Starting Over!

If there's anything more predictable, it's unpredictability...

Unfortunately there was an issue with my laptop where it ultimately needed to be 'replaced', and unlike many other games, I couldn't bring my 'saves' with me to the new one... so now we're back to starting fresh!

I was able to save the blueprint for Project 1 so I'll be working on that again, but it will be completely different!

We'll have to go through all the cycles of digging and mining and flattening out the land once again... so the only positive thing to all this is we'll have a different view where-ever the game spawns us!

As for the second project, it was just one of those builds that you start and then 'go with the flow', so no blue print was written yet for it so there will be no way to return to that old project sadly...

If anyone has any requests though, please let me know here and I'll work on setting up a blue print and build it!

Remember, it doesn't have to be an actual structure, it could just be some type of artwork or an item!  It doesn't even have to be a building, it could be a ship or UFO! Minecraft makes for endless possibilities so keep your mind open when making requests!!

Project 2: Lightning in Minecraft

One of the things you have to overcome in minecraft besides getting a an axe or a pick axe is getting charcoal and sticks to make torches!

If you don't have torches in Minecraft, you can't do any digging!  It's pitch black under ground, but it's also pitch black in any blocked off areas and you need to let in the light somehow, or get torches!

So I've grabbed some torches and have started to light up the interior of the spiral staircase inside the towers!

Most times, the best way to find your way in and out of the mines of minecraft is to use the rule of 'right' meaning, when you're going INTO a mine, start setting up torches only on the RIGHT side of the mine.  When you do this, you can figure your way back out instead of running in circles for hours!

When building though, torches not only become a source of light, but also a nice decoration!  In this case, I lit up both sides as I was walking down the staircase so that way, there was no confusion as to which direction the torches should point when it came to the curved areas.

Project 2: Finishing the towers

I've been getting down to the nitty gritty of Minecraft.  Once the big projects are completed, it's time to start thinking of the little things!

Just like a regular artist who draws two intersecting lines and a circle begins to work in the details of their design, we now have to work on the details of this design.

If I've learned anything in Art School, it's there are no accidents.  Every little 'flaw' is just another beauty mark.  So in that sense, the best thing to do in any project is to just build, have 'something' in mind, but expand on it, try new things!

You will see, once you're done, you'll have something beautiful and exciting!

Project 2: Topping off the towers

Once I figured out how tall I wanted the towers to be and finished the staircase around the edges I made an extra wall to encase the stairwell (just to make sure no one walked off the edge by accident), and then topped off the stairwell with a stone brick floor.

This is not going to be the full height of these towers however, I plan on putting in an extra floor with a set of stairs that goes straight to the top so that way the top can be decorated nicely without any issues.

Both of these towers will also be decorated nicely on the interior as well and may contain a few extra surprises!

So far, there hasn't been any introduction of any new materials, just the same as listed before, but you will soon see a new introduction of items soon to this project so if you're looking to make your own, I'd suggest you go off and pick up a few extra items and prepare for some new stuff!

Project 2: How to Make Circles in Minecraft : Minecraft Spinning Staircase

One of the hardest things to make in Minecraft is something circulatory.   The main reason is simply because everything in Minecraft is square!  So how to turn something square, into a circle in Minecraft is a task all by itself.
My goal here was to make a circular tower, add a spiral staircase and then branch it off in different directions (as you'll see later).

The best way to do this remember this pattern, 1, 3, 1   Doing the blocks in this order will create half a circle.  kind of like this:

    1
3
3
3
    1


To give you a better idea here's what to expect when  you're done
       3  3  3
   1             1
3                   3
3                   3
3                   3
   1             1
       3  3  3


This will create a nice little circle to start off with.  If you want to make it bigger, just start adding numbers, just remember to make it an even pattern always otherwise you're going to end up with a crooked circle!

Beginning of Project 2!

Ever get started with something, want to finish it but then start to fall away from it because it starts to 'bore' you?
That was me and Minecrafting for a little bit.
The best way to handle this kind of boredom, is to detour to another project for a little bit, afterwards, you'll be more then willing to go back to the original project!

Right after the last post, I turned on creative mode and just started to build a wall.  This particular project had no reason or rhyme to it, and that's usually how most artworks start out.  A line turns into a wall, which turns into room, which turns into a castle!  This is just a flat layout to make things easy and the beginnings of what will end as a long complicated project.

Now, I'm made no effort to hide my distaste for the 'creative' mode, but in this case, I'm not interested in the digging part, I'm just trying to get my mind off the original project for a moment and see what CAN be made.

So far, this is what I've gotten but it's a long ways from being over too.

