Minecraft Earth
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Minecraft Earth was a free augmented reality (AR) game for Android, iOS, and iPadOS developed by Mojang Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was about collecting materials and crafting by traveling to real-world locations, and building structures or fighting dungeons in an augmented reality space.
The open beta for the game launched in mid-2019 for AR-capable devices on Android and iOS.[1][2] On January 5th 2021, Mojang announced that Minecraft Earth would be slowly phased out and eventually discontinued on June 30th, 2021.[3] Minecraft Earth was a good game but unfortunately it shut down by Mojang.
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
In Minecraft Earth, players were able to build structures with other players and "place them in the real world at life-size"[1] via augmented reality.
In the map view, players could see their character, which could be changed with the skins owned from the Marketplace. Scattered around the map were various tappables – instant mine resources that help the player along their journey. If a tappable is within a player's collection range, they can tap it and collect items. Multiple types of tappables exist, including stone, grass, chests, and mobs.
This version of Minecraft featured many unique aspects and interactions similar to the main game, and is not a port of an existing game but rather an adaptation of the Bedrock and Java Editions.[4] This version of the game is built on the Bedrock Engine.
Minecraft Earth required an Xbox Live account.[5]
On September 18th 2019, it was announced that the Nether and the End had been planned for the game in a future update.[6] This was no longer the case following the announcement of the game's discontinuation.[3]
Adventure[edit | edit source]
Adventures could appear on the map but could also be spawned in using Adventure Crystals. Adventures were similar to the survival mode aspect of Minecraft proper. Players could fight mobs, collect additional resources that were unavailable in tappables, and collect rewards.
In this mode, players had health and hunger, with hunger affecting the player's reach distance, and could severely limit how far they could mine or attack.[7]
Players could either travel alone or walk around with other players in their party, which was invite-only. In a party, all players needed to be near each other for interactions, which were live such as building, mining, or attacking. In parties, players could collect materials and share them with the other players. Inventories were separate and not shared. PVP was confirmed to be disabled or not implemented.[4]
Trading[edit | edit source]
Players could gather items together in a party or alone. When playing with others items could be traded with each other.[4][7]
Build Plates[edit | edit source]
Build plates were worlds that players could use to build on. They could be shared, and worked on by invited individuals. They could vary in size, reaching up to 200 feet (60 meters). Buildplates could be 8x8, 16x16, or 32x32 blocks in size, and the build height limit was 221 blocks.[8]
Differences from regular Minecraft[edit | edit source]
The main differences between Java/Bedrock and Earth include:
- The inventory was unlimited, both in slots and the stack size of items or blocks. There was no inventory crafting grid, nor was there a way to repair damaged items by combining them. There were no armor slots nor armor, and the inventory was unaffected by death due to it being unaccessible during adventures.
- While a player could build upward and dig downward, a player could not climb or descend unless a real-world structure is available; this effectively made the game two-dimensional.
- Crafting and smelting took time, sometimes several minutes or even hours depending on the item.
Microtransactions[edit | edit source]
The game had microtransactions, with the in-game paid currency being Rubies (not to be confused with Minecoins).[4] They could be used to purchase build plots and boosts,[7] and speed up crafting and smelting tasks.
Rubies could be used to:[9]
- Purchase buildplates
- Purchase boosts
- Purchase second and third slots for crafting and smelting
- Speed up crafting and smelting tasks
Minecoins could be used to purchase skins and clothing.
In 0.33.0, the final update to the game, all microtransactions were removed because the game was shutting down soon after.[3]
Release[edit | edit source]
The closed beta for the game was launched for AR-compatible iOS devices in the following cities:
- July 16, 2019
- July 17, 2019
- July 18, 2019
- Mexico City, Mexico[13]
There is no planned Windows 10 release,[14] nor will there be a Microsoft HoloLens release.
The closed beta for the game was launched for AR-compatible Android devices in the same five cities as the closed iOS beta: London, Seattle, Stockholm, Tokyo, Mexico City.
On August 22, 2019, pre-registration for the full game on the Google Play Store and registration for the full game was launched. On August 30, the closed beta was released for Android.[15]
Early access[edit | edit source]
Minecraft Earth is available in early access in the following countries:
- October 17, 2019[16]
- Iceland
- New Zealand
- October 29, 2019[17]
- Australia
- Mexico
- Sweden
- October 31, 2019[18]
- Canada
- Philippines
- South Korea
- November 5, 2019[19]
- United Kingdom
- November 12, 2019[20]
- United States
- November 19, 2019[21]
- Japan
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Spain
- Switzerland
- November 21, 2019[22]
- India
UNKNOWN CHANGELOGS
June 30th:
- Minecraft Earth stops development permanently, all services stopped
June 1st:
- All player data deleted (except for some important information)
- Minecraft Earth no longer playable
Video[edit | edit source]
- Minecraft Earth Official Reveal Trailer-0
- Minecraft Earth Apple WWDC Gameplay Reveal
- Minecraft Earth Safety First
- MINECON Live 2019 Adventures in Minecraft Earth
Minecon Live 2019: Adventures In Minecraft Earth
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ a b https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/earth/faq
- ↑ https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/earth
- ↑ a b c https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-earth-coming-end
- ↑ a b c d https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/17/18627341/minecraft-earth-ios-android-free-ar-game-features-pokemon-go
- ↑ https://earth.minecraft.net/en-us/sign-up
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20201001034424/https://playminecraftearth.com/minecraft-earth-q-and-a-nether-end-breeding-adventures-crafting/
- ↑ a b c https://www.windowscentral.com/how-minecraft-earth-gameplay-works
- ↑ Developer Pyroclasm provided this information when asked about it on the Minecraft Earth Discord server.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20201001030949/https://playminecraftearth.com/how-to-find-rubies-in-minecraft-earth-for-free/
- ↑ a b https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1151178424641306624
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1151537812803637249
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1151598211460734976
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1151900946747797504
- ↑ https://www.windowscentral.com/will-minecraft-earth-ever-come-windows-10-devices-or-hololens
- ↑ https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-earth-closed-beta-now-android
- ↑ https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-earth-early-access
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1189248095990812676
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1190026810672762881?s=21
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1191780341574447106
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1194291266713980928
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1196880828216664064
- ↑ https://twitter.com/minecraftearth/status/1197605601515360258?s=21
