DEEP DIVES

Minecraft’s terrain generation algorithm is complicated. It takes place in several stages-first the land and the sea, then the climate of a particular area, then the biomes that fit into that climate, and then finally smaller “transition” biomes are created to make sure that things blend nicely into each other.

MC的地形生成算法比较复杂。它会对不同的地形层进行分别渲染，首先是陆地和海洋，然后是某些特定区域的气候，然后生成适合该气候的生物群系，最后才是那些面积较小的“过渡”生物群系，这样的群系保证了地图上各大群系之间的完美融合。

Today, we’re exploring one of those transition biomes-specifically, a biome that generates when snowy tundra or snowy taiga generate next to an ocean. Grab your bucket & spade, and snow shovel. It’s the snowy beach.

今天，我们要去探索其中一个特殊的“过渡”生物群系，只有当积雪的苔原，积雪的冻原临近海洋生成时，这个群落才会生成。拎起起你的水桶，放入铁锹和雪铲准备行动吧，我们今天的主角是“积雪的沙滩”。

Beaches have a long and complex history in Minecraft. Originally they were coded as structures – like villages or desert temples. Those were removed in beta version 1.8, then proper beach biomes were added again as part of the 1.1 update, alongside spawn eggs and 56 different languages.

沙滩在MC中有着悠久而难以言表的历史。最初，它们被设计为建筑的一部分——比如村庄或沙漠神庙。而在测试版本1.8中就被移除了，然后在1.1（不是1.10）的更新中，沙滩群系被再次添加到游戏中，同时一起更新的还有下蛋机制和56种语言。

The algorithm that generates beaches was improved substantially in version 1.2.1 in March 2012, but it wasn’t until the Update Aquatic in July 2018, when turtles became a part of Minecraft, that beaches got some love again – taking the form that they have today.

沙滩的生成算法在2012年3月的1.2.1版本更新中得到了质的飞跃，但是直到2018年7月的水域更新中才又获得了开发人员的一点关爱——此生成算法一直延续到了今天，同时在那次更新中加入的还有海龟。

What can you expect to find on a visit to a snowy beach? A lot of snow, obviously. But dig through its powdery layers and you’ll discover another powdery layer underneath – sand! Just the thing for cooking up into windows so the cold winds don’t blow through your tundra house. You’ll also find a few other useful resources here and there – clay, gravel, and sandstone.

你希望能在积雪的沙滩发现什么？首先肯定是无尽的雪。但是挖穿雪层，你就会发现下面还有另一层粉末方块层——沙子！就是那个可以烧制为玻璃，做成窗子，使你的房屋能够在冻土带防风的方块。你还可以在那里找到一些其他有用的资源—— 粘土、沙砾和砂岩。

In the water, temperatures are cold enough that the surface will frequently freeze into ice, which is great for slip-sliding away from incoming hordes of zombies. You won’t find any turtles in this cold water, but rabbits will happily spawn on snowy beaches – with their fur keeping them warm.

这里的水温度很低，表面经常结冰，如果有大批僵尸来袭，你就可以从这里溜走。在这冰冷的海水里你找不到海龟，但是在白雪皑皑的沙滩上会有兔子生成—— 它们的皮毛让它们可以在这样的环境中保持体温。

You should also keep your eye out for treasure. Ships often get caught in the ice off the coast and smash against the shore, leaving behind a shipwreck that can be looted for goodies. Some of those shipwrecks will even contain maps to find buried treasure.

你也应该留意这里的宝藏。船只经常在海岸附近的冰层中搁浅，留下船的残骸，你在那里可以找到大量的宝藏和货物。其中一些沉船残骸内甚至有宝藏图，你可以用它找到别人埋下的宝藏。

In the real world, we don’t often think of beaches as cold and snowy places. They’re usually warm and overcrowded. But below the ice at the North Pole is a huge ocean, and the edges of that ocean – along the coasts of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and the Nordic countries – are home to many beaches.

在现实生活中，我们的普遍认知是有沙滩的地方通常是温暖的，人山人海的，而不会是冰天动地，白雪皑皑的。但是在北极下的北冰洋的海岸线上—— 也是加拿大，阿拉斯加，俄罗斯和部分北欧国家的海岸线 —— 同时也是许多沙滩的落脚地。

Every winter, as the water freezes, ice is pushed up onto the shore and this, in turn, pushes the beaches’ stones or sand up into huge mounds. These mounds often end up scattered all over the place, like a bulldozed construction site. Arctic animals like walruses, seals, and polar bears roam through these chaotic landscapes – hunting for food and shelter in either the midnight sun or the polar night.

