Deserts, in my opinion, should be... well, wastelands. This thread will outline problems I see with deserts and what I think should be done with them. Maybe it's just my sadistic CTM personality getting to me again. Oh well. (Shameless plugs to everyone at the CTM community and our Mojangnub, Dinnerbone. He's our virtual slave now.)
For the time constrained, a summary of the ideas so far:
- In Deserts, cacti can grow up to 5 blocks, but only 3 blocks in every other biome.
- Water doesn't spawn in Deserts except through desert wells. This includes the underground. Also, water source blocks must be covered or they'll turn into sand.
- 2 more things to add to the above, no Sugarcane spawns in Deserts, and all the water in the farms of a Desert village is covered by Half Slabs.
- Tall Grass and Ferns turn into Dead Bushes in a short while; and vines and Sugarcane cannot grow in the Desert.
- On Hard difficulty, your hunger depletes faster in Deserts.
- Deserts are much larger than they currently are now.
- Sandstone pressure plates, which work like Wooden pressure plates.
- In Desert temples, remove the stone pressure plate and replace is with a randomly generated number of sandstone pressure plates (Few as one, many as nine) to up the difficulty of getting the loot.
- During Rainstorms, snow biomes have regular snow storms and nothing is happening in Deserts. During Thunder Storms, snow biomes have blizzards (Hunger depletes faster, you move slower) and Deserts have sandstorms (Tall sand gusts that make it near impossible to move and it also causes suffocation damage) that pick up after a 1 minute warning of gusts; Thunderstorms also now have a warning of a light rain and Blizzards have a warning of a light snowfall. The Sandstorm gusts are made of particles and a general haze which lowers your render distance dramatically.
- Iron Trapdoors, and the ability to combine both kinds of doors and both kinds of trapdoors with either Iron bars or Glass Panes for looks; though Glass Pane doors and trapdoors protect from sandstorms. These would be added to villager generation, which needs to be modified somewhat, because so many villages have houses without doors, backwards doors, etc.
Firstoff, cacti. Cacti should be able to grow up to 5 blocks tall in a desert biome, but only 3 blocks everywhere else... preferred climate and all. Plus, go into a desert and make every cacti 5 high. It just looks right.
Second, WATER. Oh my goodness when they added Desert Wells I thought it was because those were going to be the only way to get water in a desert biome. But yet we still have all kinds of giant pits of water spawning in deserts along with sugarcane. So, 2 things there: 1, prevent water from spawning in deserts... make the only water in desert biomes be the wells on the surface, or the occasional village. And two, water source blocks in the desert, if not properly covered, turns into sand after a short while.
Third, plant life. You can place Tall Grass and Ferns as freely as you want... while you're surrounded by obviously dead plants. Tall Grass and Ferns placed in deserts should turn into Dead Bushes a short time after being placed or spawned in the biome. I think that was actually supposed to be an intended feature to be honest, because besides Tall Grass, in the code (You can find these through TMI too) there's a 'Grass-based' Dead bush that can be placed freely on grass. One last bit, vines and sugarcane shouldn't be able to grow in Deserts. You can place them, but they don't really do anything. They just sort of sit around.
That's about all I can think of. If you have anything to add, feel free to ask. All the additional suggestions will be put below this.
Fourth suggestion, suggested between NicholasBRC47and TheAlmightySquid: On Hard Mode, your hunger depletes faster in Deserts.
Fifth suggestion, suggested byPrinny94812: Deserts are much larger than their previous size... a small desert surrounded by things like lush jungles and giant oceans can be somewhat off-putting, right?
Sixth suggestion, suggested byFireHawkDelta: First, add Sandstone pressure plates. These act like wooden pressure plates in the sense entities like items dropped on the ground can activate them; being as sandstone is a weaker block. Now, secondly; to add a sense of difficulty to Desert Temples, in the treasure room, add these on the ground instead of the stone one. But give it a bit of randomization... sometimes the floor will have only one pressure plate, sometimes all 9 will have them; essentially, a random number of triggers. Makes it harder to get the loot - a newbie is likely to blow up their first temple, and have to learn from their mistakes.
