My main goal with this post was to make the community interested in more biomes so that Mojang would prioritise that aspect in their busy schedules. And it seems we have finally made it happen! Additionally we also got 2 of my suggestions into the game, which of course is fantastic.
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Blossom Grove
Now put down your guard and enjoy the moonlight in this mob free but oh so rare environment. Unfortunately, the underground isn't as peaceful. If you are lucky you will also encounter a deserted old vineyard for some delicious grapes. This rare fruit replenish only 0,5 hunger each, but they are all eaten at the same time, making it the quickest but most expensive food source.
Rumours say the farmers have noticed crops grow faster.
Old version:
Oasis
Take your horse and embark on a journey to discover the Orient. These warm and barren deserts might contain a scarce amount of watering wholes, a common place to find various merchants with donkeys full of goods to trade. Make sure to have your wallet full, for these rare goods cannot be acquired elsewhere.
Fungi Biome
The luminescent mushrooms proves to be a perfect, yet mystique light source in the deep caves of the underworld. Rumours speak about small glowing angler-fishes that thrive in nearby underground lakes.
Thanks to Hansentale for the inspiration.
Tropical Islands
Palm trees grow on the beaches of these plant rich atoll islands located on the great oceans. Breaking palm leaves spawn coco nuts, which are an essential food source out here.
Savannah - IMPLEMENTED IN 1.7
In the never ending terrain of the African wilderness, animals thrive in the shadows of the acacia trees. Clay is commonly found in nearby watering holes.
Wild West desert - IMPLEMENTED IN 1.7
This arid landscape consists of a new reddish stone, and a new matching sandblock*. Lone wanderers need to watch out for the vultures, for they will attack any trespasser carrying raw meet.
*)The sandblock is not present in this screenshot since it's very time consuming covering the grounds.
Autumn forest biome
A colourful forest arises as you continue your exploration. No one in these woods will ever starve, as the ripest apples fall from the trees and the ground is covered by mushrooms galore!
Frost biome
A cold breeze caught the landscape by surprise, which immediately froze the tiniest straw of grass. Make sure you wear some armour, or you will soon be history.
Darklands
The sky darkens as you enter this gloomy realm. A great challenge awaits the one who seek to face the death. Now grab your diamond equipment, you will need it.
<-- Wooden Button
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(See below for more concept art. Above screenshot is photoshopped, not a mod. All art by Papertiger)
DISCLAIMER: Please note that this is not a mod, nor a mod suggestion. This is a suggestion for Mojang to add to vanilla Minecraft.
Hello! I would like to share my ideas of how Gryphons might be a good addition to Minecraft. After deciding to post my suggestion here, I did a search and saw that there have been a few posts about Gryphons throughout the past few years. But they were quite different from what i had in mind, focused on a wide swath of mythical creatures, or mod/add-on related.
My hope is that others will share my vision for simple, balanced, non-immersion-breaking, Mojang-style Gryphons to be added to Minecraft in a future patch.
Here it goes:
A way I could see Gryphons fitting into the Minecraft universe is that in an "Extreme Hills" biome, you could find a nest either on top of a mountain, or on the side of a cliff. I imagine the nest would only be one or perhaps two blocks large and in the shape of an eagle's nest. In my opinion, the player would never see a wild adult Gryphon. The only chance they would have at seeing a Gryphon would be if they raised one themselves. Thus making them FAR more rare and special. Almost like finding diamonds. If the player were lucky enough to find one of these nests, and endured the journey to reach it, they would see an egg sitting in the middle of the nest.
The player would then follow these steps to hatch, raise, saddle and then ride their Gryphon:
- The player would take the egg from the nest and bring it back to their home/cave/castle/dwelling and place it on a block of dirt underneath a torch.
- The player would then have to wait a couple of in-game days.
- After a few days pass, a baby Gryphon would emerge.
- The player would then have to feed the baby Gryphon meat or fish once a day for a couple days.
- After a couple days of feeding, the baby Gryphon would grow into an adult, ready to be saddled.
- The player would then place a regular saddle, the type used on pigs, onto their newly raised Gryphon.
- Upon being saddled, the player's new Gryphon is ready to be mounted. But that doesn't mean the player can have unlimited, overpowered flight. No sir.
