Beta 1.3 is a fine update for me. It does offer new half-blocks and the redstone repeater, but it also adds unlimited worlds, the ability to choose your own seed (the code which the game uses to generate worlds), and nicer graphics. I prefer this over the previous update which brought in colored wool, charcoal, lapiz lazuli and other stuff. This new update was sort of a utility update. It lets the player have more power over the game. I like trying out random seeds to see what stuff comes up. I'm still needing to read up on what the various states of the redstone repeater do, but it's good to know that the older repeater system will be simplified and hopefully cheaper. Seeds and the new save format also have a technical aspect to them, something that's right up my alley.
As part of the new stuff I decided to try out texture packs. There is a Tron-styled one called Rezcraft that I like, but it has inherent problems which makes it hard to handle. I also use the pack used for the Enterprise-A model.
Due to real life hassles, Elohim and Minecraft World have both been on hold. I intend on resuming both of them at some point in the future once I have more free time. I still believe Elohim is going to be seriously big. In a brief blast of inspiration I have decided to make some mock-ups for the World. Although I won't strictly go by it in the end result, there is a thread on the MC forum (http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=89031) of a person who has a project to make a realistic Medieval kingdom. My World will hardly be medieval or realistic but this is a good base for me to start with and modify to suit my individual visions. I've looked at a couple villages made in both Classic and Alpha/Beta on YouTube and it looks pretty cool. In order to make the demo as close to what it'll eventually look like, I copied the files of the World into a new save folder, so I was able to keep what I had mined and chopped.
