Sponges have been around since the beginning, and though they have gone through many stages, they have always returned eventually. However, we have never had a counterpart to the Sponge for soaking up other liquids. Enter the Soul Sponge.
This new utility block is very simple - when it is placed down, all fire and lava blocks nearby will be sucked into the sponge, giving a lava dripping effect. This produces a Burning Soul Sponge, which cannot absorb any more liquid and deals damage like a cactus when touched. However, you can throw it in water to make it usable again. You can also right-click a cauldron with it to get your Soul Sponge back along with a block of obsidian. It is almost identical to the Sponge.
To craft the Soul Sponge, you need Soul Sand and a Sponge.
The Soul Sponge can be used for a variety of purposes, from making Nether Travel easier, to saving a burning house, and much more.
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For whoever's reading, if anyone volunteers to code, something like that is quite simple. You'd just pick a random (x,y,z) coordinate, and if it's not air, you'd save the block state from World#getBlockState(), set the block to air, and then spawn an EntityFallingBlock instance into the world, copying the saved block state data to it. (For tile entities, you can also get the tile entity at that position and, if it exists, use TileEntity#writeToNBT() to store all that data as well; then you can copy it back into the falling block entity's NBT data as well.)
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I really like this idea! I know I won't have enough free time to help you code it (sorry!), but I hope someone does, because it sounds pretty cool.
If I may contribute to the idea, I think it might be cool if the Poltergeist hauntings could also randomly turn regular blocks into gravity blocks. So for instance, blocks around the area would just start falling to the ground on their own. I think that could make for some spookiness for players who are used to the idea that Minecraft has no block gravity
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I don't think you understand how software development works. When a game is updated, anything changed is...well, changed. Not just a new thing while the old code sits around and would work just fine with the new. Code is designed to be interconnected; one change requires other changes. You can't just throw old code in with new and expect it to work. And if you intentionally make sure all old code works with the new, then by version 0.5 you'd have a massive filesize.
Just...no. No support.
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I'm going to take two ideas I've posted on Reddit and combine them here, as they're related, along with some updates to the original concepts.
The Charge Dimension
Getting Charged
Accessing the Charge dimension requires a powered redstone line surrounding an altar. All pieces of redstone in the line must be powered. The altar consists of a 3x3 horizontal box outline of iron blocks, filled in the middle with a piece of endstone, atop which sits a redstone block. (The endstone is to make sure this is an endgame feature.) As soon as such an altar is powered, the redstone block turns into a red, 3D portal block which, when stood in, transports you to The Charge. An altar is generated on the other side wherever you spawn, though the coordinates in the Charge are 1:1 with the Overworld (unlike the 8:1 ratio of Nether coordinates.) Note that if either altar is loaded and the power to the outer dust line is cut off, the portal on that side closes and turns back into a redstone block until power is restored.
Charge Design
The Charge is a dimension focused on redstone. The sky is a red version of the End's starfield. Redstone ore would be abundant there, with a little bit of iron ore as well, but no other ores. Redstone-block structures would also be generated. The Charge equivalent of stone/endstone/netherrack is Charged Stone, which drops itself when mined (see the items section for more information). Just as the Nether changes physics for lava, the Charge changes physics for redstone. Specifically, touching a powered redstone dust while in the Charge will inflict 0.5 heart of damage per second you touch it (same is true while mining charged redstone dust). Charge mobs are immune to this type of damage as well as lightning damage. Redstone-block buildings (Charged Fortresses?) would generate with predefined redstone contraptions and traps inside, often with exposed redstone dust being a trap itself. Of course, the reward for braving these trapped buildings would be loot chests with redstone-based loot. In addition, though it never rains in the Charge, lightning is common. Occasional rivers flow through areas of the Charge as well (you'll see why in the mobs section!).
There is an obvious analog here to the Nether's glowstone: redstone lamps. These generate in singlets randomly, and always generate with a redstone block powering them on one of their sides.
Charge mineshafts will also generate, which have redstone torches as their only light (which, of course, hurt when you touch them, as they're powered). All rails in the mineshaft are powered, and some which happen to have torches next to them or redstone blocks spawned under them will of course be powered and painful. However, you may find a Zaptoad spawner here (see mobs section), which could be useful for farming.
Mobs? Mobs.
