The History of Minecraft – Told in Version Numbers
If you’ve read Rocky Bytes before, you know we have a thing for Minecraft. We’ve gone over mods, creations and even famous players. But now, we’re going to look at something different, something much more important. We’re going to look back to the beginning of Minecraft and see what some of the most important additions were for each major version, for this reason we prepared this infographics that show you the Minecraft version evolution and all the important updates for each one of the game versions.
Follow Minecraft's history through the tunnels that Steve dug to show you the information of his addicting game in this infographic!
This Minecraft evolution history infographic was created by Rocky Bytes and all the information was extracted from Minecraft Wiki and its version history.
Nevertheless, we want to expand the information we provide with some written details of the versions:
Minecraft 1.8 version – The Bountiful Update:
- Plenty of new Splash screens. Difficulty now set per world.
- New options from skin options to multiplayer and video settings.
- Improved creeper and spider shaders.
- Spectator mode implemented, allowing you to travel through the world without limits.
- New Ocean Monuments and their Guardian and Elder Guardian mobs.
- New blocks: Prismarine, Granite, Andesite, Diorite, etc.
- Rabbits, which can be bred, eaten or even kept as pets.
- Endermites added, a small hostile mob spawned every time an Enderman teleports.
- Enchanting overhaul, making enchantments cost 1 to 3 experience levels, while still requiring you to have enough total levels to create the enchantments.
- Villagers given professions and trading received an overhaul to ensure the NPCs carry useful items for the player.
- Adventure mode modified to prevent any block interaction.
- Engine improvements in frames per second, rendering and graphics.
Get Minecraft 1.8 here: Download Minecraft 1.8
Minecraft 1.7 – The Update that Changed the World
Minecraft 1.7.2 version
- Added particle effects for fishing and falling.
- New achievements added. For example, “The Beginning?” and “The Beginning” for summoning and killing The Wither respectively.
- New player statistics: Distance by horse, junk fished, etc.
- New trees: Acacia and Dark Oak.
- New Biomes: Mesa (multiple colored clay layered to simulate sedimentary rock and with no rain), Savanna (very flat with plateaus and occasional giant mountains, no rain but horses spawn here), Sunflower Plains (same as the regular Plains but spawns sunflowers), Roofed Forest (giant trees and mushrooms, night monsters can survive in the day, Dark Oak trees spawn here, dangerous under the canopy at day and night), Taiga (now without snow), Flower Forest (forest variant with several flower species), Mega Taiga (rare version of the Taiga biome), Extreme Hills+ (Goes much higher than the regular Extreme Hills biome), Ice Plain Spikes (Plains filled with giant ice spikes jutting from the ground and plenty of frozen lakes) and Deep Oceans (10 blocks deeper than regular oceans).
- Amplified World Types, extending the dimensions to their maximum.
- Wood variety blocks.
- New blocks, tree saplings, flowers and items.
- Stained glass can now be colored in any of 16 shades.
- Resource Packs received major overhaul allowing to select multiple packs at once.
- Menus received overhaul to make them easier to navigate.
Get Minecraft 1.7.2 here: Download Minecraft 1.7.2
Minecraft 1.7.4 version:
- New Mojang Splash Screen.
- Ability to stream to Twitch.tv.
- Skin system added, allowing players to change how their Minecraft character looks.
Get Minecraft 1.7 here: Download Minecraft 1.7.4
Minecraft 1.6.1 version – The Horse Update
- Horses added to the game, for ease of transportation.
- Resource Pack System implemented, allowing players to fully customize their Minecraft experience. This system replaced the Texture Pack system.
- Attributes, a set of buffs and penalties for mobs, items and players.
- Splash screens added to the game.
- More mobs include mules, donkeys and skeleton and zombies horses.
- New blocks including the block of coal and new items such as the horse armors.
Get Minecraft 1.6.1 here: Download Minecraft 1.6.1
Minecraft 1.5 version - The Redstone Update
- Scoreboard system added to track statistics by all players in a given server, such as health and number of kills. It even allows the server administrator group people up, assign them team colors and disable friendly fire.
- New block types, especially Redstone-related. Included the decorative Quartz block.
- A slew of new crafts, the most important among them being the TNT Minecart, for when you really want to give your little cart a boost.
- Inventory management upgrade, allowing you to quickly and easily stack your items.
- Plenty of engine upgrades in lighting and textures.
Get Minecraft 1.5 here: Download Minecraft 1.5
Minecraft 1.4.6 version
- Enchanted books and a few new enchantments.
- Netherbrick slabs
Get Minecraft 1.4.6 here: Download Minecraft 1.4.6
Minecraft 1.4.4 version
- Creepers can drop music discs if they’re killed by a Skeleton
Get Minecraft 1.4.4 here: Download Minecraft 1.4.4
Minecraft 1.4.2 version - The Very Scary Update
- A host of new mobs including witches, bats, zombie villagers and wither skeletons.
- Sound effects for new and existing mobs and textures.
- New boss, The Wither.
- New blocks such as the command block.
- More food.
- Decorative items for your home, such as flower pots and cobblestone walls.
- Fireworks added.
- Warning included for soon to be outdated system.
Get Minecraft 1.4.2 here: Download Minecraft 1.4.2
Minecraft 1.3 version
- Adventure mode added to the game.
- Trading made available.
- New items and blocks such as emeralds, books, quills, Ender Chests and more.
- New Temple structure for jungles and deserts.
- Increase in overall difficulty making fighting creepers much harder.
- Enchanting improved and polished for a more rewarding experience.
Get Minecraft 1.3.2 here: Download Minecraft 1.3.2
Minecraft 1.2 version
- Numerous changes introduced with the Anvil files, the most important one being an increase in build height to 256.
- Zombie Sieges began here, with hordes assaulting your base.
- Jungle biomes, abandoned mine shafts, desert wells, sandstone blocks and wood planks came into play here.
- Finally, some polish into the chat.
- New mobs: Ocelot and Iron Golem.
Get Minecraft 1.2 here: Download Minecraft 1.2.5
Minecraft 1.1 version
- A big language update, with over 56 translations of Minecraft.
-Beaches became part of biomes.
- New biome type: Superflat, made of only grass, dirt and bedrock.
- Spawn Eggs, which you click to spawn mobs.
Minecraft 1.0 version
In most games this would be the release, but Minecraft had already been around for a while before this, but still this version market the official release and here are a few of its features:
- This version brought in the end-game, the ability to go into the The End realm and fight the other new addition: The Ender Dragon.
- End Portals and Nether Dungeons, which make up the most of the progression aspect of the game’s survival mode.
- Enchanting, Brewing and of course, Breeding.
So, that’s all the history of Minecraft, every major version update since 1.0 to 1.8 for Minecraft!
Was there something we missed? Is there a feature you think we should have mentioned? Tell us all about it in the comments!
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