Minecraft 1.12 Pre-Release 1

After a long time with snapshots related with Minecraft 1.12 version, we are finally on the first Pre-Release, which means that the version itself will be out in no time (as Mojang has said, probably at the end of the next week), so it was decided to talk a bit about what this version is about.

First of all, we should speak about the name it has been given to the new version, which is The World of Color updates, as it adds some new colour blocks and fix the colour of some others that were already in the game.

Lets start:

General

Advancements.

• Replaces "achievements" by these new advancements.
• New UI, which contains tabs: Minecraft, Adventure, Nether, The End and Husbandry
• Advancements can't execute commands directly when achieved, but instead can execute functions
• Pop-up notification for when players advance

Controls.

• Added keybinding options for Creative toolbar saving

Creative.

• Save toolbars in Creative Mode with C+1-9 and load them with X+1-9

Functions.

• Added new function system, which are plaintext files in world/data/namespace/file.txt
• Functions are a list of commands, one line per command, with //comment (or #comment) support

Recipe book.

• Catalogs recipes that are unlocked when the criteria are met
• When a recipe is clicked, it will appear in the crafting grid, and can be crafted if materials are available (A shift-click ability puts all available materials in the crafting grid)
• A new white-and-gray colored notification pops up when the player unlocks new recipes (The pop-up notification that displays upon unlocking new recipes has an icon showing the items that can be crafted with the new recipes)
• If you search "excited" in the Recipe book, your language switches to Pirate Speak

Sounds.

• New note block sounds
• 
  Bone block = xylophone
• 
  Block of gold = bell
• 
  Clay = flute
• 
  Packed ice = chime
• 
  Wool = guitar
• New sound effects
  • Parrots
  • Illusioners
  • Casting a fishing rod
  • Reeling in a fishing rod
  • Throwing an eye of ender
  • An eye of ender exploding or popping back into item form
  • Putting ender eye in end portal frames (dinging sound)
  • Completing the end portal and having the portal spawn (evil sound)
  • Boat paddles

General

Gamerules.

• announceAdvancements
  • Defaults to true
  • Toggles announcing of advancements, replacing the old server.properties entry
• doLimitedCrafting
  • Off by default
  • Enabling will only allow players to craft recipes they have unlocked
• gameLoopFunction
  • A function to be executed once per tick
• maxCommandChainLength
• The default is 65536.
• Determines the number at which the chain command block acts as a "chain".

Blocks.

• Concrete
• Comes in the 16 traditional dye colors
• Created when Concrete Powder comes into contact with still or flowing water

• Concrete Powder
• Comes in the 16 traditional dye colors
• Gravity affected (like Sand and Gravel).
• When it touches water, it turns into a Concrete block.
• Craftable. Crafting: 4 Sand, 4 Gravel and one of any dye to get 8 Concrete Powder blocks. The recipe is shapeless.

• Glazed Terracotta
• Comes in the 16 traditional dye colors
• Smelt any colored stained clay in a furnace to obtain the Glazed Terracotta of that color (not for regular hardened clay).
• Can be placed in 4 directions: North, South, West and East.
  • When placed down while facing the right directions, a repeating pattern can be created. For example, the white terracotta will create the pattern of a sun when 4 are placed down correctly.
• Will not "stick" to slime blocks if attached to the side, top or bottom, but will if attached to the front or back.

Items.

• Knowledge Book
• A green-colored book
• Currently obtainable only with the /give @p knowledge_book command.
• A Knowledge Book with a Recipes NBT tag, which contains a list of item IDs, will be consumed and unlock the specified items' recipes for any player that uses it
• Especially useful when /gamerule doLimitedCrafting is set to true

• Spawn eggs
• Parrot (new mob): Green with red dots.

Mobs.

• Illusioner
• New illager.
• Affects players with 
  Blindness for 20 seconds then shoots with a bow.
  • Its blindness spell will only be cast if the regional difficulty is 3 or above.
• Summons duplicates of itself.
  • All duplicates will show shooting animation, but only the real one can be hit and shoots the arrow
• Does not currently have a spawn egg, so can only be summoned with /summon illusion_illager
• Targets both the player and villagers

• Parrots
• Tamable with cookies
• Fly around, but sit when "tired"
• Follow and crowd around nearby mobs
• Imitates sounds of other mobs
• Parrots dance if playing music on a nearby jukebox
• Right-click action available:
  • Right-click on a tamed parrot tells it to sit down
• Walking over/through/near a tamed parrot while crouching will cause it to sit on the player's shoulders
  • Will let go if the player jumps
  • Can fly with players during elytra flight
• Have 6 () health.
• Come in red, blue, green, cyan and gray.

And here you have some pictures of the changes and videos:

Hope you liked the post and ... don't forget to take a look to the xisumavoid channel, the one who made those reviews.