My weekend was assassinated by Minecraft

[msduncan]

After getting lost twice, I've spent the last several hours laying down roads between my outposts.    This is keeping me from getting lost so much when I go exploring.

[Destructor]

What happens when you die?

all your items you are carrying drops on the spot you die and you respond back at the spot where you first entered the world.

And if you're fast (and only if you're fast) you can recover everything you've lost. Thankfully you can craft storage chests which hold a lot of stuff for easy resupply if you've died, or just as a place to hold things incase you can't get back to your remains.

[msduncan]

Well, this game has sucked up my ENTIRE Saturday.     Calling it a night.

[Destructor]

Well, this game has sucked up my ENTIRE Saturday.     Calling it a night.

Same. Wow, talk about addicting.

Anyway, a few more shots before I turn in as well. First is a redo shot of my front' castle', while the second is the first floor of Home Sweet Home. The third shows how well it lights up from a distance.

Question - for boats, how do you 'pick it up' again once you've dropped it down? Just attack it like most anything else?

[CeeKay]

Oh, and I haven't seen a single slime either (which are supposed to spawn even within light). I checked, and I'm playing on Normal difficulty. And I had plenty of baddies around until I got down a few torches.

I ran into some tonight deep in a cave, didn't get a chance to take a screenshot though.  there are 2 different sizes.

[MaxSteele]

I have been (mostly) consistently casting my gameplay on Justin.tv after 10pm pacific time for the past week.

I'm getting ready to fire it up right now.

http://www.justin.tv/evarnterallis

[CeeKay]

some updated pics of my hovel:


annex A is on the left while annex B is growing on the right


annex B is connected via an underground tunnel.


night shot.  I think I'm going to put up a bunch of torches around the grounds.

[CeeKay]

I have been (mostly) consistently casting my gameplay on Justin.tv after 10pm pacific time for the past week.

I'm getting ready to fire it up right now.

http://www.justin.tv/evarnterallis

OK, how does that work?  do you have a webcam focused directly at the screen?

[Destructor]

Unsmelted stone, CeeKay? Take the time and do your house right.

[Tals]

So this thread is getting me interested when you start a game you have a blank canvas how do you learn, does the game assist you or is it a case of reading lots. How intuitive is it?

[Zarkon]

The game gives you a randomly generated world.  After that, it's up to you.  (And it continues to generate as you explore)

[baelthazar]

Unsmelted stone, CeeKay? Take the time and do your house right.

While I like the look of smelted stone better, I actually find I need the cobblestone to make my house easier to find when I inevitably fall into a pit of lava/get blown up/drown/get hijacked by skeletons/fall off a mountain and respawn someplace far far away from my home.

Perhaps this isn't why CeeKay does this... but I find the cobblestones stand out more.

Clay seems to rare to do anything with brick yet. Pity.

I did make myself a greenhouse to grow 3 pieces of Bamboo/Papyrus and a line of 5 grain. It works marvelously!

[MaxSteele]

I have been (mostly) consistently casting my gameplay on Justin.tv after 10pm pacific time for the past week.

I'm getting ready to fire it up right now.

http://www.justin.tv/evarnterallis

OK, how does that work?  do you have a webcam focused directly at the screen?

I have a capture program that I select the Minecraft window to, then I use a utility called Adobe Flash Media Encoder.  It takes the captured video, mixes the audio with it, then converts it to H.264 and streams it over to the Justin.tv server for people to watch.

The capture utility is a Japanese program called SCFH DSF.  If you search for it, you'll find a Japanese web site for it, but the program itself is in English.

[Destructor]

I did make myself a greenhouse to grow 3 pieces of Bamboo/Papyrus and a line of 5 grain. It works marvelously!

Totally easy to grow your own food (although in my case, I'm surrounded by farm animals I could slaughter and eat like a king). Makes me feel like I'm accomplishing so much and could actually 'live' in this world.

FYI - you don't need to enclose Papyrus to have it grow. Just make sure it's one tile away from water and toss it down on dirt/grass. You and any other creatures can move through it freely and it doesn't damage the plant in the slightest.

