Minecraft Legends AMA 2023/09/21

This AMA took place in the Legends Modding Discordopen in new window. Three BlackBird Interactive employees joined us to answer questions about Minecraft Legends. Questions were community sourced.

Content of Minecraft Legends

Will there be any more future content connecting legends and dungeons like the bone cudgel and orb of dominance?

I can't comment on future content or connections to other Minecraft games, sorry! 🙂

What is the one feature not in the game that you wish was?

The deck system is really underutilized right now. We had ideas for a deep deck of 6-8 piglin factions and each roll of the campaign would pick 3 of them. Same goes for biomes/resources so each campaign would have been radically different between playthroughs.
Rivers 2.0, at one point had gotten basic height following rivers in the game (Rivers would start at high locations and flow down into either lakes or the ocean) Due to a shift in how worldgen was done and performance concerns it was scrapped, and replaced eventually by a Rivers 3.0 🙂 Much work went into getting bases to both look cool but also not place in bad places, there was a constant issue of bases placing in the ocean and being completly broken

What's your favorite piglin and golem? And how's the Seer? Is she bored in the nether?

Runt and plank golem, they're just too cute. 😍
Plank golem ride or die

We’re there any major features that were cut from the final game? If so, would you like any of them to return in a future update?

LOTS of things didn't make it into the final version of the game. Most won't end up in future patches because it would take too much work to finish them. Operation Pat Pat (petting the animals) was something that started as an internal game jam and I'm happy we were able to release it. 🐶 😸

Is there a plan for Versus mode laid out like new mobs and new modes or will it be guided by the community through mob votes and feedback? Will we see Piglins as a playable race?

I can't comment on future updates, sorry!

What is a feature or content that you'd like to see the community take a crack at that was specifically designed in a way that's possible for community utilization? Trying to think of something I can mod into the game

The "play as piglin" mod sounds pretty cool! New skins/models are always fun to see too. 😄

What was it like working with the Nether and piglins before the Nether Update? I can imagine it was straining to a degree but did any wild ideas and concepts come from it?

😅 It was pretty cool to see references to our game in Minecraft Vanilla
BBI and Mojang worked together closely on anything to do with Minecraft lore or future updates.

What would you like to add to the game/ path to follow?

I'd love to add more modding support to keep the community going. 🙂

Without specifics or details, just scale, how much lore does this game has made for?

We worked closely with Mojang on anything lore related as they care deeply that the games all make sense together in the same universe.
We had a dedicated narrative designer who worked closely with Mojang to ensure they were happy with the game narrative.

What's the process for making a Lost Legend? How do you come up with the concept and idea for each challenge?

Lots of brainstorming and then picking the ideas that sound the most fun. 🙂
They really helped drive our modding system and we fixed lots of bugs around overriding base game data as a result.

Why are all Myths made by House of How only?

We're not involved in that side of things, sorry.

What's your favorite piglin boss? And how long did the Devourer take to make? Also what was the hardest piglin horde to make?

Different hordes had different challenges, ie the Attack horde was in general the hardest for worldgen (since they like to sink into the ground, caused a common issue of water appearing in the base as it was under the water line) while the other two build up from the ground I think the Obstacle was the hardest to tune gameplay wise as it was a careful balance between too easy and not impossible to build bridges up to the final platform

So the attack horde just liked disrupting water supplies to villagers too?

More like they flooded themselves and were not able to build structures correctly 😅

Was there any type of horde that you developed a lot but ultimately had to eliminate?

Most of them didn't get out of the concept & prototype phase.

Are the devs allowed to publicly show concept art or do they need permission from mojang? because I just really like to see random concept art from games

Can't share that kind of stuff, sorry. 😦

Legends development

What aspects of MCL did you work on and which was your favourite to do?

I touched all aspects of the game because I was the first programmer on the team. My favourite area right now is optimization. I hate waste and love seeing numbers go up. 🙂
World Generation, I suppose its split between Rivers and the Icewaves (The tech behind them is very coold an was hoping to make it more widespread/performant)

When did you joined/were invited to joined the development team of the game?

I started in 2017 so it's almost been 6 years for me! Jan 2020, got to work a whole two months in office before everything shifted to WFH

Had it already started before that?

