Minecraft: Failed 3-Bit Counter

I attempted to build a counter and well...



This was also an excuse to get used to fraps!

Minecraft: Navigation

I plan on building a boat access only building, but my current map didn't have a large body of water that I knew of.  So, I ventured off and sure enough found a coastal region.  I then proceeded to setup a little dock to harbour boats...

...and shelter/mine access.

The cactii are not for style, they kill the bad things.

Whilst setting this up, I realized I didn't leave a trail back to spawn for myself to follow.  So, I played quite cautiously in hope of lasting long enough to craft some gear (including a compass that points to the spawn location) in order to mark a trail to my new site.  Sadly, after escaping a few close calls, I made a fatal error and died a gruesome death.  I'm shamed to admit I mined out the ore block I was standing on and fell through into a pit of zombies.  Now, I was back at spawn and left to guess as to where my dock and lodge were hiding.

The 'O' marks the spawn point and the 'X' marks my dock.  All that explored area around the 'O' that is not in the direction of the 'X' is the area I explored trying to find the 'X'.

Overhead

Before I had the nifty application that produced this map, I just wandered in the direction I thought I had gone before.  I eventually died in a self dug pit from the arrows of a skeleton maurader. That is how I explored the area above the 'O'.  After respawning I downloaded cartographer I realized I needed to head West! That is how I explored the are below and to the right of the 'O'.  See, it turns out Cartographer takes a nod from the Romans and puts East on the top of the map.  Once I figured that out, I found it with little hassle.

The search wasn't in vain though, I did find an awesomely high mountain that seems fitting for a water slide or hermit hut.  It's the red blob on the upper right corner.

Height Map

As a bonus, here's a map from a different cartography program called AlphaVespucci.

Oblique Angle

Minecraft: Hanging Gardens Finished!

A couple thousand blocks later, I finished up the hanging gardens!

Everything went together fairly smoothly, except for one major error on building the base blocks.  I built one layer with a row too many that required me to cut down a row of wall and reposition a bunch of streams.  The only other hitch was when a creeper decided to blow a hole in the side of one wall.

On an unrelated note, I found an elusive tree cow.

A tree cow perches in a tree, awaiting passing prey.

Update: You can now check out the Gardens on the server (see sidebar).

Minecraft: Introducing

If you haven't heard about it yet, there is this awesome indie game called Minecraft.

It seems to be sneaking up on the population and references to it are popping up everywhere.

Its grasp has drawn me in.  The premise of the game is...well there really isn't one.  You spawn in a generated blocky world that you are expected to survive in and build upon.

Yes, that fleshy coloured block is my hand.

At first the game is just about survival and discovery.  While my first day was bright and full of happy cows and frolicking pigs, the following night was grimmer.  Without giving too much away, I was fortunate to discovery how to put together a sword from some of the stone I harvested and craft a leather helmet from the cow I layed some smack on earlier.  Figuring out how to craft various items on my own was fun for a day or two, but I eventually started to just look up recipes online to move onto the more enticing aspect of the game - construction!

Once I had some basic survival equipment down, I started toying with the construction elements of the game.  I first built a two room cave to store all my materials and safely craft recipes without worrying about the dangers that lurk in the darkness.  Afterwards, I added aesthetic (and defensive!) touches to the entrance.

After toying around with the basic digging and construction aspects, I decided it was time for a big project.  I am now working on a Hanging Gardens-esque pyramid.  First, however, I have to mine enough material to build it.  That is a task in itself.  I'm working on obtaining stone currently, but I'll need to start getting plenty of sand too.

Current mining operation.

I've layed out the base layer for the gardens, so hopefully my math was correct, as it will be a bit of a pain to correct it after this.

If this game interests you, now is the time to check it out.  For the next couple of days (maybe less), it is free!  My guess is that the reference to Minecraft in Penny Arcade is the cause of the flood that made the game free this past weekend.  Penny Arcade has brought down servers (by accident of course) in the past.

I am also planning on putting up a Minecraft multiplayer server.  I'll post a link when it is up and running.