Achievements

The popup that appears when an achievement is achieved.

Achievements are a way to gradually guide new players into Minecraft and give them challenges to complete. Achievements were added to Minecraft on the 19th of April, 2011 in the Beta 1.5 update.

Speaking to Gamasutra,^[1] Notch said: “I like achievements. I know a lot of people don't, but I like them. I've had the idea to make achievements kind of like the in-game questing. So you'd be able to see the first achievement in a tree of achievements, and you unlock the top ones first before you can unlock the ones further down."

He also said: “So the first one might be to chop down a tree, or kill a chicken, and then these branch into more things you can do. Hopefully it would encourage people to try new areas. It could converge into a big task, like kill a dragon or something, which would put a kind of narrative into the achievement tree.”

Finally, asked if such a move would risk leading players down a preset path, rather than encouraging exploration and invention as Minecraft does in its current state, Notch said: “Definitely not. I’d want these achievements to feel like things you can try, rather than these are things you have to do. People can follow them, but only if they want to.”

The Beta 1.4 update was originally intended to include achievements and statistics; However, implementation was pulled from the release because it was not yet functional.^[2] It was implemented into Beta 1.5 instead.

Achievements can be completed in any game mode, including Creative.

[edit] List of achievements

Icon	Achievement	In-game Description	Prerequisites	Actual requirements (if different)
	Taking Inventory	Press 'E' to open your inventory.	None	Open your inventory. The description will match the configured inventory key.
	Getting Wood	Attack a tree until a block of wood pops out	Taking Inventory
	Benchmarking	Craft a workbench with four blocks of planks	Getting Wood
	Time to Farm!	Use planks and sticks to make a hoe	Benchmarking	Pick up a Wooden Hoe from a Crafting Table or the ground.
	Bake Bread	Turn wheat into bread	Time to Farm!	Pick up Bread from a Crafting Table or the ground.
	The Lie	Wheat, sugar, milk, and eggs!	Time to Farm!	Pick up a Cake from a Crafting Table.
	Time to Strike!	Use planks and sticks to make a sword	Benchmarking	Pick up a Wooden Sword from a Crafting Table or the ground.
	Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster	Time to Strike!
	Sniper Duel	Kill a skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters	Monster Hunter
	Cow Tipper	Harvest some leather	Time to Strike!	Pick up Leather from the ground.
	When Pigs Fly	Fly a pig off a cliff	Cow Tipper	Use a saddle to ride a pig, then have the pig (and you) get hurt from fall damage while riding it.
	Time to Mine!	Use planks and sticks to make a pickaxe	Benchmarking	Pick up a Wooden Pickaxe from a Crafting Table.
	Getting an Upgrade	Construct a better pickaxe	Time to Mine!	Pick up a Stone Pickaxe from a Crafting Table.
	Hot Topic	Construct a furnace out of eight stone blocks	Time to Mine!	Pick up a Furnace from a Crafting Table (crafted using Cobblestone blocks).
	Delicious Fish	Catch and cook fish.	Hot Topic	Remove a Cooked Fish from a Furnace.
	Acquire Hardware	Smelt an iron ingot	Hot Topic	Remove an Iron Ingot from a Furnace.
	On A Rail	Travel by minecart at least 1 km from where you started	Acquire Hardware	Travel by minecart to a point at least 1 km in a single direction from where you started.
	DIAMONDS!	Acquire diamonds with your iron tools	Acquire Hardware	Pick up a Diamond from a Crafting Table or the ground.
	Enchanter	Use a book, obsidian and diamonds to construct an enchantment table	DIAMONDS!	Pick up an Enchantment Table from a Crafting Table.
	Overkill	Deal eight hearts of damage in a single hit	Enchanter
	Librarian	Build some bookshelves to improve your enchantment table	Enchanter	Pick up a Bookshelf from a Crafting Table.
	We Need to Go Deeper	Build a portal to the Nether	DIAMONDS!	Enter a Nether Portal.
	Return to Sender	Destroy a Ghast with a fireball	We Need to Go Deeper
	Into Fire	Relieve a Blaze of its rod	We Need to Go Deeper	Pick up a Blaze Rod from a Crafting Table or the ground.
	Local Brewery	Brew a potion	Into Fire	Pick up a Potion from a Brewing Stand. An already-created potion placed and removed qualifies.
	The End?	Locate the End	Into Fire	Enter an End Portal.
	The End.	Defeat the Ender Dragon	The End?	Exit the End

