Evolving Vibrant Visuals for Bedrock Edition

Soon after its release, we got to work on deepening the immersion for players. We focussed on improved lighting, color, and textures, and we also spent a lot of time talking about rain. Not just because the weather turned bleak in both Stockholm and Seattle, but because players had noticed the sky didn’t change when it started to rain, and that’s something we wanted to fix – alongside some other water-related glitches. 

We then turned our pick-axes to the finer details. The team implemented more precise rendering adjustments — improving gamma calibration (which is a fancy, technical way of saying we made sure the shadows weren’t too dark or washed out, so players can spot what might be lurking there…!) We also fixed some issues with the darkness effect you get when you accidentally wake up the Warden, and the Blindness effect. 

Most recently, we worked on refining contrast and performance. We’ve worked to balance brightness curves and reduce light “popping” — those flashes that used to appear when lighting updated suddenly. The result is smoother transitions, especially when going into and out of water, and more stable performance across devices – further helped by the work we’ve done to adjust the default presets for different devices. 

These technical improvements might sound complex, but our goal throughout has been simple: we want to make Minecraft feel even more alive – and our work continues to achieve that. In fact – we’ve got some exciting tweaks to water colors in different biomes coming soon – so keep your eyes peeled on our changelogs! We’re passionate about Vibrant Visuals, and we’ll keep refining, tweaking, and improving Minecraft’s biggest visual refresh. You can help us, too – by reporting bugs, and giving your feedback. 

Here's to a vibrant future!