If you're looking to make it yourself, you're going to need the following (at least so far)

1. Stone (And not cobblestone, regular stone, you can get this with a silk touch enchanted axe)
2. Light Gray Wool
3. Stone Brick
4. Stone Brick Stairs

I'll be showing more pictures with more detail and be adding other items to this list as this building progresses so keep an eye out!

Details, Details!

 

You know when you're done building something in Minecraft that you want to add every little extra thing you can to it!  It's not good enough until it's crowded with stuff in an orderly fashion!

I decided to do a little decorating before I start on the main building, that way I have the outside layer completed before we start to build Up and In!

It's starting to come together, are there any guesses yet as to what this could be?

Minecraft X-Ray Vision Glitch !

One of the things that I find really cool, but really scary at the same time, is the Minecraft glitch that gives you X-Ray vision!

You're just walking along, and then suddenly, it looks like you're about to walk off a cliff into nothing!  You can suddenly see EVERYTHING underground, including places you've been before where you've placed torches.

All the Minecraft lava is causing the underground caves to glow and you decide, "What the hey!" and proceed, thinking you'll be able to just walk right over.... sadly though, you'd be wrong.

As you start to move towards the exposed caves, the glitch will fix itself and you'll find yourself standing on dirt/grass again.

A lot of people call this cheating, but how can it be cheating, when you didn't do anything to provoke it?  You were just walking around and it happened!

There are certain mods out there for people looking to make this type of view permanent to locate all the good blocks, such as diamond and gold.  But for the most part, it's an accidental view and a view that many people enjoy seeing now and again for a quick hint on where to dig next!

Adding Details!

To help my Minecraft project look a little less 'flat' I've added part of the central piece!

There's more work to be done on this, but at least you have an idea of what to expect.

Some of you might be able to actually guess what the project's going to be based on this object alone!  But it'll be probably a lot harder for the rest of you, but you can sure try!

After collecting a lot more materials and sheering many minecraft sheep I've almost completed HALF of the foundation!  If I had to guess by looking right now, I'd say there's over 500 blocks of red wool and a little over a 100 blocks of white wool!   I know for a fact there's well over 500 blocks of sandstone right now from all the repeated trips to the desert gathering sand and digging for sandstone.  So if you're looking to start gathering items to prepare for this project, you at least have an idea what to get to start out!

Remember, the foundation itself is over 100 x 100 blocks, so make sure you clear an area out for this project!  When you get right down to it, it can be a hassle to hack down all the trees and level the ground out!  But it will be worth it in the end!

Remember the contest is still going on!

I'll continue it until the building is about half way complete, after that, it'll just be too easy to guess lol

So keep tabs up on the contest at the top of the page and submit your guesses to get your hands on the blueprints of this project before it's released!

Expanding outward on Minecraft

 

Ever watch those movies where there's not just an earthquake, but the entire land moves.  That's the way I feel when I stand under my expansion.

It kind of reminds me of the new Ice Age 4: Continental Drift actually lol.

In anycase, this part is the hardest to do.  Mostly it's due to trying not to fall off the edge as I add a new row to try and make this thing bigger.  This is ultimately going to be 100 x 100 blocks to give you an idea of what you're going to expect.

Based on the entire world of Minecraft, that's actually pretty small so we'll have plenty of room to do my next projects, BUT, with this time of terrian, it's HUGE.  It takes a lot of time to cut down all the trees and expand the land, but it's worth it in the end!

 

Now, a lot of people have asked why I won't do this in 'creative' mode, or at the very least 'flat' terrian.  The main reason is, THERE'S NO CHALLENGE IN THAT! No fun!

Think about it, you build this massive thing in creative mode, and you decide you want beds in this room, put boxs in another room for a treasure room, and THEN you want to go out and gather and dig mines like the normal game, BUT you hit a snag in your thinking, YOU CAN'T.

Creative mode is designed to be as easy as eating pie, so when you're done building, you're super bored because there's nothing else to do, and you can't even use what you built in survival mode, you'd have to start all over again!  Nothing makes a person turn their game off faster then knowing you have to start all over when you don't want to.

Completing it this way, you not only have the sense of accomplishment of completing it this way, but you also can USE it to further your quest!  Now that's fulfilling.

I'm heading back to work here on the mainland though so look forward to the new updated changes!

Adding more wool and sandstone and CONTEST

I've been Minecrafting a lot lately, mostly cleaning out areas and expanding, but now we're back to work on the main project.  I will try my best to use items that are both in the XBox 360 Minecraft and the PC Minecraft so that everyone can have a chance to create this when the blueprints are released but I can't make any promises!  There are some items, like smooth sandstone, and anvils, that just aren't in the XBox 360 Minecraft but are in the PC Minecraft, sorry to say.

