Minecraft is always evolving, and there are always ways to test some of the upcoming features and changes before they arrive through snapshots or preview builds.
I'm going to shed some light on a couple of the more interesting features heading to players in the near future, both of which you can go and test now if you're okay playing pre-release versions.
First, Mojang Studios is introducing a better way to keep track of where all your friends are in your Minecraft world with the new "Locator Bar." We're also getting a suite of new presets when creating a flat world, giving us a lot more variety for our creative and experimental worlds.
If you're more interested in what you can play now, the Minecraft "Spring to Life" game drop just released with a ton of new improvements and mob variants for the Overworld.
A quick way to find all of your friends
First introduced in the 1.21.80.20 version of Minecraft Preview, the "Locator Bar" is an optional feature that replaces the green experience bar in your HUD (but you'll still be able to see your level).
The bar will be populated with a colored dot for each player in your Minecraft world, and will guide you directly toward them. It'll even inform you of elevation differences with an up or down arrow!
No longer will you have to toggle the coordinates to try and figure out where everyone is in relation to each other. It's a great convenience feature, and I'm probably more excited than I should be about it.
Of course, the Locator Bar can be toggled off, but if you're worried about it making gameplay unfair, don't be. Crouching, drinking an invisibility potion, or wearing a mob head/carved pumpkin will make players vanish from the Locator Bar, so you can remain hidden when you wish.
More options when creating a flat world
Using flat worlds for creative or experimental builds is an iconic part of the Minecraft experience, but being restricted to the same endless plains every time can grow tiring.
Soon, you'll be able to choose from a list of presets to drastically change the characteristics of the flat world, such as turning it into an infinite ocean, or an endless desert, or a haven for redstone engineers, or... a bottomless pit?
Mojang Studios is planning to add more presets as time goes on, too, so we'll have a ton of options to find the perfect flat world for our latest projects. Right now, the project starts with the 1.21.80.22 version of Minecraft Preview.
There's a lot going on with Minecraft right now
Both of these features are currently in testing as part of the latest Minecraft beta, which you can find at Minecraft.net. There's a lot going on in the Minecraft world in general, though.
The latest Minecraft Live event recently concluded. Mojang announced the newest Minecraft update mere days before it dropped, but also shared details on the next game drop coming in a few months, which will feature two new Ghast variants (and a way to ride your own Ghast).
Even more exciting is the reveal of Minecraft's "Vibrant Visuals," the first step in a dramatic overhaul for the look and feel of this legendary game. That's also a few months away, so we may see the next game drop, Vibrant Visuals, and the two features mentioned above all arrive around the same time.
If you want to learn more about Vibrant Visuals in Minecraft, you can check out my in-depth breakdown (including multiple side-by-side comparisons).
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