Java Edition mentioned features

Since the beginning of Minecraft's development, there have been a number of features that were mentioned by Mojang AB developers. These features are either currently planned for the next update, but have not yet appeared in a development version, or have simply been dropped or forgotten about.

Note that this page only documents features that were mentioned, but are not yet in the game. Features in development versions are described on the parent version page.

Planned
These features are planned to come to Minecraft sometime in the future, in an update that has not yet been determined. For features that will be in the next version of Minecraft, see Planned versions.

Combat change
Jeb revealed this to a participant in the MineCon Earth costume contest, who later revealed it to the Minecraft Community on a Reddit post. Blocking will no longer be activated by ; or walking backwards will activate it instead. This was later mentioned again in a tweet by Docm77, saying that "the combat system will get a major overhaul."

Off-hand changes
Changes with the off-hand slot added in 1.9 are also planned on being added to Minecraft sometime in the future. Specifically, the player will no longer be able to or place blocks with any item in their off-hand slot. However, players will still be able to hold items in the off-hand slot, which still makes the off-hand useful for maps and such. Also, blocking will still be able to be activated if the player is holding a shield in their off-hand. However, this regression was later retracted due to massive community backlash.

New settings
Docm77 confirmed in a tweet that sometime in the future, two new graphics settings will be added to Minecraft: "fancy" and "super fancy."

Biome updates
During MineCon Earth 2018, viewers could vote on which biome they wanted to update, mainly between Taiga, Savanna, and Desert. Taiga ended up being the winner, while Savanna, which had been planned to have baobabs, termites, and ostriches; and Desert, with its palm trees and meerkats; all planned to be added in later updates.

Partially implemented/Unused
These features had been shown by a Mojang staff member, but either had no further development or were canceled shortly after.

Dirt slab


Before Stone Slabs were added to 0.26, Notch ran a test using Dirt Slabs. In the test they replaced dirt blocks, so that dirt surface without grass was half a block lower than grass. However it made a mess of the sides of cliffs and underground. They were never added to the actual game and were only mentioned once. They replaced all dirt blocks and did not grow Grass on top.

Dyed planks


Dinnerbone asked Twitter how they would feel about colored planks. He announced the results as being, "30% 'please no', 80% 'yes please'. Yes, that's 110%. I don't even know." Despite this, he canceled the idea and instead added hardened clay, which can be dyed. The dyed planks were abandoned after Dinnerbone realized they would also require slabs and stairs. The six existing wood species eventually got doors and fences, fence gates, buttons, trapdoors and pressure plates.

Sky Dimension


The Sky Dimension was a planned dimension in Minecraft, intended to be the opposite of the Nether. It was ultimately replaced by the End.

With the addition of the Buffet functionality in 1.13 snapshot 18w15a, this can be recreated by using the "Floating Islands" option.

In Indev, there was a map type called "Floating." It spawned floating islands full of terrain based on the World Theme. The Sky Dimension was first announced when Notch tweeted a picture of the dimension. It was probably made to be like a "heaven," because the Nether was considered to be like a hell. The Sky Dimension was not completely confirmed until Notch released an update via Twitter stating: "And because PC Gamer made such a big deal of the Sky Dimension, I guess I'll have to finish it. Consider it confirmed." In a live webcast on the Swedish gaming site feber.se Notch revealed that the Sky Dimension would "probably be a dream world" and that when "you go to bed there is a certain chance that you get teleported into the dream world instead. Then you will be able to do it on purpose later on." The Sky Dimension was originally planned for the Adventure Update, but Notch put it on hold till the Nether was more fun.

The original concept of the Sky Dimension was later rebranded as "The End," a dark place fittingly referred to as the "end of the game," home to the endermen and the ender dragon, and a total conversion of the original idea.

Notch tweeted much later that a different "Skylands" dimension probably was still in the making. This version, completely separate from the End, was set to replace the original idea. However, Jeb later stated that returning the Sky Dimension was not planned and therefore is unlikely to be done.

