Java Edition pre-Classic

Pre-Classic

Starting version	Cave game tech test (May 13, 2009) (unreleased)
Latest version	rd-161348 (May 16, 2009) (formerly unreleased)
Paid	N/A
Website	N/A
Classic ►►

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            "field": "''(link to Cave game tech test article, displayed as Cave game tech test)''<br>(May 13, 2009) (unreleased)",
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            "field": "(link to Java Edition pre-Classic rd-161348 article, displayed as rd-161348) (May 16, 2009) (formerly unreleased)",
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    "invimages": [],
    "footer": "<div style=\"display:inline-block\">\n\n<div style=\"display:inline-block;padding:0 .4em\">[[Java Edition Classic|Classic <span style=\"margin-right:-0.35em\">►</span>►]]</div>\n</div>"
}

Pre-Classic is the name given to the prototype versions of Minecraft (what is now Java Edition) developed before the game was released for private testing. It was the very first development phase of the game, lasting for not even a week; very early development of the game started around May 10 or 11 and lasted until May 16, 2009. There were no pre-Classic versions publicly released at the time. The original working title was "Cave Game" until it was changed to "Minecraft: Order of the Stone" on May 14, then to simply "Minecraft" very shortly after.

History

A very early screenshot of the game in rd-132328 dated May 13, 2009 (May 14 in Sweden time), showing a house and the newly implemented mob

This phase began when Markus Persson (Notch) started working on "Cave Game". He was influenced to create the game by Infiniminer, Dwarf Fortress, and Dungeon Keeper, as well as one of his previous games, RubyDung.

Cave game tech test, the earliest publicly shown version of Minecraft

The textures used for grass and stone blocks (the latter eventually being reworked for cobblestone) were from said game, and internally, the game's class files referred to it as "RubyDung". Other blocks and items were soon added, such as saplings, dirt, stone, and planks. Mobs, which would later become the player model, were also added, with their model and texture reused from another of Notch's earlier games, Zombie Town.

Little is known about this development phase, as it originally was never publicly released, and only Notch and ez are known to have tested the versions. Some versions in this phase could previously be seen in videos on Notch's YouTube channel Nizzotch, though most of the videos have been blocked in all or most countries for unknown reasons.

A tech test was shown in Notch's "Cave game tech test" video (archive) on May 13, 2009.

This stage of development ended less than a week later on May 16, 2009. Four pre-Classic versions were later made available to the public through the launcher, with the earliest being rd-132211, originally developed on May 13, 2009. All of them have last modified dates of 2013, making them technically not original.

Features

Pre-Classic block and item additions

• Physics
• Grass block
• Mobs
• Level generator
• Particles
• Cobblestone
• Spawning mobs by pressing G
• The void
• The ability to respawn somewhere else on the world by pressing R
• Placing blocks using  Left Mouse Button
• Destroying blocks using  Right Mouse Button
• World saving by pressing ⏎ Return, ⎆ Numpad Enter or when closing the game by pressing ⎋ Escape

Versions

• Cave game tech test (dev)
• Java Edition pre-Classic rd-132211
• Java Edition pre-Classic rd-132328
• Java Edition pre-Classic rd-20090515
• Java Edition pre-Classic rd-160052
• Java Edition pre-Classic rd-161348

Trivia

• Breaking a block doesn't drop anything, as the ability to drop an item was not yet added.
• When loading a pre-Classic version using the launcher, instead of the window title being "Minecraft", it is simply titled "Game", and the window icon is the old LWJGL logo.
• The name "Order of the Stone" was later reused in the spin-off game Minecraft: Story Mode as a legendary team of adventurers.
• The naming system in this phase Mojang retroactively used is "rd-ddhhmm", where "rd" stands for RubyDung, an earlier project of Notch's, and the ddhhmm part is a timestamp referring to the build time in the Europe/Stockholm timezone: dd is day of the month, hh is the hour, and mm is the minute released, so for example, rd-132211 was built on May 13 at 22:11. An exception to this system is rd-20090515, which instead uses the full date in the year-month-day format.
• The only two people known to have played these versions back then are Notch and ez.

See also

• Classic
• Indev
• Infdev
• Alpha
• Beta
• Java Edition