It would be cool if there was lily pads that could be swam through like normal water, but doesn't let boats through.
And more silverfish would be good.
Also the night time should be dangerous (extremely dark and hard to see in, and maybe those blue spiders that were rumored!)
And if you start drowning in the water, you get poisoned (you started breathing in the dirty swampy water). So even if you only take one heart of damage from suffocation underwater, you still might die.
We need trees with swamp-style roots. Also, biome sounds such as cicada chittering and frog sounds. Possible mobs? Anyway, a swamp biome would need its own water and grass shader, as well as moss growing naturally on cobble, stone, and logs.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
People apparently like the game feeling "Minecrafty". Mo' Creeps and weirdos is about as minecrafty as Unicorn fecies in a toilet made of cheese. But people still like it.
For a practical aproach that doesnt involve adding a ton of new blocks just to make a swamp, I believe that simply changing the biome grass colour (which is obviously in the code already) to either a darker green than we have seen before, or maybe a blue-ish colour would add to a swamp vibe. Also just have the trees spawn/grow in the shallow water, which would be very distinct to this biome, as well at the ivy which is a great effect and already makes this biome very cool.
More sounds! Audio really lacks in Minecraft and a nice frog chorus, with insect noises etc in the swamp area would add immensely to the effect. Then again, more ambient sounds all over would be cool so...
And yes, I know there is a mod but as not all mods are compatible plus many prefer vanilla and lets face it, sound is part of an original game design, they should be in Minecraft. All opinion of course :smile.gif:
I'm really thrilled to see a swamp biome added to Minecraft. I thought about ideas to improve it, and here's what I have so far:
1) Introduce a Mud Block.
-- I'd replace the sand blocks entirely, and make Mud the dominant block in this zone. Mud should also make you move at half-speed, just like water (you can use the water algorithms for this). I would also make Mud a craft-able block, by combining dirt with water. Then you could build your own mud hut! Even better, NPC villages would have mud/dirt/grass huts (as villages should be built using local resources).
2) Grass should be more brown, and not the standard green.
3) Water should be muddy or green, instead of blue. I would make the water the same color as the grass.
4) More tall grass is needed. I imagine swamps being thick with vegetation.
5) The mushrooms are terrific! I love that idea.
6) The vines on the trees are also terrific. Maybe we need a special type of tree for the swamps, taller and thinner. Everything should give the appearance of heat and humidity.
7) New animals.
-- The easiest solution is a palette swap of the existing animals. Now we can finally have ducks! Should there be at least one biome-specific kind of animal? Ehh, maybe, maybe not. But we should have at least one variation on all the animal types.
-- Alligators? I'm thinking that there should be some hostile mobs during the day, but they should be animals (the monsters only live in the night). More tension, more danger, more risk - this makes exploring more exciting and fun.
8) Finally, the fog is a really good idea. I'm not sure how that would work in practice. The world as a whole should follow a consistent design, so something like fog or morning mist should be consistent. Perhaps this could become a universal feature at sunrise. The swamp biome could then simply retain that variable (the "morning mist") all through the day. I'm not completely sold on the idea, but it's worth exploring. Somebody should test it out.
Popping the mudblock with a shovel should give you nothing but turn the mudblock into water. It would seem ridiculous for peopel to build large structures with mud unless it's mixed with structural elements like dried grass or stones, but then mud just becomes mortar.
Popping the mudblock with a shovel should give you nothing but turn the mudblock into water. It would seem ridiculous for peopel to build large structures with mud unless it's mixed with structural elements like dried grass or stones, but then mud just becomes mortar.
That's a good point. Of course, everything depends on how you define mud. Should it be thick and viscous, or thin and swampy? Is it closer to dirt or water? If mud is a solid, then it can be extracted like dirt. If it's a liquid, then buckets are necessary.
Obviously, mud would have to be a "solid" if it were to become a building block, and in that scenario, it could be gravity-dependent, like sand. This would at least prevent mud roofs and force the player to use dirt. But this raises the central question regarding Mud As Solid - How is this any different from dirt? And should dirt be made into mud by adding water, this completely FUBARs agriculture. That sounds like more trouble than it's worth.
Upon reflection, mud cannot work as a solid. I'm going to agree with your assessment. Mud should be a liquid, like water. It could be extracted with buckets, and when poured out follow the same characteristics as water (and lava). I like the idea of mud slowing you down (wading speed), and imagine chasing monsters through swamps to trap them. Mud As Liquid may also satisfy demands for a different water element in the swamp biome. Should clean water even be present? I love Crestfallen's swamp photos. I can imagine exploring the jungles by boat in search of lost ruins.
From a design standpoint, this makes mud incredibly easy - it's just thick brown water which slows you down to wading speed. It probably shouldn't be used for agriculture, so that's the one variable I would change.
So, to summarize, here's what the swamp biome would include:
I agree, the first time I saw the swamp biome I took notice. It seems a bit incomplete and open, it doesn't have a complete swamp ambience.
To add to this there should be environment sound effects such as the distinct ribbit sound from a toad, at night the forest lights up with cricket sound effects, fireflies...etc
The foliage should be taller and much closer together than usual. Add the occasional tree stupm from a sunken or broken tree such as:
Summary:
Close forest spaces.
Frequent water.
Insect and frog ambience determined by day/night.
Fireflies.
Tall short tree types.
Broken tree stumps.
More submerged trees in shallow water.
