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.

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

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 it made a mess of the sides of cliffs and underground. 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.

Dyed planks
Dinnerbone asked Twitter how they would feel about colored planks. He announced the results as being, "30% 'please no', 80% 'yes please'. Yes, that's 110%. I don't even know." Despite this, he cancelled the idea and instead added hardened clay, which can be dyed. The dyed planks were abandoned after Dinnerbone realized they would require slabs and stairs of each color too. However, each tree type has their own color plank. This includes stairs, slabs, doors, fences and fence gates. However, they are not dyed, just simply the color of the appropriate tree.

Lantern
Lanterns were crafted blocks originally planned to be added in the Halloween Update. However, they were delayed due to lack of time and were going to be implemented in a future update.

With the addition of the lantern, torches would flicker out and need to be re-lit with flint and steel. The lantern would serve as a permanent source of light. According to Notch, when the update would occur, all torches placed on the map, in the inventory, and in chests prior to the update would be converted to lanterns. To do this, the lanterns would use the (former) block ID of torches along with a re-skin.

On January 13, 2011 Notch claimed that lanterns were "postponed", and added on January 20 that he was "not sure" when they would be implemented. Notch announced on November 18, 2011, at the Mojang Panel at MineCon 2011, that lanterns would not be added to Minecraft due to large negative community response towards the effects the new item would have had on torches. Instead, other types of lighting would be added, such as redstone lamps and glowstone.

Lectern
The Lectern was an old project of Dinnerbone's. It was meant to be a stand for books so you could easily read them. He was well on his way to creating it when he encountered problems and scrapped the idea, but mentioned that he might pick up work on the lectern in the near future. Dinnerbone stated in his Reddit AMA on December 18 2013 that he had revisited lecterns but scrapped them again as "something about them just didn't feel right".

Sky Dimension


The Sky Dimension was a planned dimension in Minecraft, intended to be the opposite of the Nether.

In Indev, there was a map type called "Floating." It spawned floating islands full of terrain based on the World Theme.

The Sky Dimension was first announced when Notch tweeted a picture of the dimension. It was probably made to be like a "heaven," because the Nether was considered to be like a hell, and the End is similar to limbo and/or slip space. The Sky Dimension was not completely confirmed until Notch released an update via Twitter stating: "And because PC Gamer made such a big deal of the Sky Dimension, I guess I'll have to finish it. Consider it confirmed."

In a live webcast on the Swedish gaming site feber.se Notch revealed that the Sky Dimension would "probably be a dream world" and that when "you go to bed there is a certain chance that you get teleported into the dream world instead. Then you will be able to do it on purpose later on."

The Sky Dimension was originally planned for the Adventure Update, but Notch put it on hold till the Nether was more fun.

The original concept of the Sky Dimension was later rebranded as "The End," a dark place fittingly referred to as the "end of the game," home to the Endermen and the Ender Dragon, and a total conversion of the original idea. Notch tweeted much later that a different "Skylands" dimension probably was still in the making. This version, completely separate from the End, was set to replace the original idea. However, Jeb later stated that returning the Sky Dimension was not planned and therefore is unlikely to be done.

Mod-enabled version
Notch left data in for an early prototype of the Sky Dimension in Beta 1.6 and 1.7. Using various mods it is possible to access this currently unfinished version of the Sky Dimension.

In this version of the Sky Dimension, the build up of the world blocks-wise is very much like the Overworld, but it is always midday and it does not rain or snow (though cloud cover does appear as if it were raining). Although uncommon, it is possible to find sugar canes, redstone, lapis lazuli, and more rarely diamond. Like the normal world, you can also find dungeons, Iron, coal, and gold. The only mobs that spawn in the sky dimension are chickens and very rarely cows and pigs. Below the islands of the Sky Dimension is nothing but the Void and a layer of clouds.

Later, the Sky Dimension was hidden within the region 0 (Overworld) code. However, starting in Beta 1.9-pre3, it was given its own region: Region 2, with Region 1 being the Nether. However, instead of Sky Dimension chunks spawning within its region, they would generate in the Overworld on Multiplayer servers. This is most likely due to an issue with map generation and saving causing Sky Dimension chunks to save over Overworld chunks rather than being made in their own, separate map files like the Nether does. If a world with Sky Dimension chunks is brought from multiplayer to singleplayer, the area of the chunks will always be plains biome, even if snow generated naturally on the ground.

Gallery
The first released screenshots of the Sky Dimension:

Fish
Fish were a passive mob that Notch showed interest in adding. In the Halloween Update, Notch said he would add fish. However, they were only added as an item. There is no coding for a fish mob in the game itself, nor is there a model that currently exists. Despite being two years since the mob was first mentioned, Jon Kagstrom has stated that he is planning to add fish as a mob. Notch states in the reference the 'ability to catch fish' which is already implemented. Nothing says anything about adding a model. During [ Notch's AMA] on Reddit, when asked about what happened to his plans of adding fish as a mob, he responded, "Oh yeah, the fish!"

Mentioned
These features were mentioned at one point but later abandoned or their current status is unknown.

Account System Update
This will include the ability to change your Minecraft username and have multiple copies of Minecraft per account. This will come sometime after 1.8 is released.

