What is Skyblock? Skyblock is a special kind of survival world. Players start on a tiny island, floating in the sky atop one bedrock block at Y:145. Each island has one oak tree, 44 grass blocks, 44 dirt blocks, 2 sand, 1 red sand, 1 bedrock, and a chest with a few starting items. Using ingenuity and these items, players plant, farm and harvest to get items that complete challenges. Each challenge rewards more items, money, and XP. Players complete challenges and grow their islands to become beautiful, floating sky paradises. Challenge details and tips to get started are located in sticky posts within the Skyblock forum. https://www.sandlotminecraft.com/forums/skyblock.13/ You can find the challenge requirements and rewards here: https://www.sandlotminecraft.com/pages/skyblock-challenges How does this Skyblock differ from the old one? Focus: This iteration of Skyblock encourages more building and island beautification. Players can concentrate on repeating only those challenges that earn the blocks and items needed to create the island of their dreams. We eliminated the massive collection challenges from the last iteration. +++++++++++++++WARNING+++++++++++++++ *****************SPOILERS AHEAD***************** Stop reading now if you don't want to know what is new in Skyblock 1.16. Even reading the spoiler titles will give you too many clues. Spoiler: Challenge Structure, Money, & XP The challenge table was significantly revamped beyond the first three ranks. The challenge table now includes all Minecraft updates through 1.16, and has placeholder challenges for 1.17 items. Five developmental stages: Agrarian, Exploration, Barter, Mechanization, and Aesthetic. We selected challenge names, required items, and/or rewards to fit the theme of each developmental stage. Ten ranks (2 ranks per developmental stage): Novice, Apprentice, Journeyer, Crafter, Adept, Expert, Artisan, Master, CloudMaster, SkyMaster. Eighty-eight challenges – 8 challenges per rank using this framework: 4 collecting challenges, 2 crafting challenges, 1 building/placing challenge, and 1 island-level challenge in each rank. The challenge structure should support sustaining this Skyblock world, even as new Minecraft versions emerge. We created 8 placeholder challenges for Minecraft version 1.17, whenever it is supported. We can add another row of challenges as each new Minecraft version emerges. Money and XP rewards are standardized within and across ranks. They are computed using two factors: rank and challenge type. Total earnings, if each challenge is completed once, will equal $13,200. Version 1.17 challenges will add an additional $360. The first factor is a value assigned to each rank that starts at 10, and then increases by 10 for each subsequent rank: Novice = 10 and SkyMaster = 100. The second factor is a value assigned to the challenge type: collecting = 1, crafting = 2.5, building/placing = 5, and island level = 10. Spoiler: Challenge Rewards – Blocks & Items Most challenge rewards provide items needed to complete future challenges. (Nearly all items that have an ore state are now awarded in that ore state, not as an item.) Some rewards give tools and armor, as well as enchanted books to enhance those items. Some rewards offer capabilities such as using a virtual ender chest, using the back command, or setting extra home locations to which a player can teleport. Other rewards will give access to additional biomes: plains, flower forest, deep ocean, and extreme hills. Finally some rewards will give animal spawn eggs. We designed the challenge table so that players can earn more animal spawn eggs, in case the first eggs are lost, the animals die, etc. **Important: Watch for lore on the reward items. We used lore to give useful tips for certain items.** Spoiler: Island Size and Spacing Island boundaries are now aligned with chunk boundaries. We chose an island buildable size of 96x96 blocks (6x6 chunks) for each island. Neighboring islands’ buildable areas are separated by 32 blocks. We chose this distance so that endermen will not teleport onto a neighboring island; enderman teleportation has been a source of frustration in the past. Two new changes are the opportunity to request adjacent islands for family and friends, and the ability to have a bridge installed between these islands. Look for these request threads in the Skyblock forum. Spoiler: Micro Biomes Perhaps the most exciting addition to this Skyblock world is the ability to use micro biomes! This feature allows players to choose a section of the island and assign a specific biome to it, while other parts of the island can be assigned with different biomes. Biomes available from the beginning are Ocean, Mushroom, Swamp, Forest, Desert, Jungle, Taiga, Nether, and End. Biomes which must be earned are Plains (Crafter rank), Flower Forest (Expert rank), Deep Ocean (Master rank), and Extreme Hills (SkyMaster rank). These biomes can be assigned to the entire island, a chunk, or a radius around the player in increments of 10 blocks. We extensively tested the micro biomes. We strongly recommend using the CHUNK size. **Important: Always look at the size in the GUI before changing a biome – the default setting covers the whole island. We cannot change that default setting - so you have to pay attention every time!** Spoiler: Nether Access Another awesome new feature is that nether portals will now lead to a nether island! Each overworld island has an associated nether island. This island consists of 78 netherrack, 8 glowstone, and 1 gravel. Underneath the island is a lava lake, and the overhead is netherrack, with a bedrock ceiling at Y:123-125. Each player’s nether buildable area is also 96 x 96 blocks. (The Skyblock nether does NOT have structures generated.) Confirmed nether mobs include piglins, zombified piglins, magma cubes, ghasts, blazes, and wither skeletons. (Players may NOT spawn withers on either island – overworld or nether. We plan to open a special wither-fighting arena in the future, so save any skulls you collect.) Spoiler: Block Values We leveled block values, to eliminate any “high value” blocks. Some blocks contribute 0 points to the island level, such as lava, water, ice, vines, and leaves. Most other blocks have a value of 0.01, which means that every 100 blocks will contribute 1 point of island level. Our new game design emphasizes building, and much more building is required now to complete each island-level challenge. Spoiler: Playing Together Players who wish to join forces and play together may share the same island. We changed the island party size to eight players for every island. (The party size used to be eight island members for VIP and four island