Prerelease:Minecraft: Java Edition
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Minecraft: Java Edition.
 | This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article? |
| To do: There's a lot more prerelease content to add here. This likely does not cover even 5% of what's out there. |
Minecraft was initially developed by Markus "Notch" Persson after being inspired by Infiniminer. The base code was developed in one week and was based on a cancelled game, RubyDung. The game would be tested in the TigIRC chat room on May 16, 2009, and public reception would be received the next day on the TIGSource forums. The game quickly gained popularity and features continued to be added to the game. After the game reached 1.0, Notch handed development duties off to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten.
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 | Changed Content Content that was added, but changed before their official release. |
Cave Game tech test
The YouTube video Cave game tech test (original has been region-locked in all countries) was the first glimpse the world got of Minecraft, then going by the name Cave Game. This version has never been released to the public. The version shown in the video is from May 13th, 2009, but is an updated version of the first build of the game from May 9th, 2009.
Worlds are 256x64x256 blocks large, split into 16x64x16 chunks (originally 8x8x8,) and are made up of only two blocks (technically three blocks, but air wasn't listed as a block internally): Grass, which has the same texture on each side and only generates on tiles that are lit, and Cobblestone, which has a very aggressive texture. Lighting has been implemented at this point, but only has 2 light levels. "Caves" generate until a few blocks above the last layer of cobblestone, creating something akin to a ravine. Blocks cannot be placed, there is no hotbar nor inventory, and you can't fly, although you can destroy blocks. The only entity that exists is the player, which has no visible model and is 1.7 blocks tall compared to the current height of 1.8 blocks.
In-game screenshot from the Cave game tech test video.
The original texture for grass blocks.
The original, very aggressive texture for cobblestone.
Unreleased Content
Dirt Slab
In early versions of Minecraft, Notch tried out dirt slabs, so they would be a half-block lower than grass and make the world feel more "smooth." However, this caused errors with dirt spawning in places like underground, leaving odd gaps.
Inventory Screen Mockup
In a screenshot of what appears to be 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST, Notch made a mockup of an inventory screen; the armor slots seem to match up with Notch's unfinished game Legend of the Chambered, and although the "stats" section was implemented in some Indev builds, they served no function and were eventually removed.
Lectern
This would have worked just the way you would imagine, a stand for reading books. Dinnerbone worked hard on it, and got far into it, until he encountered numerous bugs and decided to scrap it. In 2013, on his Reddit AMA, he was asked if he would revisit it, and he replied he tried, but it was still buggy, and "didn't feel right".
Over 5 years later, the Lectern would finally be implemented into the game in Snapshot 18w44a, albeit with a drastic redesign, functioning the same as how it was described in the past.
Dyed Planks
Dinnerbone posted a poll on whether or not he should add Dyed Planks to the game. The poll won, but Dinnerbone cancelled the idea sometime in development when he realized he had to add new slabs and stairs as well.
Despite the dying mechanism being left unused, their colors have been reused by newly added blocks:
| Dyed Planks | Biome Planks |
|---|---|
| White Planks | Pale Oak Planks |
| Orange Planks | Acacia Planks |
| Magenta Planks | Crimson Planks |
| Light Blue Planks | N/A |
| Yellow Planks | Bamboo Planks |
| Lime Planks | N/A |
| Pink Planks | Cherry Planks |
| Gray Planks | N/A |
| Light Gray Planks | N/A |
| Cyan Planks | Warped Planks |
| Purple Planks | N/A |
| Blue Planks | N/A |
| Brown Planks | Dark Oak Planks |
| Green Planks | N/A |
| Red Planks | Mangrove Planks |
| Black Planks | N/A |
Sky Dimension
Notch was planning to add a Sky Dimension for the Beta 1.8 update, which you had a chance of going to when you fell asleep. This feature was never implemented, but in Beta 1.6 and Beta 1.7, data in the code for this dimension was present. With the use of mods, it was possible to access this dimension. In 1.0 it was replaced with the End. The End dimension is still referred to as "sky" internally.
Fireflies
Fireflies were intended to be added in 1.19, aka the Wild Update, being planned as food for frogs. However, Mojang later decided to remove them, as they found out that some fireflies are poisonous to frogs, a decision that was widely criticized by the community. The behavior related to frogs was repurposed for use with the Slime and Magma cube.
Additional C418 Music
Beyond Minecraft - Volume Alpha and Minecraft - Volume Beta, a third and final batch of tracks by C418 (often referred to as Minecraft - Volume Final) was planned. According to C418, the album would be longer than Volume Alpha and Beta combined and would adopt a more ambient direction "just as an experiment". While C418 confirmed in 2021 that the album was finished, it has never been released and incorporated in the game due to disputes between him and Microsoft that arose following its acquisition of Mojang and the Minecraft IP. Specifically, because of the way Minecraft was initially developed, C418 owns the rights to Volume Alpha and Beta, while Microsoft wants to obtain the rights to them and the unreleased third album.
The only confirmed tracks from the album that have seen the light of day are "Dragon Fish", "Shuniji", and "Axolotl", which were added in 1.13, aka the Aquatic Update, in 2018. The four tracks C418 composed for the Legacy Console Edition's Battle minigame are also thought to have been composed for the album, especially since the second one contains portions of "Axolotl" at the 6:55 mark.
Microsoft recruited other composers, such as Lena Raine, Aaron Cherof, and Kumi Tanioka, to provide music for subsequent updates. C418 has considered releasing the album without the Minecraft branding, but licensing issues with Microsoft have prevented this.
