Minecrafts Evolution of The Nether…

The nether minecraft’s hell dimension an ugly place with dangerous mobs and terrain where one mistake or misplay could cost you your life and your gear we all know what the nether is as is required to beat the game besides that the nether is incredibly useful from containing rarer items used to make

Powerful potions to being used to create god tier farms which are jaw-droppingly efficient and of course we all know the infamous nether highways which make travel around the world incredibly easy but many people don’t know its history how it came to be the fact that the

First ever version of hell as it was known back then was merely a weird version of the overworld what many people also don’t know is that when the nether was first properly implemented it wasn’t nearly the same as another we have today the nether has come a long way

Throughout this decade in the game today we’re going to talk about its history and more so let’s get right into it to begin we need to talk about when the nether was first added or implemented on january the 7th 2010 over 11 years ago now in their version 0.31 201

000 107 was released now for those of you who are unaware in their versions are very old bare bones versions of the game which experimented with minecraft survival elements and improved terrain generation for the first time since survival tests many features were added to these versions of the game which would be the

Backbone for core gameplay in the future but anyways these versions of the game as i mentioned began experimenting with many features some of which made to the game some of which were never seen again in this specific in their version level options were first added level options are a feature which were

Removed later in inf dev but they gave players the ability to generate a world in a normal theme a paradise theme which featured larger beaches and lots of flora a wood theme which had lower light level and high tree density and finally a hell theme the hell theme

Is what’s most important for us here the hell theme was actually the first theme introduced besides normal and features significantly less lighting during the day allowing all mob types to spawn at any time almost all grass was replaced with dirt making the terrain look ugly and all water was replaced with lava

Creating huge lava lakes and oceans sound familiar mushrooms were also far more abundant on the world service and farming worked at a much slower rate where crops only grew one stage every day the world was dark there was no day night cycle and it was basically night 24

7. and when i say dark i really mean dark as back in in their versions of the game there was no brightness slider in the video settings so nights were really dark and scary another interesting feature added in this in-depth update was the fact that fog became darker and

Fog color was now based on how dark surroundings were this in itself was the first ever version of the nether or as notch envisioned it back then hell and while it certainly looks different to another we would come to know in the next few years core features such as large lava lakes

And dark spooky terrain would be very influential when the nether would actually come to be but as mentioned earlier the map themes feature was later removed in inf dev versions but notch wasn’t done with hell yet in fact he had a lot of plans but before we get into that

Consider subscribing as only a small potential of you guys are actually subbed and it really helps me out no pressure though as minecraft alpha continued development notch would frequently talk about his vision for the minecraft hell dimension stating in a secret saturday update on september the 18th 2010

That the hellbiome will be used as an alternate fast travel dimension he also references a book called wheel of time here which i haven’t read but from what i gathered features some form of fast travel dimension then on october the 4th 2010 minecraft’s halloween update was first

Announced where it was revealed that you would explore a new scary realm a hellish world for fast traveling that you portaled into what’s most interesting is that a main reason and main selling point for not adding the hell by was for this fast travel feature rather than to just add a scary hellish

Dimension the fast travel aspect seemed to be the main focus with the new hell biome announced to be releasing later that october notch continued giving spoilers information releasing the new soul sand textures on his tumblr blog a screenshot of the netherlands terrain and hinting at new mobs such as the ghast

And then on october the 29th 2010 in one of his final blog posts for the halloween update notch mentioned that he’s still looking for a good new name for hell wanting to avoid using existing religious names as he wanted to be more creative and original he considered both the slip and nexus

But neither felt minecrafty enough and then on october 29th 2010 the hellbind was finally added in a special preview version of alpha 1.2.0 sent only to two game journalists pc gamer and indie games the hell biome was referred to as the slip in this version and the nether

Portal was referred to the slip gate in a pc gamer showcase video on october 30th 2010 minecraft alpha version 1.2.0 the halloween update was finally released the first public version with the hell dimension now called the nether as notch believed it sounded more minecrafty the nether contrary to popular belief is

Not another word for hell but rather it means situated down or below potentially below the earth’s surface sort of like an underworld now the nether back then was vastly different from the nether we have today it was extremely bare bones featuring netherrack soul sand glowstone gravel some mushrooms and that’s about it

