Caves & Cliffs is the name of one released and one upcoming major themed update set to release for Java Edition. The first part was released as Java Edition 1.17 and Bedrock Edition 1.17.0 on June 8, 2021,[1] which added geodes, copper, new blocks and mobs. The second part will be released as Java Edition 1.18 and Bedrock Edition 1.18.0[2] at the end of 2021 and will include expanded caves, increased height and depth limit, new mountain generation, and new biomes. It was announced in Minecraft Live 2020,[3] and on April 14, 2021, Mojang Studios announced that the update would be split into two updates due to the amount and complexity of content, as well as team health.[4]
On Java Edition, Part I started development with snapshot 20w45a, which was released on November 4, 2020. The first pre-release for Caves & Cliffs: Part I was released on May 27, 2021, and the first release candidate on June 4, 2021. As for Part II, development continued with 1.18 Experimental Snapshot 1, which was released on July 13, 2021.
On Bedrock Edition, Part I started development with beta 1.16.200.52, which was released on October 28, 2020. Most of the Part I features were behind experimental gameplay toggle until the Part I release and were not included in the full 1.16.200, 1.16.210, and 1.16.220 release.[5][6] As for Part II, development continued with beta 1.17.30.23, which was released on August 25, 2021. In 1.17.10, released on July 13, 2021, non-beta users were able to test out most of early Part II features behind experimental gameplay.[7]
Both Java and Bedrock received Caves & Cliffs: Part I on June 8, 2021.
Additionally, features from this update will be also released for Minecraft Education soon in 1.17 in 2021.[8]
Notable features
Blocks
- Grow on any side of budding amethyst blocks over time.
- Breaking a fully developed amethyst cluster with a non-Silk Touch pickaxe drops 4 amethyst shards.
- These can be crafted into spyglasses and tinted glass.
- Has variants of bushes and trees with either no blossoms or pink blossoms called flowering azalea.
- Can be found in the lush caves biome.
- Can be obtained from azalea leaves.
- Part of a new tree (azalea tree), marking the location of a lush cave.
- Has variants with either no blossoms or pink blossoms called flowering azalea leaves.
- Drop azaleas when broken, similarly to other leaf blocks dropping saplings.
- A plant that can be used for platforming.
- If a player or mob stands on top of the plant for two seconds (40 ticks), the plant tilts and the player or mob falls through the plant.
- Can be placed on any solid block and water.
- Can have bone meal applied to grow taller.
- Can be used for new parkour projects and obstacle courses.
- Can be crafted with four amethyst shards.
- Naturally generates in amethyst geode structures.
- Makes a sparkling sound when placed or walked on.
- Can be mined in amethyst geode by an iron pickaxe or better.
- When it receives a random tick, it has a 20% chance to generate or grow an amethyst bud on one of its sides.
- Relatively rare, generates only in amethyst geode structures.
- Only obtainable in Creative Mode.
- Spawns between smooth basalt and blocks of amethyst, much like real-life geodes.
- Can also generate in stony peaks.
- A light source with a light level of 3.
- Up to four can be placed in a single block, similar to sea pickles. If 1 more candle is placed in a block, it increases the light level by 3, making a max light level of 12.
- Can be lit with a flint and steel, fire charge, an arrow fired from a flame-enchanted bow, or a fire charge shot by a dispenser if it hits the candle.
- Have variants for uncolored and all 16 colors.
- Right-clicking a candle on an uneaten cake makes a "birthday cake", which can have a single candle placed on it.
- Can be filled with lava in Java Edition, which was previously a Bedrock Edition exclusive.
- Can be filled from the snowfall in mountains creating powder snow, which can be collected using buckets.
- Grow on the bottom side of a block.
- Grow in lush caves.
- Can be planted using glow berries.
- Produce edible glow berries, which are a light source.
- Using bone meal on a cave vine produces glow berries (similar to sweet berry bushes) instead of growing the vine itself, unlike other vines.
- Can be extended downward using glow berries, and has an age mechanic, similar to kelp, such that every time it ages it has a chance to grow Glow Berries.
- Takes slightly longer to mine than normal cobblestone.
- Mining deepslate without Silk Touch drops cobbled deepslate, similar to stone dropping cobblestone.
- Can be crafted or cut into several variants (see Cobbled Deepslate#Stonecutting for more information).
- Copper Block and variants
- Copper blocks are used for crafting and storage.
- Made with nine copper ingots.
- The stonecutter can be used to craft the different copper block variants.
- Develops a patina of pale green copper carbonate over multiple stages, exposed, weathered, and oxidized.
- Honeycombs can be used to make waxed copper, which does not progress beyond the patina stage it has at the time. The wax can be scraped off with an axe, but it does not drop the honeycomb.
- Axes can be used to undo the oxidisation stages one at a time.
- New ore that is found underground.
- Drops Raw Copper when broken, like other metal ores.
