Java Edition Classic 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST

0.26 SURVIVAL TEST was a version of Survival Test released on October 24, 2009 at roughly 00:13 UTC.

Additions

 * General
 * Rain
 * Created by pressing F5
 * Mobs
 * Spider_JE2_BE1.png Spiders
 * Spider JE1.png Initially had a brown texture, which essentially got replaced by the black texture shortly before release of this version (explained in later sections)
 * Dropped 0-2 brown mushrooms upon death
 * Rewarded the player with 10 points upon death


 * Blocks
 * Smooth Stone Slab Revision 1.png Stone Slabs
 * Dropped from coal ore
 * Mossy Cobblestone JE1.png Mossy Cobblestone
 * Bricks JE1.png Bricks
 * Currently unobtainable
 * Bookshelf JE1.png Bookshelf
 * Currently impossible to obtain without a pre-edited map
 * Can be broken by explosions
 * Drops nothing when broken
 * Webblock.png Web Block
 * Added texture to terrain.png, block cannot be obtained by any means


 * Options
 * Frame rate limiter

Changes

 * Mobs
 * Creeper.png Creepers
 * Changed texture from Creeper Revision 2.png
 * Now show explosion particles upon death.
 * Cannot destroy rock-type blocks


 * General
 * Shrunk the hitbox of all plants
 * The player can now deal damage faster.


 * Blocks
 * TNT JE1 BE1.png TNT
 * 10 are given to the player upon world generation.
 * Stone JE1.png Stone
 * Now drops cobblestone
 * Coal Ore JE1 BE1.png Coal Ore
 * Drops 1–3 stone slabs when broken
 * Gold Ore JE2 BE1.png Gold Ore
 * Changed texture from Gold Ore JE1.png
 * Drops 1-3 gold blocks
 * Block of Gold JE2.png Block of Gold
 * Changed texture from Block of Gold JE1.png
 * Obtained from mined gold ore
 * Iron Ore JE1 BE1.png Iron Ore
 * Drops 1-3 iron blocks
 * Block of Iron JE1 BE1.png Iron Block
 * Drops from mined iron ore


 * Menu screens
 * Gradient for backgrounds was disabled
 * This means that the death screen is no longer tinted red and the menu screens are no longer tinted gray

Development
Different ideas were considered during the development of this version.

Brown Spider theory debunking
There is a common misconception that spiders were brown in this version. However, thorough technical analysis of available evidence by OmniArchive on April 8, 2020, has revealed that they were almost certainly black.
 * Spiders were almost certainly black when this version was released
 * Various pieces of evidence have been referenced to support that spiders were brown in this version, but each one has now been countered.
 * Notch posted a screenshot and video of brown spiders at October 23, 2009 14:49 UTC and October 23, 2009 22:34 UTC, respectively. Each showed "0.26 SURVIVAL TEST" in the top-left corner.
 * However, that screenshot and video were created before this version was released to the public.
 * Thus they prove that the spiders were brown during this version's development, but they do not prove so for this version's release.
 * An error screenshot shown to Notch in a forum had as a background an unfamiliar brown texture filling the game screen. The player said they got the error upon being killed by a spider.  The screenshot shows "0.26 SURVIVAL TEST" in the corner.  There have been claims that this screenshot's background is a close-up of the brown spider texture.
 * However, that screenshot's background has now been reproduced using adjacent dirt blocks.
 * This almost certainly proves that the player got the error while closely facing adjacent dirt blocks, and that it almost certainly was not a screenshot of a spider.
 * Someone other than Notch made a gameplay video of this version, which shows "0.26 SURVIVAL TEST" in the corner. There have been claims that unusual brown shapes in the distance are brown spiders.
 * This video is low-resolution (480p), so objects in the distance are hard to identify.
 * Any known claims of brown spiders in this video have now been shown to be various arrangements of dirt and grass blocks.
 * Further, evidence has now been identified that almost certainly proves that spiders were black in the release of this version.
 * Here is a timeline of events supporting that they were black:
 * October 23, 2009 23:38 UTC: TIGSource forums user Xion commented on Notch's brown spider blog post, suggesting to darken the spider texture and give it red eyes.
 * October 23, 2009 23:45 UTC: The spider.png texture file is changed at this time, and this file had not been changed by the time 0.27 Survival Test was released, as shown by spider.png in this latter version's jar having the same modify date.  This means it's almost a certainty that the spider.png in this latter version (and therefore all spiders in-game) looks exactly as it did in 0.26 Survival Test.
 * October 23, 2009 23:48 UTC: Notch asks, "Like this?" on TIGSource forums in response to Xion's suggestion.  Although this question no longer has an accompanying picture, review of the evidence shows that it more likely than not had a screenshot initially, displaying the the spider texture that had been modified 3 minutes earlier.
 * October 24, 2009 00:13 UTC: Version 0.26 Survival Test was released to the general public at roughly this time, which is the time of Notch's October 24 "Survival mode updated..." blog post.
 * October 24, 2009 00:29 UTC: TIGSource forums user deathtotheweird answers Notch with, "that looks better," and mentions having just been attacked by a spider.
 * In the jar of version 0.27 Survival Test, the spider.png texture file has a modify date of October 23, 2009 23:45 UTC.
 * Since this time is roughly 28 minutes prior to the release of 0.26 Survival Test, it is almost a certainty that this version of spider.png was included in that release's jar file.
 * Therefore, considering that the October 23, 2009 23:45 UTC version of spider.png is the one defining that spiders are black with red eyes in 0.27 Survival Test, then it is almost a certainty that 0.26 Survival Test had the exact same black spider appearance at time of public release.
 * Additionally, the modify date of spider.png is 7 minutes after Xion suggested changing the spider's appearance, supporting that the change was in response to his suggestion. Further support for this is Notch's follow-up post 3 minutes after the spider's texture was modified.