The Spawn Chunks 133: Wax On, Axe Off
Jonny and Joel take a look at the technical changes to copper and moss in the latest Minecraft Java snapshot before having a round table discussion about cave biomes and intended Minecraft gameplay.
Joel Duggan
Pixlriffs
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- Joel
- Spent the week working a the stone church… Or did the stone church spend the week working on me?
- Jonny
- Tried moss mining, and it kind of works!
Minecraft News
- Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 21W11A (Minecraft.net)
- Lush Cave Blocks Arrive in Bedrock Edition Beta 1.16.220.52 (feedback.minecraft.net)
- RTXcellent (Minecraft.net)
- Athra, a Minecraft art piece by Immanuel
- Virtual Unreality, by Immanuel (Minecraft.net)
- Christopher King (Twitter.com)
- Immanuel (Twitter.com)
- Athra, a Minecraft art piece by Immanuel
Chunk Mail
FROM: Coffee Lemon
SUBJECT: New Mining Strategies
Dear Joel and Jonny,
With Mojang changing the distribution of ores, I was wondering how mining strategies will change now depending on the type of player. For example, casual players will either dig on a couple of different Y axes to gain materials or, like myself, dig the world’s biggest staircase and hit every single Y axis on my way down. However more technical players might only dig on the diamond level because they can get every other ore through some other means.
What do you think?
Coffee Lemon
March Roundtable
Joel brings in some listener email about other potential cave biomes, and structures in The Caves & Cliffs Update, while Jonny examines the idea of intended gameplay and emergent gameplay in Minecraft.
FROM :JPumpoletz
SUBJECT: How Many Cave Biomes?
Hi Joel and Jonny
Firstly, thank you both for the podcast. The content and discussions are great. I listen to you in 20 minute bursts to and from work on my commute starting every Tuesday morning when the next episode is available. Tuesdays are a highlight for me!
I headed over to Pixlriffs channel earlier this week to take a look at his coverage of the lush cave biome. The new biome looks incredible and I’m really pleased for the Mojang Team for what they’ve achieved so far.
Don’t get me wrong, if the update came out today with what they’ve shown so far, I’d be very very happy. But I’ve been wondering if the lush and dripstone caves are the only two cave biomes that we’ll see. With an update as big as this, I would think it uncharacteristic of Mojang to stop at two cave biomes (I’ve not considered the Deep Dark as a cave biome but perhaps that’s a mistake).
My questions to you are;
- Do you think more biomes are coming to caves
- If so, what could those biomes be. What would you like to see?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and even more thanks if you read it out loud.
Happy mining!
JPumpoletz
FROM: Milo S.
SUBJECT: Cave Villages and Potential Bundle Features
Hey Johnny and Joel,
I started listening to the podcast quite a while back and have listened to every episode and even listened to some twice! (I was delighted when you guys started the render distance podcast as well) Anyway, this is my first time emailing as I am particularly excited to share my input on this upcoming update and propose some potential features.
Firstly, while I was listening to episode 129 I couldn’t help but think about the idea of underground villages. I think this could potentially be really unique and add a lot more depth to cave exploration as well. I think that there could be room for a new profession which would be cave related and having the village structures make use of some of the new deep slate block types.
Secondly, I wanted to share how excited I am for the bundles. I’ve been playing quite a lot recently and have constantly stopped and though “Man, I wish I had a bundle right now.” I also was wondering if we’ll be able to fire arrows from bundles. I think that this would be extremely useful in creating inventory space especially with an infinity bow. Anyway I love the show and am really enjoying listening to your input on the update.
Thanks,
Milo
