Minecraft [1.7.2/4?]

[Binjovi]

2. i know there's a water source block...what does it look like? how does it function? i can't find anything, and the minecraft wiki doesn't really tell me much.

A water source block is a block from which water constantly flows out. Any large, natural body of water in minecraft should be filled with such blocks. You can also find them stuck in holes throughout caves. A source water block simply looks like a full block of water, and unless it's contained, will "spill out" from that block. A water source block can be carried in a bucket.

You can create an endless spring of water by digging a 2x2x1 (length x width x height) hole in the ground, and filling two opposite corners with a water source block (typically from the ocean). Creating such wells is great if you plan on farming, as you can expand if you need; without heading back to the ocean to grab more water.

That's about as in-depth as I can be. It's really just as the name implies.

[Brithor]

I just got the game. Any tips for newbies?

[Gollgagh]

http://www.minecraft.net/boo/

[Kenogu Labz]

He's implementing fish?

If I see even a hint of Carp in the water, I'm gonna squee.

Then high-tail it outta there.

Dying torches sounds awesome, too. I can picture the awesome scenes it would make as, one by one, your torches puff out behind you...

[HalcyonSpirit]

... You know... after watching some of X's Adventures in Minecraft, I'm finding it very hard to not buy this game right this instant. I mean, I'm an engineer with a big creative streak. This could be like crack for me. It probably is, considering I can't stop watching X's Adventures...

Crap. Willpower to resist is fading with every video I watch.

[Thylacine]

I don't think he should add fish to the game. It seems like it would just prompt a lot of "how I mine for fish" questions.

I think this game is in the same category as WoW, in that if I allow myself to play it, I will get nothing done ever.

[Gollgagh]

I don't think he should add fish to the game. It seems like it would just prompt a lot of "how I mine for fish" questions.

are you kidding

you can say that about just about every single item/creature in the game

if notch was like that, we wouldn't even have creepers in the game

Edited October 4, 2010 by Gollgagh

[Matt E. Waldman]

I've been playing alpha since July-ish, so it's been fun watching the development recently!

My roommates recently got into minecraft as well, so now we spend sleepless nights punching wood over multiplayer!

I AM SO STOKED FOR THE HALLOWEEN UPDATE.

[phill]

I've been playing alpha since July-ish, so it's been fun watching the development recently!

My roommates recently got into minecraft as well, so now we spend sleepless nights punching wood over multiplayer!

I AM SO STOKED FOR THE HALLOWEEN UPDATE.

Punching wood? so that's what the kids are calling it these days.

[Gollgagh]

that would be funny except for the fact that you actually do punch wood

[HalcyonSpirit]

I couldn't resist. This game looks to be my undoing, even before I've really played it yet, but my willpower wasn't enough. I caved in to the pressure and bought it. Now to have my life be sucked away.

[phill]

that would be funny except for the fact that you actually do punch wood

There is so much about the game that would be funny if it weren't for the hours spent punching things.

[Deep Thought]

I mean, I'm an engineer with a big creative streak.

Nice to see I'm not the only one

[Thylacine]

are you kidding

you can say that about just about every single item/creature in the game

if notch was like that, we wouldn't even have creepers in the game

...Yes, I was kidding.

Apparently, you don't read VGCats. Don't blame you, really - trashy thing it's become. It's also the first suggestion you get on Google after you type "how i mine."

And now it can be asked with an ounce of seriousness.

[WisdomCube]

Minecraft is fun as a game and I think I'm going to get some angry looks for this but Cube2/Sauerbraten is much better for creating things with cubes, has way more capabilities, and with immensely better graphics. It's even free so why does everyone spend so much time creating with Minecraft? Does no one no about the Cube 2 engine?

[Binjovi]

Minecraft is fun as a game and I think I'm going to get some angry looks for this but Cube2/Sauerbraten is much better for creating things with cubes, has way more capabilities, and with immensely better graphics. It's even free so why does everyone spend so much time creating with Minecraft? Does no one no about the Cube 2 engine?

