A free update due to arrive in February will bring Minecraft: Pocket Edition closer to the Survival Mode of the game's wildly popular PC version, says Daniel Kaplan of Minecraft maker Mojang.
Kaplan wrote that the Mojang team plans on submitting an update for its iOS and Android versions on Feb. 8. Once approved, the update will be free.
Kaplan said that the reason for Pocket Edition's divergence from regular Minecraft is because "we had an initial plan of making Minecraft – Pocket Edition more like Minecraft Creative. But alas we were wrong."
Kaplan said that after getting a wave of feedback, "it seems like we made a huge mistake. You wanted monsters, resources, animals and more different blocks. This means that the initial code we had written didn't exactly fit with the new plan where we wanted to add all the stuff you have been asking for."
That has required wholesale change to Pocket Edition, which must be implemented in stages.
In addition to bug-fixing the game will deliver "some neat looking animals and new blocks," Kaplan says. "Crafting won't be in this update since we need to redesign the GUI for it and it will need some iteration and thinking. But the great part is that the foundation for survival will be mostly done."
Where is My Update? [Mojang via Subcathoin. h/t Brian C.]