- Spawns in ore veins similar to iron (current generation is not the final version).
- Can be smelted into a copper ingot, which can be used to craft copper blocks, lightning rods, and spyglasses.
- Does not generate below Y = 0.
- Can be found below Y = 0.
- Generates as base stone below Y = 0, gradually replacing stone.
- Takes twice as long to mine than normal stone.
- Drops cobbled deepslate when mined without the Silk Touch enchantment.
- New overworld ore variants that generate in the deepslate layer (below Y = 0).
- Functionally similar to their normal ore variants but take twice as long to mine.
- Ores that generate with deepslate variants include iron, gold, lapis lazuli, diamond, and redstone.
- Ores that do not generate below Y = 0 still have deepslate variants, however these variants do not generate naturally.
- Spawn in dripstone caves.
- Can be used to grow Pointed Dripstone.
- Can be crafted from four pointed dripstone.
- A decorative block.
- Can be waterlogged.
- Looks similar to vines.
- Emits a light level of 7.
- Spreads to a random nearby block in a cross formation when bone meal is applied.
- Generates in caves.
- This block was hinted at by Henrik Kniberg, who explained that the glowing ores at Minecraft Live 2020 were prototypes for this. [9][10]
- Decorative block.
- Part of the new azalea trees.
- They can be grown by applying bone meal to the rooted dirt, the root will grow at the bottom of the block.
- Can also be obtained by using a hoe in the rooted dirt.
- Crafted with 3 copper ingots.
- Redirects nearby lightning strikes to the top of the rod, which can prevent flammable structures from catching fire during thunderstorms.
- Emits a redstone signal when struck by lightning, with the exception of when it gets struck by lightning from a channeling trident in a thunderstorm, in which it emits nothing.
- Can be oriented in different directions depending on the players orientation.
- Crafted from 9 raw iron, raw gold or raw copper.
- An opaque block that appears grassy on all sides.
- Using bone meal can cause it to grow grass, tall grass, moss carpets and both types of azalea bushes on it and in its vicinity.
- Bone meal can also cause it to grow over (expand) and convert stone surfaces, sand, dirt, etc. but not grass surfaces.
- Breaks when pushed by a piston.
- Same texture as the moss block, but one pixel thick like carpet.
- Can occupy the same block with grass.
- Come in two forms, stalactites and stalagmites.
- Stalactites hang from the ceiling and drip water or lava, based on what is above them. The stalactites drip water naturally without a source block above it, but these drips do not fill a cauldron.
- Placing a cauldron under a stalactite slowly fills the cauldron with water or lava depending on the source block above them (enables renewable lava).
- If the block on which a stalactite hangs is broken, the stalactite falls, causing damage to players and mobs directly underneath. They do not take any damage if they are airborne.
- Stalagmites are found on the floor of the cave and deal damage if landed on.
- The damage inflicted of pointed dripstone is directly proportional to the height from which the stalactite or player/mob falls from.
- Stalactites hang from the ceiling and drip water or lava, based on what is above them. The stalactites drip water naturally without a source block above it, but these drips do not fill a cauldron.
- Similar to snow, but entities fall through it. The fall is similar to the effect of cobwebs, but faster.
- If the player does not have any leather armor equipped and they walk or fall in, they start to freeze and take damage.
- Freezing lowers the player's FOV (field of view), turns the health bar blue, and puts a frosty vignette on their screen.
- Any leather armor prevents freezing.
- Wearing leather boots allows the player to walk on top of powder snow and make it function like scaffolding.
- Most mobs can also take freezing damage. Polar bears, strays, and snow golems are immune to freezing.
- Certain mobs have unique properties with powder snow.
- Skeletons convert into strays after staying inside of powder snow for too long.
- Goats avoid and jump across powder snow.
- Foxes, rabbits, endermites, and silverfish can walk on top of powder snow.
- Shulkers and vexes are unaffected by powder snow.
- "Snowier snow" was announced to be part of the Mountains biome in the biome vote at MINECON Live 2019, a joke teaser for powder snow.[11]
- Cauldrons slowly fill up with powder snow when they are placed in a snowing.biome
- Part of the Azalea plant.
- Resembles a dirt block, but with the roots of the Azalea tree intertwined.
- The first roots that exist in Minecraft.
- Planned to lead to the Lush Caves biome.
- When bonemealed, hanging roots grow on the bottom block.
- Generates in the deep dark cave biome.
- Can be used for wireless redstone.
- Senses vibrations created by anything (excluding ambient weather). See Sculk Sensor#Redstone emmision for more information.
- Wool can occlude its ability to sense in a certain direction. This can be placed between or completely around the source of the input.[Java Edition only] [until BE 1.18.0]
- Cannot detect players sneaking.
- Emits particles ( ) when it senses a vibration nearby, except when waterlogged.
