Minecraft has been around for more than a decade. Here’s what it looked like when it was first released and here’s what it looks like now. How did we get here?
It all started in May of 2009 when Notch typed some numbers into his computer, and which was called Cave Game at the time. The entire game content menu consisted of just some grass and cobblestones.
Early Development
The terrain gained depth, and new building blocks were introduced, including dirt, stone, and planks. Saplings were also added, but they weren’t strong enough to grow into trees yet.
Notch then decided the game was ready for the public, renaming it from Cave Game to Minecraft. The first version, called Classic, didn’t add much at first, but early pioneers of building began making things like stone and dirt Mario structures.
Expanding the World
Bedrock was introduced at the bottom and sides of the map, along with an invisible wall to prevent players from falling off. Water and lava were also added, but at this point, players couldn’t die from lava since they were still in creative mode. However, placing a single source block of lava could flood an entire world, making for some frustrating accidents. New materials like coal, iron, gold, sand, and gravel were added, spawning both in the world and in players’ inventories.
The Introduction of Multiplayer
Multiplayer was introduced, allowing players to interact with each other. However, there was one major problem—there were no women, just Steve. To fix this, Notch added skin changes, allowing players to become a female character (or whatever they wanted).
More updates followed, including sponges to prevent flooding, 16 new wool colors, flowers, and gold blocks. Since so many blocks were being added, the inventory menu (accessed by pressing ‘B’) was introduced. With all the new colors and decorations, the game was becoming beautiful.
The Survival Challenge
Then, Notch took creative mode away and put players in survival mode. To make things more interesting, he introduced creepers, zombies, skeletons, and spiders to try and kill players. Fortunately, arrows and TNT were also added, along with pigs and edible mushrooms to help restore health.
Additional features included sheep, new building blocks, and the start of the “Indev” stage, which brought more major changes.
The Indev Era
Other significant updates included swords, shovels, apples, armor, and a quiver for arrows.
One of the most monumental updates at this stage was the removal of infinite flowing water and lava—only for it to be reintroduced two days later with a 99-source-block limit. Mossy cobblestone cubes were added, randomly spawning throughout the world with TNT and wool inside.
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Introduction of Crafting
Crafting was introduced, requiring players to collect materials to make items rather than having them given automatically. This led to crafting tables and new craftable items such as golden tools, mushroom stew, and bowls.
Difficulty settings were introduced, allowing players to switch between peaceful and hard mode.
Farming and Infinite Worlds
The game moved into the “Infdev” stage, featuring infinitely generated worlds. Farming was introduced with hoes and crops like wheat. Paintings became available, allowing players to decorate their homes.
The world saw significant changes, including larger trees, smoother hills, 3D clouds, and expanded cave systems. Water and lava were no longer infinite, and buckets were introduced to collect them. Notch also started “Secret Friday” updates, where he would secretly add new features to the game every week.
Alpha Version and New Features
Entering the Alpha stage, redstone and new mechanics like iron doors, levers, buttons, and pressure plates were added. Players could now experience cave sounds for the first time. The game also saw its first new biome—a snowy tundra.
Boats were introduced, but they were fragile and would break upon impact with anything. Sugarcane was added and could be used to craft paper and books. Slimes briefly existed before being removed the next day. The first Minecraft music tracks—13 and Cat—were introduced.
Multiplayer Survival and Herobrine
Survival multiplayer was introduced, allowing players to build and explore together.
The last Secret Friday update introduced compasses, followed by a one-time Secret Saturday that added fishing rods, crouching, and new paintings.
The Halloween Update
The Halloween update brought the Nether, new blocks, ghasts, and zombie pigmen. New overworld biomes, such as deserts and tundras, were also introduced. Players could now use pumpkins to decorate or wear on their heads.
Entering Beta and Popularity Surge
Moving into the Beta stage, Mojang expanded its team, hiring new developers like Jeb. The first-ever Minecraft cape was introduced, and Deadmau5 received custom mouse ears. Cake was added as a new food item.
The world saw new biomes such as taigas and birch forests. Lapis lazuli, squids, and noteblocks were introduced, allowing players to create music within the game. Minecraft’s popularity surged, reaching 1 million sales.
The Rise of game on YouTube
YouTube creators like the Yogscast gained massive popularity through Minecraft content. Beds were introduced to set spawn points, and wolves could be tamed as pets.
More farming options were added, including melons and pumpkins. Redstone mechanics advanced with pistons and trapdoors. Minecraft Pocket Edition was released, allowing players to play on mobile devices, though without access to the Nether.
The Biggest Update Yet
Beta 1.8, known as the Adventure Update, was the biggest update so far. It introduced strongholds, mineshafts, new food mechanics, mobs, biomes, caves, and villages. Sprinting was added, making movement faster.
On top of all that, chests now had a new opening animation. Mods for the game became increasingly popular, with notable ones like the Aether mod expanding the Minecraft experience.
Conclusion From its humble beginnings as Cave Game to the expansive Beta version, Minecraft’s evolution has been remarkable. What started as a simple block-building game has grown into a vast, infinite world full of adventure, creativity, and survival challenges. And this was only the beginning.