The Charge would contain only custom mobs. Specifically, it would have the following:
Shocks: These mobs, which float like blazes, look like anthropomorphized electrical elementals. So like sparks with a mildly organic form and a face. Whenever they touch redstone dust, it becomes powered to level 15 (which remember, is harmful in the Charge!). In addition, they have a short range zapping attack that can deal 1 to 2 hearts of damage, depending on distance, from up to 2 blocks away. If they touch water, all adjacent water within 5 blocks becomes electrified--meaning if you're in water around them, you'll likely get electrocuted, taking a heart or more each second you're in electrified water. (Note: lightning striking water will electrify the surrounding 10 adjacent water blocks for 1 tick.) Killing a Shock will drop 0-3 redstone dust and 0-1 lightning rods (see the items section for more info). They will spawn on any non-water block, basically, but spawn more often inside Charge Fortresses.
Electric Eels: They swim in the rivers and electrify water in a 1-block radius from them. That's all. They drop 0-1 redstone dust on death.
Zaptoads: Only spawn in Charge mineshafts, generally from spawners, though they may hop out of a mineshaft and into the open. They're redstone-infused frogs. They can hop up to 3 blocks high and 2 blocks in distance. They hurt you if they touch you; they do NOT power redstone lines the way Shocks do. They also have a 10% chance of inflicting a few seconds of poison on you when they touch you. Killing them drops 0-2 redstone dust (see the pattern with these mob drops yet?) and 0-1 red slime.
Items!
Charged Stone: The most common item in the Charge. Emits a redstone signal of strength 1 from all sides, but otherwise acts like normal stone (and looks like a stone block but with a slight red tint).
Lightning rod: Dropped from Sparks, you can place a lightning rod in the Overworld, where they appear like torches, only with no tip and made of metal. Whenever it rains, the chances of a lightning strike are increased at the position of any lightning rods. When struck by lightning, the rod gives off a redstone signal of strength 15 for two ticks. Can be used to make charged creepers or zombie pigmen, or simply as an inclement weather detector. Can also be used in the recipes for the redstone transceiver.
Redstone transceiver: Finally, a vanilla wireless redstone solution that doesn't require exploits. They're crafted with a repeater in the middle and two lightning rods, one on either side. These components are directional like repeaters, with an input side and an output side. When a signal comes in their input side, they transmit this signal wirelessly to all transceivers within 15 blocks horizontally and 2 blocks vertically (i.e. 2 above and 2 below). The signal DOES degrade at the same rate as redstone dust (1 power lost per block traveled), but is omnidirectional and passes through all types of blocks. A transceiver will output the maximum power among both wireless signals and its own input. Note that this means all transceivers in an area will equalize rather than ever bouncing back and forth, as the maximum will be the same for all of them since they transmit their own inputs.
Red slime: Dropped from Zaptoads, red slime can be placed on the ground. They have the size and hitbox of a carpet, but they slow down anything that walks on them, including players and mobs. They do NOT reduce fall damage like green slime, as they're too thin. They can also be used in the recipe for insulated redstone.
Insulated redstone: Crafted with eight redstone dust surrounding one red slime, producing 8 insulated redstone, an insulated redstone is basically directional redstone. It will carry a signal with zero delay, like redstone dust, but it will do so only along one axis (so in two opposing directions). This allows you to place insulated redstone lines adjacent to each other with no interference (or an insulated line next to a regular dust line with no interference, either). I'd also say you could place the lines on walls, but that might be pushing it programming-wise, considering that would usually entail two redstones in the same block at corners >_<
Redstone crossbridge: Crafted with 5 insulated redstone in a cross shape and (maybe) 4 stone in the corners, this is simply a crossing component. Redstone signals in the east side are copied to the west side and vice-versa; redstone signals in the north side are copied to the south side and vice-versa. This way we can much more cleanly cross our wires (insulated or normal dust) without interference.
Comments? Criticisms? Suggestions? Support? Let me know!
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Cross-posting this from /r/MinecraftSuggestions. I had a few ideas for new mobs.
If you can think of a better drop for these Enderfish, please suggest it! Anyway...continuing with my original, crappy idea... Enderbones. These can be crafted into Ender bonemeal, which when used on a plant will change its type according to a predefined table (something like all trees/saplings get turned into a different type of wood in a cycle, carrots turn into potatoes and vice-versa, etc.). Also, for multiplayer use, you can right-click with an Enderbone in your hand to have your nametag teleport to a random position within 10 blocks of you. This will be an offset from you, so if you walk, it will follow you but maintain its relative position. Each use takes up some durability on the Enderbone, and when you're no longer holding the Enderbone, your nametag will teleport back to your actual position. Great for confusing your enemy players.
