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.

Combat changes
A new combat system is currently in development which will only allow the player to attack when their weapon is fully charged among other changes.

Fletching table functionality
Fletching tables were set to gain functionality in a later update. Originally, this was planned for "the next major themed update", but will not be implemented in 1.16.

Biome updates
Desert and savanna were the biomes that did not win the MINECON Earth 2018 "biome chooser" vote. Their features are promised to be added in a yet-unknown future update:


 * Deserts will be given palm trees, oases, and meerkats.
 * Savannas will be given baobab trees, termites, and ostriches.

As a result of the biome vote at MINECON LIVE 2019, the mountains biome will receive new features sometime in 2020 – sooner than the badlands and swamp, but later than Java Edition 1.16.


 * Mountains will be given goats, a new type of snow, and better terrain generation.
 * Badlands will be given vultures, tumbleweed, and a new type of cacti.
 * Swamps will be given frogs, mangrove trees, and a new type of boat.

Super Fancy graphics
Docm77 confirmed in a tweet that sometime in the future, a new graphics setting will be added to Minecraft called "super fancy." This could be in reference to the upcoming ray tracing functionality being added to Minecraft.

Blaze3D


A new Java Edition rendering pipeline called Blaze3D has been confirmed many times by Searge. There are also many references to this system in the game files, although it has not been functionally implemented.

Phasing out of NBT-based crafting recipes
In Java Edition 1.14, numerous new blocks were implemented as replacements for certain "complex" crafting recipes, with the replaced crafting recipes relying on NBT data. This included moving inventory tool repair to the grindstone, banner modification to the loom, and map modification to the cartography table. However, several more NBT based crafting recipes still exist, and these are planned to be phased out. Certain blocks that may be added in the future to further this goal include a dedicated fireworks customization block.

In Java Edition 1.14.3, tool repair crafting recipes were reimplemented.

Full split of liquids from blocks
Java Edition 1.13 added waterlogging, marking the start of this separation. An in-development screenshot showing water occupying leaves and flowers, referred to as having "no water blocks", was released in 2018. However, water and lava still exist as blocks, and so far only water sources can occupy other blocks through the waterlogged block state; flowing water and bubble columns cannot occupy other blocks and still and flowing lava cannot occupy other blocks at all.

Having water only occupy one side of a block like a glass pane, but not the other, is also something that has been considered.

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

Colored wood planks
Dinnerbone briefly thought about implementing colored wood planks, releasing a test image on his Twitter page. This however never got implemented, as can be seen from the following quotes. The idea was eventually replaced with stained clay.

Dirt slab


Before stone slabs were added to 0.26, Notch ran a test of dirt slabs. In the test, they replaced dirt blocks, so that dirt surface without grass was half a block lower than grass. However, dirt slabs failed to dress cliff edges, caves, and ravines nicely. Because of this, 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 similar to coarse dirt.

Sky Dimension


The Sky Dimension was a planned dimension, intended to be the opposite of the Nether. It could be accessed using hacks, but portals to the Sky Dimension were never implemented. The idea was ultimately scrapped    and its code was reused to make the End. The End has a purple sky, no clouds, and the floating island are made entirely of end stone.

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

Mentioned
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.

Mobs
There have been several cases of mobs being mentioned by developers as potential candidates for being added to the game, such as a 2012 mention of birds, fish and tree animals by Jon Kågström, to "make the game seem more alive", with parrots and four different fish mobs were added in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Hamsters were also mentioned by Notch in 2010 as a brief, mysterious, unserious suggestion as to what could have been in the then-upcoming Seecret Friday update.

Development of a male mob which may have had no clothes was also mentioned by Dinnerbone in 2012,  but this is not currently being worked on.

Reindeer were another mob acknowledged and suggested initially for Christmas 2015.

A mob which camouflages with its environment was a concept considered by Jeb when designing the shulker, which was originally one of the mob's mechanics during development - 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. He stated however that it may happen in the future.

In 2017, a jocular suggestion regarding adding more types of illagers was posted. One of them, the Pillager, has been implemented in Java Edition 1.14.

A more recent developer hint about adding mobs involved adding seals/sea lions and/or killer whales /orcas

Red Dragon
Notch revealed during the 8th Seecret Friday Update that he would add dragons, one being the ender dragon, the other being red dragons. Jeb informed participants of his AMA on Reddit that he would add red dragons, but was unsure exactly how. When questioned about how ender dragons phase through blocks, Notch went on record saying that dragons in the Overworld would eventually be added. However, the red dragon has not subsequently been added.

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

Later, on December 15, 2013, a Dinnerbone post on Reddit indicated his belief that red dragons likely will be implemented at some point:

Audio loops
Loops were unused sounds, found in the game files, and were possibly meant for when the player is in a specific type of location (i.e., in caves, forests, the ocean and beside a waterfall).

Branches
Notch mentioned both of these in a blog post during Indev. The addition of sideways logs seems to be an alternative for branches. Implemented on chorus trees, but not on ordinary trees.

Cave and underground features
Many features relating to the underground and caves have been mentioned historically, but are yet to be seen in-game. An extremely early example of this was crystal blocks, a type of material which could be found in large underground deposits. Later suggestions which were approved by Mojang include rainbow crystalline caves and cave maps, considered "an interesting idea" by Notch. 1.13 added buffet worlds, which has an option for cave-like generation.

More ores and cave types was a general target proposed by dinnerbone in late 2013, Since this post, flooded underwater caves have been implemented. with 1.16 adding ancient debris and nether gold ore some six years later.

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.

Inventory changes
An inventory rewrite was originally added in the snapshot 14w17a for Java Edition 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.

