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The current Penny Arcade storyline is pretty much what I've experienced in the past serveral days.
I'm building a manor above the cloudline, walling off the entire mountaintop off and fortifying it against zombies and the damnable creepers so that my work can go uninterrupted.
I was almost pushed off of my tower and the cliffside it was built into by a cow that followed me to the edge. I've taken to slaughtering all of the wildlife that spawns in my yard before continuing construction.
I have not hit lava yet. I've only dug into small, lightless caverns holding the restless, hungry dead. My sleep is fitful, knowinng that I make my home above unquiet tombs from ages best forgotten.
I'm setting aside an area to plant new trees to keep a decent lumber supply on hand. I need to set aside more space to grow reeds in order to create papyrus, which leads to books, which leads to bookcases, which leads to my impressive Hammer Films-esque study. But first I need to find reeds.
I have a bucket.
It looks stupid but is actually pretty addictive.
The whole monsters spawning in the dark adds a fair bit of purpose/tension.
This means digging and hitting a cavern (or nightfall) can be an event.
A good fan made trailer for the game can be found here.
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There are few games that have raised my tension as much as MC does when you hear a zombie or spider suddenly, when you didn't even know it was there.
And few things as awesome as climbing over a mountain to find this immense, sculpted channel with overhanging cliffs, which any fantasy artist would be overjoyed to have as inspiration.
And then you find the mapping programs, and realize how little your furious efforts have accomplished - resulting in a mad scramble to create something large enough to be visible as your mark on the world.
It's like the ultimate digital drug for anyone who ever liked making things or exploring. (Alpha mode, you can get enough terrain via exploration to cover 8 times the Earth's surface area. And that's at 1 meter per block.)
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If Notch actually does put dying torches in the game every hold I have is going to turn into a nightmare.
I do not need that kind of stress. Dashing into a safehouse just to find that green, grimacing, hollow-eyed face bouncing towards me...
I lost track of time out in the woods when night fell. I ran for the last place I remembered being able to see my landmarks. It got so very dark, so very fast. I could hear them. I caught a glimpse of one making a beeline for me as I ran past it.
I was so intent on the light up ahead that I didn't see the small cave entrance opening right under my feet. I fell in. The chamber I was in was faintly illuminated by the moon rising above, but tunnels extended outward in two directions, each pitch black.
Darkness is death.
I panicked, slapped down torches all about myself. The light revealed one of the tunnels to be empty, and a dead end.
The other tunnel continued onward into darknes, and was spilling out the walking dead. One of those mournful, green aberrations was among their number.
I ran for the dead end and walled myself in. I barely remembered to put a torch down. I left a single gap, so that I could keep an eye on the situation outside.
Dear God, the sounds they made.
I waited until morning light was visible through the crack in the cavern ceiling. Then I dug my way upwards and fled.
@#$% this game. I'm going to go play something less stressful. Like Silent Hill.
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ssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS......There are few games that have raised my tension as much as MC does when you hear a zombie or spider suddenly, when you didn't even know it was there.
Creeper!!!*Hits the deck and starts twitching with PTSD.*
I find Minecraft an interesting fantasy world simulator. I've been running a server for several friends. It is interesting how things developed.
In the beginning we were scrabbling to errect safe shelters and expand outward to individual mines. After a month or two we have basically "civilized" the areas between our mine/castles. It is... most safe to be out at night as safety isnt far, and monster traps exist in several forms to ditch persuit.
Beyond this relatively small area, chaos still exists. It is unsafe to explore at night and even setting up temporary shelters can be risky. While some monster burn in the light others stay. Creepers and spiders can become a living moat, trapping a victim in their shelter.
Now imagine that the monsters attach structures and try to "mine" into them. They spawn in the day, and some can open doors. That's a fantasy world with monsters.
MINEcraft.
Words cannot describe the awesome. I'm building a Rabbid house right now out of Limestone, Netherstone and Dirt, going to have a Rabbid as tall as I can make it, with a 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH' face, lit blocks of Netherstone in the 'eyes' and am going to fill up the mouth with lava so it 'dribbles.
Limestone for the outside, un-lit Netherstone for the 'pink' areas, nose, ears, stomach (one eye will be half-closed, the other wide open, so half-closed one will have 'Netherstone' over most of it), dirt for the 'internal' components of the house. And dear LORD Torches everywhere .....
My friends cannot stop laughing at me. My game has evolved from a 'Dirt Igloo' with a doorway I'd half-fill at night to a double-walled stone tower eight storeys up, five storeys down with a network of tunnels, the hill behind me covered with saplings as I kinda clear-cut the island making charcoal and torches, and every room has a wooden door.
