Halloween facts (what we know so far)

[flameswor10]

This is directly from the Minecraft forums: Big Thanks to MrTorus

Be careful, you'll lose your items if you die!
better backup your saves folder

LAST UPDATE: OCTOBER 30 2010 @ 14:05 UTC
(update summary: SMP damage, fishing and laterns MAY NOT make it to the update!)

DISCLAIMER

I think it's important to remind you guys of a few things:

• Notch, being a human, sometimes changes his mind about certain decisions, and he is often ambiguous and contradictory in his replies. Sometimes this may open some not so obvious alternative interpretations, and I try to consider those if they ever occur to me. Which brings me to my second point...
  
• Being a lazy copy and paster, this will have mistakes here and there.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's move on.

(recent information is in green)

Halloween Update

FIRST, SEE THIS OFFICIAL POST ON THE HALLOWEEN UPDATE IF YOU HAVEN'T YET

• Explore a scary new realm.
  
  • Notch is introducing something he's currently calling a "Hell world" or "The Slip", accessible through portals in the normal world. This name WILL change in order to avoid the religious connotations or using existing mythos. Notch doesn't want to use Christian mythology, and wants to create his own. The name "The Slip" is still not final.
  • Portals will be craftable. You build a 4x5 frame out of obsidian and set fire to the 2x3 opening. An identical portal is then created on the other side, in a safe spot. You can build a portal from either world, and the other is positioned accordingly. Portal entrances look like a swirly purple surface. See below for screenshot. Here's a diagram:
    
    
    By crafting 4x5 a frame out of obsidian and setting the middle on fire...
    
    Note: This is the current and only crafting pattern for a portal, which means you can't simply make a larger or smaller one, or an horizontal one for that matter. From Notch's comments on Twitter, he may add support for arbitrary shapes for the portals, but this will be after the update. Stay tuned.[/center]
    
    Here's a video preview of how it works (courtesy of PC Gamer):
    
    [youtube]0Um6x9T-yRM[tube]
  • Hell doesn't have day and night cycles.
  • Distance between portals in Hell is "compressed": hundreds of metres in the normal world will represent a smaller distance in the Hell world. The exact factor is 1:16, that is, 1 metre (or block) in Hell is a distance of 16 metres in the normal world.
  • You can walk through portals. In order to use them, you have to stay still inside them.
  • When entering a portal, there is a loading screen.
  • Momentum is NOT conserved when you enter through a portal.
  • Currently, ONLY PLAYERS can get through.
  • You can NOT go through a portal riding a minecart. You need to stay still for the portal to work.
  • You can NOT see through portal into the other side, like in the game "Portal" by Valve. Portals look like a purple tranlucent block.
  • Portal counterparts are NOT destroyed when you destroy one of them.
  • Portals will be less spaced in Hell than they are in the normal world. This allows you to travel a shorter distance shortcutting through hell. See this diagram:
    
    
    https://i.imgur.com/7p6xM.gif
    Here, each portal entrance and exit pair have the same color.
    Notice how the two portals are closer inside Hell.
    Note: the appearance of portals is incorrect, but the working is the same.
  • Hell will be a parallel dimension, and will be treated as another world and map in game, parallel to the normal one. It will be stored as such in the save folder.
  • You will be able to use Hell to get to unexplored areas of the normal world.
  • This world will be unique, randomly generated, persistent and dangerous, both because of its terrain and, eventually, because of new enemies.
  • Hell WILL include new enemies, one which is the Ghast. The other are the zombie pigmen. Details below.
  • There will be new block types in Hell:
    
    • One of these blocks are infinite flame sources: set it on fire and it'll burn forever. This block is the red stone found everywhere, which, according to Notch, is red mossy cobble stone.
    • The "screaming faces" block slows you down when you walk over it.
    • The glowing blocks, depicted below, were nicknamed Australium by PC Gamer magazine in reference to a fictional element in Team Fortress 2. THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL NAME FOR THIS BLOCK.. We don't know anything about the uses of this block yet. When broken, they produce the sound of breaking glass.
      
