Minecraft

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

Perhaps one of the most popular indy games in recent memory. I was never really interested in it but my brother runs a dedicated server and I seen it at Wal-Mart and decided to pick it up. As with Terraria, I basically made a handful of 'tutorial' worlds to get the hang of it. Now I'm on my first real world. Being written in Java was a real turn off for me, as I have developed with Java in the past and know many of its limitations. However "Notch" (creator) really pulled it off.

What really snagged me is that it moved from just a building game to something with a bit more meat. Survival mode as its called introduced a hunger system, hostile mobs and more recently, new dimensions to exploit. Since its written in Java its fairly easy to make mod packs, texture packs and graphical mods (such as Optifine). The world is about as infinite as is possible within a computer system. Its actually completely open ended and the only limit is the computer. Once you go so far out the risk of crashing and corruption increases past a certain point. It is estimated the playable surface area in a single player game is 8 times the size of the earth. Beyond that point the physics and terrain generation goes crazy because the x/y values are too great to be stored properly as variables.

ED: Apparently this is no longer true. The Farlands as it was known was removed and now you can only go up to 30 million meters before it starts generating "fake chunks" and if you step onto these fake chunks you will fall to your death. At somewhere around 12 million meters from 0,0 chunks start getting deleted so if you build a home at 0,0 and go out there, when you return it will generate new terrain and your home will be gone. Here is an image I found with size comparison:

One of thing that I was baffled about after playing Terraria, is how would you know if there is lava nearby? Well turns out you can hear it and if there is one block between you and the lava pool (from above) it drips through the block. Water also does this so you get an indication of what is nearby along with the sound.

There are lots of things to do surprisingly and I'm really enjoying myself. Tomorrow there is an update that adds a lot of new items and changes a few game mechanics. Looking forward to that as I can automate many of my farms, but I may end up simply creating a new world for it. They give access to development snapshots for users to test as well, which I think is a great feature. Unlike many games I play, Minecraft is still being actively developed and new features are being added every few months.

For me, one of the more enjoyable aspects is there are a handful of block destroying mobs in the game. In contrast to Terraria where there is endless whining to remove the single extremely rare mob that only appears in Hardmode. Perhaps the most popular of these is the 'Creeper'. I'm not sure what exactly its supposed to be but it can be a deadly creature if you are caught off guard. Just look at this image from my world.

Mostly filled in by bricks:

A pic of a Creeper:

Here is a view of the area I called home. I actually live in a cave here. This is the head of the cave that I use for experimenting and putting some things outside. Like the clay towers, I just did that for storage purposes. I used to have a diamond tower as well but harvested it for armor and tools. The wheat farm was a quick little project to test what I learned about redstone (the wiring system in Minecraft). It uses pistons to hold back some water and when you hit the lever it will let water flow over the wheat and wash it into a collection area. Then you turn off the water and replant some seeds. The tree farm I figured this out on my own. Oak trees you can actually plant right next to each other and create a wall of wood. Makes it very easy to harvest. The hostile mob system is a design by Etho (search youtube). It causes mobs to spawn in a specially created underground chamber and be carried to the surface by water. They are killed by lava and the drops come right out the front. Its good for collecting gunpowder for TNT.

Underground I was able to get grass down there and customized the area for my needs. I won't post any screens of it unless somebody wants to see. Then I would prolly do a tour video of my entire world. I have a Blaze farm in the Neither, potion brewing areas and enchantment rooms dotted all over the place. Along with many named strip mines.

Night view from a high platform:

So yea, anybody playing? If so show us your creations or your thoughts on this game.

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

Minecraft is one of them games ive heard much about, although never really looked it myself. Just yesterday, a friend on PSN said about minecraft coming to PS3. What is the over-all goal of the game?

Its funny to see that the mincraft world can be bigger than Uranus - not trying to be rude

hmm.. maybe its me, but dont see your cave? and what's that giant green blob?