BALANCE:Just because the player has a Gryphon doesn't mean he or she is able to fly anywhere they want with no limitations. Far from it. This will be nothing like flying in creative mode. It will be a slight advantage over regular walking and jumping that the player will have earned.
- Instead of unlimited flight, like in creative mode, a Gryphon rider's flight would be slightly challenging yet still useful. Much like how boats function in Minecraft.
- In order to take off, and to stay in the air, the player would have to press their space bar for every flap of their Gryphon's wings. This means that the Gryphon, just like the player, is effected by the game's gravity. That way, it wouldn't feel like cheating. This may sounds difficult, but i think it would lead to a much more immersive Gryphon flying experience!
- Traveling via Gryphon would sometimes be slightly faster and more convenient than walking on foot, but in some cases it would also be a FAR worse alternative to walking. For example, trying to fly your Gryphon down into and through a cave would be a TERRIBLE idea.
USES:If you have built a giant castle like my brother and I have, which i'm sure MANY of you have, then I have a feeling you'll understand why I think the best use for a Gryphon would be to quickly reach one of the top floors of your castle without having to climb all of it's inner stair cases and ramps.
But there would be many, many more uses, such as:
- Getting past mountains a little faster than on foot, and without the need to eat as much.
- Flying over lakes or rivers instead of having to swim.
- Safe late night traveling. That is, unless you get shot by a skeleton's arrow
- Being able to leave from the top floor of your castle or other large dwelling.
- FUN! Or atleast i think it would be.
GAME FITTING:The last thing I would ever want is to suggest an idea that would ruin the immersion of Minecraft. I believe this idea would be game fitting for Minecraft because of the wonderful animals Mojang has already put into the game. When I think of Gryphons in Minecraft, I can just picture an in-game Gryphon done in Mojang's wonderfully simple yet beautiful art style... All block-ish and colorful
GAME BREAKING?:
No more than a boat would be. You would hardly be able to aim at someone with a bow, let alone actually hit them with an arrow from it. Hitting a player or mob with a sword would be even harder. In order to deal damage to anything, from bow or sword, you'd have to land your Gryphon and completely stop moving. At that point, you would actually become vulnerable due to lack of mobility (You cannot walk or run on a Gryphon, only fly. And take-off isn't instant, due to the need to flap your Gryphons wings.). This is not a mount intended for combat.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the giant wall of text.
I would like to thank Theriasis for their wonderful guide on how to post on the suggestion forum. I tried my best to follow their advice!
CONCEPT ART :
Standing:
Sitting:
Flying:
Model views:
MORE ART:
Click this spoiler for even more concept art and photos.
Brooding box
Dimninds!
SUPPORTER SUGGESTIONS:
You guys have given me many awesome suggestions so i decide to place the most game fitting and balanced ones here:
Disclaimer: I will try my best to describe your guys' ideas and list the names of the people who have suggested them. Let me know if i miss something!
Disclaimer II: This thread is rapidly gaining support and unfortunately i can't always keep track of who has suggested what. I'm most likely to miss some people who deserve credit, sorry. Let me know if i do!
0. HEALTH, HUNGER AND MORTALITY (pinballboy7, Droideka30, Papertiger, zeel, ErasmoGnome, IonicTiger): One of the most talked about suggestions. The idea that tamed Gryphons should have health, hunger and be killable by mobs, other players or enviromental conditions (lava, etc.). It has also been suggested that if your Gryphon gets hungry enough, it will bite/peck at you in frustration, buck you off if you attempt to mount it, or even go off and eat wild animals and/or livestock (pigs, chickens, sheep, cows).
1. Soaring (Papertiger, Droideka30, zeel, crazeenuthead): You should be able to hold down the space bar to make your Gryphon soar, once you have already achieved altitude and speed
2. Wild adult Gryphons in the sky (Papertiger, Paradox01010, zeel): You shoud sometimes be able to see wild Gryphons flying high up (out of reach) in the sky. Perhaps flying in the direction of where a nest and egg is. This would most likely be rare.
3. Walking (Kisdee, RobertFrans): Instead of strictly being able to fly and hop, a mounted Gryphon would be able to slowly walk on the land as well. It would be unable to move up and down blocks (like a pig), but you could just press spacebar to flap its wings in order to hop up to where ever you are trying to get.
