Hi, Minecraft devs? Big fan! I just want to ask, how dare you? It's January, motivation is low, and now at any given time I could be hanging out with a plethora of cute animals in your blocky wonderland rather than dealing with reality. It's a disgrace. A fluffy, adorable disgrace.
My existential crises aside, Minecraft’s latest update is focused on making various critters even more precious. Eight farm animals now have proper infant counterparts available in testing. "But they already did?" I hear you asking. Correct, but those models were just the adult ones shrank down. Now we have actual newborn rabbits, wolf pups, kittens, and beyond.
"Typically mobs in Minecraft have two-pixel eyes, but now baby mobs have just one which creates a new vibe for them, which is just adorable," game director Agnes Larsson says in an official rundown. You're right, Larsson; you're so, so right.
In addition to the aforementioned interactive squishmallows, Mojang is giving us calves, piglets, chickens, ocelots, and lambs. Each has gotten a particular re-design to maximize cuteness and create a sense of growth between baby and adult forms. This include distinct sounds. The lamb apparently inspired some internal discussion.
"Initially I had a fluffy one with a big wool coat, but it didn't make sense gameplay wise," Sarah Boeving, game artist on Minecraft, says. "Mainly because it looked like it could be sheared like the adults (it can't) but also that they didn't really reflect real-life lambs very well. It was a tough choice but I'm really happy with the final baby sheep."
I'm really happy with them too. And the fact the chicks are just yellow cubes. You can give them individual names, as well. It's the rabbits, though, that have already stolen my heart. "I really hope players get to experience the new rabbit (both adult and baby!) hopping around," Boeving explains.
"I'm especially fond of the 'toast' variant and the history behind it," she continues. "It was added in a while back to memorialize a player's pet which had gone missing. There's something really sweet about being able to immortalize the memory of dear ones in games."
You can check these out now using the snapshot functionality and Bedrock beta/preview on Minecraft. You're welcome.