Somebody said "You've turned every room into a g%$$!%n air-lock!" I replied by 'watch this', stripped everything valuable off my character but a wooden pick-axe, grabbed 24 Cobblestone blocks and went out into the night. Built a Dirt Igloo, 24 blocks, only two block standing room inside with a 'window' where the door had been and the same again with the Cobblestone one... and then pissed off a Creeper.
Ran into the dirt igloo, said "And this is why the game has made me paranoid." as the creeper comes up, going ssssssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS with it's 'Why hallo thair!' face and blew the igloo, me, and most of my hearts to hell. Crawling out of the smoking crater, with my friends behind me screaming abuse at the creepers, or as Samantha calls them 'Giant Evil Green Dildos of Doom', then ran back inside, ate some pork, got some health back and ran back outside, repeated the experiment and jumped into the Cobblestone Igloo. Only took a few hearts damage and the structure came through mostly intact.
Currently got the entire gaming group, all 9 of us, hooked on the damn thing. Everyone is mapping their dungeons, and the race is on to stat up a Creeper in Pathfinder Rules.
I still get dirty looks 'cause my tower is badass. Got torches along every balcony, and go into the Nether frequently to fetch more Lava to top up the defensive moats on the Fifth, Third and First floors, flowing into a 3 blocks by 2 blocks deep moat surrounding those floors and dribbling down to the lower levels. Have a 5 block by 3 block defensive moat around the base of the tower and a single Cobblestone bridge leading across ... with a Nether-gate at the very top of the tower, looks like the Economy Lego version of Sauron's Tower.
Would that Obsidian could be turned into armor, I could be living that dream .... haaaaaah.
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I thought I heard about possible future updates might include torches that will run out after a period of time. I shudder to think of the impact that would cause, especially with some of the deep caverns I've seen people build.
"You sit in the corner of your little room watching in fear at the flickering shadows dance about the walls. Your last torch gives off a smaller glow as time inevitably moves forward. You can hear the echoes as the creatures are scrabbling along the tunnels that you've built, the layers of torches that you've had placed only recently had already gone out for some reason. What you've understood of this world had changed suddently with the torches which was once a symbol of the undying sun in the darkness being snuffed out like- oh no, the last bit of your torch is gone and you're cloaked in darkness... the noises have gotten louder."
I thought I heard about possible future updates might include torches that will run out after a period of time. I shudder to think of the impact that would cause, especially with some of the deep caverns I've seen people build.
To append that, the talk has been that A) it's split between torches and lanterns, the latter being perpetual and B) all current torches would turn to lanterns, as not to ruin existing set ups.
As to the game itself, there are two things: the world before Minecraft, and the world after Minecraft. Yes, it's that important.
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Please let it be B. Everything I've ever built is going to be a Death Pit otherwise.
Initial work on a glass-domed underwater city begins soon. Kind of like Rapture minus all the Ayn Rand and crazy people. Have to figure out if trees can grow down there...
As an aside, wandering into a cave full of slimes while playing on your laptop with other people present and without headphones can lead to a very awkward situation. Make sure both of your hands are in plain view should this happen to you.
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This game literally has me watching grass grow, in game. Seriously - I am trying to get grass to spread into my underground cave so I can start an animal pen. Hopefully this works.
This should help ya out. I had the same problems building my underground garden.
Iron needs to be way more common. Especially because of rail tracks.
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Still working out the logistics, but I'm building a dirt bridge out over the ocean, and from there I'm going to expand it out into a floating ring just over the surface.
Then, depending on the depth of the ocean floor, I'm either going to:
1. Dive down and flatten the surface a bit and start placing glass on the rock down there and dig deeper around that, putting down another layer and continuing.
2. Build criss-crossing bridges within that ring and start dropping gravel or sand(since they fall and stack) into the water until I've built a dome of muck. THEN I'll swim down and encase it all in glass. Then tunnel down, over, and up into the dome to hollow it out.
I'm also going to have to hunt some pumpkins to make Jack-O-Lanterns to place underwater to light the work area. Only in Minecraft...
Just adding to that, use Sand to build the 'under water' fortress, as it can be dropped and sunk, and unlike Gravel is easily gathered from the surrounding environment.
Dropping the sand will allow you to build-up to the surface, and might I add, build a few blocks bigger than your intended abode, as Water has that annoying tendency to flood in and smother you.
Glass is a great building material for water-based structures, allowing you to look around at the ocean without a care. But be very aware that Glass shatters very, very easily. One aquatic creeper and you lose EVERYTHING.
Another trick with Glass blocks is that they cannot have torches placed upon them. If you have access to Obsidian and/or a portal to the Nether, getting some Glowstone and incorporating them into each wall allows you to add much needed lighting. Otherwise, Sandstone, Dirt or Cobblestone is needed every 6 blocks to provide adequate lighting.
