Craffy!

Craffy is a sort of Twitter exclusively for Minecraft. You should join it and see what I'm up to closer to real-time. It's still in beta and doesn't have things like the ability to follow someone and I don't think if you mention someone it'll appear on their profiles.

The address is http://craffy.gdscei.com/. Observe my craffies (their equivalent of a tweet) at http://craffy.gdscei.com/profile.php?id=231. If you're a Minecraft player, I encourage you to join... and if you'd be kind enough to do so, tell them that shawntc mentioned it on his blog? If nothing else, it'd be a nice little ego booster for me. :3

A Brief Look at My Worlds: A Boring History Post

This is just a little recollection of the various worlds I have played with and how I progressed.

I started some time in Alpha, a couple months before beginning this blog. In that time there were many worlds that I generated, browsed for a few minutes, then got rid of. The majority of these were after custom seeds were introduced so I've seen ones like 404.

Very first world: This one was the first map that I generated after getting Minecraft. I built a cobblestone shelter shaped like a rectangular prism that had little more than a chest, workbench, and furnace. There was also a painting - I've had an unspoken tradition to include a painting in any base I build. Near that was an elevated post that I used to watch monsters in the few instances that I switched to anything except Peaceful. It was in this world that I found diamond first and encountered my first dungeon. It also marked the first time I died, by lava. My mining skills were terribly inefficient.

Shortly before moving on to a new world for good, I constructed near my base a small storehouse with several double chests.

First main, "World1": This lasted the longest of any world. I crossed a small ocean and built another cobblestone shelter at the top of a mountain overlooking said mountain. Below me was one of a few places that I established a mine but it wasn't too big at first. That cobble shelter was eventually expanded to three floors in height and went from a one-room building to four rooms and a tower on top. Some distance away from my base, on the same island (it looked rather similar to Australia although I never managed to name it) was the location of my first deep mines and mob trap. It barely worked and after a long time I patched it up. In addition there were a couple lava lakes at the surface.

I explored that map like crazy. My expedition southward, which led to a huge snow biome (which I find annoying) was three times the length of my northward expedition. I also flirted with the idea of a more advanced home base as well as trying to make a world of nations. This was the world that I started using mappers with. As I moved on to other things this one became increasingly less used and was deleted not too long ago.

USS Enterprise-A: I downloaded the map of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A and spent many hours exploring the ship. Although I have yet to delete it I have not been giving it much attention recently.

Second main, "World5": this is what usurped World1. I was going to make a world of nations and explored it for a while. Then I decided I would save this for when I have more experience in nation building. So came...

"Minecraft World Demo": This is the one where Nippon Hamlet is located. This blog has plenty of recording about my experiences on it.

That huge Earth map is looking like it will become my third main save. It's more likely that I could make a world of nations on it or at least it offers gratuitous space to build things. We shall have to see...

Some Projects on Hold

Due to recent events, there are a couple projects I've mentioned on here that will be on hold...

1. Elohim: not really so much as lack of planning or time. The problem is, there is a whole lot of grunt work and repetition. For example, I have completed the outline for deck four. Deck five is going to have an almost identical outline... but it would waste lots of time and counting to make a copy of it right next to deck four's outline. In addition, I would also like to try and get the ceiling and walls completed which would again be monotonous.

I did have a team of volunteers as well as a server that was hosting the project. However, the team never did actually get together and the host decided he couldn't manage the Classic server needed for the ship. So that was basically that.

2. Apartment complex/multiplayer in general: school lets out in a little over two weeks so it's going to be at least that long before I can get onto any kind of multiplayer server. By the time I finish, though, my adopted home server will have very likely moved on. A person on there has already began making a hotel/resort of some kind and having two similar projects in competition would not end very well. Due to having a sort of teleport command available to players I would generate basically no profit.

3. Minecraft World: this is a mind-bogglingly huge project. How am I supposed to turn a map into nations? The sizes of land masses don't permit much more than perhaps really big city-states. Which is not what my idea was.