Seventh suggestion, suggested byShadowKreach: Some changes to weather, not just in Deserts though. I like ShadowKreach's idea of Sandstorms, and I'm adding a bit of my own here:
- Most biomes; Rainstorms, Thunderstorms
- Winter based biomes; Snowstorm, Blizzard (Hunger depletes faster, you move slower)
- Deserts; Nothing except for the dreary sky tint, Sandstorm (Sandstorm that engulfs the Desert and causes Suffocation damage.) Sandstorms have a time delay of about a minute, slowly picking up until they're a full raging sandstorm, giving you and villagers a time to take cover. Thunderstorms now have a warning of light rain and blizzards have a light snowfall as an allude to the coming storm.
Eighth suggestion, suggested by myself: 2 things in addition to the above suggestion of sandstorms. First, crack down on village spawning mechanics... building inside of each other, backwards doors, and no doors doesn't look that good. And second, give us the ability to combine a Glass Pane with a Wooden Door, Iron Door, or Trapdoor; and do the same thing with Iron Bars. Then make doors in villages spawn as the glass pane ones. Getting inside to take cover doesn't make much sense if you have holes in the friggin' door. Also, IRON TRAPDOORS. Srsly guize.
Support on all counts. Would add more atmosphere and actually make you feel like you were in a scorching desert, rather than on a quick trip to the beach.
I like your idea, would make deserts more like a wasteland. +1
Also, they should make the desert temples more challenging. The only bad thing is the pressure plate of TNT, which shows up in the sandstone way too well. Possibly add mummies and mummy spawners?
"Just remember that when you are falling, turn it into a dive." ~Wookiefoot
"Why isn’t my life like a situation comedy? Why don’t I have a bunch of friends with nothing better to do but drop by and instigate wacky adventures? Why aren’t my conversations peppered with spontaneous witticisms? Why don’t my friends demonstrate heartfelt concern for my well-being when I have problems?… I gotta get my life some writers." ~Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
I like your idea, would make deserts more like a wasteland. +1
Also, they should make the desert temples more challenging. The only bad thing is the pressure plate of TNT, which shows up in the sandstone way too well. Possibly add mummies and mummy spawners?
Or maybe just add more kinds of pressure plates. I wouldn't mind a sandstone pressure plate, cobblestone pressure plate, and different color wood pressure plates.
In terms of difficulty, you could just put wooden pressure plates on all 9 blocks. You'd probably blow up your first one and then have to learn from your mistakes.
I agree, one thing I would add is to make desert biomes larger than average. Kind of like how taiga/ tundra's are really huge? It's jarring when I can look across a desert and see a different biome.
I agree with this fully, you have my support, but one thing, there should be occasional oasis in the desert surrounded by plants...
I would say the one problem with an Oasis is the fact A, Deserts are somewhat small so that's not really an issue, and B, Desert colors don't look much like a lush oasis. Maybe a small Oasis Biome...
Edit: Damn, double posted versus just putting this on my last post, don't hate me D:
Or maybe just add more kinds of pressure plates. I wouldn't mind a sandstone pressure plate, cobblestone pressure plate, and different color wood pressure plates.
In terms of difficulty, you could just put wooden pressure plates on all 9 blocks. You'd probably blow up your first one and then have to learn from your mistakes.
Also, each of the 9 blocks should have a chance of not having a sandstone pressure plate, but most have one. They act like wooden ones.
I think there should be 2 kinds of deserts, personally. They'd be listed as being one and the same in the F3 menu, but there'd be some differences.
The 2 kinds of desert would basically be 'Hospitable deserts' and 'Inhospitable deserts'. The 'Hospitable deserts' would be as deserts are now, albeit much larger. They'd have normal water placement (Although none of these naturally generated random pools, only Rivers, which would be lined with quite a lot of Sugar Cane), all the structures would spawn, and all vegetation would grow (Cacti could grow to 5 blocks as suggested, but only occasionally).
The 'Inhospitable Desert', however, is more like how you suggested. No vegetation other than Cacti can grow (Which nearly always grows to 5 blocks high), there are no villages due to the extremely harsh conditions, Water cannot exist, and it's basically a wasteland.
