The Spawn Chunks 233: Smells Like Cherry Groves

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FROM: Pine1needle
SUBJECT: A Novel Name For Our Favourite Game

Hi Jonny and Joel,

After the final features for Minecraft 1.20 were announced, MythicalSausage and Cubfan135 both started popular threads on Twitter to discuss potential names for the update. Kingbdogz previously described the theme of 1.20 as “self expression, representation and storytelling”. Features like bamboo blocks, and camels seem to be inspired by locations around the globe, and features like chiseled bookshelves, and hanging signs allow players to write down their stories in new ways. 

Given these themes, I propose calling Minecraft 1.20 the “Travels and Tales Update“. Do you like this name? Or do you have ideas of your own for a name for the update? I look forward to hearing what you think!

Pine1needle got lost on an adventure, but at least it will make a good story later.

FROM: Shepard
DISCORD MEMBER: Landscape Artist
SUBJECT: Are 1.20 Feature Sandboxy Enough?

Dear Jonny and Joel,

Minecraft 1.20 is supposed to be, among other things, centered around self-expression. Features that potentially fall into that category are the armour trims, mob heads on note blocks, and now pottery.

One of Minecraft’s strengths has always been how sandboxy it is: you can combine things provided by the game in new and unexpected ways that the game designers may not have even thought of. I get the feeling that these latest additions fall a bit short of that.

Yes, there’s many many combinations of armour and armour trims. But wouldn’t it be cooler if the patterns could be layered to create something entirely new by the player, like with banner patterns?

The pots look a lot more polished than when they were first presented, but at present they can only show four different patterns on four sides, and there’s no way for players to change the colour of pots, or the patterns. It’s just a decoration feature now, not for storytelling.

And mob heads placed on note blocks play a limited, and random selection of that mob’s sounds – you can not control which sound you get – instead of giving us the tools to create more diverse music, for example by extending the length of notes generated by note blocks.

Are we just getting a lot of predefined stuff to choose from instead of tools to create our own stuff?

A counter-argument could be that the self-expression lies in how you combine these things with other things in the world, how you can integrate them as details into a larger picture. But isn’t that true for every new block in the game that extends our build palette?

I might be playing devil’s advocate a bit here, but I’m still eager to hear your thoughts!

Shepard was killed by the /damage command.

Jonny Shares His Thoughts On Minecraft 1.20 Features