- Are not affected by ambient weather such as rain,[12] nor other sculk sensors and/or the warden.[13]
- Appears highly varied in models.
- Can be placed only in water or on clay, which counts as a 'moist' block.
- Bone meal can be applied to turn it into Big Dripleaf.
- Can be sold by the Wandering Trader.
- Spawns as an outer covering of amethyst geodes on the outer side of calcite, similar to real-life geodes.
- Very similar in texture to calcite but different in color.
- Can be obtained by smelting basalt in a furnace.
- Can be placed on ceilings.
- Sends particles downward when opened.
- Creates ambient particle effects, similar to the nether biomes, but non-biome dependent, however, its natural generation is dependent of the Lush Caves, meaning that Spore Blossoms currently don't generate naturally in default worlds.
- A type of glass that does not allow light to pass through.
- Crafted with a glass block in the middle and 4 amethyst shards in a cross shape.
- Drops itself when broken, even without Silk Touch, unlike glass.
- Decorative block.
- Generates below y = 0 in the form of patches.
Items
- Drops from amethyst clusters.
- Used to make spyglasses and tinted glass.
- Obtained by using a water bucket on an axolotl, similar to fish.
- Bundle[Java Edition only]
- Can contain one cumulative stack of any variety of item types.
- Stack sizes are sustained. For example, a bundle containing 32 blocks with a stack size of 64 could hold only an additional 8 ender pearls, as the stack size of an ender pearl is 16; the half stack of ender pearls added to the half stack of blocks is calculated as one full stack. Un-stackable items like minecarts remain un-stackable.
- Displays a blue bar, similar to a durability bar, that shows how full it is.
- Items drop to inventory when right clicked.
- Are crafted with rabbit hide and string.
- Created by smelting raw copper.
- Can be used to craft copper blocks, lightning rods, and spyglasses.
- Grow from cave vines.
- Can be eaten.
- Used as a light source.
- Loved by foxes as much as sweet berries.
- Foxes can pick and eat glow berries from the vine similar to sweet berry bushes.
- Drops from Glow Squid.
- Used to make Glow Item Frames and glowing signs.
- Goat Horn[Bedrock Edition only]
- Goats have a chance to drop this item when they ram into a block.
- Holding use while holding this item plays the raid horn sound effect.
- Using a bucket on powder snow creates a powder snow bucket.
- Powder snow buckets can be used to place powder snow.
- Powder snow buckets can also be filled from cauldrons filled with powder snow.
- Raw Iron, Raw Gold, and Raw Copper
- Iron and gold ores now drop 1 raw iron and raw gold, as well as copper ore dropping 2-3 raw copper when mined instead of dropping themselves.
- Can be smelted into their ingot variants.
- The Fortune Enchantment works on iron and gold to drop more raw iron or raw gold.
- Spawn eggs for the new mobs are added.
- The axolotl spawn egg.
- The glow squid spawn egg.
- The goat spawn egg.
- Crafted from an amethyst shard and 2 copper ingots.
- When used while held, it allows the player to see far away objects through a small square.
- By pressing F1, the player can zoom in the whole screen; avoiding the border that is normally presented when using.
- Switching to third person view while using the spyglass shows the player holding up the spyglass to where the eyes would be.
Mobs
- Based on the critically endangered Mexican salamander with the same name in real life.
- Planned to be found in bodies of water within lush caves biomes.
- The first amphibian added to Minecraft.
- Can be caught in a bucket like fish.
- Comes in four common varieties, lucy (pink), wild (brown), gold, and cyan, and a rare blue variety, which has a 1⁄1200 (~0.08334%) chance of spawning. This fraction is based on the fact that there are about 1200 axolotls left in the wild.[14]
- Plays dead when damaged, receiving Regeneration.
- This regeneration ability is likely based on how real axolotls can regrow lost limbs.
- Preys on fish, glow squid and squid, and attacks drowned and guardians (doesn't include Elder Guardians) if tempted with tropical fish by a player.
- Axolotls prioritize hostile mobs over fish.
- Originates from the mob of the same name in Minecraft Earth.
- Underwater mob that behaves like a regular squid.
- Can spawn in underground water sources.
- Is attacked by axolotls without provocation.
- Drops glow ink sacs when killed.
- Does not affect the light level, but appears as if lit up. Glows in the same way that magma cube cores, vexes, blazes and the eyes of spiders, drowned, and endermen do.
- Stops glowing for a short time and swims away quickly after taking damage.
- Was decided on based on a mob vote between it, the Moobloom from Minecraft Earth, and the Iceologer from the Minecraft Dungeons DLC Creeping Winter.
- Spawns in mountain biomes.
- Can jump high to avoid obstacles, about 5 blocks tall.
- Attacks nearby mobs and players by charging and knocking them a considerable distance.
- Mobs attacked by goats don’t attack back.
- Doesn't attack other goats.
- Takes reduced fall damage.
- Avoids powder snow by jumping over it.
