
The Spawn Chunks 166: Tuning Up The Terrain
Joel and Jonny review how Mojang is pushing terrain around in the latest Minecraft snapshot, dial up listener email about the allay and music, and discuss how they will tempo their Minecraft play ahead of update 1.18.

Joel Duggan

Pixlriffs
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- Joel
- The Citadel
- Filling in the roof lines, and trying to come up with some unique dormer designs, along the main gate road in the medieval town build of Westhill.
- The Citadel – South Gate Road – Part 3 (Twitch.tv/JoelDuggan)
- The Citadel – South Gate Road – Part 4 (Twitch.tv/JoelDuggan)
- The Citadel



- Jonny
- Playing Minecraft Bingo, a game mode originally created by Lorgon111. The current version is Bingo v5 for Minecraft 1.16.5 by NeunEinser.
- Minecraft Bingo Datapack (GitHub.com)
- Empires SMP had a guest spot on the Love Tropics charity livestream which raised over $52,000 for the mangrove conservation charity, Osa Conservation.
- We Love Tropics (Twitter)
- Work continues on Empires SMP… Or as best it can whilst elytra flight is currently grounded.
- The Hardcore Survival Guide world has been retired.
- Playing Minecraft Bingo, a game mode originally created by Lorgon111. The current version is Bingo v5 for Minecraft 1.16.5 by NeunEinser.
Minecraft News
- Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 21w44a (Minecraft.net)

- @HenrikKniberg on Twitter: “Experimenting with what Amplified might mean in the context of 1.18 worldgen.”
- Amplified Experiment in 1.18 A (@HenrikKniberg on Twitter)
- Amplified Experiment in 1.18 B (@HenrikKniberg on Twitter)
- Minecraft Is Now Included In Game Pass For PC! (Minecraft.net)
- Minecraft Now Has One Unified Launcher (pcgamer.com)

- Minecraft; Bedrock Edition beta 1.18.0.25 (feedback.minecraft.net)

Chunk Mail
FROM: Garrett D.
SUBJECT: A Music Teacher’s Take
Hey Joel and Jonny,
As a music teacher by profession, I have a couple thoughts on the allay.
What if the allay already made a pitch with a certain timbre when you found them in the world? Interacting with one could open up a GUI where you can equip an item, and it also shows their pitch on the grand staff with a material type. (Think villagers, or horses with saddles and armor)
For example: If I find an allay in the wild that’s making a pitch of G4 on a bell set, I have two options:
- Interact with it to give it an item only. The allay will then start bringing that item to me.
- Interact with it to give it an item, and see the G4 on the grand staff and see a gold block. I can then build a collection area with a bell set (gold) note block that will match what’s in the allay’s GUI.
This would be made easier if note blocks themselves had GUIs that opened and showed a tuneable grand staff. A music teacher’s dream come true as it would introduce the concept of standard notation – a system used worldwide – into the game.
This would also act as an in-game way to help “explain” note block mechanics to players, as interacting with allays would “teach” the player what materials to put under note blocks to get the sounds they hear the allays making in the wild.
Obviously, I’m probably overlooking some things when it comes to accessibility, and I won’t even start to pretend to know what this would mean in terms of programming, but I think it could be a cool feature that more strongly connects the allays to in-game music, while building on music education in terms of notation.
I also think it would throw a bone to people asking for music-making “birds” in the world, since you all of the sudden have wild allays making a lot of random notes from a lot of random instruments, and would require exploration/breeding to get new/different ones.
Again, always enjoy the podcast, and staying chunky,
Garrett D.


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The Minecraft Update Cycle Waiting Game
Joel and Jonny discuss how they will be spending the next few weeks in Minecraft leading up to the release of The Caves & Cliffs Update, Part 2. Some players race to finish current projects before servers are reset, others plan for new builds in exciting new areas yet to be discovered. It may even be possible to play other games or do other things before Minecraft 1.18 changes the landscape.
