INDEV: The Strange Story of Minecraft's Earliest Features

Minecraft has a storied past, and there are many features which have been lost to time. Join me as we take a look at what no longer exists today.

Music by RetroGamingNow:
"DG String Quartet (Mvt. II)"

[Wiener-Fag]

Always liked to think Steve was a wild Steve who gained self awareness and increased intelligence compared to the other Steve's who just frolic around aimlessly, hence why he's the only Steve left when u start a new game

[thebleachbartender]

If you listen to the first minute without any context or visuals it sounds like a creepypasta horror story.

[vtycheeklover]

His dramatic over-exaggeration is so funny. This guy is great

[weirdosheep]

The old brown spider model was so cute, they should add it back as a tameable mount or a friendly source of string.

[lordoftheeyes]

19:08. Pyramids. This is where it all began. All that lore, all the theories. It all began here with the realization that there is more than meets the eye. There was someone here before you.

[moderatelycoolperson]

God, I imagine Notch in the begining developing Minecraft as a small project, interacting with fans, and not being overwhelmed by stress. A completely different era

[jwalster]

3:44 the 'dripstone' could be a revision of the spikes, it's very similar in the idea, sharp, pointy, and added in the same update as the amethyst, (very similar to one of his other ideas.)

[undergroundman]

When Notch first added chests I built a double chest and filled it full of a bunch of random crap like dirt and sand and planks. Then I broke it thinking I could carry it around with me and all the items spilled out on the ground. I remember staring at the screen for a moment wondering what had just happened.

[Goolix_Aero]

9:10 The revelation that Steve wasn't originally created for Minecraft is nuts. Imagine going back to 2009 when that video was the only evidence of his existence, and telling someone he would be in Smash in 11 years.

[okallat]

lol the Steve’s running around in the beginning are so funny looking

[lasercraft]

Somewhere in an alternate universe, Rana is the mascot of Minecraft instead of Steve and the art direction is completely different.

[rafit_]

Damn, looking at this really makes me think of how creative Notch is. Like, taking his perspective and not thinking that these features are already in Minecraft, most new things he came up with were amazing new additions. Makes me wonder how Minecraft would have turned out if he continued running it instead of selling it to Microsoft.

[superprobablyuser]

9:55 him dramatically describing this video and HOW HORRIFYING it is, is unintentionally funny

[notahuman]

finally, someone who actually talks about notchs posts and glitches earlier in game. fun to know im not the only one who likes that kind of stuff.

[NathanDavisVideos]

ALSO I remember playing the old Minecraft-"classic" era! I used to play The One's Lava Survival. Matter of fact; I think me and my brother were probably some of the first people to ACTUALLY test out Minecraft. Who knew it would eventually become the most popular video game of our time.

[cartooner]

i love how he makes something goofy sound scary,

[Hexra_]

I've actually never seen a video that dives this deep into the history of very early versions of minecraft. Sure we get a short cameo of indev or infdev during lore videos, but to dedicate an entire video to discussing a version and what led up to it is just amazing

[lajbeak]

“There are pigs, which drop brown mushrooms, which can restore health”
Man, I love early Minecraft

[FISHEAD]

fun fact after the concept for hell notch wanted to name what is now known as the nether as "The slip" I was literally following the development of the game after the introduction of world types.

[nulcow]

I believe that the "isometric screenshot" feature was potentially added for the purpose of light/shadow map generation. Light and shadows in games are usually generated in a way where one of the first steps involves rendering the world from each light's perspective. The POV of a directional light (the only type of real dynamic light in Minecraft) is usually orthographic (straight lines with no perspective), so the "isometric screenshot" may have been a test of part of a way to implement dynamic light and shadows in Minecraft, which would definitely look a lot better than what we ended up with.