Category: Minecraft (Page 4 of 5)

      FG Minecraft Mondays – tonight 9:30PM EST

      March 14, 2011 /

      Minecraft logo.

      I was thinking tonight we would change things up a little bit and play some Minecraft together. This might actually be a nice way to mix things up – on patch weeks we play Minecraft on Monday nights, and the week after a patch we play LoL and get to show off our amazing skills with the new champion.

      For tonight, I invite you to join me in some building and mining. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get to do a little destroying along the way. I’m currently playing on a server called DarkTide, which you can find on Minestatus.net. Drop a quick application in their Minecraftforum.net thread to get whitelisted and find me in game. I’ll be playing as “TheWuggler.”

      Depending how many people play MC, we might be able to fire up a city on this server, though we should probably wait a week or two to do so.

      Minecraft

      Minecraft continues to amaze me

      March 13, 2011 /

      Minecraft.

      I’ve been a devoted Minecraft fan from the moment I made my first dirt hut to wait out the night. There’s something amazing about the simplicity of the game, and it continues to deliver months after I would have been bored with so many other games.

      I recently joined a hardcore-themed PvP server, which is my first real experience with any kind of PvP in Minecraft. For all its limitations, Minecraft PvP is surprisingly fun, offering a threat of danger that creepers just can’t provide. As an example, a friend and I were doing some tunneling and randomly popped through the wall of another player’s underground tower. During our climb to the top, we noticed movement overhead. Another player! His nameplate was showing through the blocks, which meant ours were showing to him as well. We started digging furiously, trying to get up to the surface and find him. He made his escape, but we were able to loot a few valuables before running off to the safety of our own base.

      Granted, this doesn’t sound particularly thrilling, but when you’re in a simple of world of blocks and almost anything is possible, the game feels alive in a way no MMO has ever felt. I’m continually amazed by how good Minecraft is on its own, but also the level of community development that goes into expanding the game’s possibilities. Big developers could learn so much about what makes a game fun from just a few hours with Minecraft. Let’s hope they give it a chance.

      Editorial, Minecraft

      How are slimes treating you in 1.3?

      February 27, 2011 /

      Slime troubles.

      I’ve enjoyed just about everything in the Minecraft 1.3 update. The new lighting looks awesome, beds work fantastically, even in multiplayer, and I’ve even used the new half blocks on a couple structures. There is one thing that has plagued me to no end: slimes.

      Slimes used to be fairly uncommon creatures. They got removed. They got put back in the game but were super rare. The 1.3 update, though, made them extraordinarily common. I had to decommission one of my mob spawners because the design was getting horribly clogged with slimes. The former mob spawner seems to now be a slime spawner. I snapped the image above last night after I noticed my new mob spawner upstairs had slowed. Gee, I wonder why?

      I’ve read in several forum threads that slimes are buggy in multiplayer, but I’m hoping we see some sort of hotfix soon. Unfortunately, the entire Mojang team is at GDC right now, so we’ll be waiting at least a couple weeks before any kind of fix can be issued. Are you seeing slimes everywhere or are they a rare sight?

      Editorial, Minecraft

      Minecraft beta 1.3 is live

      February 22, 2011 /

      Minecraft 1.3

      As promised, Mojang released the Minecraft beta 1.3 update to the masses today. So far, things seem pretty good. There were some save folder issues for about a half hour after the launch, but Notch quickly patched and things have been running fairly smoothly since. The authentication server does seem to be under some load, but enough about that. Let’s talk changes.

      First, lighting. I know you probably thought I would talk about beds first, but that addition pales in comparison to the new lighting engine. Yes, it was available as a mod prior to the release, but it’s really nice to have it built in to the game. Basically, light doesn’t render in blocks now, so surfaces look much smoother. The world looks much, much better. It does seem to have reduced the effectiveness of torches by a little bit. I’ve had mobs spawn in places I’ve not had problems before. Maybe we’re getting close to the lantern update?

      Next, of course, is beds. Yes, beds are now in the game, allowing players to “sleep” through the night. I didn’t think beds would work in SMP, but they do, so long as every player gets to a bed. I’m glad to see that SMP is a development priority as I think that’s where the real beauty of Minecraft exists. Come March, beds should also set a players spawn point, which should be another nice addition.

      We also got three new half blocks – cobblestone, wood, and sandstone. The update also added a redstone delayer/repeater for those of you redstone geeks.

      Overall, it’s a very cool update. I can’t wait to see what the March update brings.

      Minecraft, News

      Minecraft update to bring beds, repeater block

      February 20, 2011 /

      Minecraft Bed.

      Rock Paper Shotgun got an exclusive leak of the newest item in Minecraft, set to go live this coming Tuesday: beds. The new item will initially allow us to turn night into day (presumably only in single player) and, come March, set spawns according to the last bed slept in.

      The update will also bring the repeater/delayer redstone block that Jeb initially leaked on Twitter. It’s been about a month since the last update, which weirdly feels like a long time. Of course, the first update came roughly a week after I got seriously interested in the game, so I guess that’s probably why a month feels long.

      I’m glad to hear that we can expect another update as early as March. I love Minecraft in a way I have loved few games, but a lot of my love has as much to do with the potential of the game as it does with what’s actually there. Don’t get me wrong, I love building, but I also love setting up different areas for crafting all the cool items the game offers. I have a farm with a farmhouse for wheat and baking bread as well as cake. I have a sprawling mine, a big mob spawner, a couple roads for connecting things, a logging camp. I’m curious to see what sorts of things the new blocks will open up.

      Development, Minecraft, News

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