It may have much more flexible tools, and many more resources/materials for you to build with, but there is more to Minecraft than just building things with cubes. The graphics being the way they are makes Minecraft charming to many, myself included. Cube2 and Minecraft are wholly different things even if they share that in-game building aspect. Why more people don't play Cube2, I can't tell you. I can tell you that I prefer Minecraft over Cube2 because typically, the things that I make have a function. I don't just build a castle because I want to, I build one because I need to. There's also the satisfaction of building something with resources that you worked to gather. It just makes your structures more impressive when you created the tools, spent the time to find the blocks you needed, and built the thing brick by brick. Maybe Cube2 is like that also, and I just never found that aspect of the game....

[WisdomCube]

That makes a lot of sense and I completely agree with what you are saying. In the 'story' mode of Minecraft the building feature is well implemented and very fun, which is what I meant when I said it is a fun game. Cube 2 even falls short game play wise. And I also understand that the '8-bit' look of Minecraft is obviously for a certain style, which is something I like to see in games. However what I was trying to say is that using Minecraft for the sake of art and designing something that just plain looks cool seems tedious and limiting compared to something like Cube 2. And lastly, I don't know if Mincraft's editor has copy and paste or can place a whole selection of blocks at once but if it doesn't then people are spending way more time building things than they should have to. (Which does make their creations all the more amazing but think of what more they could do if they could build much quicker.)

[Gollgagh]

...Yes, I was kidding.

Apparently, you don't read VGCats. Don't blame you, really - trashy thing it's become. It's also the first suggestion you get on Google after you type "how i mine."

Internet: you win when you don't get the reference

[Upthorn]

That makes a lot of sense and I completely agree with what you are saying. In the 'story' mode of Minecraft the building feature is well implemented and very fun, which is what I meant when I said it is a fun game. Cube 2 even falls short game play wise. And I also understand that the '8-bit' look of Minecraft is obviously for a certain style, which is something I like to see in games. However what I was trying to say is that using Minecraft for the sake of art and designing something that just plain looks cool seems tedious and limiting compared to something like Cube 2. And lastly, I don't know if Mincraft's editor has copy and paste or can place a whole selection of blocks at once but if it doesn't then people are spending way more time building things than they should have to. (Which does make their creations all the more amazing but think of what more they could do if they could build much quicker.)

Sometimes inspiration derives from limitation. When the possibilities are endless it can be difficult to figure out what you even want to produce. But when there are restrictions placed, they become like a framework. Actually if I had more time to devote to arguing on the internet, I could write you an essay about how every aspect of my minecraft project's development has been the result of limitations present in the game, where if I had been given a blank canvas in a voxel-based painter, I would never have been able to decide what to draw.

[Gollgagh]

Another one of the appeals is that you're shaping a world that is no one's into your own. You're not starting out with a flat, grass map with nothing on it. You're not starting out with a map that someone else made, presumably (unless you're playing with Strangelet Wave's custom world or the Skylands map).

[HalcyonSpirit]

Day 2

Full-on addiction has set in. I've primarily played the single-player Survival mode so far, but I can't wait for the multiplayer Survival to get updated. In my world, I've already dug down to bedrock in one mineshaft, hitting only one cavern near the bottom. The entire way down is lined with identical floors, presumably for visitors it'll never have. My home is in the side of a mountain; I have an observation deck at the top. I have a 74-square wheat field in full production inside a greenhouse, and I've started work on a tree farm a little ways away from my home. I plan on tunneling over there for easier access. I've begun exploring the local caverns for resources; iron deposits are obscenely scarce compared to the amount of things you need it for. I found my first deposits of diamond and redstone before I found any iron. Once I actually get a reasonable amount of material, I'm going to begin work on something large above ground. Haven't decided on what, yet.

[Inimitable]

Day 3

And no one ever saw Halcyon again.

[Deep Thought]

Day 3

And no one ever saw Halcyon again.

Oh, he'll be fine once he makes it through the minecraft coma. (whereupon he stares at the screen in a catatonic state trying to think of what to build next.) Then he just has to remember that he actually has a life outside of his glorious mine.

[Lemonectric]

I found a hole in the bedrock, fell to my death in the undersky, and lost all my stuff. Fun times.

[The Author]

I found a hole in the bedrock, fell to my death in the undersky, and lost all my stuff. Fun times.

All the better to start fresh again...