New features to expect in Minecraft Snapshot 12w34a (1.4)

There was no 12w33a snapshot this week due to Minecraft being updated to 1.3.2. Not to worry, snapshot 12w34a is on track and should be released on 23rd August as normal. Jeb and Nathan have already teased us with new features for 12w34a including item frames and flower pots.

Let's take a look at these new features in more detail:

Item Frames

Sort of like a cross between display cabinets and picture frames. You can hang (place) a frame onto a wall and then place an item within the frame (see image). If you place a map, compass or clock it will still function inside the frame. So for example, the clock will still tell you when the sun is going down and the compass will point northwards.

Not only can you place regular items in the frames, but you can also place armor, weapons and food. Frames are intended for both decorative and storage use, they make the perfect complement to your interior design, armoury rooms or adventure maps.

Flower Pots

Flower pots are also decorative items that come in a variety of forms. From Nathans screenshot we can see ferns, saplings, mushroom, dandelion (yellow flower), rose (red flower), cactus, dead bush and other plants. It would appear that you can combine one of the natural plant items from Minecraft with a pot to create the flower pot.

Again these are probably for decoration only, despite Nathan joking that they'll help you win that Minecraft girl back!

New mob

Nathan has started working on a new mob for Minecraft. It'll be the first mob we've seen in a while because of the back log of performance bugs that were fixed for 1.3. All we know so far is that the mob has no clothes! Not sure if the mobs half-finished or we're really getting a streaker. Doubtful.

Cobblestone walls

Cobblestone is the medieval looking block that represents an uneven and roughly pave surface. You can create cobblestone by combining water and lava, or find it naturally occurring in dungeons, strongholds and villagers. These new cobblestone walls will probably occur in the same places as regular cobblestone. The walls are only half the height of the sheep mob (as you can see from the picture) so mobs will probably be able to jump over them. However, they appear to make the perfect pen enclosure when combined with fences.

The crafting recipe for cobblestone walls will probably be 3 cobbelstone placed in a vertical line.