Minecraft Reinforced

*disclaimer: not a game designer so idk how much of this would actually work. but you do not know either...so...lol...?*

**Minecraft Reinforced**, commonly referred to as **Minecraft 1.20** or the **Grillsoft Update** is an update that is set to be released to the video game Minecraft in 2023. The update is being developed by the Grillsoft company in collaboration with the game's regular developer, Mojang. Grillsoft's main focus for the update is to rebalance and overhaul several aspects of the game. The update is being developed to commemorate for the milestone of it being the game's 20th major update since its first full release in 2011 and will be the biggest major update the game has seen thus far.

## Gameplay

The update does not change the general structure of the game very much; however, several aspects of the more underdeveloped aspects of the gameplay were updated.

### Food Overhaul

One of the main aspects of Minecraft that the teams were looking into overhauling was the game's food system. Many of the in-game food items were deemed by the teams to be too unrewarding to justify the processes of acquiring them. Data that Mojang collected from the game's players showed that users tended to choose food items that were easy to acquire over food items that were more tedious, leading to people tending to pick one primary source of food. This resulted in the developer's choice to overhaul the food and hunger systems, and the means of which foods are acquired.

The intended result of the food overhaul is to alleviate new players' bias towards certain food items and collection methods and provide incentive to eat more types of food than one. To accomplish this, all major methods of gaining food now require maintenance and/or strategy, with each method having its advantages or disadvantages based on the environment of the player.

* All raw meat can inflict the hunger, poison, or nausea status effects
	+ This is to encourage players to eat meat only if they can cook it. This is to incentivize the player to be more creative in how they approach relieving their hunger during adventures.
* All cooked meat items (excluding fish) now relieve 4 full hunger points
	+ This has been done to alleviate the player's bias towards cows and pigs as meat sources; now sheep and rabbits are equally viable.
* All crops can be found growing naturally in the wild
	+ This is so that players can relieve their hunger during adventures more easily if they run out of food, and so that the player has access to plants without having to rely on village generation or drop chances.
* Most crops now have their own unique conditions that should be met before farming (see here)
	+ Different crops benefit from being grown in different biomes, under different conditions, so that players can pick a food source that meets their own individual circumstances the best.
* All raw crops now relieve 2 hunger points
	+ This is to provide the player with a low maintenance, low reward but reliable food source if they desire one.
* All plants can now be cooked; cooked crops provide the player with 3 full hunger points
	+ This has been done to bridge the gap between the effectiveness of eating crops and meats. Crops are now a viable food source, and oftentimes an appropriate alternative for meat, despite being less effective.
* Meats now stack up to 8; crops up to 16; cookies and dried kelp up to 32
	+ This has been done to induce an inventory management issue to the player. Before, players were able to ride out a stack of cooked meat for hours, only to be able to come back to their farm to quickly acquire another stack. Now the player needs to choose what types of food they want to bring on their journey, incentivizing a more creative outlook towards managing hunger. To compensate for smaller stack sizes, furnaces and smokers now have 4 different input and output slots for foods.
* Milk buckets now grant 2 full hunger points to the player, as cows can only be milked once per day (see here)
	+ This is to provide the player with another alternative food source if they are far from home, granted that they have a bucket.

#### Farming Overhaul

Bonemeal is no longer used to instantaneously grow plants. Instead, it is used to fertilize water blocks, which speeds up nearby crop growth by an additional +1x growth. When a water block is fertilized, its effect spreads out in a 3-block radius. This can be used effectively up to three times; after which, any bonemeal that is added will emit black particles when used and will not benefit crop growth. Fertilization effects will stop after 12 minutes. Farming conditions, level of fertilization and consistency in maintenance can result in yields of 1-9 crops.

The bonemeal mechanic was changed to provide the player with an incentive for farming crops legitimately. Previously, the rewards for farming were too low for the amount of effort the player had to put into doing it *without* bonemeal, while too high if the player did use it. The latter was also especially problematic because bonemeal is an easily renewable resource if the player has created a skeleton farm, thus removing challenge from the food system.

