the cutting room mirror

Alpha 1.2

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This is a sub-page of Proto:Minecraft: Java Edition/Alpha.

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To do:

  • Document the rest of the differences. Every build is already here.

Alpha 1.2, also known as the Halloween Update was the last alpha build of Minecraft, it is notable for being the first build to include the Nether.

Alpha 1.2.0#

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Released on October 30th, 2010, Alpha 1.2.0 was released as the Halloween Update and added the Nether, Pumpkins, an overhauld terrain generation with proper biomes, texture changes and so much more new changes and additions.

  • New to this update, hell The Nether was added.
    • With this Nether Portals, Netherack, Soul Sand, Glowstone, Ghasts and Zombie Pigmen were added in this version.
  • The terrain generator was dramatically overhauled, making things look less... bizarre, along with adding biomes.
    • This also caused the world setting "Winter Mode", to be removed with this patch as well.
  • Fishing, along with Raw Fish and Cooked Fish were added.
  • Clocks were added and behave like they do in the modern versions.
  • Pumpkins and Jack 'o' Lanterns have been added.
  • Stairs, Crafting Tables, Chests, and Furnaces now face the same direction as the player when placed.
  • Creeper sounds were noticebly changed.
  • Higher lighting values are required when deeper underground to keep mobs from spawning.
  • Grass and Leaves are now a much darker shade of green.
  • The sunrise now has a red shade.
  • Pressing F1 hides the HUD and the view-model from the person's view. In third person mode, pressing F1 will create a view looking back at the player's own face.
  • Fake chunks generate in the Far Lands, as a side effect of the new world generation.
  • RAM usage information has been removed from top right of the main menu.
  • Several new music tracks by C418 have been added.
  • Gold, Diamond and Iron blocks have seen large texture changes.
An Alpha 1.2.0 world.

Alpha 1.2.0_01#

  • Released: October 30th, 2010.
  • Soul Sand no longer generates in the Nether.
  • Armor no longer blocks damage.

Alpha 1.2.0_02#

  • Released October 31st, 2010.
  • Soul Sand spawns in the Nether again.
  • Fixed a bug where dropped items would disappear.

Alpha 1.2.1#

  • Released November 5th, 2010.
  • Leaves particle colors now reflect the biome instead of having the grayscale texture
  • Mob spawning code were strangely reverted to the older version.
  • Music now plays in Multiplayer.
  • Mob Spawning was optimized.
  • Signs on the sides of Cactus blocks will no longer crash the game.

Alpha 1.2.1_01#

  • Released November 5th, 2010.
  • Armor now blocks damage again.

Alpha 1.2.2#

Two versions of this build are available in the launcher, 1.2.2a, and 1.2.2b. Both released on November 10th, 2010.

  • More animation support was added in 1.2.2b.
  • Texture pack support was added.
    • Because of this, the old greyed-out "Play tutorial level" button from Indev has been replaced with "Mods and Texture Packs", and pack.png has been added to represent the default textures.
  • It now takes longer for the "took too long to log in" screen to appear when connecting to a server.
  • Players and mobs on fire, in lava, or next to cacti no longer spam sound effects.
  • Getting hit with a higher damage while recovering from a smaller one now works as intended.
  • Duplicating buttons when resizing screens was fixed.
  • Zombie pigmen and ghasts no longer get hurt by fire and lava.
  • Fixed volume slider settings not saving properly.
  • Present in only 1.2.2a is a debug command. By pressing F4 on the keyboard, the player will spawn a Nether Portal directly in front of them.

Alpha 1.2.3#

  • Released November 24th, 2010.
  • The debug screen now shows the player's position.
  • Leaves now decay again.
  • Hurting animations for players and animals were added.
  • It's possible to attack things in Multiplayer now.
  • The debug screen only displays by holding F3.
  • Fixed a crash relating to lighting.
  • Players in boats and minecarts now receive terrain updates.

Alpha 1.2.3_01#

  • Released November 24th, 2010.
  • Fixed single player mode.
  • Fixed infinite looping by disabling leaf decay.

Alpha 1.2.3_02#

  • Released: November 25, 2010.
  • Added the new splash text: "Play Minecraft, Watch Topgear, Get Pig".

Alpha 1.2.3_04#

  • Released November 26th, 2010.
  • A bug related to mobs vanishing was fixed.

Alpha 1.2.4/Alpha 1.2.3_05#

When this was released (on November 30th 2010), Notch accidentally mislabeled this as Alpha 1.2.3_05 in-game.

  • Proper hurt animations and sounds were added to mobs.
  • The multiplayer join server screen now remembers the latest entered IP.
  • Creepers now animate before exploding.
    • Explosions now animate properly.
  • Increased chunk saving frequency on servers.
  • You can now see sneaking players. Names of sneaking players aren’t visible through walls, and are visible within a much shorter distance.
  • Buttons, Levers, and Pressure Plates animate properly when activated.
  • Leaving sneak mode no longer rapidly plays all the step sounds that it silenced during the sneak.
  • Swords and other weapons now deal damage properly.
  • Fixed dead players logging in as invisible ghosts.
  • Made arrows visible and deal damage.
  • No more infinite free arrows.
  • Hoes now produce proper seeds.
  • Server logging now appends to server.log rather than overwriting it.
  • Fixed minecarts and pigs moving twice as fast as they should when ridden.

Alpha 1.2.4_01#

  • Released November 30th, 2010.
  • Fixed a bug where only Creepers could spawn.

Alpha 1.2.5#

  • Released: December 1st, 2010.
  • Fixed a memory leak bug in servers.
  • Riding Minecarts and Boats now works properly when you travel long distances.
  • Harvesting crops no longer yields fake seeds.
  • Removed the server command /home.
  • Snowballs are given again.
  • Fixed a door bug.

Alpha 1.2.6#

Released on December 3rd, 2010, Alpha 1.2.6 would be the last Alpha 1.2 build and also the last Alpha build as a whole, with Beta 1.0 coming right around the corner soon afterwards.

  • Added the /kill command.
  • Added small lakes and rare lava pools, both on the surface and randomly in caves.
  • Items no longer get used when opening chests (e.g., food being eaten, lava being poured out, etc.)
  • Breaking a boat in a certain fashion no longer causes it to drop 4 times the normal amount.
  • Patched client to prevent duplicated entities.
  • Fixed a crash bug when destroying the vehicle from under a player.
  • Fixed a door bug.
Title screen.