Dinnerbone later mentioned name changes will come at the beginning of 2015.

Audio loops
Audio loops have not yet been added to the game, but may be implemented to play when the player is in a specific location (In caves, forests, oceans, and beside a waterfall). This has been partially added in 1.4 with the addition of lava and water ambient sounds.

Coral
Notch attempted to implement coral, but he stated: "But it's really hard to draw a single block that looks like corals, since it's really more about crazy amounts of variation and diversity. But I do know that the corals will have tiny fish particles around them."

Friends List
Notch mentioned on his blog, The World 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.

Lua scripting
Lua Scripting was a feature mentioned by Notch as a way to create server side modifications.

Players will not have to download scripts within or outside of the client, and therefore no client-side modifications will be necessary.

The server would be able to create custom commands, assign certain server functions to blocks, and create user groups.

Notch has said that he wanted Lua to be an extension for Minecraft. He does not want Lua to turn Minecraft into a game engine. Essentially, Lua, although a nice addition, will not revolutionize game-play in Minecraft.

Panda
Dinnerbone once tweeted about pandas in response to the question "If you could code any mob into the game, what would it be?"

On December 18, 2013, on Reddit, Dinnerbone answered the question "If you could add one feature to Minecraft without the hassle of coding or modeling, just anything, and you wouldn't need anyone's permission: What do?".

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, boots that increase health, or night vision helmets. However, the attribute system has to be finished first.

Red Dragon
Notch revealed during the 8th Seecret Friday Update that he would add dragons, one being the ender dragon, the other being red tamable dragons. Jeb informed participants of his AMA on Reddit that he would add red dragons, but was unsure exactly how. 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, Dinnerbone wrote on Reddit that there will be red dragons in Minecraft one day.

Rendering Engine Rewrite
First confirmed for 1.5, but has just been added. The features will soon require a higher OpenGL feature-set or a Graphics Card that supports OpenGL 2.0. The rewritten engine does allow for much faster overall rendering, resulting in much higher FPS. This has partially been added in 1.7 and is completely added in 1.8.

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
Spike blocks 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.

Workbench (Mod/Plugin API)
The Plugin API, also known as Workbench, is a planned feature to allows mod developers to easily add more content to the game, which would be called plugins. Plugins would be easy to find and install, as well as less prone to crash or break the game than mods.

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


 * The ability to choose what work saves to the level files
 * Storing of achievements and statistics online
 * Animated swinging doors
 * Better construction analysis
 * BUD switches, a block that would act as a Block update detector, told at Minecon 2012 for use with redstone circuitry.
 * Notch mentioned adding branches in a blog post during Indev. The addition of sideways logs seems to be an alternative for branches.
 * Capture the flag. It was later mentioned again as being added to the Xbox 360 Edition before being added to the PC or pocket edition, but it was never added.
 * Cherry trees
 * Colliding clouds
 * Dinnerbone planned to make buckets fillable from cauldrons.
 * Dinnerbone tweeted a picture containing a minecart with dispenser; although, it may have just been showcasing the custom tile displays in minecarts which was added in the next snapshot, 13w02a.
 * Easier way to implement terrain changes
 * Exploding arrows
 * In early Alpha, Notch mentioned two more gamemodes, Team Survival Mode and Fortress Mode
 * Mesa temple
 * More animals such as fish, birds, and tree animals, to make the game seem more alive.
 * More sea life (This has partly implemented in 14w25a with the addition of guardians)
 * More Ores
 * More structures in biomes
 * More types of caves
 * The ability to remove enchantments from an item.
 * Scarecrows
 * Subtitles, making the game more convenient for people who have the inability to hear.
 * Treasure maps
 * Uncarved pumpkins.
 * Whales were mobs mentioned by Notch in a version of Alpha as a water mob, until the addition of squid.
 * Custom paintings
 * Dual wielding of items
 * Rainbow crystalline caves
 * Server portals
 * Fireworks having effects on mobs, such as scaring wolves.
 * Dinnerbone has stated he has an "Ultimate Plan" with endermites that might include the dragon egg. However, he also mentioned he hasn't discussed this idea with the rest of the team yet.

Joke features


Notch and other Mojang AB employees have frequently joked about adding various features to the game.


 * Hot dogs.
 * Herobrine. In every new Minecraft update like Halloween Update, Adventure Update, Pretty Scary Update, Redstone Update, Horse Update, The Update That Changed The World, and The Bountiful Update, it will say "removed Herobrine", but Herobrine was never implemented. This has also appeared in the changelog for Scrolls version 0.103.0.
 * The locked chest or "Steve Co. Supply Crate" was temporarily added as the 2011 April Fools' Day joke.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Pine cones.
 * Dinnerbone joked about adding dwarves when asked about it.
 * YouTube and Twitch broadcaster SethBling mentioned a downside of the command blocks on one of his livestreams, and Dinnerbone joked about removing command blocks to accommodate him.
 * Many features for Minecraft 2.0 as the 2013 April Fools' day joke, such as pink withers and redstone bugs.
 * Dinnerbone joked that Minecraft pizza would be a good idea to add, and as a joke KrisJelbring states pizza is confirmed to be added.