Java Edition Indev

Indev (short for "in development") was the third phase of Minecraft's development cycle. It succeeded Survival Test from the Classic development phase, and was the second Minecraft phase to have some of its versions released to the public. Indev was phased out in favor of Infdev after infinite maps were to be added into the game.

Indev was initially released on December 23, 2009 after Notch received requests to let the community try out new features he was implementing. Indev version 0.31 was put to the public at minecraft.net/indev and available only to people who had purchased the game[1] (which cost €9.95[2]). New features currently contained a more complex and realistic lighting scheme than Classic's and support for MD3 mob models, demonstrated by Rana, Beast Boy, Steve and Black Steve. Indev received 29 updates after this, gaining a few fundamental features to Minecraft as it went, which are listed below. During its lifespan, some updates were devoted mostly for testing new things, like torches or fire. As it progressed, its gameplay became standardized to that of Minecraft today, however with far fewer features.

Players would play on a limited map with dimensions determined by the shape and size characteristics. Gameplay was dramatically different from Survival Test and paved the way for future game modes to come. Players now had to use tools and weapons, gather and prepare food differently, utilize crafting and smelting and be wary of the time of day. Like Survival Test however, players still had to save their map to a file on their computer and reload it if they died.