      https://i.imgur.com/fTQFX.png
  • You will be able to build things in Hell. Hell is fully dynamic and all normal blocks will work. Notch has stated that "If you go too far, you can't build or use the portals." This means you simply can't build portals beyond a certain distance, since this would make the exit portal in the normal world be placed BEYOND the map limit. This limit is VERY FAR away, even with the 16:1 compression rather of Hell.
  • Hell will have red fog.
  • Hell will be available in multiplayer, and will work normally.
  • You can bring any blocks back from Hell, and any blocks from the normal world into Hell. There are no limitations.
  • Hell will NOT be simply a place you'll reach by digging down.
  • The ceiling of Hell is made out of adminium
  • Notch's inspiration for Hell and its portals are the "Ways" in the "Wheel of Time" series of books.
  • Hell WILL be available in old saves.
  • You can build an obsidian frame in your current world, and it will work after update. All you need to do is activate the portal with fire
  • Notch has shown a preview of what Hell will look like (click to enlarge):
    
    https://imgur.com/ix5kal.jpg
• PC Gamer and IndieGames have a few preview videos and images regarding this new dimension. Check them out!
  
  • PC Gamer: Minecraft Halloween Update hands-on
  • IndieGames.com: Hands-On With the Minecraft Halloween Update
  
  
• Fight scary new monsters!
  
  • At least TWO new monsters will be included. They will be tougher and harder to beat.
  • One of these new mobs will be called "Ghast", and it will be VERY unfair. Ghasts are floating jellyfish-like creatures, 4x4x4 blocks large, inhabiting the Hell dimension. They can break blocks and throw fireballs at you which set the landscape on fire. Ghasts won't attack unless they can see you.
  • Ghasts need a space of 5x5x5 to spawn. They will rarely spawn near portals in the normal world. Beware!
    Notch has revealed what the Ghasts look like to PC Gamer, and you can see them in action on the PC Gamer and IndieGames preview videos (see above for the links.)
    
    
    https://i.imgur.com/eStZq.jpg
  • A second mob has been confirmed: zombie pigmen. They'll reside in hell, but will be peaceful, unless you attack them. Later on, they'll serve some addition function, but with this update they'll be merely a novelty.
  • Additionally, old monsters will be unchanged in the update.
  • Notch has mentioned coding bats, but they were not confirmed ever again, so they are quite probably not coming in this update.
• Experience scarier depths!
  
  • Monsters will now spawn even in relatively bright areas, depending of how deep you are. The deeper you are, the more tolerant to light are the monsters.
• Be scared of the dark!
  
  • Note: due to time constrains, this feature may NOT be in this update. But remember, Notch will not stop working, and he may release it just after the first update!
  • Notch is introducing lanterns in place of torches as infinite light sources.
  • Lanterns MAY need steel to craft. We DON'T know yet what's their crafting pattern.
  • Lanterns MAY need material found in Hell.
  • Notch is replacing ALL previous torches with lanterns, regardless if they are on chests, on walls or inventory. You DO NOT need to freak out about all your torches.
  • We DON'T know if lanterns will be able to be placed on ceilings.
  • Torches constructed and placed after the update will burn out after a while.
  • We DON'T know how long they will last.
  • We DON'T know if burnt torches will emit a faint light or if they will be completely dark.
  • You will need to use flint and steel to relight burnt torches.
• Catch scary fish!
  
  • There'll be fish as a new form of food, which you can get using the fishing rod that already exists.
  • We DON'T know any details on what kind of fish or how they will behave, or how the fishing mechanic will work.
  • We DON'T know anything regarding baits.
  • Fish MAY NOT be added in the update. Notch is behind schedule and fishing is going to be a last moment addition.
• Scare other players online!
  
