Microsoft MakeCode for Minecraft on Windows 10

Posted on October 11, 2017 by jaqster

Hello MakeCoders!

Today, we are happy to announce MakeCode editor designed for Minecraft for Windows 10.

Download And Setup Instructions

What’s new?

With this latest update, we’ve also taken the opportunity to fix a bunch of bugs and add some new features that people have suggested to us. We’ll also be removing the Beta label, so from now on we’ll try to keep our updates minimal to avoid impacting teachers/classrooms during the academic school year and will only release major updates during the summer months.

Home Page – we got a lot of feedback saying that throwing new users directly into the editor was not a great experience, and the sample projects and tutorials were too hidden. So having this “Home” page is an effort to fix that.

Block UI update – you may notice that our blocks look slightly different. We’ve ported MakeCode over from vanilla Blockly to the new Scratch Blocks UI (which is a combo of Blockly & Scratch). There are some nice improvements with this new rendering, notably:

Bigger blocks which makes it easier for users with touchscreen devices to drag and drop with their finger, and more efficient use of block space

Old Blocks

New Blocks

Different shapes for different data types – specifically boolean values (true/false) are hexagon shapes, and numbers and text are round

Better indication of where blocks fit together

More Blocks and Items – “Where’s the slime/pumpkin/cake?” this was the most frequent question we got from students. So, we’re happy to say we’ve added support for more game objects, and a handy Search bar to find what you need.

Simplified Toolbox – we removed the “More…” subcategories from the Toolbox and instead tried to reduce the number of blocks we show, and group them in more meaningful ways. We also added Functions, Arrays and Builder categories under the Advanced section.

On Chat Command – we made it more intuitive to add arguments/parameters to the On Chat Command block by using a “+” button.

More Tutorials & Examples – I won’t lie, it was a lot of fun making these new tutorials and example projects 😊. Try the Bouncing Pigs, Raining Cats & Dogs, or the Agent Checkerboard!

We’re excited to release this update to give more people access to MakeCode for Minecraft, and to hear your feedback. If you find bugs, please log them at http://aka.ms/mee-support, and if you have suggestions, then join the conversation at https://education.minecraft.net/conversations/. Also check out this Channel 9 video for a more detailed demo.

Have fun Making Code for Minecraft! Microsoft MakeCode Team