4. Breeding (Droideka30, Papertiger, zeel): If you are lucky, and skilled enough, to obtain two Gryphon eggs, and now are the proud owner of two Gryphons, you should earn the right to breed them. Once Gryphons breed, they would lay one egg. It has also been suggested that tamed Gryphons can only breed during a full moon and that when bred in captivity, Gryphons need a "Brooding box" in which to lay their eggs. See Papertiger's brooding box concept art here
5. Gryphon melee attack (Paradox01010, zeel): Your Gryphon would be able to do damage and/or a knockback to enemies that you dive at with it. This would be hard, but if you were able to steer your Gryphon properly, you would inflict damage fairly.
6. A special way to take the egg (Moosemunchee, zeel, RobertFrans, IonicTiger, zapper990): The idea that the player shouldn't simply be able to punch the Gryphon egg until it breaks and then pick it up. Perhaps the player would have to use a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchant, a piston, minecart and rail, diamond pickaxe, shovel or something else. It has also been suggested that Gryphon nests and eggs should spawn only in the spring and despawn in the fall, meaning that you can never find them in the winter.
7. DOGFIGHTS! / Sky Jousting/ Sky Duels (bebe33, Papertiger, Paradox01010): It would be awesome, wouldn't it?
8. Visual roll while turning (bebe33): The idea that a Gryphon should roll slightly while turning, for visual effect. Much like how a bird rolls as it turns in real life.
9. Pitch (bebe33, zeel): The idea that you should be able to pitch your Gryphon up and down while flying. Pitching it downwards will increase your forward momentum. Pitching it upwards will increase altitude.
10. Thrust (zeel): The idea that you should be able to choose the level of thrust per wing flap based on your timing and space bar usage. (Half flaps, full thrust flaps, etc).
11. Wing angle and banking (zeel):
See also zeel's ideas for flight mechanics
12. Armor! (zeel, papertiger, Droideka30, IonicTiger): The idea that Gryphons should be able to equip special Gryphon-only armor. There would be leather, iron, gold and diamond versions. The better the quality of the armor, the higher movement speed penalty the Gryphon would suffer due to the weight. It has been suggested that you only find these pieces of armor in Strongholds.
13. Inventory (papertiger, Droideka30, zeel, IonicTiger): The idea that you should be able to place an item similar to a saddle bag or pouch on your Gryphon's back that would act as a chest and the Gryphon's inventory. This may or may not be where you would equip Gryphon-only armor at.
14. Talon grab (SkarmorySilver, papertiger): The idea that your Gryphon should be able to grab things with it's talons on command while mounted. Possible things Gryphons could grab: mobs, players, items, blocks. To make it balanced, if your Gryphon did grab a mob or player, the mob or player would still be able to aim up and attack the Gryphon and/or it's rider. With this form of balance in mind, the player would be able to use it's Gryphon to drop mobs from great heights, inflicting falling damage. This would be at the risk of the Gryphon and the Player's health and well being, however.
15. The Spire (IonicTiger): Click here to view IonicTiger's idea for a Gryphon nest atop a spire:
What if the nest, instead of spawning on the side of a cliff, would spawn on a massive spire that, depending on the hight of the mountain it spawned on, would range any where from a mere twenty blocks high, or a staggering hundered blocks high, and wouldn't end until it reached a few blocks above cloud level, thus forcing you to fight the adult gryphon?
The spire would be a jagged piller of rock, twisted and craved by the wind, as it has stood for a millennium, awe inspiring by its sheer size.
The design of it would have to be carefully considered; if too thin in, it would look a bit... strange; I would prefer it to be at least 7 blocks by 7 blocks, but, players would be able to tunnel right under the tower (assuming that it was hollow), and build a dirt tower to come out right under the egg.
You could fill the inside of the spire with lava, but this would be massively off theme.
Possibly the easiest solution to this problem would be to have to tower made of obsidian, and it would not be hollow. You could tunnel under it, but it would be easier to just fight the mother.
Also, as a few pages back there was talk of gryphons, being the most noble of beasts, collecting treasure, why not have blocks of gold, diamond, and emerald embedded in the spire?
They (the aforermetioned valuable minerals) would randomly spawn in the outer most layer of the spire, but there would only be a maximum number of only six blocks spawning in a tower that could be a hundred blocks high, so even getting them would be a mighty challenge.
