Season 10 - Staying up to date

Hello everyone and welcome to the 10th season of Minescape!

This update took longer than usual to release between the contributors being busy, the network backend being outdated and other issues, however we believe that this update comes with major changes that should make development & gameplay much better!

Bedrock support is back

We're very, very happy to announce that the GamesLabs network has brought back the bedrock support to the network! You can now once again join the official Minescape - Runescape in Minecraft recreation on any bedrock edition device: pc, phone, Nintendo switch and many more! To join Minescape simply use play.gameslabs.net or bedrock.gameslabs.net

Network version upgrade

It has been a while since we last upgraded our back-end, and there have been some amazing changes that came to Minecraft, allowing us to introduce a lot of the features mentioned later in this article.

The network (java) now runs on Minecraft 26.2 version, and will be updated to 26.3 as soon as it comes out. Therefore, the recommended version has been updated to reflect this, and we encourage all players to switch as soon as they can.

With the upgrade, we are increasing the minimum game version to 26.2 and will stop supporting versions below 1.21, so if you're using an earlier version - make sure to update. Whilst you can still join from versions 1.16 and up, a lot of the features will not work for you, and you may have graphical issues in Minescape specifically.

This upgrade took a lot of work from the dev side, however it now allows us to stay up-to-date much easier than before, and the game itself is a lot more friendly towards players with weaker computers.

It's also worth mentioning that some of the in-game UIs were changed to be modern dialogue UIs - bank search, number selection etc.

Model engine upgrade

With this update, we have also changed one thing that kept us limited in what we can & cannot do: We have changed our model engine to a new one and with it, we have upgraded 222 models! Yes, 222! All of the models have gained new / updated animations that should feel smoother, and apply across multiple scenarios: monsters being attacked, walking, attacking the player, staying idle and more!

We have also replaced some of the older mob models with modern Minecraft models (such as camels), added animations to monsters that have had none, moved the monster names to per-monster specific locations above their heads, updated hitboxes, updated monster AIs and attack speeds in specific cases.

This upgrade took time to finish, and now that it is - we are able to introduce better looking, smoother and much better models to the game, that includes furniture items (chests, chairs etc.): some of the new areas in-game already have new furniture displays that use the new engine changes allowing them to be scaled, rotated, flipped etc.

Most notable changes:

Entities can now be scaled (some entities in-game were changed in scale already)
Animation are now much smoother and have no rotational limits
Meshes can now be used to summon non-squared shapes
Hitboxes can now be other shapes than square, and they can move together with the model (e.g. when a monster swings it's arms - the arm hitbox moves too)
The nameplate can now be put in custom location per monster
We can now allow heads / specific parts of entities rotate to face the player easier

Some of these changes can be seen on the brand new King Black Dragon model!

Sound effects, animations and entity dialogues

Have you ever wondered why some game actions felt not as immersive as they should? We have and some of the things that we have decided to upgrade are sound effects, animations and dialogues for various entities and monsters. You can view the entire SFX list below:

Together with the new SFX, we have also added some new animations / particle effects:

Each magic combat spell now has a unique particle effect
Magic teleport spells now have animations, including some classic Runescape teleport animations
Interacting with beacon now has a particle effect

And a small change for new player: the theme melody is now guaranteed to play for new players when they join the tutorial island.

Lastly, we have added unique dialogues to replace the default "Hello! How are you doing today?" to 167 entities! They will give players tips on specific skills, areas & content, say a joke or two and more! We hope this change makes the game more immersive than ever before.

New & existing area updates

Larran's chest

Wilderness slayer tasks have always been risky & rewarding, however the reward for farming some lower level monsters may have felt disappointing, and the slayer tasks do take a longer time due to having to run around all over the risky wilderness, so we have decided to add a new chest & keys: Larran's chest & keys. The keys are obtained by killing any slayer monster whilst on a task from the wilderness slayer master - Krystilia.

The chest can be all the way north of wilderness, near the Pirate's hideout and awards player 1 item stack for each key used.

Varrock museum

Whilst the museum itself remains mostly the same, we have laid down the ground work to support kudos! The museum has some new NPCs that will tell you how many kudos you have, and who knows - maybe they will have a use in the future?

Taverley dungeon extension

The Taverley slayer dungeon has received a new extension - the Black Knights' Base. This new area also gives Black Knights and Poison Spiders as a possible slayer task from Slayer Master Raff.

Agility courses

Agility is a love / hate skill in Minescape due to how it works, however, we hope that with this update more players can enjoy the skill by using the courses with the addition of some new courses with most of them being easier than usual:

Gnome agility course

This course has multiple paths across multiple spots that allow players to choose faster, but harder path or slower, but easier path. The course rewards players with 1000xp per lap.

Canifis rooftop course

This course should be great for beginners that have gotten used to jumps and looking around for where they need to jump to reach the next target. The course rewards the player with 650xp per lap.

