Minecraft news » Weekly Recap - Better Sheep, Cobalt & More

Send In the Sheep

Sheep have been a popular focus for the two most recent weekly snapshot releases, although this attention has definitely produced positive results. Sheep will - in 1.1.0 - be able to regrow wool, which is a welcome addition for crafters and builders alike; gone will be the days of scouring the countryside for sheep who still bear their glorious woolly gifts, littering the landscape with bare livestock. While it is true that they eat grass to do this, it seems a small price to pay - grass is easy to replenish, and is everywhere.

I can finally open the painting shop made of technicolor cloth I always dreamed of on SMP servers.

This is, of course, not the only improvement on the horizon; sturdier farmland, multiple bugfixes (including a fix for a particularly insidious SMP glitch) and multi-lingual support all feature heavily in the coming updates, setting the stage for a cleaner, more refined Minecraft experience. One must wonder what features will follow, but one thing is definitely clear - Minecraft is showing no signs of slowing down.

Ludum Dare Returns; Notch Answers the Call

The Ludum Dare is upon us again, and Notch has returned for round two. This event always produces some highly entertaining games, but more importantly, showcases programmers at their best: under a tight deadline, doing what they love. What sort of innovative short game has he devised this year? You can see for yourself - without giving anything away, it is certainly innovative, and worth a look. If nothing else, I can say this much about it - if you like top-down style games, and you like Minecraft, this game will certainly seem delightfully familiar.

Just don't try and hit zombies with wood planks.

Cobalt Underway

Cobalt is currently in the Alpha phase, and like Minecraft before it, you can pick it up while it's still in development. Before I could play it, I knew only that it was an action platformer with a decidedly robot flavor, and while that was enticing enough in its own right, I couldn't appreciate the full depth of the game until I played it myself.

There is so much rolling. So very much rolling.

It's strangely addictive, in its own way. I grew up in the era of platform games, when they were at their peak; in hindsight, I only remember a handful of them standing out. Cobalt is definitely the sort of game that stands out - while it certainly occupies a populated genre, it does so in an endearing, memorable way. I never tire of rolling enemies' attacks back in their faces, to say nothing of the insidious tricks I've picked up while playing multi-player mode. It's a heated topic, one I discuss frequently with others.
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