Notch Excavates Underground Ravines in Minecraft

[Tom Goldman]

Notch Excavates Underground Ravines in Minecraft

Delving beneath the surface of Minecraft will soon reveal expansive underground areas.

The next update for Minecraft is going to be a big one. Creator Markus "Notch" Persson dubs version 1.7 of the game the "Adventure Update," but has been surprisingly mum on its contents. We all knew he wasn't going to be able to keep that up for long.

Persson has revealed that one of the additions coming in Minecraft's Adventure Update will be huge underground areas. He posted on Twitter: "Keeping 1.7 secret is frustrating and hard work. I feel a constant need to spoilerize. Anyway, I added underground ravines."

He also released a screenshot to accompany the spoiler, showing a gigantic underground cave complete with pools of water and torches. Digging downward in Minecraft sometimes revealed smaller areas filled with lava and whatnot, but nothing like this.

It's a hint that the Adventure Update will incorporate big surprises that might make it more worthwhile to explore the world of Minecraft. Don't be surprised if venturing upward also reveals something new [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110205-Notch-Pumping-Air-Into-Minecrafts-Sky-Dimension].

Minecraft version 1.7 does not have a release date yet.

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[Mr.Mattress]

Underground Ruins of ancient Civilizations? That sounds awesome! I wanna see a Creeper Temple!

 

[steriletiger]

Whooooooaaa!!! Minecraft update! This is definitely one of my favorite games and every update brings something new and gives me another reason to waste my freetime on it. Go Notch!

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Woah. He once said something about giving the vanilla game the ability to randomly spawn in NPC towns, and Orc towns, and Dragons and what-not. I wonder if this Ravine thing is just one tiny example of that. I hope so. I can't wait to run into an NPC village in-game.

 

[Spacewolf]

sounds like an opportunity for Hidden Fun Stuff and lots of "Fun"

 

[vxicepickxv]

Woah. He once said something about giving the vanilla game the ability to randomly spawn in NPC towns, and Orc towns, and Dragons and what-not. I wonder if this Ravine thing is just one tiny example of that. I hope so. I can't wait to run into an NPC village in-game.

I'll take some NPC towns apart brick by brick, just because I can.

 

[Avatar Roku]

Woah. He once said something about giving the vanilla game the ability to randomly spawn in NPC towns, and Orc towns, and Dragons and what-not. I wonder if this Ravine thing is just one tiny example of that. I hope so. I can't wait to run into an NPC village in-game.

As I heard it, it was Pigmen villages, with which you could trade. I'd like to see that in the game, I wonder if this will be that update.

Anyway, I like what we know so far. I've found some truly epic caves, but they're always long corridors rather than open areas. I like this a lot.

 

[spectrenihlus]

I personally just want to fill my empty city with people.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Bigger that what can be found now? Because seriously, I have found some HUGE underground caves and shafts in Minecraft so far.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I will admit I'm intrigued by the concept of Minecraft, and most of what I hear is positive, but I really don't want to play it until it's finished. The most predominant thing I hear from everyone is 'it's still in Beta.' I don't want to play it until it's finished. I'm fine with adding more updates to it after that point, but I want for him to at some point announce 'this is the finished base product. The 'vanilla' Minecraft.'

 

[Cipher1]

How can it be bigger than the caves that are already in the game seriously Ive spent almost a full day trying to explore a single cave system before giving up and turning the whole area into sand sealing it for ever.

 

[Tartarga]

This update sounds like it's going to be pretty sweet. I just hope it's not to easy to get lost in these ravines, I can't count how many times i've gotten lost in my huge natural caverns and have to dig my way out. I really should start leaving signs or something.

 

[Ickabod]

In an interview during E3 he mentioned that he was looking at adding some sort of over arching quest like obtaining artifacts and fighting some boss monster. At Dreamhack, Jeb was asked about NPC's and said that Notch wanted to add them.

I'm really looking forward to 1.7, sounds like a lot of adventuring is coming. And based on how quiet Notch has been, it sounds like it's going to be big, really big.

 

[samsonguy920]

I approve of this, but this is going to change seeds big time. What was made before with such as 12345 won't be the same after 1.7. If you like making maps from shared seeds, make them now and save them.