But! Not all is over with. I recently downloaded a to-scale map of the Earth (I cannot make this up, look at the thread here) and I have plenty of ideas with what I want to do with that. Now that's another blog entry all it's own. Fortunately, with it being, oh, over 21,000 blocks wide, I'm pretty sure that would be sufficient area for some fairly expansive projects. Of course I have the same creative road block I faced with the Minecraft World... how does one build a civilization?

About that Starship... (And Other Thoughs from My Fatigued Mind)

According to the Properties window of the file you can find Elohim's model in, I haven't done any work on that ship since April 4. The file itself has existed since February 11. After I finished the fusion reactor mock-ups and warp coil models I just sort of lost interest in doing the project. I can think of numerous reasons why I've so abruptly ceased work on it:

1. No support. This has been a one-man project for me, and I do prefer that. I can work in teams but for hobbies I like to do things alone. That sort of has a drawback, however. I don't know if my ramblings about the Elohim has really generated interest in it. Maybe it's just taking up electronic space and I'm talking to electronic air, I wouldn't know otherwise. Also, because I haven't been able to secure a stable server where others could help, I've been doing the grunt work of laying block after block down. It does get boring after a while, especially when I have to remove huge amount of blocks that were incorrectly placed. I don't know, maybe if I had a team that I could give design commands to and perhaps join in, then it'd be quicker.

2. Incomplete plans. Of the twenty-one planned decks on the ship, I have seven of them actually designed on paper. Other things, even crucial ones - like medical facilities, engine rooms, etc. - are all undesigned and unplaced. This is generally a demotivator for me. I like having things planned out ahead of time which gives me a concrete, visible goal I can work to. Lack of completed plans doesn't provide me that goal.

3. Lack of time. It's crunch time in college, work is starting to take up more time, etc. By the time everything else is done I'm too tired to desire focusing on anything, including the ship.

4. Lack of commitment to the project. As a result of no plans, time, or support, what is there to make me stick to the Elohim? I don't want to continue on an aimless venture, as I have a desire to do productive, meaningful things with my time.

5. I'm swept from one idea to another and am incredibly prone to give up at the first sign of trouble. Minecraft World has been on hold because I couldn't figure out how the heck to design Yusaria City. For the reasons stated above I've paused on Elohim. I was occupied by the SMP server (now not so much). This is a general pattern in how I operate.

I may return to the project some day if conditions are right.

On another note, I was just walking around a Classic map randomly generated and set to Huge. I noticed there were cave systems underground and I explored some of them. I can tell that Notch had already did some nice work in making these things, but there definitely has been major improvements in the terrain generation algorithm because the kind of world and caves I see in Classic are not at all nearly identical to what Beta's stuff is.

Also, one of my hobbies which has fallen aside in the past year or so is programming for the TI-83+/84+ calculators. Well, some time ago I was helping someone who also programmed for those with some coding and it got my creative juices flowing. He had made a very simple copy of Minecraft (check it out here) and I did some browsing of the code. There was a significant bottleneck in the code which I succeeded in remedying with a single line of code. He updated the game and I earned a special thanks in the readme :D.

It made me think: what if I wrote a Minecraft for the TI? This other person's game is intended to be more storyline-based. I could write a sort of counterpart game which would try to emulate Beta. I've already done some significant brainstorming on how it would work. I have plenty of programming experience under my belt (two shells and two games at least) so I would find that maybe 70% of the code wouldn't be a hassle but the remaining 30% would be a challenge to implement. It would be very unlikely for me to make it in 3D given the limited processing power of these devices and the sort of mathematical gymnastics that would be required. Let's not forget the small screen sizes.

Terrorcraft, or, Being a Noob Again

Today, I was bored. So for the fun of it, I decided to load up a new world and start from scratch. No hacks, no mods, just make a shelter by the end of the day. Even though I've always played on Peaceful, I still felt that urgency. The world planted me on a mountainside where snow met sand. I immediately began chopping logs and made a workbench which I used to craft a wooden pickaxe.