Mod-enabled version


Notch left data in for an early prototype of the Sky Dimension in Beta 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8. Using various mods it is possible to access this currently unfinished version of the Sky Dimension.

It could be accessed by modifying wr.class in beta 1.6.6, xa.class in beta 1.7.3 and acz.class in beta 1.8.1.

In this version of the Sky Dimension, the buildup of the world blocks-wise is very much like the Overworld, but it is always midday and it does not rain or snow (though cloud cover does appear as if it were raining). Although uncommon, it is possible to find sugar cane, redstone, lapis lazuli, and more rarely diamond. Like the normal world, you can also find dungeons, Iron, coal, and gold. The only mobs that spawn in the sky dimension are chickens; no other mobs (including hostile ones and squid) spawn. Below the islands of the Sky Dimension is nothing but the Void and a layer of clouds.

Starting in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3, it was given its own region: Region 2, with Region 1 being the Nether. However, instead of Sky Dimension chunks generating within its region, they would generate in the Overworld on Multiplayer servers. This is most likely due to an issue with map generation and saving causing Sky Dimension chunks to save over Overworld chunks rather than being made in their own, separate map files like the Nether does. If a world with Sky Dimension chunks is brought from multiplayer to singleplayer, the area of the chunks will always be plains biome, even if snow generated naturally on the ground.

Gallery
The first released screenshots of the Sky Dimension:

Mentioned/In limbo
These features were mentioned at one point, but later abandoned or their current status is unknown. Note that some of these features were mentioned by developers who either no longer work at Mojang, or no longer work on Minecraft.

Crystal Horse Armor
Horse Armor textures were taken from the Mo'Creatures mod.

Originally, this mod's "Crystal" Horse Armor was also intended, but the idea was abandoned.

Audio loops
Audio loops have not yet been added to the game, but may be implemented to play when the player is in a specific location (In caves, forests, oceans, and beside a waterfall). This has been partially added in 1.4 with the addition of lava and water ambient sounds. Loop sounds have been partially added for underwater areas in snapshot 18w10a.

They could be found in /.minecraft/resources/sound/loops/

Friends list
Notch mentioned on his blog, The Word of Notch, that friends lists would be added after Beta 1.8. The Minecraft documentary team of 2 Player Productions filmed a Keynote roadmap, containing these lines. Kristoffer mentioned on Twitter that he is currently working on friends lists for Scrolls, then for other Mojang games. These will be available for players with Mojang accounts. At MineCon 2012 Jeb stated that it would be a large implementation on the server side and will be used for all Mojang games, and that is a big project.

Lua scripting
Lua Scripting was a feature mentioned by Notch as a way to create server side modifications.

Players will not have to download scripts within or outside of the client, and therefore no client-side modifications will be necessary.

The server would be able to create custom commands, assign certain server functions to blocks, and create user groups.

Notch has said that he wanted Lua to be an extension for Minecraft. He does not want Lua to turn Minecraft into a game engine. Essentially, Lua, although a nice addition, will not revolutionize game-play in Minecraft.

Resource packs
Erik Broes mentioned that there may be easier customization of chat and sheep colors.

Ryan Holtz stated that he wanted to improve the rendering system to allow for customizable models and animations. Dinnerbone later stated that player models would not be able to be changed.

Whales
Whales were mobs mentioned by Notch in a version of Alpha as a water mob, until the addition of Squid.

Rare tools/weapons
Dinnerbone said on Twitter he would like to add weapons/tools that cannot be crafted, and only obtained by treasure chests/trading, etc. For example, bows with faster drawback, boots that increase health, or night vision helmets. However, the attribute system has to be finished first.

Red dragon
Originally, Dragons were a possible planned mob hinted at by Notch during the Spider Jockey update. He also mentioned that dragon lairs may be an addition. They remained a potential work-in-progress until the Ender Dragon was announced.