每年冬天，当海水结冰时，浮冰就会被推到岸边，这些浮冰又把岸上的石头和沙子推进了岸边的丘陵中，这些丘陵就被分散开来，这就使得海岸像一个被推平的工地。而海象、海豹和北极熊这样的极地动物会在这些乱七八糟的丘陵中出没—— 无论是在极昼的阳光下还是在极夜的黑夜中，它们都会在此寻找食物和庇护所。

Unfortunately, climate change is making food and shelter harder to find – and this is bringing those animals into conflict with humans. In February 2019, in the Russian polar archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, dozens of polar bears invaded villages, trying to enter homes and other inhabited buildings. They were eventually chased off without violence, but these kinds of events are likely to become more common as polar bears are deprived of their hunting grounds by melting sea ice.

令人担忧的是，气候的变化使得食物和庇护所更加难以寻找，使得这些动物与人类发生了接触，从而导致了某些冲突。2019年2月，在俄罗斯极地群岛诺瓦亚泽姆利亚，数十只北极熊入侵了村庄，并试图进入村民的家和其他有人居住的建筑。最终人们在未动用武力的情况下把它们赶走，但随着北极冰层的大量融化，北极熊的觅食地逐渐消失，这类事件可能会变得更加常见。

In Minecraft, we have polar bears too – so if you do end up building a house on a frozen beach then be sure to install a door and use it. Otherwise, you never know what you might come home to...

在MC中也有北极熊 —— 所以如果你在积雪的沙滩上建造了一座房屋，那么请务必安装一扇门并在外出时锁好它。否则，你永远不知道你回家后会看到什么……

【Srar 译自官网 2021 年 05 月 12 日发布的 Around the Block: Snowy Beach；原作者 Duncan Geere】
【本文排版借助了：SPX】