Only in concept form, no actual development.

How did COVID affect the development of Legends? If I recall, Legends started in 2018 so how was the transition from pre-COVID -> COVID - > Post COVID?

COVID was pretty crazy all around. We scrambled to get everyone working remotely and I was actually supposed to be in Redmond on a work trip when a state of emergency was declared in Washington state.
We got everyone set up to work remotely and things were mostly fine. Microsoft was very supportive and gave the project an extension to help us get through it.
Now that we're Post-COVID the main difficulty is trying to get people to work together in person. A lot of people have moved away or would rather work remotely. We still support both but it's nice to see people face-to-face from time-to-time. 😉

I heard there might've been plans in earlier development for a spider mount or unit. I think I even saw an icon in an early dev diary. Is this true? If so, what was the reason for its non-implementation? Unsatisfactory design or lack of time, etc?

There were a lot of original Minecraft mobs that we proposed adding to Legends. Very early in the prototype phase we hacked in a giant bat which was pretty terrifying on the battlefield. 😅

How long does the conceptualization process take?

We did a 6 month prototype where we hacked the basic functionality into the Bedrock codebase. We then threw that away and started working on pre-production where we built new systems from the ground up as well as improved content creation tools. After that came production (then Covid delays) then finaling and release. Finaling took a while because we support so many platforms and languages.

Hardest world generation feature to implement? Hardest Entity to implement? How much of original content was scrapped before the first release?

Village Gen
WG2.0 (placement system) was a lot of work too, and the texture/geology systems
Hardest Entity, I'll give a roudabout answer -> the entire pathfinding system/entities
I would agree that world gen was the hardest thing to develop in the game. The campaign system was pretty massive too but the designers were the real MVP here and did a lot of heavy lifting

During a early animation test, zombies and skeletons were showed attacking the player. Was that just part of the test or did those mobs used to also be enemies during early versions of the game? Would the player do alliances to make those mobs be friendly?

In the original prototype the players would control mobs and use them to attack each other. The golems were invented much later in development.

Legends Team

Do you get any hate from unsatisfied players?

Just look at the reviews 😅
No personal attacks though and I understand the reaction. The game isn't the same as Minecraft which is intentional. It's something different which isn't appealing to everyone.

Where is BBI based? Curious how far I am from y'all's office

Vancouver, BC, Canada. Far enough away that very few people say y'all. 😉

Since there are internal game jam(s) what are things that have been made in them that didn't end up making it into the final game that you would have liked to see.

There was a selfie cam mode which was just a quick camera hack. A coin pickup minigame where they were scattered around the world. An in-game encyclopedia of mobs using the journal and 3D models. There may or may not have been a simple version of Minecraft built in Legends. 😉

Did y'all ever host an internal speedrun event to see who can beat the campaign or the Lost Legends the fastest?

All the time

Who usually does the best during these speedruns and are they in this discord?

Designers because they know the unit compositions the best (which are best vs each base variations)

What was the dev team's reaction to the "failure" of the game on release?

The reviews were definitely disappointing but it was great to see people having a good time in live streams. I don't think this game is for everyone but people who like it are having a good time.

# Minecraft Legends AMA 2023/09/21

# Content of Minecraft Legends

# Will there be any more future content connecting legends and dungeons like the bone cudgel and orb of dominance?

# What is the one feature not in the game that you wish was?

# What's your favorite piglin and golem? And how's the Seer? Is she bored in the nether?

# We’re there any major features that were cut from the final game? If so, would you like any of them to return in a future update?

# Is there a plan for Versus mode laid out like new mobs and new modes or will it be guided by the community through mob votes and feedback? Will we see Piglins as a playable race?

# What is a feature or content that you'd like to see the community take a crack at that was specifically designed in a way that's possible for community utilization? Trying to think of something I can mod into the game

# What was it like working with the Nether and piglins before the Nether Update? I can imagine it was straining to a degree but did any wild ideas and concepts come from it?

# What would you like to add to the game/ path to follow?

# Without specifics or details, just scale, how much lore does this game has made for?

# What's the process for making a Lost Legend? How do you come up with the concept and idea for each challenge?

# Why are all Myths made by House of How only?

# What's your favorite piglin boss? And how long did the Devourer take to make? Also what was the hardest piglin horde to make?