On October 12, 2011 Notch announced Red Dragons "After release, I will totally work on slightly less dangerous dragons that don't destroy terrain and can land and whatnot. They will be red."

In same day, in a Reddit post Notch also said. "They will be different dragons. The Ender Dragon will probably become larger, and the ones in the main world will be this size, won't go through terrain, and will be red because dragons are red."

On October 22, 2013, Dinnerbone tweeted that the red dragon is "shelved" and not in development.

Later, on December 15, 2013, Dinnerbone wrote on Reddit that there will be red dragons in Minecraft one day.

Seasons
Dinnerbone mentioned on Twitter that he was experimenting with adding seasons, and varying the length of day and night according to season. He also mentioned it during MineCon 2013. Seasons may include changes in color of tree leaves and may also be tied to real time.

Spike block
Spikes received a mention in mid-2009 by Notch in a blog post. These were originally planned for, working by extending and retracting spikes (and making them more "spike pistons" than anything), but were replaced by sticky pistons. On May 28, 2012, Dinnerbone stated that he'd like to add spike blocks, but is unsure of how to implement them.

Inventory changes
An inventory rewrite was originally added in the snapshot 14w17a for 1.8, but a roadblock was hit and they had to shelve it before the release of 1.8. Other changes to the inventory have been mentioned, including spectators can now look at people's inventory, visible health/armor bar on all players, seeing players' GUI when spectating from their POV and the return of shift-double-clicking.

Steel
Multiple references to steel were made early on in the game's development. Notch had stated that it could be made using coal and iron ore, and that it could be used for armor and weapons more powerful than iron. In-game, the flint and steel is crafted using raw iron.

Brief mentions
These features were briefly mentioned, but no further information was given after that.

General features

 * More animals such as birds, and tree animals, to make the game seem more alive. Partially added in 1.12 with parrots.
 * More structures in biomes Since this was mentioned, woodland mansions, End cities, shipwrecks and underwater ruins have been implemented.
 * More dimensions
 * More rare structures and terrain changes Partially added with Ice Spikes.
 * More ores and cave types
 * Height-based content, something like vertical biomes.
 * All exclusive Bedrock Edition features ported to Java Edition Partially added with new boats on 1.9, with the new crafting system on 1.12, and with the ability to place chests side by side in 1.13.

More specific features

 * Mentioned in 2009
 * In early development, Notch mentioned two more gamemodes, Team Survival Mode and Fortress Mode, which would include the ability to play Capture the Flag
 * Crystal, found underground


 * Mentioned in 2010
 * Animated swinging doors
 * Colliding clouds
 * Server portals
 * Turnips (May have partly been implemented with the addition of beetroots.)
 * Hamsters
 * Dungeon Mode: Same as Survival Mode, except players can't craft or modify the world. Planned to have been used to play missions on pre-made maps.
 * "Clan" mode.
 * Server-side scripting.
 * Land claim flags: planting a flag (possibly costs gold in Survival mode) claims an area of land. No monsters can spawn or die from age in that area, and only selected players can build in that area.
 * Smoke block: would be generated by fire, be passable, cast shadows, float upwards and disappear after a short time.
 * Gravity: all blocks except possibly obsidian would be affected by gravity. Floating islands would need obsidian veins to stay afloat. Notch later stated that he disliked the idea.
 * More crafting templates: arrows, food, armor, etc. (Possibly added in 1.14.)
 * In-game anti-cheat: make the server check for flying, no clip and increased speed. Add those options to the client, but only enable if the server says it's okay.