Also be aware that Glass can provide 'daylight' to an underwater structure so long as they are stacked at least 4 blocks deep. Using this, and pillars of sand, it is entirely possible to light sections of the ocean floor around your house, although I do need to test if Glass can 'hover' like Sandstone, Dirt, Cobblestone, netherrack and similar.
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Thanks! Oh, and Glass does hover, so no worries there!
I popped over to the Nether for Glowstone, and finally tunnelled my way into an open cavern, right next to some of the stuff. But...
NEVER AGAIN.
@#$% the Nether. Until an update adds more uses for glowstone dust, I'm staying out of that hell.
I'm just a little sore because right after that harrowing experience of building underneath a ledge of hellscape hanging over a mile-high drop into an ocean of lava while the damned keep moaning and spewing fiery hate at me, I left the Nether, walked around my secured area for like 20 seconds and found thirteen pumpkins.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
Still, got a nice cache of glowstone dust I'm sitting on.
I would also like to point out that clearing a certain area of the sea-bed with TNT would also be useful. I tried this by hand, took me three hours to clear a 20 block wide by 20 block long by 15 block deep clearing for my glass house.
Totally worth it, however, when I see the Octopus schools swim by and watching Creepers, Skeletons and Zombies drown trying to get me at the sea-bed.
Ahehehehe....
Zombies and skeletons drown- waitasec... O_o
It's superwater, so it can drown even the undead. It's sorta like superfire (which can set laser beams on fire).
Not to be confused with the superness of Super Australia, which is three days ahead of the western hemisphere, rather than just one.
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Zombies and skeletons drown- waitasec... O_oIt's superwater,
My moat is full of lumpy water and skeletons that will never die and keep shooting at me.
:(
Some visuals if anyone is thinking of throwing a more "realistic" looking Creeper into their games
One thing to remember with Minecraft is that the 'bad monsters' spawn due to a decrease in the 'light level'. This means filling your region with torches, Glowstone Blocks or pools of Lava to keep the light level of your region as clear as possible of monsters.
One torch every 6 blocks seems to be the current best method to provide a 'monster-proof barrier', but that may change shortly.
In regards to 'wipe out everything', Lava can be collected from the Nether, deep caves and the occasional rare surface lava springs. Make regular trenches four blocks wide and two blocks deep, plant the Lava 'cubes' up on the walls so that the Lava spreads down and out, and it will kill (set fire to and slow down immensely) just about everything, even you if you mess up >_>.
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Article/review of a game in beta stage that is similar in style to minecraft, but different... ace of spades.
Be sure to read up on how water works in the game and try out some test ponds before you start working on your real one. Water and lava are tricky with their flow and placement patterns, and if you're not careful you wind up with...lumpy water. :)
I found out pretty quick how it worked when I accidentally busted through to the ocean while building my house...just started playing yesterday due to this thread - why is there no "WARNING: Highly Addictive and Time-Consuming" on this thread =(
I wouldn't have believed I had an OCD bone in my body prior to last night.
Oh man, Was reading this thread and decided to give it a try. I haven't slept much, work is pain this tired. And all I can think of is "Why on earth did you mine a block just beneath you so deep in the cavern". Lava ate my brand new iron mail, about 40 blocks of iron ore and 10 blocks of gold. Oh the sorrow. But my just finished above the cloudline-lighthouse cheers me up, 'cause now I can find my home from the middle of nowhere after sudden deaths.
Hands up everyone who wakes up screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" when they hear a hissing noise?
*raises hand*
Damn leaky CPAP mask ....
Oh man, Was reading this thread and decided to give it a try. I haven't slept much, work is pain this tired. And all I can think of is "Why on earth did you mine a block just beneath you so deep in the cavern". Lava ate my brand new iron mail, about 40 blocks of iron ore and 10 blocks of gold. Oh the sorrow. But my just finished above the cloudline-lighthouse cheers me up, 'cause now I can find my home from the middle of nowhere after sudden deaths.
If you build a bed in your home and sleep in it at least once, it becomes your spawn point. (Until a creeper blows up that whole side of your house, like happened to me.)
Oh man, Was reading this thread and decided to give it a try. I haven't slept much, work is pain this tired. And all I can think of is "Why on earth did you mine a block just beneath you so deep in the cavern". Lava ate my brand new iron mail, about 40 blocks of iron ore and 10 blocks of gold. Oh the sorrow. But my just finished above the cloudline-lighthouse cheers me up, 'cause now I can find my home from the middle of nowhere after sudden deaths.If you build a bed in your home and sleep in it at least once, it becomes your spawn point. (Until a creeper blows up that whole side of your house, like happened to me.)
