Oh God. As if Minecraft wasn’t terrifying enough, its creator Notch has just sent us screens and info about a new monster type he’s adding in the Minecraft Halloween Update on October 31st. The Ghasts are flying cuboid jellyfish that shoot fireballs at you, blowing chunks out of the world around you and setting it on fire. Luckily, they’re only found in hell. And Notch has told us exactly how to get there, why you’d want to go, and how portals to this new dimension are built. Here are the details, along with two exclusive shots.

So it's Doom now?

blah, i'm not a fan of the portal idea...it think finding hell should be a reward for those who can dig down far enough.

" blah, i'm not a fan of the portal idea...it think finding hell should be a reward for those who can dig down far enough. "

" So it's Doom now? "

Well, this won't be too much of an issue on SMP. We should be able to overcome the odds with sheer manpower alone and develop a city down there. <_<

" @Sin4profit said:

" blah, i'm not a fan of the portal idea...it think finding hell should be a reward for those who can dig down far enough. "

But there's not too far to dig down. :-) Anyway, the portal idea serves more than just hell, it would greatly help in elaborate transportation systems. I completely support that idea. "

" Well, this won't be too much of an issue on SMP. We should be able to overcome the odds with sheer manpower alone and develop a city down there. <_< "

" Yeah, but that's another thing that bothered me, once i hit bedrock it felt like there wasn't anything more to explore..i was half hopeful that i had to get TNT to break up the bed rock to explore even deeper which would further encouraging crafting in favor of exploring. To me that's where you should find the hell world, as a reward for exploration. Portals just seem like a lazy method of dealing with the transportation system to me. We'll see how it goes on Halloween i guess. "

I love the hell idea, fantastic way to travel great distances, also hard to get there since you`ll need a diamond pick to mine obsidian.

" @Sin4profit said:

" Yeah, but that's another thing that bothered me, once i hit bedrock it felt like there wasn't anything more to explore..i was half hopeful that i had to get TNT to break up the bed rock to explore even deeper which would further encouraging crafting in favor of exploring. To me that's where you should find the hell world, as a reward for exploration. Portals just seem like a lazy method of dealing with the transportation system to me. We'll see how it goes on Halloween i guess. "

But it will still necessarily end at hell's floor anyway. This is just a solution to both transportation and hell, but what would you suggest as a better transportation system? "

" @Crocio: Fixing the minecarts would be nice. "

@Sin4profit

" @Crocio said:
It would be fine if it ended at hells floor..at least ya have a more satisfying story to tell once ya resurface rather then, "i digged till i can no dig no more". making it progressivly more difficult and requiring more crafted items to dig deeper and deeper would have made the exploration aspect more interesting i thought...finding hell at the end of it would have been a pretty satisfying reward.  As far as transportation;  planes, (trains they already have covered), and automobiles.  What i like about Minecraft is that it feels like your pioneering a civilization from scratch. So when you throw in Portals in this primitive world it just seems out of place and unrewarding to me. Maybe portals would fit at the end of the transportation "tech tree" but to start there just makes all other forms of transportation unnecessary which eliminates the sense of progression. "

Guess I'm buying Minecraft before the update then!

I love how he's adding so many gameplay elements to the game, not just tools for creativity.  This will bring me back into the game (in fact I've placed about 100 torches just so they can become lanterns in prep).

" I love how he's adding so many gameplay elements to the game, not just tools for creativity.  This will bring me back into the game (in fact I've placed about 100 torches just so they can become lanterns in prep). "

" @Diamond said:

" I love how he's adding so many gameplay elements to the game, not just tools for creativity.  This will bring me back into the game (in fact I've placed about 100 torches just so they can become lanterns in prep). "

Torches will be converted regardless of location. That means, it will be converted to lanterns if they are placed anywhere in the world, or kept in your inventory or chests.  Better start that torch farm though. "

" @Diamond said:

" I love how he's adding so many gameplay elements to the game, not just tools for creativity.  This will bring me back into the game (in fact I've placed about 100 torches just so they can become lanterns in prep). "

Torches will be converted regardless of location. That means, it will be converted to lanterns if they are placed anywhere in the world, or kept in your inventory or chests.  Better start that torch farm though. "

" @Diamond: Apparently you need to go into hell to grab some blocks for crafting lanterns; so I've heard. I don't think this is confirmed, but there's speculation that it would be the case. "

" @Axxol:  Are they....crying? Who knew pixelblockfishghosts could be so creepy! "

Ghasts are going to scare the hell out of me. I already can't handle running into the damn skeletons in the dark.
 
And the sound effects...... Oh god. I swear I have PTSD from the times Notch's "ambient" sounds have played at random.

" I just started playing this about a week or so ago, so I haven't really explored my world yet. But having portals through hell will be pretty helpful. I wonder if you can make tunnels from portal to portal to avoid the ghasts? Those things are positively terrifying. "

" @Meteora said:

" Well, this won't be too much of an issue on SMP. We should be able to overcome the odds with sheer manpower alone and develop a city down there. <_< "

Reminds me of Zapp Brannigan with the Killbots.I like that plan.Anyway, looks awesome and I can't wait until Halloween. I know what I'll be doing then. "

" @Capum15 said:

" @Meteora said:

" Well, this won't be too much of an issue on SMP. We should be able to overcome the odds with sheer manpower alone and develop a city down there. <_< "

Reminds me of Zapp Brannigan with the Killbots.I like that plan.Anyway, looks awesome and I can't wait until Halloween. I know what I'll be doing then. "

"Stop dying,you cowards!!!" "