I guess minecraft isnt on steam, by the looks of it Confused

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

The goal is pretty much the same as Terraria, its just open ended emergent gameplay. Technically there is an ending, but you can continue to play afterward. You will definitely want to get it for PC for the mods and updates. While the console versions are updated, they still lack a lot of the PC content and access to the greater online aspect. I was wondering why it wasn't on Steam myself, but there is a reason. I have no idea what that reason is though. The creator posted something about it but I have never read it.

It can be found at major retailers in the form of a gift card type thing ($26.95 - Â£20) or you can purchase from Mojang directly http://minecraft.net/

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

I did read something earlier about why it wasn't on steam. I think it was because steam wants games to reach certain rules and regulations, which it was hard for them to do. I think the same thing happened with EA.

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

Here is a short tour of my little area. I actually meant for Redrock Mine to be a seperate area but as I stripped the area I tunneled into the lower portions of my cave. So it made it easy to add in a minecart transport back and forth. Debating if I should make a new world for the update that was released today or keep my current one and just explore farther (sections that hasn't been generated yet) for the new ore.

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

Woh, seeing that video explained a lot to me. I can see how you would compare it to terria, although Terra takes an more arcade feel to it. Its a shame its not on steam as it would make it a lot easier for me.

Did you make everything there or did the game give you a basic world to start with. Did you make that dog?

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

I tamed the dog hehe. I wanted a cat but I couldn't find any. It gives you the basic terrain and there are Biomes as well. Where I live is a forest biome that I clear cut. There is a desert just behind my cave that is not visible in any of the pics or the vid.

The cave generation system is something I really like. It generates in such a way that a massive cave network is formed and can extend for thousands of meters with and extreme numbers of branches that lead to other branches more cave networks, dungeons and abandoned mineshafts. There are features such as ravines that is basically just a huge crevice. Sometimes it is exposed at the surface or under the oceans and makes for some fun places to explore.

So yes, the cave I live in was naturally generated and I cut out what I wanted, replaced walls with brick, and built in farms and stuff.

I'm thinking I may just keep my current world. I went exploring in the nether and turns out I didn't need to go far to find the new ore. Here is the first haul of Nether Quartz Ore. Each tower is a stack (64) of ore. I'll use an enchanted pickaxe (Fortune 3) to get more out of it.

Can't wait to play with all the new items added today!

ps. I can't seem to subscribe to threads anymore. It says its saved but it doesn't send me a mail when somebody replies.

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

ah, well I would prefer taming a dog anyway. cats arent my thing.

as for the cave system, it looked impressive (if most of it was generated, in the video I saw). Although can you build upwards too? say build a skyscraper? or a village for example?

It doesnt look likely that I can get minecraft: not on steam and it said on the FAQ that paypal support has been removed.. well there isnt anywhere I can get a copy. Although if its on the playstation store soon, then I might be able too. I guess this wont be able to connect to a PC games although.

ps. the subscribe feature had one misspelling in one of the database commands (when it was upgraded to the new API). This meant you can not add yourself to the list. It should now work.

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

I don't know. I just looked through the payment options and Paypal is there for buying a new account. It seems you cannot buy a gift code with Paypal though. I have no idea as I use a bank issued debit card.

I think the upper limit is something like 256 blocks high. Some other features included are NPC villages, desert and jungle temples, dungeons (misleading name as its just a square room with a mob spawner and some chest).

Here is a wiki page detailing most of the generated features. OFC pretty much everything you would ever want to know about the game is there also.

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Generated_structures

Check this out. This guy has been trying to reach the Far Lands for over 2 years now. He is doing it for charity. I watched this one last night and was stunned by the impressive terrain generation in the area was walking. He uses and older version where the Far Lands are still in the game.

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

Been upgrading some of the contraptions I built with the new stuff. Worked on my Nether Wart farm and moved it to my old potion station area and increased the size a little bit.