Tool secured I went for a brief hunt for coal. The way the terrain seems to be generated, coal is normally exposed on tall mountains. I grabbed that, made torches and decided to make my home in the valley. Couldn't have been more than a 5x8 shack but I needed to down some trees nearby to complete the roof. A trick I've always used has been to find a spot where there's a slope and build there. Since my first home in a world always emphasizes compactness I only need two blocks of height and working on a slope means I already have the bottom of half of a wall made.

Once it was completed, I looked outside. There were still two minutes of daylight left. Noting the "Mine" in "Minecraft" I began making a 2-block-wide staircase downward, placing torches every few levels. I stumbled upon iron probably within the first five layers! I kept going and encountered another iron vein and plenty of coal which I allocated to my furnace.

Perhaps because the SMP server I've been on has mobs enabled, when I broke into a cave I got nervous. I began exploring, putting torches on my right to keep track. There was iron and coal everywhere! I mainly explored, enjoying the feel of adventuring someplace dark and mysterious with relative levels of security. I had no idea what level I was at until I noticed a lapiz lazuli block. Then things started getting weird. I was having lag and it was rather intense. I wondered if there was a dungeon nearby.

Something in me said "This lag is an omen. Let's get back to the house." So up I went and something walked into view! Adrenaline rushed through my body. I observed the rectangular black body then saw its face. A cow. I laughed it off a little then killed it with cobblestone.

My first experiences with Minecraft were nothing like this. I felt reasonably secure since I've always been in Peaceful mode. Dungeons have always made me a little leery since technically the mob does spawn - although it's removed immediately after. The puffs of smoke when it does form for that brief instant make me uncomfortable. Yet there was something different about the game's mood this time. It just wasn't safe. I think that's why Minecraft sells so well - you don't feel safe. It's a risk and millions are willing to take it.

A New House and a New Project

Last week I decided to try and go three days without doing anything related to Minecraft, and succeeded. Since then I haven't really touched the Elohim and barely did anything with the Minecraft world. Instead I've been going on my preferred SMP server a lot (hydrocitygaming.no-ip.org). During the time I was away from Minecraft the server got completely reset! I was totally lost at first and eventually made another hole in the wall as my base.

Eventually it became clear I was much too close to spawn and it was time for a proper house. Thus I set out and walked for a while. I found a nice elevated place to settle down and made myself a house with a fence, in order to keep most mobs and unwanted neighbors away.

This is my humble residence:

The modest inside area, with a painting for some decoration:

In order to enter the property there is a door interrupting the fencing. Complete with a passive-aggressive warning not to enter unless welcomed:

Underneath the property is the beginning of a tree farm. I've never actually made an underground one so things like how tall and big the space needs to be is unknown to me. However the trees appearing thus far seen sufficient.

What I didn't realize at first was the beauty of the area around me. I found quite a bit of sugar cane which I harvested. Yet as I took the time to observe and explore, I noticed there was only one neighbor near me and he was located at least nine chunks away from me as I couldn't see anything unless I walked in that direction.

Here is the north view, which is the direction the front of my house faces:

If that weren't impressive enough, I went to look at the mountain over there and noticed a tunnel. Almost immediately I also saw some cobblestone and figured someone had been there previously. However upon further inspection, I discovered:

That's right, a surface dungeon, although at first it lacked the torches and this opening was only a single block wide. I went inside and to my confusion saw it was a pig spawner but nothing was being spawned. Suddenly, two zombies appeared out of nowhere and I teleported home. Returning to the site a minute later I saw no mobs at all and proceeded to place the torches and loot the chests. One of the items I captured was cocoa beans! Yay! I don't know how to make a cookie yet...

