The Spawn Chunks 335: Mojang Making Mooves

Feb 3, 2025 | podcast

Jonny, and Joel lasso this weeks news about an update to cows, new bushes, and fireflies in the latest Minecraft snapshot. Plus, pig ideas from listeners on deterring zombies, and stamping out other pest problems with little feet.

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Joel

  • The Citadel | Westhill
    • Renovating the old potato farm in the Westhill valley.
      • The potato farm was the first thing I built in the Westhill area back in November of 2020.
      • The farmhouse was huge compared to other buildings like the neighbouring wheat mill, and a near by Westhill River Inn.
      • Removed the second floor, and reduced the overall footprint by about 40%. Kept the small outside work area, but reduced it in size to suit the new house dimensions..
      • The top floor inside is finished. Bottom floor inside is roughed out, awaiting a decision on how to proceed with Tables & Chairs.
    • Changes still to come include double checking, and detailing the roof, moving some paths, and changing some of the surrounding green spaces, including the massive potato filed, which looks dated, and boring.
    • The Citadel – Old Potato Farm Renovation – Part 1 (YouTube.com/@JoelDugganVODs)
    • The Citadel – Old Potato Farm Renovation – Part 2 (YouTube.com/@JoelDugganVODs)

Jonny

FROM: Mycelium M.
SUBJECT: Pig Potential

Hey Joel and Pix, 

When talking about the new pig designs in recent episodes you mentioned a desire for updated mob behaviour, and usefulness in addition to mob design,  and this got me thinking about the use of passive mobs as hostile mob deterrents. 

Currently, creepers are scared of cats, skeletons of wolves, and spiders of armadillos. This leaves zombies as the main hostile mobs without this “counter” as it were. 

I wondered if pigs could perhaps step into this role? Pigs, and boars will eat most anything in the real world meaning rotten flesh probably isn’t a concern to them? In Minecraft, zombies can also drop carrots, and potatoes, the main foods for feeding, and breeding pigs in game, and it also creates a funny inversion of Piglin behaviour in the Nether where Piglins are afraid of their zombified counterparts!

Curious to hear your thoughts on this,and if not pigs, what other animal (already existing or a new introduction) do you think could be given this quality? 

Big fan of the show! It’s definitely helped me get back into Minecraft in the past few months!

Mycelium M. was slain by Zombies because he forgot to bring his trusty sentry pig with him.

FROM: Dan B.
SUBJECT: Temporary Becoming Permanent

Hi Pix and Joel,

I have a temporary build in my base that is becoming permanent due to an unexpected benefit.

When I first brought armadillos home, I put them in a little pen, intending to build them a little burrow habitat later.

However, I found myself more, and more delaying that habitat. When the armadillos move around, they now activate a previously placed calibrated sculk sensor tuned to walking, which activates a command block that kills all bats in the area. (I added the command block because bats were spawning annoyingly often in the underground portions of my base.)

I have found it so beneficial that whenever I do get around to building the armadillos a habitat, I will probably leave some behind to continue to activate the sculk sensor.

Thanks for reading!

Dan skipped off into distance, trailing armadillos behind him on leads, activating sculk sensors as we go along.

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Mojang Making Moves

Minecraft version 1.21.5 is a yet to be named drop that is shaping up to be an ambience focused update with new warm, and cool biome variants of the pig, and now the cow, as well as bushes, firefly bushes, and new desert, and badlands sounds. Jonny, and Joel share their early thoughts on the new cow model, and new textures, where they hope for more from bushes, and the versatility of player controlled ambient particle effects like the new fireflies.