And don't you keep respawning in the same place every time you die? That's why I built my house where I did - it's about 20 tiles away from where I appeared in the world (and where so far I keep coming back to during my untimely deaths, of which there are very few as there are practically no mobs anywhere in my world).

[Arkon]

So would anyone like to try a succession game?

Here is my current world, and my tower project that has not been going well thusfar...

Screen shots one and 2 were from shortly after I spawned into the world, had made a few walls to make a humble shack.

Screen shot 3 is the start of my tower.

Screen shot 4 is my man made waterfall and river.

[msduncan]

Well, it's interesting the different ways we are playing this game.   I haven't been this captivated by a game since the 90's.   Most of you are primarily building stuff.   I'm actually primarily cave exploring and doing mining operations.    Some of these cave systems are immense, and the depth on the current one has boggled my mind.   I've died three times inside of it.

At the very bottom of this one, I discovered a big chamber infested with green blobs, a skeleton archer, among other things.    I really need to find a good way to make arrows.   I can't figure out how to make the arrow heads.    I need a bow and arrow and a bunch -- BUNCH -- of arrows.   I'm counting dozens of blobs.    There are exotic minerals all over the place down there with these things that I can't get to.   Gold, red minerals, etc.    Then I found chambers going even deeper into the cave system beyond the blobs.

It's way too dangers to go down there until I get some firepower.    Since I lost everything I was carrying last time in, I have to spend the next bit of time equipping back up for my return.

[Gratch]

A couple things I'm confused on how to make:  cloth & iron.   I have a ton of wool from sheep, but how do I make it into something usable?  I also have what I thought was iron ore, but it doesn't seem to smelt into anything.

While I know it goes against the spirit of the game, I will kill for a pop-up text window that told me what stuff was.  I have 5 different variations of light gray block in my inventory right now, and I'll be damned if I can figure out what the difference between them is supposed to be.

[Arkon]

A couple things I'm confused on how to make:  cloth & iron.   I have a ton of wool from sheep, but how do I make it into something usable?  I also have what I thought was iron ore, but it doesn't seem to smelt into anything.

While I know it goes against the spirit of the game, I will kill for a pop-up text window that told me what stuff was.  I have 5 different variations of light gray block in my inventory right now, and I'll be damned if I can figure out what the difference between them is supposed to be.

I don't think wool has a use anymore, but I could be wrong.  You used to be able to make armor from it, until he added leather via cows.  Iron ore will look like stone with orange/tan streaks in it.  Put it into a furnace with coal or wooden planks as a fuel to melt it into iron bars.  If what you are trying to smelt looks like a black teardrop, that is flint I believe.

[Arkon]

Well, it's interesting the different ways we are playing this game.   I haven't been this captivated by a game since the 90's.   Most of you are primarily building stuff.   I'm actually primarily cave exploring and doing mining operations.    Some of these cave systems are immense, and the depth on the current one has boggled my mind.   I've died three times inside of it.

At the very bottom of this one, I discovered a big chamber infested with green blobs, a skeleton archer, among other things.    I really need to find a good way to make arrows.   I can't figure out how to make the arrow heads.    I need a bow and arrow and a bunch -- BUNCH -- of arrows.   I'm counting dozens of blobs.    There are exotic minerals all over the place down there with these things that I can't get to.   Gold, red minerals, etc.    Then I found chambers going even deeper into the cave system beyond the blobs.

It's way too dangers to go down there until I get some firepower.    Since I lost everything I was carrying last time in, I have to spend the next bit of time equipping back up for my return.

I didn't post shots, but I do have a mining operation going.  It is infested with slimes however, and so it is a bit dangerous at the moment.  I need to find more iron, had a good bit of it until I fell into some lava and lost everything.

[Destructor]

Well, it's interesting the different ways we are playing this game.   I haven't been this captivated by a game since the 90's.   Most of you are primarily building stuff.   I'm actually primarily cave exploring and doing mining operations.    Some of these cave systems are immense, and the depth on the current one has boggled my mind.  I've died three times inside of it.

It's way too dangers to go down there until I get some firepower.    Since I lost everything I was carrying last time in, I have to spend the next bit of time equipping back up for my return.

