Earlier this year, we started moving more games to resource-pack-driven cosmetics to improve performance for players.

Today we are releasing an update to Block Drop. As part of this update, we have replaced the older, extruded pixel-art powerup models with new, more detailed models. Additionally, this update supports the Winterfest "Present Powerup" daily gift.

Updates

• Cosmetics are now resource-pack-driven, resulting in less client overhead.

New Cosmetics

• Lucky Block (Replaces Star - Level 1)
• Potion (Upgraded Model - Level 2)
• Royal Crown (Replaces Flower - Level 9)
• Chest (Upgraded Model - Level 16)
• Dragon Egg (Replaces Lightning - Level 22)
• Speedster Costume (Replaces Runner - Level 25)

Players that have already reached the required level for these unlocks will need to play a game of Block Drop to be granted them.

Developer Note: We wouldn't typically release an update like this during the holiday period, but due to the daily gift requiring this new game version, we have released it. These new powerup models are much more in-line with our other visuals and are an excellent visual improvement to the game.

Today, we are deploying a heavily requested feature for Just Build: Theme Voting.

When the game starts, you can vote for your favorite of 5 random themes. The theme with the most votes will be chosen for the round.

Additionally, we have added a custom server option, allowing you to enable/disable theme voting.

We hope you like this quality-of-life update to Just Build, and we can't wait to see your awesome builds!

A new update to Murder Mystery has been deployed to all regions. This patch is to help further balance changes introduced in the recent Murder Mystery update.

Changes

• Increased XP coin cap to 50 (based on survey results)
• Increased murderer kill XP from 10 to 15
• Introduced murderer-specific XP coin cap (currently set to 20)

Developer note: It seems people like being able to collect more coins for more XP, but it has resulted in games being longer than we'd like. To help combat this, we have introduced a murderer-specific XP coin cap. However, to ensure murderers still have an opportunity to gain a good amount of XP, we have increased the XP per kill. Our hope is this will motivate murderers not to hold the game up. We will re-evaluate and tweak as necessary.

Map Changes

• Pigment: Cubes will no longer grant a bow on collection
• Pigment: The murderer can now see the cubes, but cannot interact with them

Developer note: We've heard from many players that the cubes granting a bow was too overpowered, making the games much harder for the murderer. Now, the cubes will only grant you an extra arrow.

Thank you for all your feedback so far! Your feedback helps us make changes like this, so keep it coming. If you have feedback, please let us know on our Discord or Forums.

Two new maps are rolling out to Hide and Seek.

New Maps

• Harvest
• Chime

Changes

• Added Mossy Cobblestone as a new hideable block, used by Harvest

Developer note: We're busy working on more extensive content updates to some of our other games, but wanted to give Hide and Seek some new maps! We hope to have time to do a Hide and Seek gameplay update in the future. If you have ideas of what you'd like to see included in a potential future update, please submit them on our forums.

We hope you enjoy these new maps. If you find any bugs or have feedback, please let us know on Discord or our forums.

An update to Murder Mystery is being deployed to all regions to adjust gameplay balance and fix some minor bugs.

Changes

• Increased XP coin cap from 30 to 40.
• Super and epic coins will no longer spawn for the first minute of the game.
• Super and epic coin spawn rates have been tweaked.
• Armor no longer protects the murderer, although it can be purchased for cosmetic purposes.
• Armor now grants 3 seconds of invincibility when broken, to prevent murderer sword spam.

Bug Fixes

• Tweaked the map Chroma in an attempt to improve framerates.
• Fixed a bug where Armor items could be out of stock when the game started.

Developer note: We will continue to balance the gameplay based on community feedback. We understand this update made being a murderer harder, and we hope the tweaks to the coin spawn rates will help rectify that. Additionally, now that prestiging is possible, we'll continue to tweak XP, so leveling doesn't feel like a long-winded chore.

If you find any bugs or have feedback, please let us know on our Discord or forums.

A new version of Murder Mystery has been released to all regions.

This version converts most in-game assets to a resource pack, improving performance, reducing "pink glitch," and laying the groundwork for future planned updates.

Changes

• Converted most game assets to be resource pack driven
• Added updated coin model, with spawn animations
• Added new, better-performing sheriff hat particles
• Moved sliding and pivoting doors to be client-side animated

We hope this update improves framerates while playing Murder Mystery. We also hope that Murder Mystery players will now see the "pink glitch" less often.

If you find any bugs, please report them on our forum.

A content update to DeathRun has been released. This update adds 2 new maps, 4 new traps, and 35 levels - bringing the total to 75.

Technical Changes

• Moved all in-game assets to a resource pack for better performance and reduction in "Pink Glitch."

Maps

• Added Survival
• Added Village

Traps

• Added "impaling spikes" trap
• Added "dragons breath" trap
• Added "falling branch" trap
• Added "crumbling ceiling" trap

Levels

The level cap has been increased to 75.

Death Markers

• Angry
• Shocked
• Clown
• Flushed
• Aggressive Laugh
• KEKW

Particle Trails

• Green Magic
• Donuts
• Bubble Burst
• Purple Magic
• Diamonds
• Explosion

Runner Capes

• Code
• Overgrown
• Ender Pearl
• Crescent Moon
• End Portal
• Magma

Death Skins

• Gold Miner
• Mummy
• Swampy
• Ritualist
• Ender Death
• Captain Blackbeard

Hub Titles

• Turbo Charged
• Warp Speed
• Kachow
• Fast and Furious
• 2fast4u

Avatars

• Gold Miner
• Mummy
• Swampy
• Ritualist 
• Ender Death
• Captain Blackbeard

Developer note: We understand some players may be disappointed that this update doesn't include a new costume. This is because the costume for this game is granted at a lower level. We plan to add more levels to DeathRun in the future and shall grant a new costume at level 100.

We hope you enjoy this update. More updates are on their way!

A band of pirates have dropped anchor in the hub, and they're on the hunt for treasure! 

Solve the treasure maps and find the keys to gain access to the pirate cave! A new treasure map will be available every five days, so make sure to check back regularly.

Read the full article.

Note: We're aware of some issues where certain devices don't load the map images due to a Minecraft client bug. We're looking into a way to fix this issue.