# So the attack horde just liked disrupting water supplies to villagers too?

# Was there any type of horde that you developed a lot but ultimately had to eliminate?

# Are the devs allowed to publicly show concept art or do they need permission from mojang? because I just really like to see random concept art from games

# Legends development

# What aspects of MCL did you work on and which was your favourite to do?

# When did you joined/were invited to joined the development team of the game?

# Had it already started before that?

# How did COVID affect the development of Legends? If I recall, Legends started in 2018 so how was the transition from pre-COVID -> COVID - > Post COVID?

# I heard there might've been plans in earlier development for a spider mount or unit. I think I even saw an icon in an early dev diary. Is this true? If so, what was the reason for its non-implementation? Unsatisfactory design or lack of time, etc?

# How long does the conceptualization process take?

# Hardest world generation feature to implement? Hardest Entity to implement? How much of original content was scrapped before the first release?

# During a early animation test, zombies and skeletons were showed attacking the player. Was that just part of the test or did those mobs used to also be enemies during early versions of the game? Would the player do alliances to make those mobs be friendly?

# Legends Team

# Do you get any hate from unsatisfied players?

# Where is BBI based? Curious how far I am from y'all's office

# Since there are internal game jam(s) what are things that have been made in them that didn't end up making it into the final game that you would have liked to see.

# Did y'all ever host an internal speedrun event to see who can beat the campaign or the Lost Legends the fastest?

# Who usually does the best during these speedruns and are they in this discord?

# What was the dev team's reaction to the "failure" of the game on release?

Minecraft Legends AMA 2023/09/21

Content of Minecraft Legends

Will there be any more future content connecting legends and dungeons like the bone cudgel and orb of dominance?

What is the one feature not in the game that you wish was?

What's your favorite piglin and golem? And how's the Seer? Is she bored in the nether?

We’re there any major features that were cut from the final game? If so, would you like any of them to return in a future update?

Is there a plan for Versus mode laid out like new mobs and new modes or will it be guided by the community through mob votes and feedback? Will we see Piglins as a playable race?

What is a feature or content that you'd like to see the community take a crack at that was specifically designed in a way that's possible for community utilization? Trying to think of something I can mod into the game

What was it like working with the Nether and piglins before the Nether Update? I can imagine it was straining to a degree but did any wild ideas and concepts come from it?

What would you like to add to the game/ path to follow?

Without specifics or details, just scale, how much lore does this game has made for?

What's the process for making a Lost Legend? How do you come up with the concept and idea for each challenge?

Why are all Myths made by House of How only?

What's your favorite piglin boss? And how long did the Devourer take to make? Also what was the hardest piglin horde to make?

So the attack horde just liked disrupting water supplies to villagers too?

Was there any type of horde that you developed a lot but ultimately had to eliminate?

Are the devs allowed to publicly show concept art or do they need permission from mojang? because I just really like to see random concept art from games

Legends development

What aspects of MCL did you work on and which was your favourite to do?

When did you joined/were invited to joined the development team of the game?

Had it already started before that?

How did COVID affect the development of Legends? If I recall, Legends started in 2018 so how was the transition from pre-COVID -> COVID - > Post COVID?

I heard there might've been plans in earlier development for a spider mount or unit. I think I even saw an icon in an early dev diary. Is this true? If so, what was the reason for its non-implementation? Unsatisfactory design or lack of time, etc?

How long does the conceptualization process take?

Hardest world generation feature to implement? Hardest Entity to implement? How much of original content was scrapped before the first release?

During a early animation test, zombies and skeletons were showed attacking the player. Was that just part of the test or did those mobs used to also be enemies during early versions of the game? Would the player do alliances to make those mobs be friendly?

Legends Team

Do you get any hate from unsatisfied players?

Where is BBI based? Curious how far I am from y'all's office

Since there are internal game jam(s) what are things that have been made in them that didn't end up making it into the final game that you would have liked to see.

Did y'all ever host an internal speedrun event to see who can beat the campaign or the Lost Legends the fastest?

Who usually does the best during these speedruns and are they in this discord?

What was the dev team's reaction to the "failure" of the game on release?