Minecraft offers so many ways to play. That's the fun of it. Want to build, harvest, mine, plant, gather, corral, fight, or just plain explore? Go right ahead. There is something for everyone.

And I've been absurdly lucky on my cave exploring so far as I've not encountered a single mob underground. I've also not heard one either until just this morning, when I heard a zombie looking for brains somewhere in the absolutely giant cave complex I've encountered right underneath my feet.

On the flip side, I've also not found any of the more 'rarer' items underground. Redstone, diamond, lava. I've even hit the 'bottom' of the world digging around. *shrugs*

So would anyone like to try a succession game?

Sounds like it could be loads of fun. I could use a new world as well - mine is too quiet for my liking.

And wool used to be used to make cloth armor - now the lowest level of armor you can make is leather (from cows). Personally, I'm using cloth to make a 'carpet' on the bottom of my castle. Looks kinda cool if I say so myself.

And here is a list of the blocks in Minecraft (minor spoilers obviously). Iron Ore can be smelted down to make goodies, while Cobblestone (basically Iron Ore looking but without the flecks of color) can be smelted down to make Stone (great for buildings and somewhat explosion resistant). Oh, and the colored cloths don't exist in Survival mode (but I'm guessing soon).

EDIT: Damned work. I wanna play more Minecraft. I wonder if it'll run on this netbook...

[baelthazar]

And don't you keep respawning in the same place every time you die? That's why I built my house where I did - it's about 20 tiles away from where I appeared in the world (and where so far I keep coming back to during my untimely deaths, of which there are very few as there are practically no mobs anywhere in my world).

Well, yes, but I didn't have a good building spot there. I enjoy living in hollowed out mountains, and so I had to trek a little bit.

I rage quit a few minutes ago. I am in the process of building my circuited lighthouse (I want the light to turn on and off when I press a button) when I fell off trying to build the tower portion (should have used a scaffold). By the time I made it back, I found that all of my items had disintegrated. This wouldn't be a bad thing, except idiotic me had decided to take all the red wire-making powder I had just collected with me! Grrr... now I have to go find more of that crap in some deep, slime infested hole!

I'll post pics of it when it is done, it should be a work of beauty!

[Destructor]

Ah, okay. See? Yet another personality type that Minecraft supports - I'd much rather live in the middle of the countryside somewhere instead of the side of a cliff.

And a circuited lighthouse? That...is awesome. Sucks you had such a fatal accident like that.

And no, my netbook can't play Minecraft. Dang it. Must go explore world...

[Gratch]

I apparently live in a very low-traffic area.  I have yet to encounter anything in a cave, and have only come across a single zombie when roaming around at night.  Strange...

[msduncan]

I think I just got an inspiration!      Building an underground dwarves fortress!!!!     

[MaxSteele]

My next project is going to be learning how to construct a hidden base.  With multiplayer survival mode just around the corner, it's going to be essential to hide away all of your resources from sticky fingers.

I'm considering a water entrance.  You'd have to swim until you're almost out of breath just to get to the entrance.

[CeeKay]

Unsmelted stone, CeeKay? Take the time and do your house right.

While I like the look of smelted stone better, I actually find I need the cobblestone to make my house easier to find when I inevitably fall into a pit of lava/get blown up/drown/get hijacked by skeletons/fall off a mountain and respawn someplace far far away from my home.

Perhaps this isn't why CeeKay does this... but I find the cobblestones stand out more.

LOL, it's more because I didn't realize you could smelt stone until most of the place was done.  considering annex A & B both have 3 sublevels  and the main keep goes down even deeper plus the tunnel system that connects all of them (it's currently making its way to a large cavern complex I found) I doubt I'd ever switch the look.

[CeeKay]

And no, my netbook can't play Minecraft. Dang it. Must go explore world...

but you can get graph paper and design stuff 

[msduncan]

My next project is going to be learning how to construct a hidden base.  With multiplayer survival mode just around the corner, it's going to be essential to hide away all of your resources from sticky fingers.

I'm considering a water entrance.  You'd have to swim until you're almost out of breath just to get to the entrance.

How is this mode going to work anyway?

