As a bonus portion of Minecraft LIVE featured for TwitchCon, Mojang announced a new ‘Dappled Forest Biome’, which will be part of a larger drop later this year. While it is still “early in development”, as noted by the Minecraft development team representatives, fans were still given an early preview of what to expect from this new area.

The environment is promised to be “very cozy”, featuring a color palette of “very beautiful warm colors”, inspired by Swedish autumns and reminiscent of Mojang artist Sarah Boeving’s upbringing in Michigan. Decorative assets include mushrooms, fallen logs, and the Poplar tree. The announced functional assets are comprised of red shrubs, Poplar wood, and the Poplar door. 

The developers note that, unlike Minecraft’s other bushes or shrubs, the red shrubs are not ‘biome tinted’, meaning that they will always stay red, regardless of where they are placed, whether that be in the Dappled Forest, or elsewhere. The Poplar wood follows suit, described as having a “warm gray tone to it”. The matching Poplar door is decorated with “fishbone like” slants, while also mirroring the “diamond shaped” windows that decorate some front doors of Swedish homes. 

The Dappled Forest Biome comes equipped with a new structure coined the “abandoned camp”. Minecraft representatives do not share much about this structure in the Livestream, apart from the addition of new wool stairs and slabs, and it is unclear whether or not they intend to do so at a later date. They explain that the intent of the “abandoned camp” structure is “planting storytelling seeds”, continuing the legacy of creativity that Minecraft is established on. 

While the exact date for release of this new biome has yet to be announced, a small ‘pre release’ test will be available “later this summer”.  Mojang traditionally releases Minecraft updates and drops quarterly. It is widely speculated among fans that the drop that includes the Dappled Forest Biome will be available sometime in the Fall. The Dappled Forest portion of Minecraft LIVE is available for viewing below from the official Minecraft YouTube channel.