Updates!

Alright, first things first. I did forget to include a bit more introductory info, so to answer some questions, this blog will be about Minecraft, both parts of the game and mods, or modifications, as well as updates to the game, because Minecraft is constantly being updated. Hope this helps!


As I said in the "intro" for this post, Minecraft is always being updated with new things, mainly because of the massive amounts of bugs (errors in the game) that need to be fixed. These can range from being just bothersome to becoming a huge issue that could crash the game or even corrupt worlds!

Anyway, since the "official" release of Minecraft last November, the developers have been releasing an optional weekly snapshot. These snapshots are labeled a certain way. If it was labeled "12w38a," that would mean it was made in 2012, week 38, and it was the first snapshot of the week, in case a second version is released later in the week. This allows people to download a work-in-progress version of the next update, effectively allowing people to beta test the game as if it was never officially released! This also helps with bug fixing, and allows the Minecraft community to give feedback, as well as getting the updates better and better!

Normally I don't download these, but I decided that this week I should just try it out on my survival world and have a bit of fun with it. (I'll probably be posting about that survival world at some point.) Anyway, below is a video of the latest snapshot, 12w38a, showing what was added since the last update. It includes a bunch of new sounds, a few new items, and a new boss battle!

Anyway, if you just want to read about it, or you just want to get it yourself and mess with it without knowing what was added, the Minecraft Wiki page almost always has all the info, and you can download it from Mojang's website. (Mojang is the company that made Minecraft)

This is a video by AntVenom about the snapshot for this week, I'll most likely have one of my videos up on here soon.

I apologize, but I just couldn't think of a saying this week, I'll probably think of one later and edit this, but in the meantime, have a great fortnight!
-Megakaby

Blog Info

Today marks the start of this blog. It's mainly going to be about Minecraft, and the things that I mess with in it, along with updates and such. I might not constantly update, but this blog will be helpful to some people, like I'll explain what the things are, so if I say I did something, people won't just wonder what it is. I also have a youtube channel, go to it if you want. [1] Anyway, yea, this is my new blog, and I'm hoping that, unlike most blogs, it won't just die after a few weeks.

Minecraft is essentially a game where you survive and build, and build to survive. Monsters spawn in poorly-lit areas, such as caves or the surface at night, monsters such as the undead and giant spiders. Survival is essentially like living in the Industrial Revolution, but you're alone, and you have a few things to help you, such as enchanting tools, and potions to give you increased/decreased abilities. To start out, you must unrealistically punch down a tree by holding down the left mouse button. In Minecraft, everything is made of blocks. Even the character. So the trees as well are made of individual blocks that "pop" as they go into your inventory. To progress, you would press "E" to open your inventory and place the wood into the crafting square and making planks, which you would then turn into a crafting table and sticks by filling up the square with planks and filling half of it vertically, respectively. Place the crafting table (which I might also call a workbench or a crafting bench) with the right mouse button, and right click it again to open up a bigger crafting area. To make the tools you will need, you must use sticks and either wood planks, cobblestone, iron ingots, gold ingots, or diamonds in a certain arrangement. Taking "M" for one of those materials and "S" for sticks, the "recipes" go like this:

MMM
    S        for a pickaxe...
    S

MM
MS        for an axe...
    S

MM
    S        for a gardening hoe...
    S

    M
    S        for a shovel, and...
    S

    M
    M       for a sword.
    S

The type of material used for each tool matters, some are stronger than others, and last longer as well.
You will normally start with planks to mine stone and coal, going to stone to mine iron, iron to mine gold, redstone, and diamond, and diamond for obsidian to go on. (I'll explain what it's for later.) I would suggest not using gold for tools or armor, because it's very weak, even if it does mine fast. That's basically the tutorial for a first day in Minecraft. One small tip though: daytime only lasts ten minutes, and on the first day, if you've never played before, I would suggest not being outside when night falls.

Also, if you want to learn more about Minecraft and don't want to wait for my next posts, go to the Minecraft Wiki.

One of my videos showing what to do on the first day (I wasn't very good in this video, because I had just started making videos. Just bear with it please):

Just as a test, I want to have an ending saying for the end of my posts, so for the next few posts I'll write  a different saying at the end, tell me what you think each post. The one that gets the best feedback will be my official "outro" saying.
Anyway, I hope you guys have (I can't believe I'm saying this) a Mega fun time in Minecraft!
-Megakaby