So here's the deal, I recently found out about how they (The Minecraft crew) were actually giving us copies of the pre-releases for testing (I suppose I'm a bit slow for only just figuring out how to get these files, but anyways) and I've been running around looking at the most recent one. Snapshot something or whatever, I can't remember.
But the point is that it adds some really cool new stuff like;
- Ender Chests (These things are so fricking convenient!)
- Book and Quill (So much opportunity for projects that are adventure or puzzles)
- Trip wire and Hooks
- Emeralds (Currency for trading with villagers)
- and a couple of other interesting things like new naturally generated structures.

Well, I'm sure these amazing new additions will be added in the next update (I hope so) and with that we will have even more opportunities when we decide to create a project or map to upload here on PMC (Or any other website) So here are some ideas I've had in my head (I'm posting them up because I doubt I'll be able to do justice to them if I make these sorts of maps/ systems myself when the update is fully released)

1. A TREASURE HUNT! AAARGH! Just think about this one, I mean its probably been done before and in all honesty you could just give the player a map in the world save and arrange the terrain to look like a little pathway marker and X, BUT! With the new book and quill, you could instead go to all the effort to write out some sort of tricky riddles and such, or just do a good ol' fashion "walk two paces east, walk 10 paces north, get blown up by a creeper, X marks the spot..." or something like that in which players do as the book instructs them, and if done right, they will come upon a chest of BOOTY! wether it be rare ores or emeralds or maybe just some old pirate's crappy junk.

2. With the new tripwires and the addition of jungle/desert temples, I suppose our puzzling temple projects full of sneaky little traps can be amped up a slight bit. The tripwire traps in the naturally generated temples are quite hard to see, especially when you haven't got a clue about this new feature. So while this might not be entirely original, it could add a whole new element to traps in adventure maps.
On another note, making traps will have a new aspect to it as well, see when tripwire hooks are placed they are hooked up to string that runs along the floor (It is difficult to see) If you apply this to the right place, like a dimly lit room or choice blocks as the floor, then the wire is virtually invisible. Its very sneaky!

3. When I first started playing minecraft, I eventually learned that it was safer to make little work stations and beds in my mines lest I die and lose all my hard won ores. Well, with this new ENDER CHEST things like this might be a lot simpler. See, when you place something inside one ender chest, it can be accessed from any other enderchest in any of the realms (Overworld, End or Nether). This will also add a lot of convenience for people (Like me) who like to spread out and develop in numerous biomes on their single player worlds but fnd it difficult to manage supplies over long distances. Another feature of this chest is that even if all chests are destroyed you stuff will still remain inside, until accessed by a new chest. Essentially its like a bank, totally safe as along as nobody steals from it (which, in servers I suppose anyone could access this storage area with their own personal chest, but at the same time this could be used as a method of trading.)

4. I find on a lot of servers that villages (NPC ones) are always bombed by the time I find them. Well, with this new trading thing coming into the game, maybe the villagers will survive a bit longer? I mean, server owners could go so far as to claim the villagers and make them safe from zombie attacks so that players could make use of the emerald trade system. Emeralds could also be implemented as the currency for server shops, or even just by putting villagers in the server spawn to create a villager trading post. This is also another reason to setup base in a village offline, as well as the pre-made shelter and farms and such.

These are just some of my ideas and notes that I wanted to share with the community. Now I can't guarentee any of these new feature will remain in the upcoming update but I doubt that they'll be removed either. Feel free to comment any other ideas on what we could add to the game with the new additions (Especially if you've been messing around with the snapshot/ pre-releases)

For now, thank you taking the time.
- Shadowminded