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Bookshelves need more variation

In this post, I want to discuss some ideas I have for reworking bookshelves in Minecraft. Admittedly, bookshelves are not broken or internally inconsistent at all – they work perfectly fine – but there is still room for improvement.

  • Change the bookshelf recipe to an Empty Bookshelf recipe; that is, one that does not include books (for example, three wooden planks and six wooden slabs). Make the bookshelf craftable from all wood types, and introduce different textures accordingly.
  • Turn bookshelves into block entities. Their GUI should have three item slots that can each hold one book – normal, enchanted, or written. The texture of the bookshelf should change according to the number of books inside it, much like a brewing stand.
  • Each slot of naturally spawned bookshelves (in village libraries, stronghold libraries, and woodland mansions) should now have a chance to spawn empty, with a regular book, or with a randomly enchanted book.

These changes would have two major impacts.

  • Builders would enjoy having the texture of bookshelves change in accordance with their contents and wood type, because it would make them fit better into a wider range of builds.
  • Exploring would be positively affected. Finding a stronghold library would turn into a veritable treasure hunt for enchanted books as you rummage through each bookshelf with hopes of getting something amazing. Even village libraries would be more exciting!

Thank you very much for reading my idea!

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  • 0
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    There should be special books found in end cities and nether fortresses that should affect the enchantment table (Increases the likelihood or max level of a certain enchantment) when placed in a bookshelf.

  • 1
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    One of the best ideas I have seen yet. Maybe instead of changing bookshelves though, they could just add a new block called a Shelf to place the books and other items on for decoration. This would save the development team a lot of time in recoding and redesigning the current bookshelves.

    Otherwise, they would have to change how it works with enchantment tables by editing the code behind it and they would have to redesign the bookshelves for each wood type.

  • 0
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    YES. Just YES.

  • 2
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    Actually, they can introduce some items that is not craftable, and only if you got a recipe book for that (knowledge books, the book with green cover), like when the limitedCrafting gamerule is on. Naturally generated bookshelves could contain that for unlocking the recipe.

    The items that is already exist can also have recipes, like tridents and name tags, etc.

  • 0
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    Brilliant it would be so nice to just walk in to a village library and just loot a couple of sharp IV books

  • 0
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    Thats a good idea. Although I believe that bookshelves with enchanted books should look significantly different then those without enchanted books for then in a library where there is like 50 bookshelves it would be very time-consuming and boring.

  • 1
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    I like your idea but enchanted books should not be kept as they are not readable and a bookshelf contains readable books but it can be made such that enchanted books would not be kept in bookshelves that spawn naturally village or else, enchanted books would not be rare and will make game easy but it could be made that we can keep enchanted books in bookshelves.

  • 1
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    Bookshelves would have several forms depending on how filled they were. Empty, slightly filled, and full. We could store books, book and quills, signed books, and enchanted books inside. Bookshelves could even have different wood types and maybe crimson and warped are nonflammable. This would be great for function, appearance, and would allow a lot of variation in the sometimes monotonous libraries. Different shelf types and functioning shelves would be a game changing!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I think you naturally generated books might be written books. like in the stronghold library maybe there might be a diary of a player going into the end?

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    This would be good for the Uncensored Library.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    This is actually a great idea. I don't even understand why they're not adding this yet. Also, bookshelves with different texture depending on the planks and slabs they're made from should be a thing. Bookshelves having only one texture hinders creativity

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    We could add this on to making village librarians more exciting as well. Maybe written books with lore? Or enchanted books early game?

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Wow, i really love this idea. It's so cool. I've never even thought of it like this. The only thing i don't agree with is changing probably in an enchantment based on what kind of books you have around it. I think there should just be e certain amount of books around an enchantment table for it to offer lv30 enchants. 45 books. And i also think the observer should detect when a book is removed or placed because it does update the texture of the block.

  • 0
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    With two rows of eight slots each instead of thee total as you suggest we could represent the precise number of books stored without the need to change the texture for the oak shelf. For big libraries an option to search nearby bookshelves (within a radius around the player configurable via a gamerule command) for a specific written book title could save players lots of time and make cataloging books much less work.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Can we take a moment to clap our hands please?  Such a great idea!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Good idea but I think it should be more than 3. The number of slots should be equal to the number of books in the texture IMO.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I believe books should have at least 12 slots on GUI because it would not make sense if only three books can fill up the 1 cubic meter volume. This is a really great idea though. The developers might be having a hard time adding this one

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Bardzo dobry pomysł, dodaje nowe możliwości w zakresie projektowania co bardzo lubię.

  • 2
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    i think "guide books" should spawn in premade book shelves, it would be fun to have guide books in bedrock

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    a way to do this also would be to Reskin a barrel and make it look like a book shelf

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I'd love to see bookshelves be more functional. it feels weird to have a library full of bookshelves, but actually just put all my books in a chest next to the bookshelves.

    I think I'd be annoyed if I had to fill every bookshelf when I make it if I want to just use it for decoration. Unless it only takes 3 books inside to visually fill it up, so it's the same as before. And retroactively, all existing bookshelves would just have three books in them and look the same.

    At the very least, I want them to be able to store enchanted books, since it's the only kind of book that I have a lot of and need more storage for. Even if a bookshelf could only store like, 10 books each I'd be satisfied.

    It'd also be useful if the bookshelf ui had the titles/enchantments written directly next to each book. Maybe as a list you scroll down instead of icons in a grid because I always find myself scrambling through chests of enchanted books and having to hover over each book individually when I'm looking for just one enchantment.

    I would be pretty excited if the kinds of enchanted books that are in the shelves affect what enchantments I get at the enchanting table, because currently, I just collect villagers who have enchantments I need and as I progress in the game, I end up using the enchanting table less and less. 

  • 1
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    This whould be a good addition to being able to find normally genarated books in game like music discs

  • 0
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    This actually sounds a lot like a mod from a previous version of Minecraft Java and was awesome. The mod even came with some books on naturally spawned bookshelves with stories written in them for players to find. The storied books had the appearance of enchanted books.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Yes, I thought about that too. After all, this is obvious and simply logical. The system that is currently in the game is a "crutch".

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    verschiedene Holzarten von Bücherregalen wären nice aber nur if man auch selber seine eigenen bzw. Die Verzauberten Bücher reinstellen könnte (3-5 Bücher oder mehr?)

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Would be great if the bookshelf could only keep the exact same (enchanted) book and we could put them in/out with hoppers and read them with comparators (item filter)

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Or like being able to open bookshelves and place/remove books

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    You can make it so that the enchantments are beaten randomly but there are beaten. Just the ones in the bookshelves! 

     

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I agree with everything but the make it not need books. That would be a little broken.

  • 1
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    Bookshelf Types!

    diff blocks for each wood type with different textures, much the way different doors have different patterns.
    for example spruce could look medival, birch could look oriental style, etc