Underwater Dome Minecraft Survival Map
The underwater dome is a variation of the sky island concept, except instead of being threatened with the tyranny of gravity, one is left with just a thin glass barrier protecting one from the crushing weight of water and the potential for drowning.
The map has great atmosphere for two reasons. The first of these are the drips of water that constantly seep through the glass panes, making one feel as if one rather needs an umbrella. The other is the perpetual dimness of the map which arises from the fact that it is underwater and light is muted down there.
There are some potential problems with this style of survival map of course. Unlike islands, even sky islands, which can be quite easily expanded by simply adding blocks to their edges, the glass domed island is going to be much more challenging to expand and make one's own. It's not impossible of course, you just need to be willing to take a face full of water on a regular basis and build air locks. I actually think that the challenges of surviving and expandding underwater will be embraced by people who love survival island maps who by now are probably yearning for something new to do.
The map creator stipulates that you're not supposed to dig out under the dome or break the glass, but to be honest, stuff that. It's going to be a pretty short and boring map to play if you're only allowed to build yourself a hut and push skeletons into lava. I'm personally of the belief that all minecraft survival maps should be either 'build' or 'escape' maps. Anything else seems to be an exercise in uninspired futility and I already have real life providing those in abundance.
There is a 'starter chest' included
with the map, it has a few useful bits and pieces in it, including
slime balls, bones, redstone, mushrooms, seeds and a few other bits
and pieces. Survival alone won't be a major challenge in this map,
but surviving in style will be. There's a good bit of subterranean
lava floating about the place, which is fortunate because there's not
a whole lot of coal (at least, that I found), which means you're
stuck with ferrying lava around for light if you want to go digging,
which I don't entirely recommend because it's all dirt down there. You'll have to be careful about how you plant farms too, the abundance of lava means that much of the soil is unsuitable for growing things. Hint: If the ground was brown before you got there, not much is going to grow unless you do some lava removal.
Give this survival map a go if you're looking for something different. I like the general concept, but I think a larger dome and a more 'natural' distribution of ores would help considerably.