2021.12 数据，可能有更多内容

DEEP DIVESAround the Block: Snowy Beach
群系漫游：积雪的沙滩


Are you shore?你到过这样的沙滩吗？



Minecraft’s terrain generation algorithm is complicated. It takes place in several stages-first the land and the sea, then the climate of a particular area, then the biomes that fit into that climate, and then finally smaller “transition” biomes are created to make sure that things blend nicely into each other.
MC的地形生成算法比较复杂。它会对不同的地形层进行分别渲染，首先是陆地和海洋，然后是某些特定区域的气候，然后生成适合该气候的生物群系，最后才是那些面积较小的“过渡”生物群系，这样的群系保证了地图上各大群系之间的完美融合。
Today, we’re exploring one of those transition biomes-specifically, a biome that generates when snowy tundra or snowy taiga generate next to an ocean. Grab your bucket & spade, and snow shovel. It’s the snowy beach.
今天，我们要去探索其中一个特殊的“过渡”生物群系，只有当积雪的苔原，积雪的冻原临近海洋生成时，这个群落才会生成。拎起起你的水桶，放入铁锹和雪铲准备行动吧，我们今天的主角是“积雪的沙滩”。
[album]
[aimg=https://www.minecraft.net/content/dam/games/minecraft/screenshots/snowybeach1.jpg] [/aimg]
[aimg=https://www.minecraft.net/content/dam/games/minecraft/screenshots/snowybeach2.jpg] [/aimg]
[aimg=https://www.minecraft.net/content/dam/games/minecraft/screenshots/snowybeach3.jpg] [/aimg]
[/album]
Beaches have a long and complex history in Minecraft. Originally they were coded as structures – like villages or desert temples. Those were removed in beta version 1.8, then proper beach biomes were added again as part of the 1.1 update, alongside spawn eggs and 56 different languages.
沙滩在MC中有着悠久而难以言表的历史。最初，它们被设计为建筑的一部分——比如村庄或沙漠神庙。而在测试版本1.8中就被移除了，然后在1.1（不是1.10）的更新中，沙滩群系被再次添加到游戏中，同时一起更新的还有下蛋机制和56种语言。
The algorithm that generates beaches was improved substantially in version 1.2.1 in March 2012, but it wasn’t until the Update Aquatic in July 2018, when turtles became a part of Minecraft, that beaches got some love again – taking the form that they have today.
沙滩的生成算法在2012年3月的1.2.1版本更新中得到了质的飞跃，但是直到2018年7月的水域更新中才又获得了开发人员的一点关爱——此生成算法一直延续到了今天，同时在那次更新中加入的还有海龟。
What can you expect to find on a visit to a snowy beach? A lot of snow, obviously. But dig through its powdery layers and you’ll discover another powdery layer underneath – sand! Just the thing for cooking up into windows so the cold winds don’t blow through your tundra house. You’ll also find a few other useful resources here and there – clay, gravel, and sandstone.
你希望能在积雪的沙滩发现什么？首先肯定是无尽的雪。但是挖穿雪层，你就会发现下面还有另一层粉末方块层——沙子！就是那个可以烧制为玻璃，做成窗子，使你的房屋能够在冻土带防风的方块。你还可以在那里找到一些其他有用的资源—— 粘土、沙砾和砂岩。
In the water, temperatures are cold enough that the surface will frequently freeze into ice, which is great for slip-sliding away from incoming hordes of zombies. You won’t find any turtles in this cold water, but rabbits will happily spawn on snowy beaches – with their fur keeping them warm.
这里的水温度很低，表面经常结冰，如果有大批僵尸来袭，你就可以从这里溜走。在这冰冷的海水里你找不到海龟，但是在白雪皑皑的沙滩上会有兔子生成—— 它们的皮毛让它们可以在这样的环境中保持体温。
You should also keep your eye out for treasure. Ships often get caught in the ice off the coast and smash against the shore, leaving behind a shipwreck that can be looted for goodies. Some of those shipwrecks will even contain maps to find buried treasure.
你也应该留意这里的宝藏。船只经常在海岸附近的冰层中搁浅，留下船的残骸，你在那里可以找到大量的宝藏和货物。其中一些沉船残骸内甚至有宝藏图，你可以用它找到别人埋下的宝藏。
[album]
[aimg=https://www.minecraft.net/content/dam/games/minecraft/screenshots/snowybeach4.jpg] [/aimg]
[aimg=https://www.minecraft.net/content/dam/games/minecraft/screenshots/snowybeach5.jpg] [/aimg]
[aimg=https://www.minecraft.net/content/dam/games/minecraft/screenshots/snowybeach6.jpg] [/aimg]
[/album]
In the real world, we don’t often think of beaches as cold and snowy places. They’re usually warm and overcrowded. But below the ice at the North Pole is a huge ocean, and the edges of that ocean – along the coasts of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and the Nordic countries – are home to many beaches.
在现实生活中，我们的普遍认知是有沙滩的地方通常是温暖的，人山人海的，而不会是冰天动地，白雪皑皑的。但是在北极下的北冰洋的海岸线上—— 也是加拿大，阿拉斯加，俄罗斯和部分北欧国家的海岸线 —— 同时也是许多沙滩的落脚地。
Every winter, as the water freezes, ice is pushed up onto the shore and this, in turn, pushes the beaches’ stones or sand up into huge mounds. These mounds often end up scattered all over the place, like a bulldozed construction site. Arctic animals like walruses, seals, and polar bears roam through these chaotic landscapes – hunting for food and shelter in either the midnight sun or the polar night.
每年冬天，当海水结冰时，浮冰就会被推到岸边，这些浮冰又把岸上的石头和沙子推进了岸边的丘陵中，这些丘陵就被分散开来，这就使得海岸像一个被推平的工地。而海象、海豹和北极熊这样的极地动物会在这些乱七八糟的丘陵中出没—— 无论是在极昼的阳光下还是在极夜的黑夜中，它们都会在此寻找食物和庇护所。
Unfortunately, climate change is making food and shelter harder to find – and this is bringing those animals into conflict with humans. In February 2019, in the Russian polar archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, dozens of polar bears invaded villages, trying to enter homes and other inhabited buildings. They were eventually chased off without violence, but these kinds of events are likely to become more common as polar bears are deprived of their hunting grounds by melting sea ice.
令人担忧的是，气候的变化使得食物和庇护所更加难以寻找，使得这些动物与人类发生了接触，从而导致了某些冲突。2019年2月，在俄罗斯极地群岛诺瓦亚泽姆利亚，数十只北极熊入侵了村庄，并试图进入村民的家和其他有人居住的建筑。最终人们在未动用武力的情况下把它们赶走，但随着北极冰层的大量融化，北极熊的觅食地逐渐消失，这类事件可能会变得更加常见。
In Minecraft, we have polar bears too – so if you do end up building a house on a frozen beach then be sure to install a door and use it. Otherwise, you never know what you might come home to...
在MC中也有北极熊 —— 所以如果你在积雪的沙滩上建造了一座房屋，那么请务必安装一扇门并在外出时锁好它。否则，你永远不知道你回家后会看到什么……

【Srar 译自官网 2021 年 05 月 12 日发布的 Around the Block: Snowy Beach；原作者 Duncan Geere】
【本文排版借助了：SPX】