Minescape Canifis Rooftop Agility course

Barbarian outpost course & quest

This course, unlike others, will require the player to prove their worth before they can even attempt the course: the player must complete the brand new very short quest - Alfred Grimhand's Barcrawl. Upon completing this quest, and having level 35 in Agility, you can access the course that will reward the player with 750xp per lap.

Pothole dungeon

A new dungeon has been added to Minescape - the Pothole dungeon is found on mainland Karamja with a bunch of Jogres protecting it.

Ardougne castle & West Ardougne

Ardougne has been updated! The castle now stands tall and proud, overlooking the brand new West Ardougne area with its plagued out look. Both areas have a new beacon location, POI and monsters.

Port Phasmatys

A new ghostly area has been finished by the Construction NPCs! This brand new city has some ghosts roaming around, ships in the port and more! Head on over to Canifis and explore this new port city!

Some areas got smaller changes that are still notable:

Al-Kharid has a new chainbody shop - check it out by speaking with Ranael
East Ardougne now has a magic teleport requiring level 51 in magic to teleport there
Added a new agility shortcut between Musa Point and Karamja
Mining guild now counts as a POI, plays the correct songs inside, and applies night vision to players inside of it
Digsite now counts as a POI
Water mill cellar is now available to players with a new POI
Various NPCs across the map were moved into empty buildings to make the game feel more alive. A good example of this is Catherby where 8 NPCs were in a single building with other buildings remaining empty

Chat spam

We have noticed that some of the old features are a bit outdated and spam the players chat with messages that are either not relevant or just spammy, therefore we changed / remove a bunch of them:

Entering a POIs now sends an action bar message
Using the grand exchange should now feel a lot less spammy
Fighting barrow's brothers is now much easier
Farming warriors' guild tokens is now less spammy
Using /friend commands is now less spammy
Boss drop messages removed (they still exist due to usage of /drops, so they are no longer duplicated)
Opening impling jars no longer sends chat message

And others! We plan to continue reviewing messages and moving / removing them as needed.

Translations

With the release of season 10, we are happy to announce that the French language pack has been completed and a new language has been added - Dutch! You can switch the language in-game by using the /language (/langue) command. We do plan to add more language support in the future updates as well.

Other changes & bugfixes

Some of the important & impactful changes are too small to deserve a section of their own in this article:

Added a visual damage indicator for when player takes damage
Increased the rate at which golden nuggets are gained at the motherlode mine
Changed boss slayer task rolling to propose 3 different options based on the player's combat level
Changed the Rune Essence teleport back npc to teleport you back directly without a dialogue
Changed the shop logic so that shops no longer allow you to sell equipped armor pieces
Changed the tips timer so that the tips are less common
Changed the description of the thievable mobs so it takes up less space (less visual clutter)
Enhanced the UI for selecting quantities

Changed goblin attack rate so they attack less frequently
Updated the secret bell in Varrock - should be a bit louder
Removed some of the tips that are not relevant in day-to-day gameplay, the features mentioned in those tips still remain in-game (e.g. using comma before chat message to talk locally)
Fixed a bug allowing players to receive items directly to their bank from stores
Fixed a bug causing the scoreboard (side menu) to display the wrong skill levels in the wrong places
Fixed a bug allowing players to keep shop UIs open after teleporting
Fixed a bug preventing players from opening slayer master's UIs
Fixed a bug preventing the Corporeal Beast from dropping any loot on random occasions
Fixed a bug allowing players to gain creative flight in /lobby
Fixed a bug causing players to take damage on campfires
Fixed a bug causing a lot of heart particles to spawn when one-hit killing a monster
Fixed a bug causing cave of ordeals to be bugged out
Fixed farming shop description
Fixed dialogues in the Waterfall and Tree Gnome quests
Fixed the winter island teleport working outside of the winter event
Fixed noted item behavior: they can once again be moved, quick moved and put in offhand
Fixed the pointer going outside the screen when in the side menu (Shift+F)
Fixed how arrows look: they are no longer 2D texture
Added HP and Mana to the bottom HUD

Staff applications

GamesLabs is actively accepting Staff Applications! We are looking for players passionate about contributing to the GamesLabs Network, Minescape, and other exciting projects. We are specifically looking for players to assist on the following teams:

Build team: Responsible for bringing the GamesLabs Network to life! Builds include Minescape Points of Interest, Minigames, Network Lobby, Convention Booths, etc. Previous build experience is helpful and preferred.
Asset design team: Responsible for creating monster/item models, new UIs, icons, and more! Experience in all these fields is not necessary, but is preferred!

If you are interested in joining our team, please apply on our website at the following link: https://www.GamesLabs.net/apply

We look forward to receiving & reviewing your applications!

The end

That's all for the release of the 10th season. Make sure to join our Discord if you haven't already!