Minecraft is a sandbox game mainly played in the first person. It can be played single and online multi-player. You can play Survival mode or creative mode, online only, with 4 difficulty settings- peaceful (no mobs), easy, normal and hard mode. If playing survival mode, the point is to...well, survive. Players are dropped into a random generated world where they have to mine and create shelter, tools and weapons before nightfall. If you fail at finding shelter, you will find yourself battling skilled skeleton archer's, brain eating zombies, blood sucking spiders and exploding penises (Seananner term FTW). Actually, the exploding penises are called creepers. They explode when next to you if you don't kill it before the fuse ignites the gunpowder filled creeper. And with the name Creeper, that is exactly what they do. They creep up on you. Those darn things have killed me many, many of times, but I got my revenge....mwahahahah!
I personally play single player and switch between peaceful and normal or hard mode, depending on what my purpose is for that time. I have yet to truly create anything worth showing off, but many others have. It's unbelievable what creativity and imagination's people have. It just makes you want to play the game that much more. Of course the ones that only create usually play online and have all materials at their disposal. I like mining my own. In doing so, it sets me out on an adventure to explore and discover untouched caves and hidden dungeons with treasures. Fair warning though, getting lost and unable to find your home base or respawn point is very easy to do. The world seems to go on forever, plenty of drops and turns in caves, and everything looks similar, it's hard to find your way back if you don't prepare and plan ahead of time. If you do find yourself lost above ground, look to the sky. The sun and moon rises on the east and sets to the west. Your spawn point is usually due north. I don't know if the world is a huge circle but if it is, you will eventually get back to your spawn point. If you aren't really carrying anything you find valuable, kill yourself and you will respawn where you started from. Either that, or you can make a compass. The needle points to your spawn point. If your lost under ground, God help ya! I have been there and it's the most frustrating thing ever. Best advice I got on how to get out of that type of situation...dig straight up until you hit the main land.
The bright colors of the original Minecraft textures were starting to give me headaches. So, I downloaded a skin texture pack for a more appealing look and less headache inducing. This texture pack is called The Painterly Pack (as seen in these photos posted). I love how I can pick and choose which modded textures I want from this pack. They even have a Halloween pack for the holiday season. My favorite part about this pack though, are the reskinned farm animals. I chose the "special needs" animal for amusement (see photo below). There are many other texture mods out there. You can view many via YouTube if you type in "Minecraft texture pack." Creators also list them via Minecraft Community Forum here. There are other player mods that I have yet to play around with. One of the most popular mods are reskinning the avatar. I personally haven't reskinned mine. I see no point in it since I rarely ever see my avatar anyway. Plus, I haven't found one I really like yet. I have thought about making my own avatar and texture pack but I am not sure I want to commit to it. It would most likely be too overwhelming for me, especially if I have to fix them with every update or so. Too much work for me, heh.
Minecraft is currently in alpha state. The game can be purchased via Paypal and downloaded via the main site- Minecraft.net. It's about $13 and some change in USD. I can't recall the exact amount at the moment. The price will be doubled once out of alpha stage into beta. So, it is wise to purchase the game now before the price change. Once the game is purchased all updates and extensions will be free from that day forward. Pretty great deal if you ask me.
Is Minecraft for you? I don't know. If you need quests and other goals in a game to enjoy it, then Minecraft probably isn't for you. If you don't mind that the only current goal is to survive, then jump in this sandbox and build your castle today!
Important Links:
Minepedia (Minecraft Wiki- very useful. Has a full list of craft recipes)
Seananners (watch his Minecraft episodes. The boy's got skills. In his latest episode he does a 360 jump shot killing a chicken)
I agree! The new "it" game! I'm so addicted to this game!
ReplyDeleteSanyo Seiki