Village



NPC Villages are groups of buildings inhabited by non-player characters (NPCs)--Villager mobs that spawn randomly. How much space the villages take up is randomized just like the terrain is.

Structure
Some of the buildings and structures found within villages are:

The number of buildings within villages vary, and not all types will be in every village. There is always one well, up to two churches, up to two forges, up to two libraries, up to two taverns and up to three large homes. Villages on Superflat mode tend to be larger, and can have up to two churches, up to two forges, up to three libraries, up to three taverns, and up to four large homes; there is still exactly one well.
 * Small Huts made of Wood, Fences, Wooden Planks, cobblestone, with Glass Panes for windows. Some also have roof balconies.
 * Homes, which are composed of the same materials listed above. However, they are larger in size and are L-shaped; houses are often mistaken as T-shaped from the top, but on the ground or inside, are noticeably L-shaped.
 * Taverns, which have wooden stairs as benches, pressure plates on top of fences as tables, and a double stone slab counter. They also have fenced-off backyards.
 * Libraries with bookshelves and a crafting table.
 * Wheat Farms, which are, of course, farms of wheat surrounded by wood.
 * Wells, which are 2x10x2 pools filled with water surrounded by cobblestone and fences.
 * A Forge is made out of cobblestone, iron bars, furnaces and small pools of lava. They also have a room located at the back with a chest containing Bread, Apples, Iron Sword, Iron Pickaxe, Iron Armor, Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots, Saplings, Obsidian, and/or Diamonds. The lava in forges can rarely set nearby structures on fire.
 * Churches are cobblestone buildings with a small 3 floor tower equipped with ladders to a balcony on the top (can be confused as being a watch tower or fortress).
 * Lamp Posts, made of stacked fences, black wool and torches.
 * Gravel Roads, which connect most of the buildings.
 * Mines, which are typically 2 blocks high and 8-15 blocks long

Finding NPC Villages
One method is to find the possible places that villages can spawn by using a superflat world, where a lack of terrain makes villages spawn more often. This method will not always work: The above does not always work because NPC villages only spawn in flat biomes (plains and desert), so the above produces many false positives where the location in the original map is not suitable. One possibility is to retry the steps above but for step 2 select default world type (as opposed to superflat). This makes it harder to see NPC villages, but each NPC village found is much more likely to exist in the original world.
 * 1) Find your seed number. This can be done by pressing F3.
 * 2) Create a creative, superflat world, using that seed.
 * 3) If the computer being used is sufficiently powerful set the "render distance" to "far" under "video settings" under "options".
 * 4) Fly around and search for an NPC village
 * 5) When you find one, press F3 and find the coordinates.
 * 6) Go to these coordinates on your other (first) world.
 * 7) An NPC village (not the same design but still an NPC village) will have spawned there.

Expanding NPC Villages
The player can add buildings to a NPC Village to cause more Villagers to spawn there. The requirements for a building are as follows:
 * Must have a solid roof (something that blocks skylight)
 * Must have a door
 * Has walls

Underwater Player Made Villages
The player can make villages under things, such as platforms and water. However At least two blocks must be able to "see the sky" all the way up to the top of the map. Example:

~#0#~ ~#0#~

If an underwater house is desired, the surface should look like this. The air has to be unobstructed all the way from the roof to the surface. Key ~ Water 0 Air
 * 1) Wood

House Designs
Key: @ Log    ^ Glass Pane
 * 1) Wood    + Door    Empty space

Scrooge
Bare-bones, high-density design. Summary: 16 logs (including wood for doors); 6 doors; 2.01 villagers 5 width; 4 length; 3 height 7.619 logs per villager; 0.105000 villagers per sq m; 0.033500 villagers per cu m Layer 1    Layer 2     Layer 3 +  #       +   #       ####

Tiny House
Like Scrooge, but with more style. Summary: 61.5 logs; 6 doors; 2.01 villagers; 5 width; 4 length; 3 height; 29.286 logs per villager; 0.105000 villagers per sq m; 0.033500 villagers per cu m Layer 1    Layer 2     Layer 3 @+#+@      @+#+@       @@@@@ +   #       +   #       @###@ @+#+@       @+#+@       @@@@@

History
Notch originally worked on NPC Villages by himself, but eventually gave the task to Jeb, so that he could work on other things. Jeb has said that, during early tests of villages, the lava in a smithy often set the village on fire.

NPC villages were added in Beta 1.8. In Beta 1.9 Pre-release, Villager mobs were added to spawn in NPC Village.

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 of the structures. NPC Villages are most often spawned in desert or plains biomes. It is implied that villages will have their own biome in order to solve many of the problems that were hindering their development.

As of 12w07a, Villagers will automatically repopulate according to the number of available houses in the Village. This is useful, because Zombie sieges have also been implemented, which hordes of zombies will have a chance to spawn near villages at night and attack Villagers. The player may supplement the amount of available houses by creating structures that consist of an area with a roof and wooden door.

As of 12w08a, Iron Golems will spawn near villages in order to protect the Villagers against any mobs in its sight, except passive mobs, wolves, and certain hostile mobs, most notably the Creeper.

PAX
NPC Villages were shown to the public during the PAX demo. For demo purposes, Notch made them appear near the spawn so people could see them. 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 was 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.

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 treat The Villagers well (giving them items), they'll give you items back.
 * If you treat The Villagers badly (attacking/killing them), they'll try to do the same to you.
 * Raiding chests will anger the owners of the town/chest and they will attack.

Bugs

 * It is possible for Mushrooms to spawn inside the buildings.
 * NPC villages may occasionally spawn in shallow water. As seen Here
 * Occasionally, if a lamp post is generated one block away from a building, one of the torches may be spawned on the wall of that building.
 * It is possible for village buildings as well as farms to be cut off seemingly randomly, as result of chunk errors, making building partially spawned.
 * If an NPC village is in the desert, there is a small chance there will be a Cactus on the paths, and that they will have gravel on top of them.
 * It is possible for structures built by NPCs to continue down a ravine, if spawned on/next to one.

Trivia

 * NPC villages are optional as part of the setting for generated structures.
 * Unlike in the above case, if gravel goes through a tall grass area, tall grass will be removed and it may drop seeds.
 * The paths may also be collapsed because of a cave.
 * 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.
 * Occasionally, surface ravines will be generated through NPC villages, causing missing pathways or even entire buildings sunken into the ravine. This also applies to cave entrances and other surface oddities.
 * Originally, NPC Villages were intended to be populated with Pigmen.
 * In early screenshots, villages were partly made of Moss Stone.
 * It is possible to spawn directly inside an NPC Village building. Example: gimmeabreak as the seed in 1.0.0 unlike others before 1.0.0 and after Beta 1.7.3 which spawns you near 4 chickens.
 * The wells in NPC villages do not work as infinite water sources, as they are more than one block deep. (They do become infinite water sources once drained to their lowest level, or if the bottom is filled in with sand/gravel.)
 * Sometimes buildings can generate so that their entrances are buried. You have to uncover the entrance, or dig in through the walls.