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Mojang’s Minecraft 1.8 world generator heralds “the return of floating islands”

Floating islands are back in Minecraft 1.8 - but you will still need to devise a means to reach them.

What’s your favourite depth base size? No? How about your preferred biome scale offset? So, the 16 sliders in Minecraft’s new terrain generator will be beyond most of our kens. But push them to their extremes and they’ll reliably produce some inspirationally strange landscapes. Watch Mojang silently play with the parameters below.

“There are 16 sliders which can be used to affect various aspects of Minecraft’s terrain generator,” wrote Mojang, “but you can also type in values directly. You also have complete control over things like the sea level and what structures you want to generate.”

It’s those last dials we’ll likely get the most use out of. One screen of the new generator allows players to toggle strongholds, mineshafts, ravines and the like on and off – or specify the number of dungeons they want to see buried in the terrain. From 1.8 onwards, players will be able to set their own sea level – or blight their landscape with “lava oceans”.

“We’ve also supplied a set of seven presets that we think players will find interesting,” added Mojang. “Including a world made of water up to the top of the map, and the return of floating islands.”

Hmm! There’s no official ETA on 1.8 as yet. But it’s coming, inexorably. Will you be logging in to fiddle with the new existence-altering options?

Cheers, CVG.