Village



NPC Villages are a feature that were added in Beta Version 1.8 (Although the NPCs will be added later in 1.9). The buildings in the NPC villages are naturally generated, and their numbers and how much space they take up are randomized just like the terrain. It is unknown what kind of NPCs will spawn in and around the buildings, and if they will be passive, aggressive, neutral, or randomized. It is assumed to be Humans and/or Pigmen (as found in the game files).

A picture of NPC villages was released by Notch before 1.8 was released. Even though the picture only showed the exterior of the buildings, videos recorded later during PAX revealed the interior. NPC Villages have their own biome. This was done in order to solve many of the problems that were hindering their development.

Structure
Villages consists of several buildings connected by gravel roads. Most buildings are made out of normal wood, wooden planks, and cobblestone, having glass pane windows. The interior of the buildings have wooden stairs acting as chairs, pressure plates on a single fence post for tables, bookshelves, crafting tables, and stone slabs. Some houses have a backyard surrounded by fence, and some of the house roofs have fence railings, almost as if they were designed to be outposts or guard posts. In the villages, there are also tall fence posts with black wool and 4 torches on them. Some have 2x2x10 wells filled with water. They may also include a blacksmith made with cobblestone and iron bars and containing furnaces and a forge made from a small pool of lava. There are sometimes farms of wheat bordered with logs.

PAX
NPC Villages were shown to the public during the PAX demo. For demo purposes, Notch made them appear near spawn so people could see them. (at 3:37) On a live stream from his Android phone during PAX, Notch stated that NPCs have not been added to the villages but that they are coming eventually. (According to Jeb, NPCs for the village will be delayed until Beta 1.9. ) The majority of the NPC structures are made from wood based resources, with frames of cobblestone, and the footpaths are 3 blocks wide and made of gravel. The gravel appears to replace the top layer of dirt upon generation of the village. (at 4:35)

Old Interview of Notch
Notch once answered some questions about an idea he had, NPC Villages, where he revealed some thoughts about them:
 * If you are good to them (giving them items), they'll give you items back.
 * If you are bad to them (attacking/killing them), they'll try to do the same to you.
 * There would maybe be a chest, containing special items, but raiding it will anger the owners of the town/chest.

Trivia

 * Notch originally worked on NPC Villages by himself, but eventually gave the task to Jeb, so that he could work on other things.
 * NPC villages are optional, as part of the setting for Generated Structures.
 * It is possible for Mushrooms to spawn inside the buildings.
 * If an NPC village is in the desert, there is a small chance there will be a cactus on the paths and it will have gravel on top of it.
 * Unlike above, if gravel goes through the tall grass area, tall grass will be removed, and they may drop seeds.
 * Jeb has said that, during early tests of villages, the lava in a smithy often set the village on fire.
 * NPC Villages very commonly spawn near the border of desert. When they do, the houses are usually filled with Sand/Gravel.
 * Endermen's nature to move blocks sometimes causes them to flood part of a village by removing tree stumps from a farm's irrigation canal, possibly killing themselves in the process.
 * Farms in the villages avoid overhanging by filling in the area below them with dirt. When the farm overhangs a ravine, this can cause a very tall rectangular dirt structure that at first glance almost looks like a chunk error. An example of this appears at seed 404 at the nearest town in Beta 1.8.1. (It's east-northeast from spawn as read on a map item.)