members for non-VIP; now every island can have eight party members.) One player will be the island owner and the other players will be island party members. Whoever is the island owner should be a player who intends to play Skyblock for a long time. This player will set permissions for other players, and must give permission for certain changes to an island (creeper explosion block damage and bridging requests). Another change that affects playing together is our removal of the trust feature. Island owners will not be able to trust other players (who have their separate islands) to build or use containers on their islands. Spoiler: Fire Spread & Explosions The game rule for fire spread and block damage are set to false. This means that creeper and ghast explosions will harm players, but will not destroy property. Fires will not spread. As a new feature, we will offer island owners the option to have a Moderator turn on creeper explosion block damage. Look for a request thread in the Skyblock forum. Spoiler: Tutorial Island A new tutorial island, positioned under spawn, has working models of many useful spawners, farms, and automated harvesters. The most complex of these designs also include cut-away examples for players to copy. The tutorial island features nearly 50 useful models, in both the overworld and nether, with hundreds of hints and tips. All overworld models were built to fit in a one-chunk space, to demonstrate how compact models can be both productive and space-efficient. The tutorial island also shows how microbiomes can be used in the overworld. Farms on the tutorial island can simultaneously produce products from the ocean, taiga, nether, and end biomes – all while much of the island remains in mushroom biome for safety. Spoiler: Spawn Shop Items Skyblock now has more items for sale in the spawn shop. With our emphasis on creating beautiful islands, this shop will sell decorative items. (The few items for sale that are needed to complete Skyblock challenges are priced well above what the challenge will pay.) The shop will also offer specialized items such as ender chests, shulker boxes, and certain mob spawn eggs. Spoiler: Wither Fighting Arena Skyblock will have a dedicated wither fighting arena! Players will use collected wither skulls to spawn the wither, and defeat it in this arena. Many thanks to Indrichi, who graciously allowed us to copy this arena from the Normal server. Spoiler: Phantoms Phantoms will attack those who fail to nap, even in the mushroom biome. This feature is built into the Minecraft game design. The Minecraft Wiki says, in the Mushroom Fields section, “insomnia still attracts phantoms.” To combat phantoms, players should plan for protection until they have resources to make a bed. Options include building a covered shelter to hide under during darkness, or waiting at spawn for daylight. In early game, a roof over the cobble generator or a fishing area will allow productivity while keeping phantoms at bay. We arranged the challenge rewards to give sheep eggs and shears at the earliest opportunity. Remember – with beds, players need not sleep the whole night; a short nap will cure their phantom menace. Spoiler: Raids We confirmed that raids are possible in Skyblock; we used Creative mode to spawn illagers and killed an illager captain. All normal raid mobs appeared: pillagers, witches, evokers, ravagers, and vindicators. The Wiki notes that patrols will not spawn in mushroom biome, but raids can begin in this biome. We believe that a patrol could spawn naturally on a Skyblock island in a non-mushroom biome. The Wiki states that patrols will not spawn if a player is within 2 chunks of the village. If the player is more than 2 chunks away from the village, the game will choose a random location 24-48 blocks from the player to spawn the patrol captain. If a player or villager gets within 10 blocks of the patrol, the patrol members will load their crossbows and attack. The bottom line is that Skyblock players should endeavor to keep at least 2 villagers very well protected – and perhaps well away from the village – to repopulate the village if a raid should occur. Spoiler: Wandering Traders Wandering traders do appear spontaneously with their llamas. Watch for them near a claimed bell in a village (although they can appear anywhere). At night, they will become invisible, but their llamas stay visible. Wandering traders will despawn after 40-60 minutes, or when all trades get locked. Naming the trader with a nametag, or putting the trader in a boat/minecart, will not hold the trader. Traders will still despawn when their scheduled time expires. We hope you enjoy our refreshed Skyblock 1.16. We can't wait to see the great islands our community will create! Please see our grand re-opening event here!
Great job to whoever did the spawn isle in the picture! and massive thanks to all the mods and helpers who worked on revamping skyblock for everyone!
i've been having so much fun so far!! thank you guys for all your hard work, this is amazing i'm off to a slow start (as always) but look forward to making my island better than a tiny circle of dirt
I’m always beyond amazed at how well these worlds work and how beautiful the spawn areas of them are when a new world opens up or resets. This is no exception. Great job everyone who worked on it! Thank you so much.
Remarkable efforts by @waseric, @LifeLearner, and @WanderingLlama on this one! Fantastic work and very well done. Big thanks to y'all and the additional helpers and testers! Thank you to @bobandbunny and @GertAlert who helped with the spawn build! Thanks @c0wg0d for streaming the launch!
Thanks hams. A special thank you for your insomnia-induced, fabulous spawn! You have outdone yourself.
I have been enjoying the scariness of skyblock this time... thanks for the tutorials on the website!! I lost some blocks, and a couple buckets, but recovered enough to carry on. I'm determined not to restart, so we will see. I love the super amazing spawn!! just speechless the first time I saw it! (I'm a fan of the prismarine roof.. it looks so much like greened copper ). My son caught on to what I was playing and started his own island, briefly. It is always impressive to see how many people try to get going on a new server.
I have updated the original post with my livestream video of the grand re-opening, for those who weren't able to make it or just want to relive the moment!
I know @LifeLearner spent a great deal helping out with this project, so I congratulate and adore what my Mom has done for this giant project. Also, thank you @c0wg0d and @hamsrus1 for this, can't wait to check it out when I eventually can! Looks so FUN!
