Redstone Update

The Redstone Update is the name for Java Edition 1.5, a major update released on March 13, 2013. Among the main changes were a number of new redstone-related blocks, including the comparator, hopper, dropper, daylight sensor, trapped chest, weighted pressure plates and block of redstone. A new decorative block – block of quartz, crafted from Nether quartz – was also added. Also included was a scoreboard system, a new texture pack format and a lighting engine optimization.

The Redstone Update was announced at the Future Updates with the Minecraft PC Team and The Future of Mod API talks at MINECON 2012.[1]

Development began shortly after 1.4.6 was released. Sixteen development snapshots were released, from 13w01a to 13w10b, with a few snapshots being quickly re-released straight after to fix bugs without changing the client version number. During the development period, 1.4.7 was released. Nearer the end of the snapshot cycle for the 1.5 update, Mojang focused primarily on fixing bugs, rather than adding new features.