- Can be bred with wheat, which produces a baby goat.
- Drops one goat horn when ramming into a block. Goat horns do not regrow. [Bedrock Edition only]
- Has a 2% chance of spawning as a screaming goat, with different sounds.
- Screaming goats use their ramming attack more often than normal goats.
- Drops nothing upon death.
Non-mob entities
- A variant of the Item Frame that is made using a Glow Ink Sac.
- Appears to glow but does not give any actual light.
World generation
- An underground cave-like feature.
- Contains smooth basalt, calcite, blocks of amethyst, budding amethyst, and the amethyst clusters they generate.
- Large, rare, snake-like ore formations.
- Copper ore veins mixed with granite generate above Y=0.
- Iron ore veins mixed with tuff generate below Y=0.
- Height dependent generation.
- Revamped, featuring some new small spruce trees on the slopes and ice and packed ice above the peaks.
- Contain goats, rabbits, snow blocks, snow layers and powder snow.
- Iron ore, emerald ore and coal ore are found in abundance.
- Emerald ore no longer generates in veins of only one.
- Can generate up to Y = 260.
- New sub biomes. Lofty Peaks, Snowcapped Peaks, Snowy Slopes, Stony Peaks, Grove, and Meadow.
- Completely overhauled.
- Now stretch down to Y = -59.
- The cavern now generates in 2 layers of different stone bases depending on the depth.
- Biomes inside of caves introduced.
- Contain aquifers, bodies of water or lava with different heights, independent of sea level (Y=63).
- Improved old caves to blend in with the new generations of caves better.[15]
- New noise caves, coming in 2 forms, cheese and spaghetti.
- Try to generate fully encased in stone at low y-levels.
Biomes
- Contains pointed dripstone and dripstone blocks.
- Generates larger blobs of Copper Ore
- Contain cave plants and moss.
- Moss covers the ceilings and floors.
- Clay pools generate inside.
- 6 new sub-biomes added:
- Meadow
- Grove
- Covered in snow, snow blocks, dirt and powder snow, and is filled with spruce trees.
- Rabbits, foxes and wolves spawn in this biome.
- Generates in the slopes of a mountain when next to a forested biome
- Snowy Slopes
- Lofty Peaks
- One of three mountain peak biomes that only generate if the mountain is high enough.
- Generates in tall, jagged and pointy peaks.
- Covered in snow, snow blocks and stone.
- Only goats spawn in this biome
- Snowcapped Peaks
- Generates in smoother and usually smaller peaks, but sometimes can generate in taller peaks.
- Covered in snow and snow blocks with large patches packed ice and small blobs of ice.
- Only goats spawn in this biome
- Stony Peaks
Gameplay
- Vibrations
- An action can cause vibrations in the air, which can be picked up by sculk sensors and wardens.
- Can be caused by player and mob movements, blocks being placed or broken, containers opening, projectiles being fired and landing, blocks like pistons moving, buttons, levers and pressure plates activating, and blocks activating. Vibrations are not caused by ambient weather such as rain or snow. [12]
General
- Terrain generation is now independent from biomes, with biomes adapting to whatever terrain they happen to generate throughout.[16]
- Terrain is now smoother and more extreme.
- In Stone Shore and Stony Peaks, Diorite, Granite, Calcite, Andesite, and Gravel might of spawn in layers (strips) instead of splotches.
- Has been increased to 384 blocks, expanding 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down, with 320 being the limit upward and -64 being the limit downward.
- Most of the overworld ores have been retextured and touched up mainly for accessibility reasons. These also apply to the new deepslate ores.
- This is a great help for color blind people that have difficulties distinguishing a certain ore of similar texture from another.
- Diamond ore is an exception to this for being the "iconic" ore of the game, making Minecraft developers want to keep the classic feel of it.
- Ore distribution has been changed for more strategic mining.
- Certain ores are more common at certain depths, and some may generate in lower quantities or not generate at that level at all.
Planned additions
Blocks
- Generates in the mysterious new cave biome where the Warden lives, called the Deep Dark.
- Has an animated texture.
- May be used in redstone.[17]
- Namespaced ID
sculk
was revealed and found in the Bedrock Beta documentation. These blocks are currently not in the beta as it hasn't been implemented yet.
- Generates in the Deep Dark cave biome.
- Made of sculk and a bone-like material.[18]
- Has
bloom
state. - May be used in redstone.[17]
- May have something to do with axolotls.[19]
- Glows, but does not emit light, similar to the glow squid or the glow item frame.
- Namespaced ID
sculk_catalyst
was revealed and found in the Bedrock Beta documentation.[20][21]
- Generates in the deep dark biome.
- Perhaps made of sculk and a bone-like material.
- Has 2 soul-shaped patterns in the center.
- Has the ability to 'shriek' as revealed by internal textures.
