What I'd like to See Next in Minecraft

If you hadn’t figured it out by now, I really have come to love the game Minecraft which was developed by the game company Mojang. The game is an open ended sandbox game that basically gives the player all the tools and resources they need to create most anything they want and delivers it in a way that is challenging, yet easy to pick up for new players. The game has systems built into it to create unique biomes, develop simple and complex electronics, build small or even massive buildings and make them look good to boot. Like most players I was very excited to have horses added to the game in the 1.6 update and I’m already getting pumped for the extra biomes, enchantment options, and other cool new surprises in store with the 1.7 update, but I feel like there’s one area that really needs to be addressed that the developers have yet to touch on, which is understandable given the scope of what needs to be added for it.

Well isn't this exciting?

Most of those who have played Minecraft for any length of time have run into one or more ocean biomes which as you might imagine are rather large bodies of water some with the occasional island tossed in the middle for good measure. While I’ll be the first to admit that these are necessary topographical features it seems that they and their cousins, the deep oceans coming with update 1.7 are severely underdeveloped areas in the game. So far we have a couple helmet enchants that allow for longer stays under water and even faster mining, and of course they are adding some new fishing mechanics with 1.7, but there’s still so much that could be added. Most notable among the needed additions is of course some kind of ship, or at least larger boats that are (please Mojang) less fragile than their smaller counterparts. To this end I believe there is hope for those eagerly awaiting this change as mods currently exist for the game that allow such things and as the developers at Mojang were willing to work with mod developers to implement horses into the game, maybe they’d be willing to do something similar with ships. Even just making it possible to build on top of several boats (as though they were normal blocks) would be a step in the right direction.

Now that's a bit more like it

Of course what is adventure on the high seas without some sort of creature to be feared in the ocean depths? So far the oceans in Minecraft have actually served as a kind of sanctuary for players. Stuck far from home at night? No problem! Swim out into the ocean and tread water for a while. It’s a little inconvenient yes, but no more so than being shot, chewed, bitten, and exploded to death by mobs. Of course we have the fearsome squids to contend with, but what we really need are some hostile mobs down in the depths and maybe a deep sea boss or two somewhere down there… The kind of boss you need to shoot TNT cannons at to defeat maybe (just a suggestion).

Adding some more life and features to the ocean biomes would definitely go a long way toward adding much needed content to the game and would open up so many new options for current and future players to develop and create with the tools they’re given (I mean really, just think of the mini-game options, not to mention multi-player).

So if you’re on board for adding some seafaring features to the official version of Minecraft, be sure to pass this article along to any of your other friends and family who’d be interested as well and of course to the staff at Mojang; not to pester them, but just to let them know what we’re hoping to see in update 1.8 here at the N3rd C0rn3r.