1) Gargoyles, an Overworld mob that attack at night, but "turn off" during the day. This can already be simulated with command blocks and a daylight sensor (using the NoAI tag), but only with existing mobs. A new mob that has its own model and texture which does this by default would be cool--imagine finding a place with a ton of gargoyles during the day, but knowing that you have to prepare for night or get ambushed by them. (Speaking of, a new stone "ruins" structure might be a consideration, perhaps in the plains or mesa biome). They may fly or maybe not, depending on their design. When turned off, they aren't affected by gravity; when turned on, they are, though they may fly (preferably, if they fly, they'll dive to attack).
Drops: When deactivated, they can only drop things if mined with a pickaxe. Mining them has a 20% - 50% chance of re-activating them, though. They drop 0-2 stone shards, 4 of which combine to make 1 cobblestone. Stone shards can also be used to brew a Potion of Resistance (something that doesn't currently exist). Killing them while they're active drops 2-4 stone shards, along with a small chance of Gargoyle Meat. This meat can be eaten to give you 5 seconds (duration subject to change upon discussion) of Resistance I, but if you eat it during the day, it also gives you 5 seconds of Slowness I. (It restores as much hunger as a cooked pork chop.)
By request, I made a mock-up of the ruins where you'd find gargoyles. Keep in mind that I am far from a decent aesthetic builder, so this is ONLY a rough mock-up, not an actual detailed suggestion of how the ruins would look. In the photos, villagers are standing in for gargoyles. Please read the descriptions of the photos in the album, as they explain a bit more about both the ruins as well as gargoyle behavior. Photo album here.
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2) Shades. These are a hostile Nether mob, a cross between a blaze and a ghast. They're about the size of a blaze, but not on fire, and they fly like ghasts. They look like shadows...imagine the Grim Reaper, but without any bones. (Like this, but more Minecraft-styled). They're melee only, but very fast, and after taking damage they have a brief period of invulnerability (indicated by turning translucent and running away until the period is over).
Drops: (Version 1) Usually nothing, but very rarely it will drop a Shadow Core. As long as you have a Shadow Core in your hotbar (even if you're not holding it), you won't take fall damage. Instead, the amount of fall damage you WOULD take is redirected into the Core's durability. So basically, it takes the fall damage for you until it breaks. It has as much durability as, say, golden boots (maybe iron if that's more appropriate?).
(Version 2) When a Shade attacks you, it inflicts Blindness on you for a short period. Also, the Shadow Core no longer acts as handheld feather falling; instead, it's used to brew a Potion of Blindness (something else that doesn't yet exist).
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3) Enderfish. They look like a very skeletal fish with Enderman color schemes. Obviously, these guys are in the End. They "swim" in mid-air, but can only do so if there's a solid block at most 5 blocks below them (otherwise, they fall to that height). They're passive mobs, but like Enderman, hitting them causes them to teleport somewhere else nearby.
Drops: Note: I have no idea what they should drop. Perhaps they drop nothing more than XP. The following idea was my poor attempt at forcing a drop when I couldn't think of a good one. Please don't judge me for desperation
Discussion is open: what do you all think about the three above mobs (taken individually)? What should be changed? Support or no? Interesting or no? Are the drops good? And for Dante's sake, please, help me do something about those terribad Enderfish drops; I love the mob idea, but I can't think of a good drop for them!
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While true echoes would be processor intensive, I think a few heuristic faking techniques could make decent echoes quite efficiently. I imagine something along these lines working:
Upon emitting a sound, run a sort of breadth-first search (like the efficient iterative-deepening depth-first search). This will be capped at some maximum distance to prevent runaway searching (say, 64 blocks radius or something?). Whenever it searches from block A to block B, and block B is "hard" (defined by blast resistance, or maybe mining speed, or something), it doesn't add the next block leading from B in the direction A->B to the search queue/stack, and 1 is added to the count of surrounding hard blocks. If B is closer to the sound source than the previous closest (a single variable can track this during the search), its distance becomes the new minimum. After the search ends, if either (1) no search path found a way to the maximum distance, or (2) the number of hard blocks is a very small percentage of the number of searched blocks (with some calibrated threshold), then generate an echo (play the sound again with a volume based on the minimum distance recorded [distances below another set threshold produce no echo, as the room would be "too small"]).
I feel there could be a good set of values for max distance, percentage of hard blocks to count as "enclosed enough", and minimum echo distance which would produce a decent effect while still being efficient enough.
The question is simply: is it worth even that for something purely ambient? I'm not so sure.