- Namespaced ID
sculk_shrieker
was revealed and found in the Bedrock Beta documentation.
- Sculk Vein[22]
- Generates in the Deep Dark cave biome.
- Generates in a layer on top of blocks, similar to snow.
- Can be placed in all directions, like glow lichen.
- Has an animated texture.
- Some have parts that are transparent, allowing the player to see the block it is on top of.
- May be used in redstone as seen in this video when they talk about the sculk sensor.[17]
- Namespaced ID
sculk_vein
was revealed and found in the Bedrock Beta documentation.
Items
- Spawn Eggs
Mobs
- Spawns in the new Deep Dark cave biome.
- The first fully blind mob (bats, despite relying almost exclusively on echolocation, still have basic eyesight)[citation needed].
- When sensing movement, it moves toward the source of the movement.
- Follows and attacks players, mobs, and other entities that make vibrations.[note 1]
- Does not attack other wardens.
- When attacked, it pathfinds toward the player.
- Follows the same rules as the sculk sensor when detecting noise, apart from a much bigger detection range.
- When it detects a vibration, the growths on its head rattle and light up, similar to the sculk sensor.
- If any projectile (e.g. egg, snowball, arrow, splash potions, tridents) lands near the warden, the mob inspects the location where the projectile landed, due to the projectile creating movement and noise. This feature can be used in order to cause a distraction.
- Does not detect players that are sneaking.
- Can detect players that are invisible.[24]
- When aggravated for long enough, the warden follows the player continuously, regardless of any other distractions.
- Does not follow music from a jukebox.[25]
- Investigates explosion noises.[25]
- Follows and attacks players, mobs, and other entities that make vibrations.[note 1]
- Incredibly strong, doing 30 × 15 damage, bringing players wearing full netherite armor from full health to 7 health points.
- A mob designed to be extremely difficult to flee from, rather than fought against. Players are meant to sneak around the warden when traversing the Deep Dark, avoiding any vibrations that would cause it to detect them.[26][27][28]
- Has a way to counter the strategy of building up 4 blocks to avoid attacks.[29]
- At least as fast as the player's walking speed.
- Seems to have considerable knockback resistance.
- When near the warden, the brightness of the light the player sees decreases, regardless of Night Vision or brightness settings.[30]
- The warden's chest has a glowing core that appears to brighten and dim in tandem with the ambient lighting of the Deep Dark cave biome.
- The core creates a low throbbing sound as it pulses. The sound and animation seem to speed up rapidly when the warden notices a player.
- Is about 3.5 blocks tall, making it one of the tallest mobs in the game, exceeding the iron golem and enderman in height and width (respectively). [note 2][31]
- This would also make it as tall as the wither (when hostile).
- Currently burns in sunlight.[25]
- It is the only mob that spawns in the Deep Dark.[32]
- Does not spawn like normal hostile mobs, but instead uses completely new spawning rules.[33]
- The warden isn't needed to receive the advancement, Monsters Hunted.[34]
World generation
- Deep Dark biome
- New biome at the "deepest depths of the world", exclusively generating within the deepslate layer.[35]
- Only wardens can spawn here.[32]
- Contains sculk blocks, sculk sensors, sculk shrieker, sculk veins, sculk catalyst.
- May contain candles.
- Contains chests.[39]
- Has official lore. [40]
- General
- Ore generation further rebalanced, and influences the surrounding stone.
Gameplay
- Darkness effect
- While in the deep dark cave biome, the ambient lighting, such as the light given off by torches, occasionally dims temporarily, limiting the player's visibility. This serves as a warning that the warden is nearby.[41]
Planned changes
World generation
- Some stone appears a little different and when that stone is mined, more of the ore should be found behind it.[citation needed]
Unconfirmed features
Blocks
- File:Sculk Trap (pre-release).pngSculk Jaw
- Generates in the Deep Dark biome.
- Has state with unknown name.
- May not make it into the final release.[42]
- Can close.
- Between Java Edition snapshots 21w05a and 21w10a, many blocks (flowers, leaves, grass, ferns, sweet berry bushes, small dripleafs) had a block tag called "azalea_log_replaceable", possibly implying the existence of azalea logs.
- However, according to Jappa, the game’s artist, the reason azalea wood has not been added so far is because “Most colors of wood are currently covered. Azalea wouldn't be a special wood color like the nether woods. It would just be a slightly different color of another wood.”[43] He also stated that “Adding wood is quite a lot of work. Azalea trees are also very singular and not in big forests, so finding a lot of azalea wood would be very hard.”[44]
Structures
- Underground Cabin[unofficial name]
- Seen in the Deep Dark biome during the Minecraft Live 2020 stream.[45]
- Consists of a chamber with a cobblestone floor and stripped log support beams, containing 3 barrels, a blast furnace, and a large chest, with cobwebs and candles in and around it.
Further revisions
Java Edition
- 1.17
- 1.17.1 made changes to some game mechanics and fixes bugs.