Notes

• For achievements which may be obtained by picking up items, transferring an item from a chest to your inventory does not qualify; you must throw the item on the ground first.

[edit] March 18th Update

On March 18th, Notch talked about Achievements and Statistics on his Blog.^[3] He said the following:

Also, he added that Achievements will not be chores:

[edit] Interface

The achievement interface with the first achievement done.

Minecraft's achievement system involves a tree composed of achievements, some of which must be completed before others can be. Originally the interface showed the achievement tree on the left, and a 'mini-map' of the tree on the right. The mini-map was removed in the final version, which now simply shows the tree. The background of the tree mimics the world with sand at the top with dirt spanning below, bedrock at the bottom, and ores distributed as they would be in the world.

Test achievements can also be found within Minecraft Beta 1.4's source code, and the test video posted by Notch. Among these are opening the inventory, mining wood and building a workbench.

[edit] Preview Video

On April 8, 2011, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing weather, statistics and achievements.

[edit] Bugs

• Sniper Duel used to be unachievable under any circumstance, but was fixed in Version 1.1. (Version history)
• As of beta version 1.7, achievements used to reset themselves when the game is exited.

[edit] Trivia

• As of 1.0.0, there are exactly 27 achievements.
• The first achievement confirmed by Notch was "When Pigs Fly", although it was more explained than named.
• "The Lie" achievement is a reference to the promised cake in the game Portal that is thought to be "a lie", and the Internet meme "The Cake is a Lie" that is of the same promised cake.
• Another reference to Valve's games is an achievement name "On A Rail", which is the title of one of the levels in Half-Life.
• You can reset all of your Achievements by deleting the "stats" folder in the .minecraft app data folder. Beware that it also resets Statistics.
• Completing achievements without their prerequisites will not count, despite the ability to do so legitimately.
• There are neither Gold Ores nor Lapis Lazuli ores in the Achievements Menu background.
• Contrary to popular misconception, "Achievement Get!" is not a grammatical error, but a deliberate reference to a decade-old proto-meme. Early screenshots of Super Mario Sunshine used the Japanese localization, and featured Mario grabbing a "Shine" item with the prominent text "Shine Get!". Due to the prominence of the game and the attention given to these screenshots, "Noun Get!" subsequently became a popular term used on image boards as post count benchmarks, which Notch occasionally visits.
• If you have a texture pack that edits item/block textures, they will show up in the achievement screen as those textures.
• An "Overkill" is "the use of excessive force or action that goes further than is necessary to achieve its goal, most commonly in acts of violence".^[4]
• "We Need To Go Deeper" is a reference to the movie Inception.
• "Return to Sender" refers to a message often written on non-personal letters, usually in case that a letter ends up at an incorrect address.
• A "Local Brewery" is a local place where they brew beer.
• Prior to Beta 1.9 pre-release 6, the image used by "The End." was that of a Monster Spawner; this was because the Dragon Egg was not implemented at that point. This was changed upon its addition.

[edit] See also

• Tutorials/Achievement Guide

[edit] References

1. ↑ Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/33220/Interview_Markus_Persson_On_Bringing_Achievements_to_Minecraft.php
2. ↑ http://twitter.com/notch/status/53362371372138496
3. ↑ The Word of Notch: http://notch.tumblr.com/post/3940195633/the-state-of-minecraft
4. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overkill