There were no other blocks alongside that the terrain generated much more like islands and it was common to see pretty interesting looking terrain the only mobs which spawned were gas which were very buggy and pigmen that was it lava lakes were also much more sizeable making it difficult to navigate around

And of course lava flowed much faster so what were the main draws of the nether then well players went for three reasons number one was to see what it was like as it’s interesting especially at first visit number two was to get glowstone an awesome looking light source and number

Three was for travelling efficiency and to set up highways utilizing the fact that for every one block in another you traveled eight in the overworld but not many players would have done this as back in alpha people tend to build near their spawn it also didn’t work that well as i

Discovered when i went through a portal in the overworld and went back through the same portal in the nether it made a completely different one for me a few hundred blocks away for some reason so during this time the nether was mainly seen as a cool little added feature to the game

Which you would explore for a bit before not really returning that often and for quite some time the nether remained untouched the next update it would receive was many months later during may of 2011 in beta 1.6 where beds would explode in another reviews and porters were made to properly

Function in multiplayer servers it wasn’t until september of 2011 they would begin to see some attention from the developers again with jeb teasing screenshots of changes to another terrain generation and also the new nether fortresses and then on november the 18th 2011 with the release of minecraft version 1.0.0

Over a year after the nether was first added it finally received an update giving it more purpose nether fortresses were added which contained blaze spawners nether brick and nether wart mobs such as the blaze and the magma cube were also added and gas were made to drop gas tiers

As well as zombie pigman dropping gold nuggets this update finally gave the nether purpose as you needed to go there to kill blazers to get blaze rods so you could craft eyes of ender and find a stronghold also if you wanted to brew potions you would have to go to the nether to

Collect nether war and soul sand as well many poached ingredients such as gas tears and magma cream also were only obtainable in the nether giving players even more reason to go there the nether was finally a dimension that wasn’t just for show no longer just a cool extra feature

But rather a dimension which contains some must-have items and resources the nether continued to be gradually updated over time in version 1.3.1 released august of 2012 nether wart was given the ability to grow in other dimensions aside from the nether 1.4.2 released not long after also was quite an important update

Zombie pigmen were given the ability to wear armor and the sword they held made them do more damage a relatively unnoticed but very important change in this version of the game was also the implementation of the ability for mobs and entities to travel through nether portals which would

Become very useful in later farm designs in the same 1.4.2 update wither skeletons were also added giving the nether another purpose to get wither skulls to spawn the wither the boss which represents another biome upon being killed the wither would drop another star a very valuable item used to craft beacons

Then in version 1.5 released in march of 2013 nether quarter was added generating in vain similar to all such as coal when gathered it could be crafted into quartz blocks and other quartz variations one of the nicest looking blocks in the game version 1.6.1 not too long after

Also added chests and other fortresses making them contain more loot such as diamond’s gold iron and more but with all these updates through 2012 and into early 2013 the nether still really lacked something variation yeah sure they never had some cool loot mobs and blocks which you needed to get

But besides that it was boringly similar with the same netherrack and soul sound terrain generation all the time it got very old very fast especially for players who’ve been playing the game for quite some time the fact that the nether wouldn’t receive any updates for 3 years after 1.6.1

Also didn’t help as during that time period players only became more and more familiar with the nether’s boring and repetitive generation in 1.10 released in june of 2016 the nether would finally get some small improvements with endermen given the ability to spawn there magma blocks being added and the red

Nether brick block being able to be crafted it finally seemed that the developers were giving the dimension some much needed attention again but that wouldn’t last long as the next update to the nether wouldn’t be into 1.13 in 2018 over two years later where vertical air cavities or ravines were

Able to generate in the nether now providing some much needed variation but the nether was still lacking in fact for the most part the nether looked almost identical in terms of block palette and terrain generation in 2010 as it did in 2019 and while the nether did have more draws

It still really wasn’t that much 1.13 would mark the last update which changed the nether until 1.16 were released two years later but we’ll get to that in a few minutes so during this time period the nether was mostly used for a short list of very predictable things