[Destructor]

My next project is going to be learning how to construct a hidden base.  With multiplayer survival mode just around the corner, it's going to be essential to hide away all of your resources from sticky fingers.

I'm considering a water entrance.  You'd have to swim until you're almost out of breath just to get to the entrance.

How is this mode going to work anyway?

The dev hasn't said much about this yet, but from what I've gotten from the forums, you'll be able to claim 'land' as your own and as such they won't be able to modify it. But beyond that, I know of very little.

And CeeKay, just do what I did when I upgraded from earthen walls to stone - replace it one brick at a time, then stand back and see how much better it looks.

[MaxSteele]

My next project is going to be learning how to construct a hidden base.  With multiplayer survival mode just around the corner, it's going to be essential to hide away all of your resources from sticky fingers.

I'm considering a water entrance.  You'd have to swim until you're almost out of breath just to get to the entrance.

How is this mode going to work anyway?

Take everything that you're doing in Survival mode, and add other players.

There is talk of using gold as a currency to buy land which cannot be modified by other players.  That isn't confirmed though.

[DonD]

I kind of wish I could wireframe the world.  The cave system I pointed out in my images above is absolutely enormous.  I've tackled 2 of the branches to their ends, reaping tons of coal and iron and some little red things that I suppose are mushrooms, and now I'm following what looked like the last branch, deeper and deeper.  I would love to see how it looks and how it relates to my home base.  I've gone far enough that it is very possible that I am directly above my starting spot.  Or I could be halfway across the world.

My current roadblock is what looks like an endless amount of slimes.  I've already died twice in this place trying to clear it out, and it doesn't look like I've made much of a dent.  I'm hoping there isn't a bug here and there actually is an end to the slime spawning.  It sucks too that I lose all of my stuff each time.

[Destructor]

According to the official forums, there's a known bug where popping into 3rd person view can cause you to see right through solid cave walls (something about the camera colliding with a solid object causing it to happen). Go abuse that and see what turns up.

And in one shot, this is why the game is so epic (sadly not my world):



And from another forum, two comments that explain this game perfectly for those sitting on the wings:

This pretty much captures all my childhood dreams of what a game could be.

It satisfies every desire; creation, destruction, exploration, danger, everything.

Minecraft: Mining, Crafting, Building, and Surviving in the Ultimate Sandbox Game

[Zinfan]

I'm a spelunker style player, I have no creativity in design and building but I love to head down into the caves.  I've yet to find slimes or any ore rarer than iron.  I do like to go out at night and hunt zombies with my iron sword and try and get the creepers to explode near other mobs.  Fun stuff.

[CeeKay]

well connected my base to the cave I started exploring and made a safe room in what will eventually be one of the sublevels of Annex C.  ended up getting totally lost after accidentally falling down a pit and ended up digging my way upward after wandering around for 15 minutes.  once I hit the surface I found out that I was practically at annex B.  I also found what appears to be a submerged section of the cave that I'll have to explore.  oh, and I found some gold too 

[Arkon]

If we do a succession game, you want me to start a whole new world, or should I pass on my save that I started a few days ago?

[msduncan]

How do you mine the red stuff and gold?   I've used my normal pick on two gold veins and a redstone vein and none of it dropped for me.

[Zarkon]

Stone pick for those 2.  Iron for Diamond (and maybe for redstone).  Diamond for obsidian.

[Destructor]

If we do a succession game, you want me to start a whole new world, or should I pass on my save that I started a few days ago?

I'd say start over. That way everybody is surprised as far as what the world has to offer. And lots of screenshots (and a new thread I think) are required, as after reading other succession games, seeing people progress in 'your' world is half the fun.

[MaxSteele]

Stone pick for those 2.  Iron for Diamond (and maybe for redstone).  Diamond for obsidian.

Yep, Iron pick axes for diamond and redstone.

[Arkon]

If we do a succession game, you want me to start a whole new world, or should I pass on my save that I started a few days ago?

I'd say start over. That way everybody is surprised as far as what the world has to offer. And lots of screenshots (and a new thread I think) are required, as after reading other succession games, seeing people progress in 'your' world is half the fun.

Will do, hopefully tonight.