The latest update (1.3) for the millionaire-making Minecraft is set to be released on August 1, and it will dig deeper into the game’s infrastructure than many of those before it. By far the most significant change included in this update is that the single-player has been “kicked out” and will instead become a “shell on top of [the] multiplayer”.
Announced amongst other changes on Mojang‘s official forums, this dramatic change will unfortunately increase the game’s system requirements. However, it will be largely beneficial as it will facilitate quicker and easier patching as well as lay the foundations for the long-awaited ‘Modding API’.
For the few of you out there that haven’t played the game, let me explain. Currently, despite its popularity and the incredible things that it is producing, the Minecraft modding community isn’t officially supported within the game. It is certainly encouraged by Mojang, but they are yet to provide an in-game way to apply mods in a straightforward manner. The ‘Modding API’ would provide such a platform, and has been touted as an upcoming feature for as long as I can remember.
The post then delved into some of the other additions that are included in 1.3:
“Lots and lots of bug fixes and new features. Players who mainly play in multi-player on servers should enjoy a smoother and more stable experience, as this has been our focus of the development. We’ve looked over the network packets and added encryption to prevent session stealing. Dinnerbone has updated the chatting screen, to allow for easier editing and clickable links.
The single/multi-player merge has added the possibility to share your single-player worlds with friends who are on the same local network. It has also enabled players to use multi-player-like commands in single-player (such as /gamemode and /give), but only if cheats are enabled.
We’ve added emeralds, emerald ore and a trading system that makes it possible to buy items from villagers. Villagers will add and remove items depending on what you buy.
We’ve added the possibility write in books and leave stories for other people.
We’ve added new terrain features, and you can choose to begin the game with a “bonus chest,” to get you started quicker.
We’ve added tripwire, so you can create new traps and contraptions.
We’ve also added new stairs, new half-slabs, cocoa plants and tweaked dispensers, leaves, cauldrons, levers, gravel, pressure plates, cookies, buckets, boats, minecarts, ice, furnaces… Plus you get magic orbs from mining and smelting (and not just killing monsters)!”
As someone who’s been battling through some of the more frustratingly shallow additions to the game for quite some time, I can’t wait for the official modding support and this update is the first step towards it.
Source: Joystiq