As well as that, during Thunderstorms, the 'Inhospitable Desert' would be plagued by a raging sandstorm (Other times it would just remain as normal).
These 2 kinds of deserts would often generate connected together, effectively creating huge double deserts.
I'unno. I personally think that 2 kinds of deserts is maybe making it a bit complex. Biomes in my opinion should be more of a simplistic thing. Taiga, Forest, Desert, Extreme Hills, Jungle. I think adding on two of a kind of biome makes it a bit confusing. especially to newer players.
This is such an awesome set of ideas. Deserts really need help in Minecraft. So much potential, but so little time spent on making them...Deserty.
Another thing I would like to see is biome-climate compatibility. How many of you have seen a Taiga right next to a desert? Everyone? Ok, how many of you have seen a Desert, without a Taiga next to it?
If the world-gen patterns were to be altered, so that certain biomes could not spawn next to others (tundra & taiga/desert being the best example), Minecraft would be much improved.
For the time constrained, a summary of the ideas so far:
- Water doesn't spawn in Deserts except through desert wells. This includes the underground. Also, water source blocks must be covered or they'll turn into sand.
- 2 more things to add to the above, no Sugarcane spawns in Deserts, and all the water in the farms of a Desert village is covered by Half Slabs.
- Tall Grass and Ferns turn into Dead Bushes in a short while; and vines and Sugarcane cannot grow in the Desert.
- On Hard difficulty, your hunger depletes faster in Deserts.
- Deserts are much larger than they currently are now.
- Sandstone pressure plates, which work like Wooden pressure plates.
- In Desert temples, remove the stone pressure plate and replace is with a randomly generated number of sandstone pressure plates (Few as one, many as nine) to up the difficulty of getting the loot.
- During Rainstorms, snow biomes have regular snow storms and nothing is happening in Deserts. During Thunder Storms, snow biomes have blizzards (Hunger depletes faster, you move slower) and Deserts have sandstorms (Tall sand gusts that make it near impossible to move and it also causes suffocation damage) that pick up after a 1 minute warning of gusts; Thunderstorms also now have a warning of a light rain and Blizzards have a warning of a light snowfall. The Sandstorm gusts are made of particles and a general haze which lowers your render distance dramatically.
- Iron Trapdoors, and the ability to combine both kinds of doors and both kinds of trapdoors with either Iron bars or Glass Panes for looks; though Glass Pane doors and trapdoors protect from sandstorms. These would be added to villager generation, which needs to be modified somewhat, because so many villages have houses without doors, backwards doors, etc.
First off, cacti. Cacti should be able to grow up to 5 blocks tall in a desert biome, but only 3 blocks everywhere else... preferred climate and all. Plus, go into a desert and make every cacti 5 high. It just looks right.
Second, WATER. Oh my goodness when they added Desert Wells I thought it was because those were going to be the only way to get water in a desert biome. But yet we still have all kinds of giant pits of water spawning in deserts along with sugarcane. So, 2 things there: 1, prevent water from spawning in deserts... make the only water in desert biomes be the wells on the surface, or the occasional village. And two, water source blocks in the desert, if not properly covered, turns into sand after a short while.
Third, plant life. You can place Tall Grass and Ferns as freely as you want... while you're surrounded by obviously dead plants. Tall Grass and Ferns placed in deserts should turn into Dead Bushes a short time after being placed or spawned in the biome. I think that was actually supposed to be an intended feature to be honest, because besides Tall Grass, in the code (You can find these through TMI too) there's a 'Grass-based' Dead bush that can be placed freely on grass. One last bit, vines and sugarcane shouldn't be able to grow in Deserts. You can place them, but they don't really do anything. They just sort of sit around.
That's about all I can think of. If you have anything to add, feel free to ask. All the additional suggestions will be put below this.
Fourth suggestion, suggested between NicholasBRC47 and TheAlmightySquid: On Hard Mode, your hunger depletes faster in Deserts.
Fifth suggestion, suggested by Prinny94812: Deserts are much larger than their previous size... a small desert surrounded by things like lush jungles and giant oceans can be somewhat off-putting, right?