1. Mud block. No sand.
2. New type of tree that grows in water, and always grows tall with long branches. Possibly with a mossy bark texture.
-Should spawn close enough together to create a nearly-solid canopy, maybe with the occasional clearing.
-Frequent vines.
-Tall grass on nearly every exposed grass block. The mushrooms are a nice touch. Why no giant ones, though? Seems like if they're anywhere, they'd be in a swamp.
3. Water must be dark, murky, and not blue. The blueness kills the whole swampy aesthetic.
That would make the swamp good enough for the time being, IMO. Later on, during some future biome improvement update, add suitable music/sound for each biome, and the appropriate biome-specific critters (here's hoping for a swamp bigfoot!).
Giant frogs would actually be pretty awesome!
BBCode Render failed due to reaching MaxNestingDepth(80) for Tag: spoiler
BBCode Render failed due to reaching MaxNestingDepth(80) for Tag: spoiler
And more silverfish would be good.
Also the night time should be dangerous (extremely dark and hard to see in, and maybe those blue spiders that were rumored!)
And if you start drowning in the water, you get poisoned (you started breathing in the dirty swampy water). So even if you only take one heart of damage from suffocation underwater, you still might die.
And yes, I know there is a mod but as not all mods are compatible plus many prefer vanilla and lets face it, sound is part of an original game design, they should be in Minecraft. All opinion of course :smile.gif:
Mud block that behaves like slowsand block
Something exclusive we can't get any other biome
1) Introduce a Mud Block.
-- I'd replace the sand blocks entirely, and make Mud the dominant block in this zone. Mud should also make you move at half-speed, just like water (you can use the water algorithms for this). I would also make Mud a craft-able block, by combining dirt with water. Then you could build your own mud hut! Even better, NPC villages would have mud/dirt/grass huts (as villages should be built using local resources).
2) Grass should be more brown, and not the standard green.
3) Water should be muddy or green, instead of blue. I would make the water the same color as the grass.
4) More tall grass is needed. I imagine swamps being thick with vegetation.
5) The mushrooms are terrific! I love that idea.
6) The vines on the trees are also terrific. Maybe we need a special type of tree for the swamps, taller and thinner. Everything should give the appearance of heat and humidity.
7) New animals.
-- The easiest solution is a palette swap of the existing animals. Now we can finally have ducks! Should there be at least one biome-specific kind of animal? Ehh, maybe, maybe not. But we should have at least one variation on all the animal types.
-- Alligators? I'm thinking that there should be some hostile mobs during the day, but they should be animals (the monsters only live in the night). More tension, more danger, more risk - this makes exploring more exciting and fun.
8) Finally, the fog is a really good idea. I'm not sure how that would work in practice. The world as a whole should follow a consistent design, so something like fog or morning mist should be consistent. Perhaps this could become a universal feature at sunrise. The swamp biome could then simply retain that variable (the "morning mist") all through the day. I'm not completely sold on the idea, but it's worth exploring. Somebody should test it out.
That's a good point. Of course, everything depends on how you define mud. Should it be thick and viscous, or thin and swampy? Is it closer to dirt or water? If mud is a solid, then it can be extracted like dirt. If it's a liquid, then buckets are necessary.
Obviously, mud would have to be a "solid" if it were to become a building block, and in that scenario, it could be gravity-dependent, like sand. This would at least prevent mud roofs and force the player to use dirt. But this raises the central question regarding Mud As Solid - How is this any different from dirt? And should dirt be made into mud by adding water, this completely FUBARs agriculture. That sounds like more trouble than it's worth.
Upon reflection, mud cannot work as a solid. I'm going to agree with your assessment. Mud should be a liquid, like water. It could be extracted with buckets, and when poured out follow the same characteristics as water (and lava). I like the idea of mud slowing you down (wading speed), and imagine chasing monsters through swamps to trap them. Mud As Liquid may also satisfy demands for a different water element in the swamp biome. Should clean water even be present? I love Crestfallen's swamp photos. I can imagine exploring the jungles by boat in search of lost ruins.
From a design standpoint, this makes mud incredibly easy - it's just thick brown water which slows you down to wading speed. It probably shouldn't be used for agriculture, so that's the one variable I would change.
So, to summarize, here's what the swamp biome would include:
Liquid:
Mud
Water?
Solid:
Dirt (with/without grass)
???
Vegetation:
Tall Trees
Tall Grass
Mushrooms
Moss?
Animals/Mobs:
Alligator/Croc
Swamp Monster (at night)
???
To add to this there should be environment sound effects such as the distinct ribbit sound from a toad, at night the forest lights up with cricket sound effects, fireflies...etc
The foliage should be taller and much closer together than usual. Add the occasional tree stupm from a sunken or broken tree such as:
Summary:
Close forest spaces.
Frequent water.
Insect and frog ambience determined by day/night.
Fireflies.
Tall short tree types.
Broken tree stumps.
More submerged trees in shallow water.
2. New type of tree that grows in water, and always grows tall with long branches. Possibly with a mossy bark texture.
-Should spawn close enough together to create a nearly-solid canopy, maybe with the occasional clearing.
-Frequent vines.
-Tall grass on nearly every exposed grass block. The mushrooms are a nice touch. Why no giant ones, though? Seems like if they're anywhere, they'd be in a swamp.
3. Water must be dark, murky, and not blue. The blueness kills the whole swampy aesthetic.
That would make the swamp good enough for the time being, IMO. Later on, during some future biome improvement update, add suitable music/sound for each biome, and the appropriate biome-specific critters (here's hoping for a swamp bigfoot!).