Woah. He once said something about giving the vanilla game the ability to randomly spawn in NPC towns, and Orc towns, and Dragons and what-not. I wonder if this Ravine thing is just one tiny example of that. I hope so. I can't wait to run into an NPC village in-game.

I'll take some NPC towns apart brick by brick, just because I can.

How very creeper of you...ssssssss.

Bigger that what can be found now? Because seriously, I have found some HUGE underground caves and shafts in Minecraft so far.

They aren't too common, but ya I have found a few myself. I need to build a little outpost down there so I can explore those better.
Just recently though, I did find this:

Spoiler: Spoilered for thread space

The seed is: 1564488598 Spawn: -40, 64, -32 which puts you in front of a big hill. The cave is around to the right. The sucker is deep in there but doesn't connect to underground. Lots of potential there, though.

I hope pigman towns show up in this version. I like playing with mobs on too much to really get much out of the SMP servers I have seen. Will be nice to feel a little less alone when I am in my world craftmining and minecrafting.
Imagine finding a preexisting working portal in an underground ravine, one that lets ghasts and zombie pigmen through more frequently than regular ones(I haven't seen it but Notch does allude to the possibility that nether mobs leak through).
That would be an adventure.

 

[E-Penguin]

I will admit I'm intrigued by the concept of Minecraft, and most of what I hear is positive, but I really don't want to play it until it's finished. The most predominant thing I hear from everyone is 'it's still in Beta.' I don't want to play it until it's finished. I'm fine with adding more updates to it after that point, but I want for him to at some point announce 'this is the finished base product. The 'vanilla' Minecraft.'

The release date is currently 11.11.11, mostly due to the fact that Notch wants some free-time after Skyrim is released.

 

[Electrogecko]

Damn. I should probably catch the bandwagon.

 

[Lost In The Void]

I approve of this, but this is going to change seeds big time. What was made before with such as 12345 won't be the same after 1.7. If you like making maps from shared seeds, make them now and save them.

Woah. He once said something about giving the vanilla game the ability to randomly spawn in NPC towns, and Orc towns, and Dragons and what-not. I wonder if this Ravine thing is just one tiny example of that. I hope so. I can't wait to run into an NPC village in-game.

I'll take some NPC towns apart brick by brick, just because I can.

How very creeper of you...ssssssss.

Bigger that what can be found now? Because seriously, I have found some HUGE underground caves and shafts in Minecraft so far.

They aren't too common, but ya I have found a few myself. I need to build a little outpost down there so I can explore those better.
Just recently though, I did find this:

Spoiler: Spoilered for thread space

The seed is: 1564488598 Spawn: -40, 64, -32 which puts you in front of a big hill. The cave is around to the right. The sucker is deep in there but doesn't connect to underground. Lots of potential there, though.

I hope pigman towns show up in this version. I like playing with mobs on too much to really get much out of the SMP servers I have seen. Will be nice to feel a little less alone when I am in my world craftmining and minecrafting.
Imagine finding a preexisting working portal in an underground ravine, one that lets ghasts and zombie pigmen through more frequently than regular ones(I haven't seen it but Notch does allude to the possibility that nether mobs leak through).
That would be an adventure.

I may sound like an idiot saying this, but is there a mod that lets you transport to points on the map so that we can spawn on that section of the seed?

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Most interesting. Will those spawn in currently explored areas of the map? I'd hate having to start on a brand new fortress, just to have some sort of ancient ruin underneath my feet to explore...

 

[Jonci]

I'd almost question this as a real feature, considering the cave system I've yet to find an end to in my latest single-player game. Still, I love this idea. But I feel like I'm going to have to start over so I can have this in whatever new map I generate.

 

[Cpu46]

Bigger that what can be found now? Because seriously, I have found some HUGE underground caves and shafts in Minecraft so far.

They aren't too common, but ya I have found a few myself. I need to build a little outpost down there so I can explore those better.
Just recently though, I did find this:

Spoiler: Spoilered for thread space

The seed is: 1564488598 Spawn: -40, 64, -32 which puts you in front of a big hill. The cave is around to the right. The sucker is deep in there but doesn't connect to underground. Lots of potential there, though.

Used that seed and literally spawned on top of that cave. Gonna have to build a castle in it, there is no other option.


OT: Minecraft just keeps getting better and better.