Sixth suggestion, suggested by FireHawkDelta: First, add Sandstone pressure plates. These act like wooden pressure plates in the sense entities like items dropped on the ground can activate them; being as sandstone is a weaker block. Now, secondly; to add a sense of difficulty to Desert Temples, in the treasure room, add these on the ground instead of the stone one. But give it a bit of randomization... sometimes the floor will have only one pressure plate, sometimes all 9 will have them; essentially, a random number of triggers. Makes it harder to get the loot - a newbie is likely to blow up their first temple, and have to learn from their mistakes.
Seventh suggestion, suggested by ShadowKreach: Some changes to weather, not just in Deserts though. I like ShadowKreach's idea of Sandstorms, and I'm adding a bit of my own here:
- Most biomes; Rainstorms, Thunderstorms
- Winter based biomes; Snowstorm, Blizzard (Hunger depletes faster, you move slower)
- Deserts; Nothing except for the dreary sky tint, Sandstorm (Sandstorm that engulfs the Desert and causes Suffocation damage.) Sandstorms have a time delay of about a minute, slowly picking up until they're a full raging sandstorm, giving you and villagers a time to take cover. Thunderstorms now have a warning of light rain and blizzards have a light snowfall as an allude to the coming storm.
Eighth suggestion, suggested by myself: 2 things in addition to the above suggestion of sandstorms. First, crack down on village spawning mechanics... building inside of each other, backwards doors, and no doors doesn't look that good. And second, give us the ability to combine a Glass Pane with a Wooden Door, Iron Door, or Trapdoor; and do the same thing with Iron Bars. Then make doors in villages spawn as the glass pane ones. Getting inside to take cover doesn't make much sense if you have holes in the friggin' door. Also, IRON TRAPDOORS. Srsly guize.
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
this Idea is so good :3
SUPPORT THEM!!!!! (also if your a new please click on the picture)
Support!
I support gas pockets in MC (see thread in Suggestions)!
Also, they should make the desert temples more challenging. The only bad thing is the pressure plate of TNT, which shows up in the sandstone way too well. Possibly add mummies and mummy spawners?
"Just remember that when you are falling, turn it into a dive." ~Wookiefoot
"Why isn’t my life like a situation comedy? Why don’t I have a bunch of friends with nothing better to do but drop by and instigate wacky adventures? Why aren’t my conversations peppered with spontaneous witticisms? Why don’t my friends demonstrate heartfelt concern for my well-being when I have problems?… I gotta get my life some writers." ~Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
Or maybe just add more kinds of pressure plates. I wouldn't mind a sandstone pressure plate, cobblestone pressure plate, and different color wood pressure plates.
In terms of difficulty, you could just put wooden pressure plates on all 9 blocks. You'd probably blow up your first one and then have to learn from your mistakes.
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
Furries are cool.
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
I would say the one problem with an Oasis is the fact A, Deserts are somewhat small so that's not really an issue, and B, Desert colors don't look much like a lush oasis. Maybe a small Oasis Biome...
Edit: Damn, double posted versus just putting this on my last post, don't hate me D:
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
Also, each of the 9 blocks should have a chance of not having a sandstone pressure plate, but most have one. They act like wooden ones.
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love the idea...
Sandstone is a bit of a weaker block, so that's make sense. I'll add that to the OP.
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
I'unno. I personally think that 2 kinds of deserts is maybe making it a bit complex. Biomes in my opinion should be more of a simplistic thing. Taiga, Forest, Desert, Extreme Hills, Jungle. I think adding on two of a kind of biome makes it a bit confusing. especially to newer players.
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
Edit: Dammit, I guess after a certain time it doesn't add a post to a previous post to prevent a double post.
WHAT?!
Danger zone.
Another thing I would like to see is biome-climate compatibility. How many of you have seen a Taiga right next to a desert? Everyone? Ok, how many of you have seen a Desert, without a Taiga next to it?
If the world-gen patterns were to be altered, so that certain biomes could not spawn next to others (tundra & taiga/desert being the best example), Minecraft would be much improved.