Bedrock Edition
- 1.17
- 1.17.1 was released exclusively on Nintendo Switch to fix a bug in which players weren't able to connect to any server.
- 1.17.2 was released to fix bugs related to world generation.
- 1.17.10 added candles, brought additional parity with Java Edition, experimental features for 1.18.0 and fixed bugs.
- 1.17.11 was released to fix some critical bugs.
- 1.17.30 was released to brought more additional parity with Java Edition, new features behind the experimental toggle and fixed bugs.
Videos
Trailer
A trailer for Part I was released on June 8, 2021.
Caves & Cliffs Update: Part I - Official Trailer (view on YouTube) |
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Showcases
Videos made by slicedlime:
Java Edition
What's New in Minecraft 1.17 - The Caves and Cliffs Update Part I? (view on YouTube) |
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Technical News in Minecraft Java Edition 1.17 - The Caves & Cliffs Update Part I (view on YouTube) |
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Custom World Changes in Minecraft Java Edition 1.17 (view on YouTube) |
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Trivia
- Swedish painter John Bauer was one of the main inspirations behind the design and idea of the lush caves biome, specifically Bauer's 'Oskuldens Vandring' (Innocent's Journey) painting.[46]
- This is the first update:
- To add a new ore to the Overworld since emerald ore was added in 1.3.1 (12w21a) for Java Edition and v0.9.0 alpha for Bedrock Edition, in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
- To add a real-world metal into the game since Classic 0.0.14a in 2009 for Java Edition, which brought both iron and gold, and v0.3.0 alpha in 2012 for Bedrock Edition, which brought iron, not counting copper as an Element in Education Edition.
- To add new shapes to cave generation since ravines were added in Beta 1.8 for Java Edition and v0.9.0 alpha for Bedrock Edition, in 2011 and 2014 respectively.
- To add new types of rock to the Overworld since andesite, diorite and granite were added in Java Edition 1.8 and Pocket Edition v0.9.0 alpha, both in 2014.
- To completely overhaul the terrain generation since Java Edition 1.7.2 and Pocket Edition v0.9.0 alpha, in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
- To be split in Java Edition into two parts of development since the Adventure Update, which was split into Java Edition Beta 1.8 and Java Edition 1.0. In Bedrock Edition, it is quite recent, the last split update being Village & Pillage.
- To increase the world height (from 256 blocks to 384 blocks normally, with custom world generation generation up to 2048 blocks) since Java Edition 1.2.1.
- To increase the depth of the bedrock floor underground since Java Edition Classic.
- To add an amphibian mob to Minecraft.
- To change the light level requirement for Overworld hostile mob spawning since Java Edition Indev.
- To increase the cloud height since Java Edition Beta 1.8.
- Although the axolotl is the first amphibian mob implemented into Minecraft, it was not the first announced one, since frogs were announced during the MINECON Live 2019 biome vote.
- The name "Sculk" is derived from the word "skulk", meaning "keep out of sight, typically with a sinister or cowardly motive".[47]
- Mojang Studios employees explored real caves to research for the update. This helped give inspiration and ideas for the update, including for the mesh caves.[48][49]
- Henrik Kniberg also recalled memories of past visits to caves around the world.[50]
- Tinted Glass is the name of Stained Glass in the April Fools' joke Minecraft 2.0.
- During Java Edition 1.17 snapshots, Waxed Lightly Weathered Cut Copper Stairs was the longest item name in the game, with 41 characters, between 20w45a and 21w05a.
- The art style of the concept art for Caves & Cliffs was inspired by the concept art of Diamonds and Lemons, the Adventure Time episode featuring a Minecraft crossover.[51]
- The reason for changing the name "Grimstone" to "Deepslate" was because the word "Grim" had too many connotations related to a negative feeling and therefore did not accurately describe the block as to what it actually was. The name "Deepslate" was eventually chosen because of the "journey" needed to gather it, as well as its location within the world.[52]
- Archaeology was originally planned to be added in this update, but was delayed to a later version when the update was split.[53]
- The warden was originally known as a "stalker" early during development. That iteration also had white flesh with holes in it, to the point where it was deemed too gory by the developers and had to be tuned down.[54]
- Brandon Pearce also mentioned that this is one of various "wildly different" iterations that he's going to preview once the warden is released to the public.
- Trailer Trivia
- At the 0:24 mark of the Caves & Cliffs: Part I trailer, the Capricornus constellation can be spotted in the sky, which represents the sea-goat and is the Latin name for goat horn.
- In the same trailer at 0:30 a Necromancer laugh from Minecraft Dungeons can be heard.
Gallery
Screenshots of the Caves & Cliffs Update from Minecraft Live 2020 and other sources:
- LushCaves 1.16.220.52.jpeg
A view of the lush caves.
Light striking a lightning rod.
Multiple axolotl in a lush cave.
