges, arches, cliffs, a VERY large tree, etc.
With all of these, one obvious thing is that they'd be very rare. (I.E. if you made 10 maps along a north/south plane, you'd find one mountain.) This would add SO much depth to the environment. The world is so monotonous. Sure, there is no distinct patterns, but there is only a certain level of variety. What they can do, is add more rare, and random occurrences as such listed. And if you make each feature have many, or possibly infinite, variant.....it changes the whole experience. Once you've seen one jungle, you've seen them all. But what if you find a jungle, but it surrounds a mountain. Or maybe you come out of a cave onto the side of a mountain. Or maybe you find a large, tall, and flat plateau covering majority of a Plains biome? The possibilities are endless. Not only are you a miner now, but an explorer. Yes, this IS called minecraft. But then again, this IS a suggestion.Less Biome Contrast/Biome Mixing.
I have heard someone touch upon this subject. The Biomes now are too specific. There is ONLY the set biomes, and they never mix. Snow doesn't ONLY fall on Tundra, does it? A jungle isn't always hilly. Extreme Hills would be cool if once in a while there were some trees covering it. Again, this wouldn't mean that ALL biomes would be mixed....you'd still have your usual ones. But toss in some random to the mix (other than locations)
More Above-Ground Generated Structures.
As far as ALL generated structures go, I think things are great. But right now, all we have above ground are villages and temples. Here's some of my thoughts:
So, what I'm getting at with this, is to SPICE up the Overworld. Give it real life. Not saying it doesn't, mind you. Yes, these would all be rare, but wouldn't that give you more of a thrill when you found one? I am a HUGE non-linear, open world game player. And one of the coolest things about those games is discovery. That feeling that you don't know what's over the next hill. Or that huge grey thing is that you see on your map. Or what's inside this chest you just found. Creativity is obviously the biggest function of this game. But I believe Discovery is just as important. I know my voice is most likely going to go unheard, but hay, it's the internet, at least I'm giving it a shot. Please y'all, give some feedback. Am I completely crazy? Or maybe you have some stuff to add. I know you guys have some pretty sweet ideas.
Take these broken picks and learn to mine." -Steve McCartney
E = MineCraft²
Take these broken picks and learn to mine." -Steve McCartney
I COMPLETELY agree to what Chaos Guardian has to say here. This adds (or maybe I add to it, Idk) to what I'm saying about discovery.
Take these broken picks and learn to mine." -Steve McCartney
Luckily, most of your ideas are ones I support. New structures are always nice to add if they're good ones like watchtowers, but not if they're something just completely random and rather stupid like mob villages.
Volcanoes are nice, so long as they don't explode. Having them in their own biome is nicer. So are mountains, same conditions apply.
Bridges are something I've never actually seen before, so good there.
Now the problems, only two:
[quote=Badgerz]You have to keep in mind that people are stupid.
[quote=Catelite]Just because you don't understand how something works, doesn't make it broken or pointless. >_<
Ruins I like, Even though it has been said allot of times before
Oh that's not at all what I meant haha. That was like 20 hours in over a week xD
Take these broken picks and learn to mine." -Steve McCartney