The creation of Markus "Notch" Persson, Minecraft is an independently developed and published browser based game where you find yourself in a beautiful, expansive world and have to harness the resources around you to survive and if you can, thrive. From initially gathering wood you can fashion simple tools, construct a shelter to protect you from the creatures of the night you can then mine ore, fuel and smelt armour, stronger tools and a more secure stronghold. From there you can dig deeper. And deeper.
Minecraft's world are gigantic, and often stunningly picturesque. An infinite map generation algorithmn means that maps can be up to eight times the size of the surface of the Earth.
Minecraft is currently in Alpha, but is mostly stable and very playable, with new features added on a near weekly basis. It can be played free in a preview mode but is currently half price while in Alpha, making this game a steal at a mere 10 euros.
But I doubt I can create these sort of things!
Yes, you can! Below are a collection of some of the things that the TWC community has built in Minecraft.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
[center]Is there a TWC multiplayer server?[/spoiler]
Yes! It will fully launch after October 31st but can be played right now! Look here!
What useful resources are there for learning how to play?
Some of you like to post about Electronic Arts. Vaguely, you feel electronic arts are bad people. They are big, and this is bad. They are the Walmart of the gaming world. But do you actually visit your local Ma and Pa's, anyway?
You may be aware that I like little independent games, and that I have a particular taste for construction/city builder sort of things. In this vein I brought you the excellent Dwarf Fortress. Now I would like to bring your attention to Minecraft, a little independent game made by a Swede.
So what is Minecraft? Well, basically it's a small world made out of simple blocks. Blocks of dirt. Blocks of water. Blocks of cloud. Blocks of stuff that you can dig up and put to good use.
Currently there's two modes available:
Creative, available in multi player and single player. In this mode you have an infinite supply of all blocks and are left to your own imagination.
And my favourite mode, Survival. In Survival you will have to collect resources from the world, and construct a shelter. At night all manner of foul things will emerge... you'll want a strong place to hide... and even underground there's every chance of hitting water or emerging into a zombie filled cavern...
This is a great game, guys. You can play it for free, but if you want to play the most up to date version, which includes all the cool stuff, you'll need to pay 10 euros. But this gives you access to all sorts. Check out the Minecraft Wiki, and give it a go!
I played the free version and it was actually quite a bit of fun.
I don't get it, but it was fun!
Is there a point to the different types of building materials, or is it purely aesthetics?
In InDev (the development version you gain access to if you buy the game) materials can do lots of different things through the crafting system. For example, you can turn logs harvested from trees into planks of wood. You can turn planks of wood into (among other things) poles. Poles can be combined with coal to make torches to light below ground or during night, metals and diamonds and wood to make hoes, pickaxes, axes and swords. You can smelt ores into metals which can be turned into armour.
Or, indeed, asthetics!
My base is getting quite complex, now. I will post some screenshots this evening.
By the way guys, I am going to make you play this. And the next person that complains about a crappy, EA influenced game, will get their face rubbed in this thread, so they know what they have done.
Oh, I tried it out a bit and it's really nice. I made a small castle (how original) only to find out that the height you can built to is limited (I built it on top of a hill).
Show us those screenshots, Ferrets! Interested to see how awesome your creation is.
Okay, my ugly, first attempt at a base in Survival mode.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
This is the enterance. I built my base on a platuea that is surrounded by a lake on three sides. A good, easily defensible position - the water is important as it will allow me to set up a farm. Access is via a small bridge over the lake.
Inside is a very small hall. The stairs lead up to the buildings on the surface (curently just a tower and perimeter walls).
To the right is my forge. It's currently burning away, smelting down iron ore.
Beyond the forge are narrow tunnels leading down...
and down...
and down...
until I discovered this...
It's a naturally occuring cavern beneath my base. It is extremely dangerous, and I keep it sealed at all times. I've been attacked by zombies and skeletons down here on several occaisions, and once a zombie climbed up into the base and gave me a terrible fright and nearly killed me. However, it is extremely rich. It is full of coal, iron and gold - although what I really want is diamond. Diamond will allow me to craft the strongest armour and weaponry.
I haven't explored much of it at all yet. But deeper on I can see more gold and a pool of lava.
On the surface again! I have built a very large tower. This is the stronghold of the fortress - you can access it from two seperate stair cases in case the base is invaded. It also offers quite the view. One of its most important functions is as a lighthouse. This is so if I am caught outside when the sun goes down (zombies and skeletons appear above ground in the dark) then I can see my base from anywhere in the world. Hopefully, I will not get lost.
Last edited by removeduser_487563287433; February 26, 2010 at 01:35 PM.
Dude that's pretty sick. You built that whole thing from scratch? I must say, this is a pretty cool little game. Thanks for sharing, mate. I mean seriously, I sunk probably a good hour hacking up inconsequential blocks on the free version.
Dude that's pretty sick. You built that whole thing from scratch? I must say, this is a pretty cool little game. Thanks for sharing, mate. I mean seriously, I sunk probably a good hour hacking up inconsequential blocks on the free version.
Yup. I started with nothing in a shack. I broke up the shack for the wood, climbed to the top of that hill, started digging, and built a dirt shelter when the first night came. Then I just kept digging.
I tried the Survival mode once and got murdered in 30 seconds. No idea what to do there. Any tips?
Were you playing free or InDev version?
So, my base has been fleshed out a bit...
New workshops, they double as turrets looking out on the sea.
It's a nice view.
But now that I had sorted out the essentials, I worked on building somewhere a bit nicer. This is my hall.
It's built with polished up stone, has a proper floor, and a fire place. A bit bare at the moment, because I haven't worked out how to make coloured cloth, yet, but it's a start.
From the outside, you can see I built it in a slightly stupid place. Over my green house! You can see wheat growing inside.
Last edited by removeduser_487563287433; February 26, 2010 at 04:53 PM.
Can't really help you then, I have mostly played InDev. But basically, the aim is to survive! See how many points you can get before being overwhelmed by zombies.
I have thought of that but I would want to link it up to the mainland and if it hasn't happened to you yet then I assure you the experience of striking water when mining deep underground is a terrifying one.
Underwater an air meter will appear above your health meter, and begin to deplete. I do not know what happens if you run out... I have only ever struck water in places where I could escape in time. But you must either start loosing health or die immediately.
Ignore the EA thing. I was just referring to people who complain about big games or big publishers - but have never tried an Indie game such as minecraft.
Minecraft General Discussion
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Originally Posted by KippyK
