Minecraft Earth - Adventure Guide - Mobile Version - Java Edition
Minecon 2019, the yearly Minecraft convention, dropped some big news on the gaming community at this year’s event, and no I’m not talking about bees and honey blocks—although those are cool too.
For me, the most exciting announcement they made was the upcoming new release called Minecraft Earth. Today we’ll take a look at what exactly this game is and whether it sounds like something you’d find interesting.
So let’s get to crafting.
What Is Minecraft Earth
Minecraft Earth is a new mobile game released by Mojang Studios, creators of Minecraft. This new mobile version will not be a port of Minecraft, but rather, an entirely new game.
Along the lines of games like Pokémon Go and Jurassic Park Evolution, the new Minecraft game will be a augmented reality sandbox games, having players walk around in the real world to collect in-game items.
Much like the original Minecraft, the new mobile game will focus on collecting resources, crafting, exploring, building and playing with friends. How you collect these resources and items are much different in Minecraft Earth though. You’ll actually need to get out of your house and walk around the real world to explore in-game.
Gathering resources involves players finding and then tapping on items call “tappables.” This is how you’ll collect new items and resources. For example: you might have to walk down to the street corner to collect some iron bars in game. Or maybe stop for a minute while you're shopping a the grocery to collect a stack of cobblestone.
In addition to the above mentioned, the game will also include “adventures” that can be undertaken with multiple friends. These set “quest” will give you rewards and bonuses upon completion.
Augmented Reality
You won’t just be building structures on the screen of your phone. With AR, your phone camera will be used to capture your surrounding areas and project what you’re building on top of it. For instance, you can build a big cobblestone castle right on your dining room table.
You’ll be able save your creations and take them with you on the phone. Hanging out with your friends during school lunch? No problem. Whip your phone out and project your creations right there in the lunchroom for your friends to see.
But AR support doesn’t end there. Adventures and exploring also uses AR features. Maybe you find a Desert Temple to explore. You won’t only be clicking around on your screen. No, temples, dungeons, and much more will appear in the real world in front of you, making you physically walk around to explore temples and dungeons.
What About Multiplayer
Everyone knows one of the best things about Minecraft is playing with your friends. What’s the fun of playing Minecraft alone? Well don’t worry social gamers, Minecraft Earth comes packed with multiplayer features.
Using Microsoft’s Azure cloud, Minecraft will offer a persistent world letting lots of users to join simultaneously. The Azure cloud is also used for multiplayer events like adventures and dungeons.
These instance events will appear for everyone nearby on the map, allowing players to jump in that action. At the moment, a player cap of 40 has been set for each mp event, but developers say we may see that number increase in the near future.
Get Ready to Explore
We should see an open beta free for anyone to join over the next month. The developers have been slowly rolling out the game in other countries, preparing for their world release.
Developers stated these early beta releases have helped work out bugs and issues with the game. Namely where to put and not put collectibles. Don’t worry, the developers said they are working to produce a “blacklist” of sites in which game content will not generate--places like dangerous neighborhoods or adult locations.
With the extreme popularity of the Minecraft brand, it should come as no surprise when this game soars. Other games like Pokemon Go have shown the success of the genre. Look for Minecraft to make an even bigger splash in popular culture.
North American consumers get your phones ready. We should see a Minecraft Earth release in only a few weeks.
Oh but one more thing: watch out for creepers.