The reason I picked 1.11 was simply because it was the latest version when I started, and that I wanted to have some cut-off point. Otherwise, I would be forever chasing a moving target and I also don't want this project to drag on forever. I want to have a fixed goal, not a moving target.Hey,
I don't think 1.11 should be the benchmark. By doing that you are missing the opportunity of later patches. For example, staircases are being made out of different materials recently in Mcraft, but doing them like 1.11 will amke you leave the other types out. May as well do the lot at once.
Besides, many of the essential features, like enchanting, status effects or the redstone basics are lacking or missing. And mobs are still really horrible. So these things have a much higher priority right now. Note that the 1.11 limit is not religiously followed. Very easy improvements, low-hanging fruit such as stairs have a good chance to be included anyway.
MCL2 already has many many stairs, and I believe it includes all stairs in latest MC, and then some more. In fact, MCL2 had the missing stairs much earlier than MC did. :-)
A quick rundown on MC versions:
1.11: The current “official” target for MCL2.
1.12: I think I already "sneakingly" included most of the MC 1.12 features as it was mostly color nodes and variants of existing things. A lot of no-brainers in there. It was probably the easiest update to follow. :-)
1.13: MC version 1.13 is undoubtedly the most exciting of the latest releases, as it decorates the Sea, so this is a very obvious and much needed addition. But it might need a lot of work and I won't touch it until everything else is reasonably stable. But I definitely want to decorate the sea … eventually.
1.14: Sorry, I'm not a huge fan of MC version 1.14. There's a lot of questionable blocks that just add complexity but don't really add any important gameplay. As I understand, most of it is to add flavor to villages. Super-low priority IMO. Some of the crafting stations seem kind of useful, but others are pretty questionable and don't seem to be useful that much compared to what MC had before. For example, the new furnace clones cook things faster, but the same can be achieved by just having lots of furnaces. Seems pretty pointless. The most useful addition seems to be the loom as it greatly simplifies banner crafting, which is really a PITA ATM. The scaffolding also seems nice. Some things are nice-to-have items, but really I don't consider them important. The new decorative blocks: I don't know, they don't seem to follow the simplistic style anymore. I really really hate the campfire for some reason.
I have the impression the MC team is slowly running out of ideas. It really shows that Notch stepped down.
Another problem with chasing later MC updates is textures. Pixel Perfection is still stuck in 1.11, although XSSheep has again and again promised a release …
It's very possible this project will take a different path, as compared to MC, because I don't really like the direction that MC has taken lately. I have long given up for making a (mostly) exact clone anyway, that would probably require a different engine anyway …
EDIT: In case you missed it: Version 0.54.0 was released (see previous post)!