Yonder brings realistic latitude-based astronomy to Minecraft while preserving the vanilla aesthetic to encourage migration, exploration and tactical base-planning.
Instead of a fixed solar path, the Sun follows trajectories that depend on your position on the planet. This creates equatorial regions, temperate zones and polar regions with realistic variations in daylight. Biomes are also reoriented according to latitude, placing warmer environments closer to the equator and colder environments toward the poles.
The project aims to integrate these astronomical and climatic changes into vanilla gameplay without changing Minecraft's familiar visual style. Yonder transforms the world into a planet with meaningful geographic variation, where location influences the sky, climate and the landscapes you encounter.
Current features
This test version creates a cyclical planet of 10 000 blocks along the Z-axis
- Latitude-based solar trajectories
- Latitude-based biome transitions
- Equators and polar regions
- Variable day length
- Vanilla-compatible sky rendering
- Limited shader compatibility (tested with Iris)
- Info HUD via F3+F6 for testing
Known issues
- Sleeping through the night is impossible
- Villagers are not interested in working anymore
- Set time command does not work
Planned features
- Full shader compatibility
- Supports servers
- Seasonal climate
- Crop growth influenced by daylight and weather
- Dynamic temperature system
The equator now features hotter biomes, while the poles are dominated by ice and snow. This creates a world layout that better matches real-world solar trajectories.
a 20 000 times 10 000 blocks area around spawn using Vanilla world generation
a 20 000 times 10 000 blocks area around spawn using Yonder world generation
Near the equator, in the beginning of spring, the sun rises and sets pretty much the same as Vanilla Minecraft.
Close to the North and South Pole, the sun will stay close to the horizon, making it more dangerous to travel when it is winter and the days are short, but very pleasant during the summer when the sun barely sets.
When you travel to different latitudes, the sun will rise and set at an angle, and will not pass through zenith, the point right above the player. At 28,8°S, at the beginning of spring, the sun will rise to 61,1° above the northern horizon.