This one is my new semi-automatic potion station. With the new hoppers its nice how you can use them like pipes. You just press the button below the ingredient you want to add and it pipes it into the brewing stand. It even adds more bottles when you take the finished potions out of it! Exactly what I have been wanting to build but it has been impossible up until the recent patch. I used the new Quartz blocks on this and I really like the look of them too bad they are so expensive to make, else I would do my entire living area with them.

This last one is a fully automatic furnace. You load the fuel into the rear chest (I'm loading up with Blaze Rods from the Blaze XP farm) and then load whatever you want to be smelted into the top chest. The output is piped directly into the chest in the front. I tried it out with Nether Rack blocks (they are now able to be smelted into Netherbrick). I filled it all the way up and worked on the potion station. When I got back I had a chest full of bricks. The new patch added some pretty neat stuff, a lot less busy work and more fun IMO.

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

Well from watching the video it gives you an better understanding of the size/depth of the game. In a screenshot it looks rather blockie and you cant really see much else... although I guess since the blocks are so big that allows them to construct massive size areas, without needing so much memory I guess.

This makes me wonder if they did a sequel, could they get the size of the blocks down? or would this detract from the game-play? I say that, as when that guy looks over a large area, I wonder how much more impressive if the blocks where like half the size, or smaller. Im not saying its not impressive now, it truly is.

I guess it makes Terra look somewhat small Smile

[update] is the android version any good?

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

[update] is the android version any good?
- Roguey

I got no idea man. The thing is that you lose out on a lot of features by getting anything other than the PC version.

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Pocket_Edition

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

ah well, without a steam or a PSN option then its not possible for me. I have noticed releasly that there are google-play vouchers that you can buy, which would save me entering in my credit details. I do the same on the PSN store too. I think there is a demo on the google store which maybe worth checking.

I did look at the supported devices, and the Nexus 7 seems to be okay: Works great on Fancy Graphics and Multiplayer (Wi-fi)

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

--deleted video--

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 11 years ago.

There is a patch for Terraria being done? I thought you said they had stopped working on it?

Interesting videos: lets play. I could tell you were a bit nervous on your first video - although I cant blame you - it does sound a bit odd talking to yourself at first - I havnt done myself Smile

Hopefully your get quite a few viewers. I can see how minecraft and Terraria are similar - the exploring/building elements; although it looks like minecraft is a lot more technical - the ability to setup machines and that. It does seem a little cheating when you use the terrain to your advantage against the monsters, although I guess you wouldnt be able to take on the monsters otherwise?

Sinxar

Cruguey (18)

Posted 11 years ago.

Yea a Terraria patch finally. The creator started a thread for ideas and a little bit of info has been released. I know some bugfixes and new armor (wooden armor finally). Not sure where I seen that but its around somewhere.

Minecraft has the advantage in the devices you can build department, but lacks in mob diversity. The 1.6 update for Minecraft is supposed to be the "Mob Update" (the most recent patch 1.5 is the "Redstone Update" ). The mini-map mod I am using is a bit iffy. It could be seen as cheating, but it also adds in functionality that (IMO) should have been part of vanilla. The waypoints itself is the most useful mod I have come across. The terrain advantage works both ways. The mobs can hit you from fairly far away and spiders will always try to jump down on you if possible. Skeletons got a major buff in the most recent patch, now they will shoot faster the closer you are and their accuracy has been increased by a large margin. Zombies will now try to overwhelm you with numbers if possible. They will also set you on fire if they are on fire for whatever reason (lava, flame enchanted weapons, etc).

And yes, I couldn't hear myself the first episode. I fixed that in the next one and turned myself up even more in 3 and 4. I had to use the "Line In" jack for my mic to reduce noise and I have the mic mixed in my headphones so I can hear myself. Mainly I don't really know what to talk about lol.

Its highly unlikely much will come of it but I can use it as practice for future videos. My main concern is how people will react to my voice because it just sounds so terrible.

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