  • Note: due to time constrains, this feature may NOT be in this update. But remember, Notch will not stop working, and he may release it just after the first update!
  • The update will attempt to fix a good portion of gameplay elements in multiplayer.
  • Health and PvP may still not work after the update.
  • Duping may still not be fixed after the update.
  • Minecarts may still not be fixed after the update.
  • SMP is the current priority in development. Even if these fixed don't come in the update, they will shortly after.
• Carve scary-jack-o-lanterns
  
  • Notch is introducing pumpkins.
  • You will also be able to carve them.
  • You will be able to use them as useless helmets.
  • While farming for pumpkins is being planned in the long run, we DON'T have any confirmation that farming for pumpkins, or using them for food, will be available in this update.
  • These features are not Halloween specific, and will remain in the game.
• Keep track of the scary time
  
  • Notch is introducing a watch that let's you know when it is day time
  • We DON'T know if the watch will only tell if it's day\night or if it will also tell you WHAT time it is.
  • We DON'T know the crafting pattern for the watch yet. We don't know what materials it will use.
• Biomes
  
  • Notch is introducing biomes: different types of geographical areas: deserts, forests, etc.
  • He posted an early preview of biomes:
    
    [simg]https://i.imgur.com/n0Buf.png?2136[/simg]
    To the left, forest, to the right, taiga, far away in the distance, desert.
    Again, this is an EARLY debugging test. Biomes will be much larger,
    and transition will be smoother.
  • There will be 10 biome types in the update (Notch accidentally counted hell as an 11th). The information we have is a bit hard to cross-check, and it has been a bit ambiguous. But the ones we can definitely confirm are:
    
    1. Rainforest
    2. Savanna
    3. Taiga
    4. Plains (initially called "desert grass")
    5. Desert
    6. Tundra
    
    Others that were mentioned (in order of mention): rainforest, seasonal forest (crossed in Notch's biome diagram, replaced with "swamps"), swamps (in place of seasonal forest, still unclear), forest (simply "forest", mentioned on twitter but too non-specific to be sure), shrubland (mentioned only once on twitter), ice desert (later confirmed to be the same as tundra) and woods (in the diagram picture, possibly in the place of shrubland).
    
    As you can see, information is all over the place. The list contains only the consistently mentioned ones. We don't have an official, definitive list yet.
    
  • Biomes will be based on different variables: dry/wet, hot, safe/dangerous. The smooth variation of these variables will allow for smooth transitions between biomes. Notch doesn't seem to be adding anything in particular regarding the safe/dangerous variable, mentioned previously, in this update.
  • There'll be no biome-specific mobs in the update, but these are planned in the long run.
  • While heat and cold damage are planned for the future, we DON'T know if they'll be included in this update. They will be part of realistic mode, when they do get included.
  • The color of vegetation will change depending on the biome type.
  • There will be no new vegetation in the current biomes, but it will happen later on.
  • Biomes WILL be available in old saves, if you walk far enough. That is, new generated chunks will get biomes. But you'll see see the color of vegetation varying in your currently generated chunks.
  • Biomes will be larger than seen so far in images and videos.
  • The update will change the behavior of current map seeds, so new generated chunks will not make a smooth transition with existing chunks.
• More music and better sounds: C418, the guy behind Minecraft's audio, has posted previews of these:
  
  [youtube]mWWkuk7jNKk[tube] [youtube]2RVPF_QJ6zI[tube]
  
  Additionally, piano3.ogg has been extended to 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
  
  Note: none of these seem to be in the game yet, as far as we could tell from the videos.
• The update will include AT LEAST six new block types, five of them with unique abilities.
• The update WON'T break the current saves
  
  • Notch has confirmed that Hell and biomes WILL be available in old saves. You will need to generate new chunks for the biomes, though.
  • However, there's NO GUARANTEE that current saves will be able to get all the features in the new update. Notch hasn't explained how all these new features will work with old saves, and there's always implementation problems.
• Seasons are NOT coming with the update.
• The update will NOT add support for higher-resolution textures.
• Update will include a "no HUD" mode, activated by pressing F1.
• The update will ship just before October 31st, Swedish time.
• There are no surprise updates planned before Halloween.
• An update WILL ship on Halloween, whether it is incomplete or not.
• As of yet, there are no new crafting recipes on the update.
• Eggs will not have a use in the update.

[lostedminds]

.jar plz

[Reaper8281]

dont beg plz...

[ratchetnclank]

Some cool updates there.

[Snape]

Dont have time to read that all.

[flameswor10]

Dont have time to read that all.

Yes you do