The Spawn Chunks 234: Pre-Releases, Pots, and Potions

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FROM: Shunosaurus
DISCORD MEMBER: Landscape Artist
SUBJECT: Getting Inspired With Archeology

Good Morning Jonny and Joel!

I’ve been loving what Minecraft has been doing with the archeology feature so far, but I do feel like at the moment, more unique loot could be added. What if, near the base of structures, there were unique blocks hidden in suspicious sand (or suspicious dirt) that included unique types of chiseled sandstone or stone or other stone-like blocks? These could be anything from Prismarine pillars to a misprinted block of chiseled sandstone. The mechanic here would be that after you have obtained one of these blocks, you are then allowed to craft it in the stonecutter. I think this would add an interesting extra dimension to archeology, encouraging exploration while not forcing players to travel thousands of blocks for a just a handful of decorative blocks.

What are y’all’s thoughts on this? Do you think that archeology could use more items or blocks to help encourage exploration and make every dig feel more unique?

Shunosaurus had his misprinted chiseled sandstone taken away, because it belongs in a museum.

FROM: Jeffrothian
DISCORD MEMBER: Community Miner
SUBJECT: Sawing Some Logs

I recently reorganized my sorting system to add a space for bamboo wood, and cherry wood – using Pixlriffs design – and I was rebuilding a barn this weekend with a variety of existing planks and logs in many different cuts, so I have lumber on my mind.  

As I clumsily churned out steps and fencing in groups of 4, I was “pining away” for something akin to the stone cutter to allow me to have more control over some of the crafting. With all this new lumber, I think it’s high time for a table saw in Minecraft. Not only would this allow for odd numbers of items, but it would also dispense with remembering recipes precisely. Maybe a table saw block could even just take any necessary sticks from the input of wood and output extra as “scrap.”

Jeffrothian was cut down by a zombie while trying to estimate how many stacks of four steps he needed for a roof.

• Data Pack Crafting Recipe Generator  (crafting.thedestruc7i0n.ca)

FROM: Classy_Phantom
SUBJECT: Lending A Helping Sand.

Dear Joel and Jonny,

Long time listener of the podcast here, and I’ve especially been enjoying the recent guest speakers!

One of the recurring discussions you two have had over the years seems to be a decent, “Minecrafty” mechanic for renewable sand. While listening to last week’s podcast on your discussion of archeology, I was struck with inspiration.  In the real world, sand comes from wind or water eroding larger rocks, and mineral deposits.  Knowing this, I believe that the new archeology pots could be an excellent way to “collect” new blocks of sand over time.

For example, what if placing a pot underwater in a river biome accumulated layers of sand inside of the pot, similar to the way cauldrons accumulate rain water?  Or, simply placing a pot on the ground in a desert biome eventually fills the pot with sand because of the “wind”?  Or, what about placing a block of sand above dripstone, causing sand particles to drip down into pots similar to regenerating lava with dripstone?

The sand could then be obtained using the “piggy bank” mechanic where smashing the pots with a tool drops the pottery shards or bricks, and a number of sand blocks.

Obviously the pots themselves would need a small tweak to be able to visually indicate that they are full, but I feel this would be the perfect way to round out Archeology. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Classy_Phantom drowned while trying to place hundreds of clay pots at the bottom of a river.

FROM: SurreaNeil
SUBJECT: Playing Solo Together

Hi Joel and Johnny,

Recently my friends have pointed out to me that, even though we are on a multiplayer server, I tend to distance myself from them and do my own thing, while they work together on builds and bases.

I like the control I get when playing on my own; I never log back in to see my building palette to be completely changed out for something hideous, or worse.

How do you prefer to play on a server? And what might you recommend for someone like me to be more community oriented?

SurrealNeil died alone and 1024 blocks away from his friends.

FROM: Kokorodaki
DISCORD MEMBER: Landscape Artist
SUBJECT: Ancient Mobs

Hello there Joel and Pix,

So snapshot 23W07A had a ton of stuff in it for 1.20 that I am very excited to play with once the update arrives, but I’m emailing about something more tangential to the snapshot.

Mojang described the sniffer as ‘the first ancient mob’, which I think is a very interesting description, because it implies that the warden is not ‘ancient’, despite dwelling within the deep dark biome, and ancient cities. Perhaps the implication with the ancient city portal is not that it’s something the player will eventually get to use, but instead something that the wardens came through and used to invade the ancient cities. Personally, I was never invested in the ideas people were having about the portal leading to a new dimension or for fast-travel, so the potential that it’s there for the Lore is something I love.

Do you guys have any ideas of where Mojang might take the concept of ‘ancient’ mobs in the future? I don’t think any of the previous mob-vote mobs could work for it without taking them in a different thematic direction, but I’m sure Mojang have concepts for new ancient mobs they might add in the future.

Kokorodaki fell asleep amongst a sniffer’s fur.