See Minecraft Earth in Action!

Over the years, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference has showcased plenty of creativity and innovative new technology. But has it ever played host to muddy pigs, chickens raining from the sky, or a very tiny Lydia Winters? The answer, of course, is a resounding “muddy-what-now?”, which is why we’re so excited about this year’s WWDC!

So what exactly happened today? We gave you the first-ever look at Minecraft Earth in action! This brand new mobile game, bringing the world of Minecraft into our own universe through the almost-magic of augmented reality, was announced on May 17. Since then, speculation about how it actually works has been running wild in the community. How can you interact with your builds? Will the game feature the fan-favourite, coarse dirt block? And if my real-life out-of-control dog runs right into my beautiful new Minecraft house, will it collapse?

Watch Minecraft Earth in action in the above video!

Today, we gave you the answers to at least one of those burning questions! On stage at Apple’s WWDC, our very own Saxs Persson and Lydia Winters demonstrated how you can build in tabletop mode with 3D holograms. And then bring those creations to life with full-size augmented reality. Thanks to some new iOS-only features, you can even step into your builds yourself!

A nifty new piece of tech called People Occlusion is what allowed real-life Lydia to show up in the build, and pull one of those levers inside to trigger the feathery fowl-fall. This means that you, too, will be able to walk through your builds as if they existed in real life. And as Saxs and Lydia demonstrated on stage, other people will be able to see you mess around inside your own build. Start practising those ‘proud creator’ poses!

The other big thing we showcased today is Motion Capture, a new iOS-only feature that allows players to trigger pre-set animations for their in-game character. When real-life Lydia waves, so does tiny Lydia. We can think of some clever uses for this (all-new, high-tech, AR-enabled variations of rock paper scissors incoming!). But as usual, it’s when our endlessly creative community get their hands on a new feature that we’ll see its full potential.

Want to learn more? Go here to watch the full on-stage demo, and don’t forget to sign up for your chance to be one of the first to play Minecraft Earth in the iOS closed beta this summer! We also have a budding community at Discord, so go there to discuss today’s revelations, speculate around upcoming features and celebrate your shared love for the coarse dirt block!