While the tact of gradual enhancement may not have resonated with all players at first, that hasn’t stopped Pocket Edition from becoming a massive mobile hit. A couple of months later came crafting via the new Minecraft Advanced Touch Technology Interface System (MATTIS), which was designed specifically to make item crafting feasible on smaller smartphone and tablet displays. In February 2012, Mojang added Survival Mode with its mobs (enemies) and tools, along with the day/night cycle. While the initial impression may have been mixed, Minecraft: Pocket Edition grew significantly with each major version update. The difference was that Minecraft was already a cultural sensation by the time Pocket Edition came around, which invited scrutiny. From that point on, the team approached expansion much like it did with PC: Start small, and add new elements gradually over time. Simply getting Minecraft up and running on mobile devices wasn’t as simple as quickly porting to new platforms-Pocket Edition had to be rewritten from scratch in the C++ programming language, as iOS doesn’t support Java.

Even today’s version is still considered an alpha, about three years later, although he concedes that such a tag probably means less to smartphone users than savvy PC players: “The first version was very limited, and people didn’t care about an alpha label inside a mobile game as much as they would on PC,” Bernhadrsson said in an interview with TechHive. Original 2011 review from iOS game enthusiast site, Touch Arcade.Īs developer Johan Bernhardsson-one of two Mojang employees working full-time on Pocket Edition these days-points out, the initial release of the phone and tablet version was labeled an alpha release. “Minecraft: Pocket Edition doesn’t feel like Minecraft,” asserted the With only the Creative mode, plus small worlds, a lack of enemies, no day/night cycle, and no way to actually mine or even craft quite yet, initial reviews pegged the game as too compromised to be worthwhile. Initial reviews were surprisingly middling, with Metacritic reporting a 53 out of 100 average score from critics-much lower than other versions of the game. When Minecraft: Pocket Edition first started, it was a much smaller and less refined experience than the one available today.

Old pocket edition minecraft