 * Mentioned in 2011
 * The ability to choose what work saves to the level files
 * Rainbow crystalline caves
 * Scarecrows
 * Storing of achievements and statistics online
 * Cave maps - Notch stated that they are "an interesting idea".
 * Custom paintings
 * Hand-drawn signs
 * Cyan flower
 * Exploding arrows


 * Mentioned in 2012
 * Crying Obsidian
 * Vertical redstone
 * Ability to design village buildings
 * Books editable anywhere, not just at the end of the page
 * Silk Touch yielding double half slabs
 * Ability to pause the game in multiplayer, but only for ops. Users will then get to chat until the game is back.
 * Minecarts usable as boats
 * Fallen trees (like what is currently in Bedrock Edition)
 * A new male mob that has no clothes.
 * More colors and texture pack customizations of maps
 * Flower pots breaking when hit by arrows.
 * Utilizing the space above the Nether ceiling for something else.
 * Giant Zombie Villager
 * Fireworks having effects on mobs, such as scaring wolves. Implemented with elytra boosting and damaging mobs if explosive.
 * Maps would have more support for colors and support Texturepack textures


 * Mentioned in 2013
 * Minecart with Dispenser.png Minecart with dispenser;, the image may have just been showcasing the custom tile displays in minecarts which were added in the next snapshot, 13w02a.
 * Dinnerbone's original demonstration of the  format for resource packs contained a sample properties file for fonts to determine character size and spacing. Despite the game code containing the code to read the files, it never actually uses them leaving character width and spacing to be determined dynamically.
 * Enchanted items apply attributes on use.
 * Cherry trees
 * Adding more places to display scoreboard scores.
 * Colored lighting
 * A better UI for server admins/ops, inspired by the twitch user moderation menu.
 * A resource pack-related feature that allows improved Russian font display
 * Better construction analysis
 * A new system that could alter weapon behavior.
 * This has been partially implemented in 15w34a, with the implementation of attack speed
 * Easier way to implement terrain changes
 * Portable light (e.g. holding a torch in your hand which provides light).
 * A hug animation


 * Mentioned in 2014
 * Basalt
 * Improved camera controls
 * Rewrite the liquid and lighting engine. Partially implemented in the 1.13 snapshot 18w10c, allowing water to appear to occupy certain non-full blocks.
 * A gamerule which prevents rain/snow
 * This has been slightly implemented in 16w38a, with the implementation of the gamerule, which disables the weather from changing.
 * Dinnerbone has stated he has an "Ultimate Plan" with endermites that might include the dragon egg.
 * Rewriting the key bind system.
 * Building a custom sound system.
 * Sheep showing their color when shorn, like the Bedrock Edition
 * Multithreaded terrain generation rendering.
 * Fixes to chunk loading.
 * JSON support on signs and possibly implementing a way to "make it work in survival" . Searge later said "The plan is to eventually have every text that can be displayed on the screen use the text component system, then using § won't be necessary anymore."
 * Another rabbit skin
 * Changes to the world format - modularizing and storing in 16 block high sections, ids per chunk Such a feature would likely allow for infinite building height.
 * Ryan Holtz originally mentioned adding a slider for cloud height, though he later stated the idea was controversial among the team so he scrapped it.
 * Using the killer rabbit killing mobs for something.
 * Mesa temple
 * A marker entity.
 * OAuth
 * Reindeer - initially suggested for Christmas 2015.
 * Being able to make the world border's center slowly move


 * Mentioned in 2015
 * Corn
 * In game lore
 * Nether portals placing players in front if possible.
 * Entities possibly being able to switch between weapons - "There are no plans right now for entities to use that [offhand] slot, but it might be a potential change in the future. It's just cleaner to have generic support for the off-hand slot than adding a special-case the player class only."
 * Making it so shields are used to block attacks from the side the shield is held on.
 * A mob which camouflages with its environment - when developing the Shulker mob, Jeb initially had it so that the mob would camouflage with the surroundings, but due to difficulties with the code and rendering, he decided to abandon this element of the mob, but stated that it may happen in the future.
 * Allowing mobs to have additional random skins, similarly to horses, cats and rabbits.
 * Giving the ability to rotate and mirror structures.
 * Minecart improvements after/in 1.10