Here is the western side of my house. See that lava lake? I destroyed some dirt blocks over it after taking the picture. I may grab a scoop of lava and use it as a disposal site for the massive amount of saplings I get from the trees around me. (Please excuse the expletive. The person was kind enough to censor himself.)

Southwest has a nice little lake, one of two in my area. There were reeds around that but they were harvested.

I can't even remember where this last picture was taken. It faces the general direction of spawn, though. Nice snow biome (it's a pretty large biome. Again, please excuse the vulgarity, this person didn't censor himself):

Now, I was struck by inspiration recently to start up another project which would not be as humongous as Elohim or the Minecraft World. My idea is to make an apartment complex which would be out of the way of normal player movements and accessible by the server's Stargate system. I don't have a name for it yet
although there is someone offering land and assistance for me to build on so it may be named after him.

The apartment complex/hotel would have a fee to live in and would feature three different grades of room: Basic, Advanced and Premium. Basic would be a 5x5 wooden room with a workbench, furnace, double chest and bed. I don't have much plans for Advanced yet but Premium would be pretty nice and probably cost diamonds to purchase. The Premium rooms would be elevated and have balconies. I imagine there being ten of them on two floors, each room constituting a fifth of a floor (excluding the hallways). These would have three rooms: the lounge which has flowers and other aesthetics; the workroom which has a workbench, furnaces, and double chests; and the bedroom which has a nice bed. These would have maximum security.

A feature I would possibly add is item insurance. A worker would record the items you have and some percentage or amount would be insured. If a griefer or vandal did something to the building or ransacked your chests, the stuff would be paid back to you. In addition to the rooms would be lounges, an archery range, multi-level spleef room, combat arena with sniping platforms, etc., farms for trees, reeds, cacti and wheat, and other things.

I like to make projects alone however it would probably be beneficial for me to recruit others to help, especially in the area of aesthetics. They would likely receive some sort of pay, be it in resources or the currency used for the server (it has an RPG theme to it).

"Cheating"

One of the main holy wars that seems to divide the Minecraft fanbase is the issue of cheating. What I mean is, some think that you're the scum of the Earth undeserving of any respect whatsoever if you use MCEdit or any sort of mod that lets you spawn stuff. Others don't really care what you do, as long as the end result is awesome looking. Although my terms will never become popular, I will refer to them as the Purists and the Liberals.

By these definitions, I am a soft Liberal.

When you purchase Beta, you get a copy of Mojang Specification's handiwork. It is ideal on the side of Notch that you do only what the game was intended for: that you dig up everything while optionally fighting mobs and then manually build stuff. This is the ideology of an extreme Purist. To an extent, my personal code of ethics causes me to follow this. I will not spawn items or blocks, but instead dig them up and craft them personally.

However, when you buy the game and have a copy of it on your hard drive or preferred form of storage, this becomes your copy, and you are allowed to do whatever you please with it. Mojang can't monitor your actions and shut down the game if you were to start "cheating". Minecraft is a sandbox game, which means that there are multiple ways to do what you want. With the advent of mods and clever techniques the ways to do these things increase. This includes spawning blocks/items and using mods that help you teleport, fly, etc. And people will exploit these newfound methods in order to achieve their goals. If you are alright with doing this, then you hold a Liberal ideology.

I am a Purist in terms of my own gameplay, but when it comes to how others do things, I am a Liberal. Essentially, you follow your own code of ethics and I will follow mine. If they disagree, big deal. It's only a game. Yet many people do not follow this perspective. Extreme Purists will rage when they catch wind of someone using inventory editors or mods that let them see through blocks. By the Purist's standards, they should never be "cheating" by shortcutting the game. To them, it takes value out of what is constructed.

To me, the argument is nonsense. The only ones who should dictate our gameplay is Mojang and our own consciences. If Notch wants us to stop cheating then he will code the game to prevent us. He has stated he does not like when people mod his game, but he doesn't condemn it either as can be seen by him consistently allowing people to make mods. If Notch OKs it and our own minds permit it, why should we be stopped?