Full of awesome, thanks! Man the world is big in this. Just wandered out to get some needed ores, and got totally lost. I had to spend many nights in the wild until I got the needed parts for compass... Don't remember when I was last as scared as when the night fell and the sounds started... Creepy.
I've been playing this on a server with my college buddies. It is full of win and awesome.
The trick I have found for the first night is get as much wood as you can, then dig a hole and get enough cobblestone to make a furnace and cobblestone tools. Turn some of the wood into charcoal for torches, and then start digging at a 1:1 slope path 3 tall. If you start at sea level you will want to dig down ~50 meters to the diamond layers. In the process you should be able to get enough iron to make iron tools. Dig a straight path, placing a torch every 8 meters, until you find diamonds. Get yourself a diamond pick and shovel ASAP. You can do this by the end of night 2.
As far as sea structures go, I love ones that are under the water entirely. You can use reads at the surface to hide your enterance. Monsters can't spawn on glass, so you can make the interior safe even if it is dark. Alternatively, jack-o-lanterns make for great underwater light sources. They are a little rare though.
F3 reveals your current position relative to spawn. This can be very usefull.
I'm not sure if you need to leave your bed before the night is up in order for it to save your new spawn point.
I'm off to go punch 300 more sheep now.
2) Rule Two: Never dig directly above you.
I did that. Got a couple metric tons of Sand dropped on me. The Iron Helm I'd just made did not help.
Diamond layer eh? Make a nice change from the iron ore I found. Started a server yesterday on my gaming rig, now to unleash this puppy on some unsuspecting sucke...uh, I mean, some friends!
Rule 3: There is no such thing as too many torches.
Rule 4: All Creepers must Die. No exceptions.
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On hunting diamonds:
1. Dig all the way down to the bedrock. Just get a shaft with a ladder going if you have to.
2. The very bottom of the bedrock layer, the one where the lowest possible breakable stone can be found, is Level 0. The one above that is Level 1, above that is Level 2, and so on.
3. Head back up a bit, and start digging out your horizontal shafts between Levels 16 and 10.
4. Use an iron pick. Iron is precious, but so is your time. You can clear out a lot more stone and find a lot more ore with an iron pick. It may take some time, but that's where your big pockets of diamond are going to be most common.
5. Watch out for lava!
A WARNING ON BEDS!
If an enemy walks within two blocks of your bed while you're sleeping, it will teleport right next to your bed and wake you up. For this reason it's strongly recommended that you have at least one block of space between your bed and the outer walls of your secured area before sleeping. Otherwise you could wake up with a creeper in your house. :O
A WARNING ON BEDS!
...Otherwise you could wake up with a creeper in your house. :O
Match made in Heaven? ;>
Thanks for the tips on finding diamonds!
In all seriousness though: Anyone with addictive personalities should avoid this game.
Agreed. Didn't know I have one, but it seems that I do. Spent last night making obsidian with lava and water and mining it with my brand new diamond pick. Why? I don't know, obsidian looks good? That's dangerous business by the way, lava just keeps on coming from everywhere.
My advice: When you are building your masterpiece, for example this huge wooden manor with different wood panels and an enormous glass window, keep the sounds ON. That way you can hear the creepers behind you who are going to blow your huge glass window to pieces.
Something I find that makes Obsidian Mining easier () is having a bucket of water on hand.
step 1: Pour bucket of water onto ground NEXT TO THE LAVA, not on it. This is important. The water will spread out, cool the Lava into Obsidian, then spread again. Recollect the water, shift it out a few more blocks, repeat.
step 2: When mining, always mine the block under the flow of the water. This ensures that if there is still Lava under the current layer of Obsidian, the water will flow down into the gap faster than the Lava can consume that precious block of Obsidian.
step 3: remember the freakin' path back to the surface if you didn't do the 'mine-shaft to the center of the earth' strategy.
Repeat as necessary, but if this is underground, remember to flood the chamber with as many Torches as you possible can, to keep monsters from spawning and inserting arrows/slams/exploding organs into your orifices in ways nature did not intend!
There is a bug that can turn redstone into obsidian. I don't mine Obsidian anymore. I either use the bug (which requires a bucket of lava and water), or I use a bucket of lava to put the lava source where I want the obsidian and drop water on it. Its much faster to run back and forth collecting buckets of lava than actually mining the obsidian IME.
I always put my torches on the right hand side of the wall when I go into a mine. I can then follow the torches on my left to go back to the surface. I never place a torch on my left side wall in a cave, and instead will put it on the floor. My mineshafts going into a cave I put a torch on both sides of to make more easily identifiable.
Any square more than 5 away from a torch can spawn a monster.
I just flooded a whole lava pool with water, now I have lots of obsidian. Hm. Portal to nether you say? Haven't found any flamable rock or glowstone though.