Crops now have unique farming conditions in which they can prosper. If grown under different conditions, they may still grow, but will likely yield lower amounts when reaped. Multiple new crops have been introduced into the game to support this as well, denoted by *bold tags*.

Forest crops are as follows:

* Apples will drop more often in forests, especially if their trees are grown near water sources. If these conditions are met, mature oak leaf blocks will display apples on their texture.
* Potatoes grow best in forest biomes with direct access to sunlight, and their growth is amplified by rain. Under these conditions, they will flower.

Plains crops are as follows:

* Beetroots do best in plains biomes, away from trees, and with limited water access. Under these conditions, they will flower.
* Carrots grow faster if they are planted in plains biomes, with limited water access, spaced apart by 1 block. Under these conditions, they will flower.

Jungle crops are as follows:

* Melons do best in jungle biomes under direct exposure to sunlight with limited water access. Under these conditions, they will flower.

* Wheat

Taiga crops are as follows:

* Sweet berries do

#### Breeding Overhaul

Animals can no longer be manually bred with food, however, they will automatically reproduce on their own until there's an appropriate amount of animals for the amount of space given. Animal enclosures within 8 blocks of each other are considered "shared," and the amount of animals allowed for the space will be split over the enclosures. This is to prevent overcrowding in an area.

Feeding an animal with any of its allowed food types will fill up its fat bar, a new progress meter that floats over the mobs head when the player's cursor hovers above it. Every time it is fed, the bar is filled by one-fifth, which correlates with how much meat the mob will drop on death. Failing to feed an animal on any day will undo the progress by one-fifth. The amount of babies that a cow will birth is also correlated loosely with the cow's progress with the fat meter.

Breeding is a high-maintenance method of obtaining food that depends on the player's patience and supplies. It often goes hand in hand with farming for the required materials to feed the animals. It tends to yield players low quantities of high-tier food.

#### Fishing Overhaul

The fishing activity can now only be performed successfully near fish mobs, which now tend to spawn much deeper in oceans. The fishing hook no longer bobs at the surface of the water, instead falling to around the middle of whatever body of water is being fished in. Bubbles still signify the position of any approaching fish in the water. When a fishing rod catches a bite, the player must rapidly press their MOUSE2 button to pull their catch to the surface. If they aren't quick enough, the catch will be dropped, and nothing will be acquired. The rod has the potential to yield more up to three fish or accidentally pull a Drowned or other hostile aquatic mobs out of the water.

Groups of fish now spawn much less frequently. Fish have a low-visibility, dark highlight in the water to help players spot them. If a person swims near a fish in the water, it will rapidly swim away. The intent of this is to block players from acquiring absurd amounts of food in the early game.

### Levels and Enchantment System Overhaul

A poll held by the teams behind *Reinforced* showed that players found the levels system in Minecraft to be one of the game's most tedious and frustrating features. It was shown that most users would rather avoid the system as much as possible by building mob grinders or automated farms, instead of earning XP through regular means. It was decided that one of the many features that would be included in the update would be an overhaul to the entire leveling/enchantment system, a decision that has been met with controversy by many players.

Mobs spawned from grinders no longer drop XP. Instead, experience can now be found in a host of new, different ways, and in larger amounts. The need for enchanting has also been lessened, as many of the enchantments in the game were made creative-mode exclusive (see here).

#### Levels Overhaul

XP has been made more abundant and accessible in order to combat the tedium of obtaining it.

Experience can now be gained by the following methods:

* Reaping fully matured plants
* Brewing potions
* Igniting TNT
* Crafting items
* Looting natural chests
* Curing a zombie villager
* Feeding animals
* Taming animals
* Crafting diamond gear
* Upgrading to netherite gear
* Per 150 blocks placed/destroyed
* Per 350 blocks traveled by foot
* Per 400 blocks traveled by boat
* Per 600 blocks traveled by elytra

XP from killing animals is amplified by their fat level ((see here)). XP from fishing is amplified by rarity of catch.