16. Lance and saddle mounted lance holder (firewave15): firewave15 has suggested that there should lances and saddle mounted lance holders that the player could use from Gryphon and also possibly Horse back. The saddle mounted lance holder would be required in order for the player to maintain control of his mount whilst using a lance. The lance would do damage based on the speed that your Gryphon is traveling upon the point of impact with an enemy. The lance would have a longer reach than a sword, making it ideal for mounted combat. But it would be useless for anything else. The mounted lance holder would most likely break after a set number of uses, perhaps 50.
17. Fear of fire (IonicTiger): The idea that Gryphon's should be afraid of fire, and will not fly within 5 blocks of any fire. This would add balance to PVP ground vs air combat, making players on the ground slightly more defended from Gryphon riders. Players on the ground would still be vulnerable to a Gryphon rider's bow and splash potions, however.
CALL TO ARMS... AND TWEETS... AND REDDITS!
I encourage all of our supporters and/or bannerlords to tweet @Dinnerbone and @Jeb_ so that they can become aware of Gryphons and perhaps add them in a future patch. It worked for the "Colored glass" suggestion. They tweeted and got noticed and now have a good shot at having their idea added. We can do it too, guys!
REDDIT:
DON OUR BANNER!:
Copy and paste this into your signature:
BANNERLORDS:
I shall name all those who don our banner! (Let me know if i missed ya):
Papertiger, zeel, Droideka30, empoleon53098, Pinballboy7, Ram9bo, Withnothing, IonicTiger, EmeraldDragon225, SkarmorySilver, gugus294, Xweetok_II,
Sh4rp_Blade15, Minor107, xSatuim, Concerer82, Riggzon, Zbakkar_Herobrine,
Starhowl, Mobius762, shadowyblade, theorangecreeper, EpicGamer, Sylveon,
King_Of_Wolf, enderman_guy, Rex1900Roblox, BGgames, Euclid243, Techdolpihn
purebloodedgriffin, firewave15, zeuslightning125, Jetstream_Xeno
EDIT LOG: There are now some concept screenshots further on down this page in a recent post. Added a game breaking? section. Added amazing concept art, avatar and banner by Papertiger. Added a "Supporter Suggestions" section. Added a poll. Added "tweet and support us". Added banner info and bannerlords. Added more concept art inside of spoilers. Added call to arms... And tweets, replacing the old tweet section. Added a disclaimer about this not being a mod or mod suggestion, but rather a vanilla suggestion.
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No! Some people just have strange ways of saying that they like something, i guess lol.
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LOLLLLLLLLL
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My favorite is the Sift. It sounds so cool!!!
Support
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Maybe the dropped scale item should increase swim speed instead of run speed?
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What Papertiger means is that:
It would be quite difficult to be effective in combat vs. a ground target if you are mounted on a Gryphon. You would have very limited mobility. You would actually be vulnerable to things such as zombies, creepers, skeletons, spiders and other players (While landed/at ground level). Where as if you were to fight another player who was also on a Gryphon in the air (Dogfight!), it would be a much more balanced fight because both of you would be limited by the same maneuverability constraints yet you'd both be able to take advantage of the Gryphon's powers of flight and altitude!
Although our idea of Minecraft Gryphon's main purpose is for flying transportation, and not for combat, i like the idea of two Gryphon riders having a Dogfight/Sky duel. It would be a very intereresting thing to see.
As for hostile flying mobs... The suggestion forum rules say you are only supposed to have one suggestion per thread so i'm not going to comment on that, sorry.
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I made some roosts and took some pictures to show the types of structures players might create to house their Gryphons.
Sorry for the poor image quality. These were made in the Xbox360 release and the "Share to Facebook" option isn't currently working so i had to take these with a camera. I play the PC version of Minecraft too but i find the Xbox release more relaxing.
Dictionary.com 's definition of Roost:
"noun
1. a perch upon which birds or fowls rest at night.
2. a large cage, house, or place for fowls or birds to roost in.
3. a place for sitting, resting, or lodging.
verb (used without object)
4. to sit or rest on a roost, perch, etc.
5. to settle or stay, especially for the night."
IMAGES OF ROOSTS:
A roost atop a tower castle.
A roost atop a tower IN another castle. (In the upper right tower)
A roost built into the side of another castle.
I like castles
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Thanks for your feedback. I did not think of how this would effect multiplayer servers at all. I've been basing my idea off of single player survival mode game-play.
Thanks! I might just do that.
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