Minecraft 14w20a New Features - Cave Generation Changed

This weeks snapshot, Minecraft 14w20a, tweaks the world generation code so that cave structures tear though most surface blocks. Dinnerbone tweeted an image showing caves cutting through hardened clay in the Mesa biome. As you will see below, the cave entrance protrudes to surface level.

New Cave Generation

Dinnerbone also confirmed that other blocks are affected by the generation change. For example, sand is now caved when above sea level. Previously in environments such as this, caves were generated very close to the surface without actually pushing through. It was fun (and risky) to dig in deserts only to find that you were on top of a huge cave and then plunder to your death! With this new change it's going to be rare to find caves so close to the surface which don't break the upper crust.

Tweet from Dinnerbone

Cave generation in Mesa biomes:

Cave generation in desert biomes:

New Title Command

Another new addition this week is the Title command. Created by Searge, the command is aimed at Map Makers. Using the Title command you can display large text on the screen (and a subtitle) and then slowly fade it out.

The Title command is used as follows:

Set the fade in time, the on screen time and the fade out time for the text
/title @a times 1000 1000 1000

Set the subtitle (optional)
/title @a subtitle {text:"a new ",extra:[{text:"day",color:red},{text:" begins"}]}

Set the title, this will also start showing the title (+subtitle)
/title @a title {text:"Chapter",color:green,extra:[{text:" I",color:yellow}]}

Clear titles immediately
/title @a clear

Reset all title parameters to defaults (fade times)
/title @a reset

What else are Mojang working on?

It's been a difficult week for Dinnerbone. There were numerous power cuts at the Mojang office and a new episode of Mindcrack featuring Aureylian was a tempting distraction. There's also news that Scrolls is getting a Launcher redesign and Dinnerbone has been helping with that too.

With Dinnerbone working on the Launcher redesign for Scrolls, we're now certain to get a Minecraft Launcher redesign soon as well. If you take a look at the mock-ups for Scrolls (see below), the launcher looks fantastic:

Scroll launcher redesign

Could we expect a Minecraft Launcher just as good?

Other Features in 14w20a

New /title command for adventure-map chaptering.
Tab-list more consistent and a little more prettier when using health display objective.
Vertical fly speed of spectator mode can be adjusted
You no longer can get stuck outside the world border, you can walk back inside