Concept artwork
Artwork
Goat and Powder Snow
Notes
References
- ↑ "Grab your nearest calendar and start circling with a vengeance: Caves & Cliffs: Part I arrives June 8th on both Java and Bedrock!" – @Minecraft (Minecraft) on X, May 31, 2021
- ↑ "Minecraft: Caves & Cliffs Update FAQ" .
- ↑ "Minecraft Live: The Recap" – Minecraft.net, October 3, 2020
- ↑ "A Caves & Cliffs Announcement" – Minecraft on YouTube, April 14, 2021
- ↑ "My understanding is that Experimental Features only exist in Beta releases." – @MattGartzke on X, December 2, 2020
- ↑ "Goats are still in the latest beta, they just can't be accessed from a full version, only betas." – @MattGartzke on X, December 2, 2020
- ↑ "New world generation in Bedrock available for testing" – Minecraft.net, July 13, 2021
- ↑ "Get Ready for the Beta! (Version 1.17)" – Minecraft: Education Edition Support.
- ↑ "And yes, Glow Lichen is the new cave light source I mentioned in the cave prototype video a while back. We made them mainly for the not-yet-released larger caves. Glow Lichen generate naturally, but you can also grow it yourself and make eerie glowing cave paths :)" – @henrikkniberg on X, January 20, 2021
- ↑ "Once Upon a Time in the Underground (Minecraft cave prototype) @ 0:27" – Henrik Kniberg on YouTube, October 8, 2020
- ↑ "And speaking of snow, yes, it will be snowier. We will also have a new block called 'powder snow'" — Vu Bui on "Minecraft Live 2020 @ 48:25" – Minecraft on YouTube
- ↑ a b "Small interesting tidbit: We made the design decision for Sculk Sensors to not be affected by ambient weather like rain. My logic for this is "habituation", where the Sculk Sensor essentially becomes used to the constant stimulus, no longer registering it as a vibration" – @kingbdogz on X, October 12, 2020
- ↑ "I think this could be a really unfun mechanic if rain can suddenly mess up your redstone contraptions. This is also why Sculk Sensors don't react to each other nor the Warden, since they're so accustomed to vibrations of their "species" that it's background noise they block out" – @kingbdogz on X, October 12, 2020
- ↑ "Dev Diaries: Caves & Cliffs Mobs" – Minecraft on YouTube, May 14, 2021
- ↑ "Oh forgot to mention in the changelog: we also added some more variation to the old cave carvers (width, heigh, floor cutoff, etc). Just to make them blend in a bit better with the noise caves instead of being instantly recognizable." – @henrikkniberg on X, February 25, 2021
- ↑ "Minecraft 1.18 experimental snapshot" – Henrik Kniberg on YouTube, June 13, 2021
- ↑ a b c "Caves, Cliffs & Other Updates: How We Make Minecraft - Episode 5" – November 27, 2020 on YouTube
- ↑ "That is actually a bone-like material, not End Stone :)" – @kingbdogz on X, November 13, 2020
- ↑ "My day: experimenting with Axolotls and Sculk Catalysts... for reasons. How's your day going?" – @kingbdogz on X, August 4, 2021
- ↑ "Ok, seems like there is two new features: minecraft:catalyst_feature and minecraft:sculk_patch_feature. Definitely relates to the Deep Dark. Can't wait to see how this turns out." – @SmokeyStack_ on X, August 19, 2021
- ↑ "The Beta Documentation. So far, there is no files that actually contain these features for now, likely due to the Deep Dark not implemented." – @SmokeyStack_ on X, August 19, 2021
- ↑ "This is really cool, but won't be necessary because Sculk Veins (on the edge of growths) can be placed in all directions like Glow Lichen. That means you can find veins on top of anything, including Grimstone Bricks, which is a better approach than a specific block type." – @kingbdogz on X, February 18, 2021
- ↑ "Feeling kinda short myself..." – @kingbdogz on X, October 6, 2020</nowiki>
- ↑ "Wardens will still be able to detect entities that are invisible :)" – @kingbdogz on X, October 26, 2020
- ↑ a b c "It will not. This is both for design reasons (we want it to be something more "physical", like motion), and for technical reasons. 2. It will probably investigate the location it "felt/heard" the vibration. 3. Nope, but in the current design it will burn in sunlight." – @kingbdogz on X, May 21, 2021
- ↑ "I'd actually consider it something entirely new. The Warden is a force of nature, not a boss. When a tornado is barreling toward you, you don't try to kill it - you run away! The Warden is exactly the same. " – @kingbdogz on X, October 3, 2020
- ↑ "You can befriend them by not making any noises :) They will never notice you!" – @kingbdogz on X, March 30, 2021
- ↑ "Warden is not a combat situation. You will almost never, ever be fighting the Warden, that would be suicide. It's something that will stick around for some time before it ever moves away. During that whole time you'll be sorry if you didn't place torches." – @kingbdogz on X, February 9, 2021