 * Mentioned in 2016
 * Phasing out the minecart with furnace.
 * New musician villager that trades note blocks, jukeboxes, and music discs.
 * Giant Husk
 * A Dragon Head banner pattern
 * If a piston gets powered and is unable to push, showing a smoke particle effect and playing a small "clunk" sound
 * If the bow used to craft a dispenser is enchanted, making the arrows fired from the dispenser to act accordingly


 * Mentioned in 2017
 * Ability to edit the skybox and biome/foliage/light colors in resource packs
 * More types of illagers, many suggested as joke. One of them, the Pillager, will be implemented in 1.14.
 * More illagers
 * Nether gold ore
 * A set of prismarine blocks with a color scheme matching that of the Elder Guardian, similarly to how regular prismarine imitates normal Guardians.


 * Mentioned in 2018
 * Ability to make water occupy one side of a glass pane, but not the other
 * Seals/Sea Lions and/or Orcas
 * Pink river dolphins. These were not implemented due to time constraints.
 * Toggleable enchantment glows
 * The return of Customized worlds, "completely different from before", with "no more screens with 50 vague sliders."
 * World generation will become data-driven, using json files, allowing for custom structures.
 * A portal that would teleport the player to a different place in the Overworld.
 * A specific block to craft firework rockets, similar to how looms are used to craft banners.

Joke features


Notch and other Mojang AB employees have frequently joked about adding various features to the game.


 * Searge jokingly stated that due to the fact that people didn't dislike the changes in the 15w42a snapshot, he would add a fuel requirement to crafting tables.
 * Koalas in tanks riding on planes with laser rifles was jokingly added to the "maybe later" list by Searge.
 * Hot dogs.
 * Herobrine. In every new major Minecraft update like Halloween Update, Adventure Update, Pretty Scary Update, Redstone Update, Horse Update, The Update That Changed The World, The Bountiful Update, The Combat Update, The Frostburn Update, The Exploration Update, The World of Color Update, and Update Aquatic, it says "removed Herobrine", but Herobrine was never implemented. This has also appeared in the changelog for Scrolls version 0.103.0.
 * When Hardcore mode was announced, a joke screenshot of "Ultra Hardcore Mode" was shown, where death would revoke an account's premium status.
 * Jeb joked about adding chips if 100% of the community agreed on what type the chips would be.
 * Marc joked about adding Top Hats for 1.4.
 * A snapshot named 12marc40awesome containing various joke features such as volcanoes, more dragons, coral, fish, and fish blocks. Partially added in 1.13 with fish mobs and corals.
 * Pine cones.
 * Dinnerbone joked about adding skis as entity/item, adding texture only.
 * Dinnerbone joked about adding dwarves when asked about it.
 * SethBling mentioned a downside of command blocks on one of his livestreams, and Dinnerbone joked about removing command blocks to accommodate him.
 * Dinnerbone joked that Minecraft pizza would be a good idea to add, and as a joke KrisJelbring states pizza is confirmed to be added.
 * Mojang has made several April Fools jokes:
 * In 2011, the locked chest or "Steve Co. Supply Crate" was temporarily added which "allowed" various micro-transactions in the game.
 * In 2013, Mojang released Minecraft 2.0 which contained features such as pink withers and redstone bugs.
 * In 2014, the default sounds were replaced with a voice (specifically, that of ElementAnimation, a famous YouTuber group known for making several popular videos about Minecraft) saying the name of the sound's source, the music was replaced with a rendition of the title theme of the TV series Game of Thrones (consisting of the word "door" repeated to the tune of the music), and everyone's skins were replaced with modified versions of the villager textures, edited to fit the player model. This was all blamed on the villagers.
 * In 2015, Mojang released 15w14a, which made all the mobs in the game friendly and loving.
 * In 2016, Mojang released 1.RV-Pre1, which added trendy items of 2016.
 * In 2017, the Mine & Craft Digital Leisure Device was announced on the Minecraft website.
 * In 2018, Mojang released an 8-bit resource pack to 1.12.x and versions from 17w43a to 18w11a clients.