Now, a map change has happened again! With Minecraft 1.8 promising a lot of new blocks, features, and terrain generation, I've decided it is time to start fresh. Today, I begin a new map, a new seed, and a new goal.
A New Map
Past worlds had random seeds and no clear goal. This new world, which I'll call my Main 1.8 map, has the seed "Youssarian", my in-game name. The spawn is a thick jungle.
This map has new objectives, an attempt at a new way of playing Minecraft. Past worlds have largely been oriented toward redstone and functional builds. Over the last year my aesthetic skills have improved greatly. I've also found my natural build style - small buildings with thick detail. I want to put this into practice. Therefore, this map will be building-oriented. I will have redstone, yes, but it will be limited toward practical things, and hopefully not as expansive and daunting as things I've tried in the past. You can expect me to make villages and simple mansions, and really whatever looks nice in my head.
Right now I'm playing using snapshot 14w30c. I'll update on occasion, when I feel the need for it.
New Blocks and Items
What's drawn me to 1.8 are the new blocks. Andesite, diorite, and granite allow more possibilities for stony builds. Banners are excellent ways to visually identify owners, factions, and the like. Slime blocks have really cool functions. Updated enchanting mechanics allow for powerful tools at a lesser cost. Underwater content adds another light block. And more.
Teleportation Hub
To add some freshness to the game, I'm going to start allowing myself to use command blocks for teleportation. I might end up using this instead of a Nether hub. The teleportation hub will be filled with command blocks that send me to locations I designate. This hub may also include a map room, where I chart the world. This hub is needed because I don't know when 1.8 will actually be released, so mods like VoxelMap won't be around for a while.
Other Challenges and Factors
- Establish some kind of spawn town. Could be very difficult with spawn being a jungle. May instead do it in a nearby plains.
- Before I can set up a teleportation pad for a place, I need to personally travel to it. So no teleporting to a mushroom biome and not generating the path from spawn to it first.
- I want to try and find a stronghold, and fight the Enderdragon.
- I am challenging myself to make a minimum of one post each week. The post will be published Mondays at 9 AM EST (8 AM CST).
- I will be using a program called AMIDST. It gives me an accurate preview of the biomes of my world, before I go to them. It also shows generated structures. I will use it to seek out biomes, villages, and whatnot. I will not use it to find strongholds.
Setting Up
Alright so that's enough talk, let's get to building! I spawned in a messy jungle, and there was a small lake nearby. My first instinct was to get to safety... and what's safer than a house elevated over water?
I found a small cave with exposed stone and diorite, and began mining that out.
Sparing you an hour's worth of work, I shall now show you my starter house. It incorporates cobble stairs, diorite, oak stairs, and a medley of oak and jungle wood.
A little thinking later, I realized the legs of the house seemed a tad bare. Supports fill out the space nicely.
The roof seemed kind of boring to me. Some stairs and a wall gave a little more detail.
Oh yeah, then I added a porch. I tried a couple different designs for the porch's supports, but I can't quite get anything I'm pleased with. Ah well, I'm sure it still looks better than just a dangling porch.
Mine It Out
The first thing you do in Minecraft? Mine, of course. For this map I'm doing 500-block-long branch mines. I began with stone pickaxes, which are amazingly slow. It was nice to see all the diorite, granite, and andesite.
I passed by a couple caves which I'll probably spelunk through later. I also found diamonds, and an impressive number of iron ores. At this point I can safely upgrade everything to iron, and start exploring my map.
Banner
I haven't yet made any banners in Survival mode, but the day I heard about banners, I knew what I wanted. My personal banner is a relatively simple one. I want it to be similar to my Minecraft skin, but with a more minimalistic feel. I expect to be using this in my single player world, and also multiplayer should I ever find myself on it.
