Java Edition pre-Classic

Pre-classic is the name given to versions released before Classic. It was part of the first development phase in Minecraft. The phase was originally named Cave Game until the game was changed to Minecraft.

Little is known about this development phase, since it was never publicly released, and only Notch could test the versions. Every version in this phase can be seen in a few of the videos by Nizzotch, Notch's YouTube channel.

The most well known version in this phase was probably the May 13th 2009 version of Pre 0.0.9a, as it was shown in Nizzotch's Cave Game Tech Test video.

History
Pre-classic began when Notch started working on a game named Cave Game. He was influenced to create by Infiniminer, Dwarf Fortress, Dungeon Keeper, and Notch's previous project, RubyDung.