In any case, if you have figured it out already, this ground is now made up of white wool, red wool and sandstone.
It might look like a lot, but we're not even a quarter of the way done!

By the time this is done, I'll be giving a video tour of the area and the inside of the new area as well so you all know exactly how big and how expansive this place really is!

 

I'm really big on details, so I'm starting to add a little more to the foundation to try and show you at least a little taste of what to expect.  Any guesses yet as to what this is going to be?

It should become more clear as the area begins to build up!

GUESSING CONTEST:

If anyone can guess where or what this is going to be CORRECTLY, please include your e-mail in your comment and I'll send you the blueprints early so you can construct this with me!

I will not announce those who guessed correctly until the project is over (because everyone can see your comments and that would be no fun if they only figured it out because you told them ^_^ )

Minecraft : A Far Off Pyramid

I went out to gather some sand to make sandstone and smooth sandstone (for PC verison only) and came across this!


I was very excited to find this as I've seen structures before but  never like this!
This neat pyramid sticks out from a far distant and like any real-life pyramid, it packs quite a few surprises!

I walked in and fell down the middle to a secondary level which then EXPLODED.

Talk about bad minecrafting lol

I hope you all enjoy!

Adding more Dirt

It's been a few days since the last post of Minecrafting.  The reason being is because I found the best way to map out what I wanted to create (accurately), is to do it through Photoshop/Paintshop as it allows you to zoom in and work with each individual pixel, very similar to Minecraft.

Once I was able to map it out completely (at least the bottom layout) I knew I needed more space.
 So I've been going to a Minecraft mine and collecting materials to fulfill this layout, to make sure when it comes down to nothing but building, that's all it's going to be.

I'm going to share this layout once everything's complete so you can use this download for Minecraft.

In any case, it hasn't been easy!

Just like anyone playing Minecraft in survival mode, you run into a number of holes in the ground!  Sometimes you don't even see them coming until you're falling to your death.  I was lucky as these ones were very hard to miss.  I had to patch them up to avoid falling into them myself and continued to build outword!






NOW we have a good layout for Minecrafting and have really begun setting this all up!

So now we're dropping the basic layout out.  You can see from where I'm standing I can see another grouping of red wool.  If you have a basic concept of Minecraft then you can imagine how big this layout is going to end up being as from right here, to that far off red wool is only half of what I'm working on!!


Keep up the guessing!!

Gathering materials and Starting the Foundation!

I'm going to let you guys take guesses as to what this is going to be as I continue to build it, but chances are you all will know exactly what it is once it's completed!

I've cleared out a large area to begin with, chances are I'm going to have to extend it, but at least we can get started!
In the backyard of what I call my 'trailer' house I decided to build a fenced in area and bring in some sheep.

The reason behind this is because I'd like to have endless supply of wool, rather then going out and trying to find it, it'll be right here.  Just like I can dye actual wool, I can dye the sheep as well!

 

So I grabbed some wheat and brought them back to my fenced in area.  Next I decided to multiple them by feeding them the wheat, this way I could have multiple sheep without having to go out constantly and bring back more.

 

Now I can sheer the sheep and collect as much wool in the color that I'd like!
Wool isn't just for making armor or beds anymore, it is mostly now used to make colored walls, or floors.  This colored wool is amazing to use when building!

So here's where we are so far, after all the gathering, I'm starting to lay down the main foundation...
This is a quick look to see where we're starting out but it's going to take a lot of work and by the time we're down, this building will be massive and including all the perks that you would normally see inside it!

 

So take a look and see if you can guess by this small piece what it 'will' be when it's completed!

Starting Out - Creation!!

 

First off, for those who have no idea what Minecraft is, it's a game that has INFINITE potential...

The game was designed to go 'mining' for diamonds, gold, iron, etc and learn to build tools to use to survive, but people have taken it to a whole new level!

After awhile, many people started taking the cobble stone and black wool they harvested and instead of making a bed or a little shelter, they started building cities and combining blocks to look like tables and chairs.  Soon they had an elaborate castle filled with amazing items you wouldn't think would be possible in this game but they made it happen.
 

Being an Artsy person myself, I also enjoy exploring this new avenue of the game.  Its enormous playing field and infinite materials make almost anything possible!



So let's start out here and I'll even provide the amount of materials it takes to make each area so you can make your very homes, roads, castles or even cities!

We'll start out in my house that I built out of a few wooden planks and a few sheets of glass and we'll move outside into the this brand new world.

The first thing I'm going to do, is clear up this area back here and make room for our first building!

While I clean up this area, please let me know if you have any requests that you'd like to see built and I'll take them into consideration!