Lua scripting
Lua Scripting was a feature mentioned by Notch as a way to create server side modifications. The server would be able to create custom commands, assign certain server functions to blocks, and create user groups. Players would not have to download scripts within or outside of the client, and therefore no client-side modifications will be necessary. Notch said that he wanted Lua to be an extension for Minecraft, but did not want Lua to turn Minecraft into a game engine.

Lua scripting has been further hinted at by Searge.

Nether features
Multiple features relating to the Nether have been proposed and acknowledged, such as utilizing the space above the Nether ceiling for something else, non-rectangular nether portals, and nether portals placing players in front if possible.

During the development of the Nether Update, other ideas were discussed, such as dyeable nether portals, which were dismissed as not being priority by Jeb, as well as in-game hints on how to access the Nether (partially implemented with naturally generated Ruined Portals).

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 (somewhat implemented with the addition of Quick Charge), boots that increase health, or night vision helmets. However, the attribute system has to be finished first.

Treasure enchantments have been implemented in 1.9 and 1.11, and tridents have been implemented in 1.13, somewhat implementing this feature. Treasure enchantments have also been made less accessible in 1.16 via nerfing afk fishing, and a new piglin-exclusive enchantment exists.

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.

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.

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.

Workbench (Plugin API)
The Plugin API, dubbed "Workbench", is a feature that allows mod developers to easily add more content to the game. In contrast to mods, plugins will not require any alteration of the minecraft.jar file itself, although they will also be slightly limited in their feature set. The Bukkit team will help make the official Plugin API.

Off-hand changes
Changes with the off-hand slot added in Java Edition 1.9 were planned on being added to Minecraft sometime in the future. Specifically, the player would no longer be able to or place blocks with any item in their off-hand slot. However, players would still be able to hold items in the off-hand slot, which still made the off-hand useful for maps and such. Also, blocking would 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.

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

General features

 * More structures in biomes. Since this was mentioned, woodland mansions, End cities, shipwrecks, underwater ruins, pillager outposts, and bastion remnants have been implemented.
 * More dimensions. Implemented in the April Fools' update Java Edition 20w14infinite.
 * More rare structures and terrain changes. Partially added with Ice Spikes.
 * All exclusive features ported to Java Edition. See Official pages/Parity issue list for more info.

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


 * Mentioned in 2010


 * Animated swinging doors
 * Colliding clouds
 * Server portals
 * Moon
 * Turnips
 * 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. 1.14 added campfires, which generate smoke particles similar to what was mentioned, but they are not blocks nor cast shadows.
 * 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 Java Edition 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
 * Scarecrows. 1.14 added pillager outposts, which can generate a scarecrow-like target structure.
 * Storing of achievements and statistics online
 * Custom paintings
 * Hand-drawn signs
 * Exploding arrows


 * Mentioned in 2012


 * Vertical redstone
 * Ability to design village buildings. Partially implemented with structure blocks.
 * 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 $$)
 * More colors and texture pack customizations of maps
 * Flower pots breaking when hit by arrows. This has been added for chorus flowers.
 * 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 Java Edition 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
 * Blocks of charcoal, mentioned as something that would need to be implemented as to not complicate the existence of coal blocks


 * Mentioned in 2014


 * Improved camera controls
 * 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
 * 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
 * Being able to make the world border's center slowly move


 * Mentioned in 2015


 * Corn
 * In game lore
 * Making it so shields are used to block attacks from the side the shield is held on.
 * Allowing mobs to have additional random skins, similar to the kind of variation seen in horses, cats and rabbits.
 * Giving the ability to rotate and mirror structures.  Structure blocks were later given the ability to rotate structures.
 * Minecart improvements after/in 1.10
 * Improvements to the GUI. These would allow the glowing effect to be seen on the inventory player model.


 * Mentioned in 2016


 * Phasing out the minecart with furnace.
 * New musician villager that trades note blocks, jukeboxes, and music discs.
 * 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
 * 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


 * Toggleable enchantment glows
 * The return of Customized worlds, "completely different from before", with "no more screens with 50 vague sliders."
 * Data-driven world generation using json files, allowing for custom structures.
 * A portal that would teleport the player to a different place in the Overworld.


 * Mentioned in 2019


 * A crawling animation
 * Illusioners in raids
 * The early 1.15 snapshots included textures for a crystallized honey item and wax block, however these were allegedly not meant to make it into the game in the first place.
 * Nether Portal like thing that will teleport the player to the Moon or Mars
 * Nether boats, presumably made out of the new wood or netherite to use in lava. Striders serve a similar purpose.


 * Mentioned in 2020

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, Update Aquatic, Village & Pillage, and Buzzy Bees, 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.
 * Jeb joked about adding more types of dragons. In response, MissMarzenia joked "DRAGONS CONFIRMED."
 * 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 Java Edition 1.13 with fish and corals.
 * Pine cones.
 * Dinnerbone joked about adding dwarves when asked about it.
 * A texture known in the game files as "skis.png", was added in the Christmas/New Year update. Its textures were added by Dinnerbone as a red herring.
 * 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 stated that pizza is confirmed to be added.
 * After the announcement of pillagers, Dinnerbone and Jeb joked about several more villager portmanteaus:
 * Drillager: he comes and pokes holes in things.
 * Fillager: he fixes the previous guys stuff.
 * Thrillager: really likes heights and scary things.
 * Killager: but we kinda already have that.
 * Spillager: prevents you from drinking potions.
 * Stillager: just stands around blocking important doorways.
 * Millager: the only hard working one of the bunch.
 * Krillager: Swims around and gets eaten by whales
 * 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.
 * In 2019, Mojang released 3D Shareware v1.34, which changed the game's visual style to resemble 1990s video games.
 * In 2020, Mojang released 20w14Infinite, which added over 2 billion new dimensions.