#### Enchantment Overhaul

Enchantment tables no longer provide the player with randomized enchantment options, instead allowing them to choose from the entire list in a new UI. The reasoning for these removals vary, although most of them were re-worked into new weapons or removed simply for being redundant with the new progression system. All removed enchantment books can be found in creative inventory and applied as normal. The classic enchanting system has been reworked into a side "gamble" option in the enchantment table UI, that allows the player to spend their experience and receive a set of random enchantments in return.

The gamerule *enchantToggle* can be used to enable or disable any enchantment in the game, at any level, including retired ones.

The full list of retired weapon/tool enchantments are as follows:

* Bane of Arthropods
* Channeling
* Efficiency
* Fire Aspect
* Flame
* Fortune
* Looting
* Power
* Riptide
* Sharpness
* Smite
* Sweeping Edge

The effects of Bane of Arthropods, Channeling, Fire Aspect, Flame, and Smite were all re-worked into entirely new weapons. Efficiency, Power, and Sharpness were all removed to complement the new progression, which adds more powerful and durable tools and weapons. Fortune, Looting, and Sweeping Edge were taken out so that their effects could be turned into quirks for the new leveling-up system.

The full list of retired armor enchantments are as follows:

* Aqua Affinity
* Blast Protection
* Depth Strider
* Feather Falling
* Fire Protection
* Frost Walker
* Projectile Protection
* Protection
* Respiration
* Soul Speed
* Thorns

The effects for all of these enchantments were utilized for new armor sets and pieces, except for Protection, which was removed for the new progression system.

Mending and Unbreaking were also retired from the enchantment table. Mending itself was considered to be too "cheap" as it allowed players to completely bypass the durability system on tools and armor, although the enchantment's effects can still be found in some of the added items. Unbreaking was removed simply because the teams considered it redundant with the new progression system.

Already-existing items that have retired enchantments are not affected in-game by the update.

## New Items

### Armor

#### Sets

* Full set provides immunity from explosions
* Full set provides 50% damage buff against Creepers
* Every armor piece in this set provides a 25% defense **debuff** from all water-based mobs
* Wearing any armor piece from this set makes water hurt the player every second that they are submerged, with every additional piece increasing that damage
* Full set provides immunity from lava, fire, and all blocks that inflict burning damage
* Full set provides 150% speed buff when swimming in lava
* Full set provides 50% damage buff against Magma Slimes and Blazes
* Full set provides 100% damage buff against all enemies that deal projectile damage
* Chestplate provides 50% defense **buff** from underwater enemies
* Leggings provide ability to mine at same rate underwater as on land
* Boots provide 150% speed **buff** underwater
* Every individual piece adds a 15% defense **debuff** from land enemies
* Every individual piece increases enemy spawn rate by 15% while underwater
* Full set provides 250% speed **buff** underwater (doesn't stack with boots effect)

#### Individual Pieces

* Reveals invisible entities
* Gives player light control over falling speed
* Negates fall damage for any "cold" blocks (ice, snow, etc.)
* Provides ability to walk on powder snow

## Ideas

THIS section will NOT be on the final edition of the article, this is just a place to write down ideas so I don't forget them later

### Planned Overhauls

Anything here that is colored green is something that is already in the game

Anything here that is colored red is an issue with the game that has to be changed