- ↑ "It absolutely has some tricks up its sleeves to counter that particular strategy :)" – @kingbdogz on X, October 26, 2020
- ↑ "Interestingly enough, the Warden is tackling this with its darkness effect physically lowering your gamma while it's around... This evens the playing field for everyone who encounters it. " – @kingbdogz on X, February 7, 2021
- ↑ "Looking kinda short there, Iron Golem." – @kingbdogz on X, October 6, 2020
- ↑ a b "1) Deep Dark is the name for now, but like anything names can change. I like it though. 2) Deep Dark is one of the only Overworld biomes where only one type of enemy can spawn: Wardens. So no Zombies, Creepers, etc. 3) That is a mystery for you players to reveal in-game." – @kingbdogz on X, June 17, 2021
- ↑ "They will not spawn like normal hostile mobs - not like anything that's in the game so far." – @kingbdogz on X, June 17, 2021
- ↑ "No" – @kingbdogz on X, July 7, 2021
- ↑ "Also, to clarify, the Deep Dark won't take up all of below y 0. Other biomes like Lush Caves and Dripstone Caves will be able to generate there too, it's just that Deep Dark can only be found below y 0. Grimstone is its natural stone ;)" – @kingbdogz on X, February 17, 2021
- ↑ "It will likely be the most rare biome out of the 3, but not impossible to find either. And when you find it, it should be a big area.)" – @kingbdogz on X, September 2, 2021
- ↑ "Getting the Deep Dark biome distribution right has been tricky. Generally we're looking to get it deep underneath very continental/mountainous areas, and it will stretch all the way to -64. Looking forward to see how it feels.)" – @kingbdogz on X, September 2, 2021
- ↑ "We're aiming to have no aquifers/lava in the Deep Dark)" – @kingbdogz on X, September 2, 2021
- ↑ "The point is to have special loot in the chests. We don't want players encouraged to kill the Warden." – @kingbdogz on X, February 16, 2021
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kingbdogz/status/1430549129755832323
- ↑ "The mechanical purpose is to warn you that the Warden is nearby. You should get ready if you start to see pure darkness like that..." – @kingbdogz on X, October 4, 2020
- ↑ "Sculk Trap (which is actually called Sculk Jaw) is unlikely to make it into the game, wasn't very happy with its design. Sculk Shrieker is a completely different block" – @kingbdogz on X, August 29, 2021
- ↑ "From my POV, art and building - I think that most colors of wood are currently covered. Azalea wouldn't be a special wood color like the Nether woods. It would just be a slightly different color of another wood. To me, that doesn't seem worth it and the impact of it would be low" – @JasperBoerstra (Jasper Boerstra) on X, May 22, 2021
- ↑ "And because we have so many wood objects, adding wood is quite a lot of work. Azalea trees are also very singular and not in big forests, so finding a lot of azalea wood would be very hard and you wouldn't be able to use it a lot" – @JasperBoerstra (Jasper Boerstra) on X, May 22, 2021
- ↑ "Minecraft Live 2020: Full Show" – Minecraft on YouTube, October 3, 2021
- ↑ "Minecraft Live: Caves & Cliffs - First Look @ 6:07" – Minecraft on YouTube, October 4, 2020
- ↑ "While not related, Sculk name was inspired by Jeb's process with naming the Shulkers - he liked the word "Lurker", but changed it around a bit to feel new. Sculk is only one letter changed of Skulk, meaning "keep out of sight, typically with a sinister or cowardly motive"" – @kingbdogz on X, October 13, 2020
- ↑ "Yes, and yes. Was hoping to do a larger field trip to different countries with interesting caves, but covid got in the way so we had stay more local." – @henrikkniberg on X, October 23, 2020
- ↑ "Mesh caves were inspired by this field trip." – @henrikkniberg on X, October 21, 2020
- ↑ "I used to travel a lot in the past though (before becoming aware of climate change), and I like visiting caves, so I dug up memories from fascinating cave visits in Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, and British Virgin Isles and some other places." – @henrikkniberg on X, October 23, 2020
- ↑ "Definitely one of my biggest inspirations! My favorite show + favorite game - it shaped a lot how I approached concepts for Minecraft artstyle" – @cookiecat_9 on X, October 4, 2020
- ↑ "Because of this, we opted for a name that describes the journey it took to get, as well as the location in the world. It also more accurately represents that it is a type of slate. It's important that we follow our design principles in the game, even if Grimstone sounds cooler." – @kingbdogz on X, March 4, 2021
- ↑ "A Caves & Cliffs Announcement" – Minecraft on YouTube, April 14, 2021
- ↑ "146 - From Modding to Mojang with Kingbdogz // The Spawn Chunks: A Minecraft Podcast" – The Spawn Chunks on YouTube, June 21, 2021