A big factor in Survival Mode difficulty is your brightness setting. Sure, it doesn't effect mob spawning or gameplay mechanics, but there is a huge difference between fending off the unknown creatures of dark, emerging from formless shadows on "Moody" setting, or just casually strolling through a pitch-black cave at 100% brightness.
But what I have found is, what looks like "Moody" to me, doesn't necessarily look like "Moody" to you. Every monitor has different settings. So if my old monitor is particularly dark, I need to play at some +20% brightness to get the game to look like what it does when you play on 0% on your computer.
So here is my suggestion: Level the playing field, and add a simple contrast diagram to the Video Settings menu. The menu I speak of is this one:
And the scale I am talking about, is something like this:
The idea is, if your monitor (or in this case, your in-game setting) is too bright, the whites will blend together, and you'll only see 10 colors. If it's too dark, the blacks blend together, and again you'll only see 10 colors.
It's actually not uncommon for games to have these. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess showed one of these every time you turned on the game. It's a great feature for any game that has a lot of dark elements, i.e. MineCraft! It's not changing anything about the game, it's just a little graphic to go in the menu. I'm not a great artist, otherwise I would draft up a fun Minecrafty color scale like the above diagram, to go in this post.
To go on a little more, making such a scale will effect more than just survival. What if you are a builder, don't you want to make sure everyone sees your build exactly the way it is meant to be seen? Maybe there is something *almost* hidden from view, like a scary statue, that needs to be *nearly* too dark to see, but the player can make it out. On your computer, you have it set on Moody and it looks perfect. But nobody else sees it on Moody--they have to turn up their brightness in order to see it. Whoops! Turns out, your monitor is set really bright, but you never knew.
Also, yes, the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess DOES have this and I actually did have to adjust my TV brightness settings, so maybe Minecraft should do the same?
Full Support.
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I was shocked when I found out the toaster wasn't waterproof. -MOMOE0 of CobbletonCraft
Am I the only one noticing a rising trend in people who don't English good?
I actually play with brightness on 100% and it is still so dark in an unlit cave I can only barely make out diorite due to its light color (thus, texture packs also affect visibility); Moody is literally unplayable for me (though with Bright it is perhaps a bit too easy to see at night*, I can also actually see where light level drops off from 1 to 0 as a hard edge). I can see all 11 shades though; the second darkest perhaps not much different as the darkest but still recognized as a lighter shade (I've also fidded around with monitor settings with undesirable results; either too bright in the dark or washed-out looking).
Of interest, Optifine makes this claim about the brightness setting, claiming that full brightness is for properly calibrated monitors, where the night is nearly pitch black on Moody (as it is for me), although Optifine may alter how it works (supposedly keeping light levels 0 and 15 the same and only changing the steps between, meaning that a dark cave doesn't get any brighter, though as noted above I can make out diorite, but not on Moody):
On a good calibrated monitor which can show near-black colors the Minecraft night scenes are almost fully black (light level 4). On the other hand, not so good monitors which have problems with near black colors show the night scenes very good.
The Brightness setting fixes the Minecraft light levels for properly calibrated monitors.
Brightness 0% corresponds to default Minecraft light levels. Brightness 100% uses linear light levels, so the steps between all light levels are equal.
*A topic for another suggestion, but actually varying the light level at night according to moon phase would be a good idea, as IRL it is easy to see with a full moon but not with a new moon.
But what I have found is, what looks like "Moody" to me, doesn't necessarily look like "Moody" to you. Every monitor has different settings. So if my old monitor is particularly dark, I need to play at some +20% brightness to get the game to look like what it does when you play on 0% on your computer.
So here is my suggestion: Level the playing field, and add a simple contrast diagram to the Video Settings menu. The menu I speak of is this one:
And the scale I am talking about, is something like this:
The idea is, if your monitor (or in this case, your in-game setting) is too bright, the whites will blend together, and you'll only see 10 colors. If it's too dark, the blacks blend together, and again you'll only see 10 colors.
It's actually not uncommon for games to have these. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess showed one of these every time you turned on the game. It's a great feature for any game that has a lot of dark elements, i.e. MineCraft! It's not changing anything about the game, it's just a little graphic to go in the menu. I'm not a great artist, otherwise I would draft up a fun Minecrafty color scale like the above diagram, to go in this post.
To go on a little more, making such a scale will effect more than just survival. What if you are a builder, don't you want to make sure everyone sees your build exactly the way it is meant to be seen? Maybe there is something *almost* hidden from view, like a scary statue, that needs to be *nearly* too dark to see, but the player can make it out. On your computer, you have it set on Moody and it looks perfect. But nobody else sees it on Moody--they have to turn up their brightness in order to see it. Whoops! Turns out, your monitor is set really bright, but you never knew.
ThanatosMace
Also, yes, the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess DOES have this and I actually did have to adjust my TV brightness settings, so maybe Minecraft should do the same?
Full Support.
I was shocked when I found out the toaster wasn't waterproof. -MOMOE0 of CobbletonCraft
Am I the only one noticing a rising trend in people who don't English good?
Stuff I support:
Of interest, Optifine makes this claim about the brightness setting, claiming that full brightness is for properly calibrated monitors, where the night is nearly pitch black on Moody (as it is for me), although Optifine may alter how it works (supposedly keeping light levels 0 and 15 the same and only changing the steps between, meaning that a dark cave doesn't get any brighter, though as noted above I can make out diorite, but not on Moody):
*A topic for another suggestion, but actually varying the light level at night according to moon phase would be a good idea, as IRL it is easy to see with a full moon but not with a new moon.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?