* FOOD OVERHAUL (again)
	+ The hunger mechanic CANNOT be removed from the game, only improved
		- Food is the player's primary healing source. Different food types provide different saturation values that effect how long the player stays full
			* Food is TOO COMMON and EASY TO COME BY for the mechanic to be anything more than a chore
			* Meat is too plentiful on the surface, crops are too uncommon (except in villages where they are overabundant), and certain biomes/the underground have virtually no good consistent food sources
			* There is already a large variety of foods in the game, but only a select few are actually viable sources of food for the player, with the vast majority of them being essentially useless. Some foods have complicated crafting recipes such as pumpkin pies and cookies, but the reward is too little for the effort that goes into making them. There is never any reason to eat anything other than cooked steak, which is almost always readily available.
				+ Foods with complicated crafting recipes should provide the player with SOME kind of light buff
				+ Foods that aren't stackable, such as soups, should provide the player with some kind of good, lasting buff that makes the inventory management worth it, and potentially relieve the player of all their hunger
				+ Crops should generate randomly in small quantities across the world, with the type of crop depending on the environment
				+ Foods of a group should be matched to recover the same amount of hunger so that players aren't biased to picking certain foods over others
					- Raw crops and meats should all be matched to recover the same amount of hunger (1.5 points?)
					- Cooked crops and meats should all be matched to recover the same amount of hunger (3 points?)
			* After the player obtains a consistent source of food, they can simply put a stack of that food in their inventory and ride out on it for HOURS before having to get more
				+ In very early versions, food WOULD NOT STACK, and directly healed the player, causing an inventory management problem that induced a true survival aspect into the game
					- Reduce food stack sizes to 16 (down from 64). This will introduce the inventory management issue back into the game, albeit to a much lesser extent (but it is necessary because the player has to have enough food to fulfill their hunger bar, which was not present in the mentioned "early versions")
						* This would still be problematic if it weren't for the breeding changes. Without them, it would still be too easy to obtain large quantities of food at once with little management, making this change annoying *and* pointless

* Change food stack sizes to 16
	+ Certain food items can stack up to 32, such as dried kelp (because it already recovers so little) and cookies (because it recovers less than cooked meats and requires extra effort)
* Crops can generate in the world outside of villages in small amounts, with the type depending on the environment
* Raw crops and meats heal 1.5 hunger bars
* Cooked crops and meats heal 3 hunger bars
* Unstackable food items such as soups heal all hunger bars
* Food items with "complex" recipes (cookies, pumpkin pies, etc) must have some sort of advantages to eating them, otherwise players will not want to eat them
	+ For example, cookies heal 2 hunger bars but stack up to 32
* A maximum of two farms can generate in any given village, with the crops varying
* Hay bales generate in much smaller quantities across villages, often on their own

### Blocks

FUNCTION BLOCKS:

* Iron Workbench
	+ Provides a 4x4 grid for crafting, adding up to 16 tiles
	+ Crafted with three iron blocks on the bottom row, one crafting table in the center, and iron ingots in the remaining spaces
* Forge
	+ Acts as a "tier 3" furnace, smelting ores and cooking foods 2.5x faster than a regular furnace
	+ Certain smelting recipes are exclusive to the forge
	+ Uses coal blocks and lava buckets for fuel
	+ Crafted in the Iron Workbench with four obsidian on the bottom row, one blast furnace and one smoker in the center 2 tiles in the third row, two iron blocks in the center 2 tiles on the second row, and iron ingots in the remaining spaces
* Sticky rail
	+ Sticks to ceilings
	+ Crafted with the same rail recipe, but with 2 slimeballs in the remaining spaces

ORES:

* Frostite Ore
	+ New ore type that appears exclusively in ice caves
	+ Is mined with diamond pickaxe
	+ Can be smelted in a forge
* Solarium
	+ New ore type that appears exclusively in desert caves
	+ Is mined with diamond pickaxe
	+ Can be smelted in a forge

### Biomes

* Ice cave
	+ Cave type that appears in cold biomes, made out of packed ice instead of stone
	+ "Ice ores" are also added in place of regular ores in these caves
	+ Frostium (see here for more information) generates below y=16 in these caves exclusively
* Sandstone cave
	+ Cave type that appears in desert biomes, made out of varying kinds of sandstone
	+ "Sandstone ores" are also added in place of regular ores in these caves
	+ Solarium (see here for more information) generates below y=16 in these caves exclusively
* Terracotta cave
	+ Cave type that appears in badlands biomes, carrying the terracotta-layering design shown in the surface biome through the underground
	+ Gold is abundant in these caves
* Swamp cave
	+ Cave type that appears in swamp biomes, filled with underground lakes and vines