Let me explain players would go there to get blaze rods to go to the end and maybe nether wall for potions they would also probably go there to get quartz glowstone or wither skulls if you were to build there it would likely be near the highways for transportation

Or to build blaze exp farms and that was it for the average player sure you could build a cool lava base as well but in terms of usefulness that was all the nether really offered for the more technologically advanced players the nether was seen as no more than a convenience as alongside its

Useful highways and transportation systems nether could be utilized to make extremely fast golden exp farms as well as with the skull and gas farms and this led players are asking for another update to make it more interesting alongside the much wanted cave update unfortunately their prairies were answered in version 1.16 the biggest

Update is another in 10 years on june the 23rd 2020 minecraft version 1.16 was released changing the nether forever named the nether update it drastically changed terrain generation in the nether making it feel almost as alive and interesting as the overworld four new biomes were added to the nether

Including the crimson forest warped forest seoul sand valley and basalt deltas the crimson forest a very reddish bind with a floor coated in a new block called crimson nylium and crimson roots contained a new form of nether wood called crimson stems which were topped with nether wart blocks which acted as leaves

These trees also featured a new light source called shroom lights which to me looked like a smoother version of glowstone new vines called the weeping vine were also added which hang from the new nether trees and the crimson forest also spawned piglens and hoglands in higher frequencies two new mobs added to

The nether which could be traded with and had unique attacks and to top it off a reddish fog gave the bime a very scary and intimidating atmosphere then there is a warped forest a cyan version of the crimson forest which spawn endermen in higher frequency the trees in the warped forest tend to

Grow higher and they also contain these grim looking twisted vines when in the biome there is also a bluish fog which adds to the atmosphere next up is the soul sand valley which as its name suggests our large valleys or stretches of soul sand and a new block called soul soil

Where gas and skeletons spawn in much higher frequency they also contain blue fire known as sulphide and protruding bone blocks from the ground acting as fossils or ruins of other ancient beings finally there are what i think is the most unique biome the soul deltas making use of the new basalt and black

Stone blocks basalt deltas are like volcanic landscapes that are very mountainous spiky and uneven containing lava and magma impulse throughout due to this they are likely the most dangerous biome to traverse in the nether with the added danger of magma cubes spawning in a much higher frequency and being likely to knock

Players into lava now besides biomedicines 1.16 also added bastion remnants large castle ruined type structures which could contain rare loot mainly immense amounts of gold but can also contain dangerous piglens and piglen brutes something unique to bastions which is not seen in any other game generated structures in minecraft

Is the fact that they can generate in four different forms bridges hogland stables housing units and treasure rooms and each form of the bastion has its own unique structures and loot ores such as nether gold ore and of course ancient debris were also added nethergold ore gave players another

Method of attaining gold through mining an ancient debris a block rarer than diamond could be used to craft netheri and upgrade diamond armor to its netherright variant this gave the nether a really important purpose being the gateway to the only resource stronger than diamond something which has been requested by players

For years finally unique nether ambience noises and tracks were added which were often overlooked give the nether a really scary and dark vibe which is really well implemented and i seriously mean this take some time to go to the nether with all of minecraft’s in-game sounds on and you’ll see just how

Immersive these ambience noises are with all these great additions players finally had more reason to go to the nether but mainly the nether was finally becoming more interesting containing a variation of biomes terrain blocks structures and mobs making it feel different and unique in every different world you explored it

The new nether gave players choice they could either go exploring mine gold collect ancient debris or raid bastion remnants there are far more options than just the cookie cutter go to the nether get blaze rods maybe some coarse and glowstone and then leave go on with the days of the boring

Generic nether and now is the time of a nether worth exploring more than just loot but also for the thrill of the adventure something had been lacking for almost a decade with that being said i think that just about wraps up this video we went through the evolution of the

Nether from its initial hellish landscape in 2009 to its full dimension implementation in 2010 and then to its final much needed facelift and improvements in 2020. and i don’t think this is the end either who knows what the future holds with this dangerous and hellish dimension only time will tell if you enjoyed

Today’s video then consider subscribing and follow me on twitter links are in the description thank you all so much for watching