Thread by @billyK___

So you want to get a feature added to the base game of #Minecraft. You have an idea, and you want to see it in the game for everyone.

Buckle up, cause here's a thread of everything that, IMO, you need to understand.🧵(1/23)

For context: I don't work for Mojang, nor do I do game dev. I work in IT, specifically in QA, and have done so for the past 8 years. This thread is purely on my own understanding of dev processes, which Mojang may/may not follow. (2/23)

So let's start with the basics: you want a feature in Minecraft. And to make this "even easier", let's say you want to add a mob.

What's the name of the mob? What's does the mob do? Why are we even considering adding it at all? (3/23)

At a base level, Mojang wants to add things to the game that either provide more immersion in the game, OR a new challenge of some sort. So these mob ideas need to fall into one of those 2 categories.

Let's assume for this thread that the mob we want to add is a penguin. (4/23)

Now, adding a penguin's a great idea, but we can't just smack it into any update that we want - adding it has to fit a theme for the update.

Because of this, you have now automatically added 3 years to adding a penguin to Minecraft. (5/23)

"Billy, wtf, why 3 years?"

Mojang has creator summits, & they have talked about future update ideas to these creators; never been to one, & know it's NDA'ed, but everything that comes out of them tells me implicitly they have multiple years worth of updates ready (6/23)

Because of this, any ideas that we talk about today, in 2022, aren't potentially going to be highly considered for implementation until a 2025 version release.

This is why it feels like it takes so long for ideas to be implemented. (7/23)

So we still want penguins in Minecraft, we're not giving up on them like mooblooms or chillagers. We want them in.

So we keep thinking of ideas for a future update that thematically includes penguins...but what will these penguins do? (8/23)

We're gonna follow some very basic outlines for how we want to get this penguin functioning in Minecraft:
- Size
- Color(s)
- Spawning Location
- Drops (both EXP & loot)
- Breeding
- Hostility
- What attacks them
- Any unique properties

Short list, right? (9/23)

All the above aspects are literally for one mob to be added. Let's start with the first thing, size.

How many blocks tall is the penguin? How wide? How tall/wide is the baby version?

Questions upon questions that must be asked and solved by devs. (10/23)

So a dev has to go into a model designer, and mock up the size of the penguin.

Sure, they may have used the designer before, but this is a new mob; it may take time to get the size right, even if we have what we think is the right size down pat. (11/23)

So let's say it takes a day to get the penguin size nailed down to what we need, some trial-and-error is put into this time.

Now we need colors, which is where texture artists come in. The size needs to be confirmed first before any texture is done, so time isn't wasted. (12/23)

Let's now say the artist takes a day or two to get the design right for the penguin. Slap it on the model, & we're good to go, right?

Nope, iterate over the size and texture together until you got the right fit. See the Warden prototypes as proof of this thought process. (13/23)

Size and textures = ✅

Now onto the "easy" part - everything else.

Dropping a mob for naturally spawning areas needs to fit thematically, and no suffocation, so parameters need to be coded and tested to make sure it's working. We'll say this takes a week (5 days) (14/23)

In this thread, we're at a total of 3 years & 8 days so far to implement a penguin into Minecraft. And we're just getting started :)

Spawning location sorted out, so what does it drop? Do we want custom items dropped from it? If so, that's more time to add. (15/23)

While not a mob, new items still need models and textures for them, which then fall into the entire list of "can you eat it? what can you craft with it? etc"

For this, we're going to say it's just raw fish that it drops, and leave it at that. (16/23)

To shorten this thread a little, we'll just say it takes about 2 months to get a penguin fully coded into Minecraft, after already waiting 3 years to get it in.

All during this time, other updates are coming out, and it's entirely possible the penguin is scrapped. (17/23)

Additionally, you have devs doing snapshots during this time that the penguin is being implemented, and the community gives feedback, both positive & negative.

Devs have to take that feedback, process it, & either improve on the suggestions made, or completely ignore it. (18/23)

That takes time. And because it takes time, you now extend things out even longer for the implementation. So saying it's taken 3 years and 2 months at this point, now you're looking at 3 years and 6 months - a weekly snapshot cycle also plays into this. (19/23)

Let's also not forget other aspects of this too - let's say the penguin is a top focus for the release; does marketing need to get involved? What about merch? Does the penguin need to be in any trailers?

All this needs to be considered, and thus more time is taken. (20/23)

Now I know I'm partially hand-waving some stuff with this thread - a lot of this stuff is done in parallel. However, if any design changes come up, anyone involved outside the dev team needs to pivot and make the necessary updates (21/23)

Also, because release deadlines are never really known to us, once Mojang says a release is coming, everyone involved needs to have their penguins in a row in order to make sure everything related to it is ready for launch. No game-breaking bugs, no mistakes. (22/23)

So there you have it. Adding a penguin, a relatively passive easy to understand mob, takes roughly 3 & a half years to get into Minecraft. (23/23)

Hope you guys enjoyed the thread, & I'd love to hear feedback on why I'm wrong :)

Game dev is not easy. Please stop thinking it is.