More Biomes

   I'm going to take more time to show you some of the cool biomes in Minecraft today.

   Here are some of them:



   This is the Nether, basically the underworld of Minecraft. There's lava everywhere, the ground is made of netherrack and soulsand, and giant flying fireball-shooting white jellyfish are everywhere.

   If you're lucky, you'll find a Nether Stronghold. Nether Strongholds are very rare, and have loot that is essential to beating the game. There is a special but dangerous mob here, the Blazes, who can fly and shoot fireballs in quick succession.

   This next photo is the End. The End is the home of the Endermen. It is a strange dimension, with floating islands made out of a mysterious material named Endstone. Here, the Enderdragon rests. The Enderdragon is the final boss in the game, and he can only be defeated by destroying all of the crystals at the top of all the obsidian towers in the End, then taking out the Enderdragon itself. This may seem easy, but the Enderdragon will charge at you and throw you off the towers. Once he is defeated, he will drop around 100 levels worth of XP and a portal that leads you back to the Overworld. It also drops a Dragon Egg, but as of now the egg has no use in the game.

   Maybe later on, you can hatch a baby dragon and tame it. :D

   This following picture is the Jungle. The Jungle is one of the wildest places in Minecraft- leaves grow EVERYWHERE on the ground, and giant towering jungle trees are everywhere. The trees are so big, you can literally make a mansion on one. The Jungle is also the home of the Ocelot, which you can make into a tame cat by feeding it raw fish. However, Ocelots are VERY shy, so if you move at all they will dash away. You have to stand absolutely still to make it walk up to you.

   That's all for now. I'll post more pictures when I get more.

 

Biome Pictures

Just wanted to show a few of the biomes, for those who don't play Minecraft. I'll post more pictures in the future.

A Word on Admins and OPs

A lot of people on my server have been asking questions about how to become and OP and what OPs do and other things. To clear things up for people on my server and other people, I'm going to say a few things on Admins, OPs, Members, etc.

To start with, I'm going to explain the main hierarchy of a server. The list of ranks on a basic server are listed below, as well as what they are.

Members: People who play on the server but do not have any special commands. This is a "Civilian"-type rank.

OPs: OPs (stands for Operators) are people who do not own the server, but have powers and generally help out with some of the Admin's jobs. This is a "Policeman"-type rank.

Admins: Admins are the owners of the server, or people very close to the owner. Admins preside over all the other ranks, and have the final say in everything. This is a "President" or "Dictator"- type rank.

Those are the main "ranks" of a basic server. However, on some there may be more.

Many people on my server have asked me how they can become an OP, and this next part is dedicated to that question. There are some general rules you need to pass on my server, and they are very similar on other servers I have seen. Here's the list:

-How to become an OP on most servers-

1. You must have played on the server for a long time. You can't just join then ask to be an OP a week later. Around 3 months or more is recommended.

2. You must be very skilled at surviving in Minecraft. This includes knowing how to craft, being good at fighting monsters, know what the different blocks are, etc.

3. You must be good at building. Admins and other OPs may rely on you to help with a building project, and you must be good to help. It also shows off your skill at Minecraft and your knowledge of blocks.

4. You must be liked by many players on the server. It's no use being an OP when everyone on the server hates you. :D

5. You must not have griefed and you must be able to be trusted with OP powers. Admins will not OP someone when they feel that they cannot be trusted to use their powers to help.

GOLDEN RULE (Applies an almost EVERY server): NEVER ask to be an OP. It only annoys the admins, and they will OP you when they feel you are ready and they need more OPs. If they don't OP you, it may be just because they have no need for a new OP.

If you don't qualify for one of these, you might still become an OP by excelling in the other categories. Trust me- I've seen servers where a guy comes on, and 20 minutes later he asked to be an OP. Me and the admin were discussing whether to ban him or not. :D

Also, many people have asked if THEY can make their own server. I think these are the main reasons people want to create a server when they see mine:

1. They feel that I do a horrible job and they want to make their own so everyone will be better off.
2 (Most Likely): They want to have the power of being an admin and having control.

Honestly, I don't see why people even bother making a server for reason 2. It's actually EXTREMELY hard to make a server, run it, and then maintain control of it. Here's the things that happen in the daily life of an admin:

1. People keep killing each other.
2. People keep robbing each other.
3. People keep destroying each other's houses.
4. You have to keep all the OPs in line.
5. You have to clean up the messes 1-3 have caused.
6. You have to deal with people claiming your OPs are idiots and should be de-OPed.
7. You have to deal with people claiming other people should be banned.
8. You have to hunt through the console (the server "brain" basically) and get evidence to find proof for accusations people make.
9. You have to deal with people asking to be OP.
10. You have to deal with n00bs asking how to do something.
11. You have to deal with people begging for stuff.


All of the above happen 1-10 times in a week, killing, asking for stuff, destroying houses, and asking for OP being the most common. Begging and asking for OP are far ahead, with maybe 30 times asked a week (Some in-game, some from people at my school).

It's quite difficult, running a server that's as big as mine. Hold on, I'm gonna do a count of the people that ACTIVELY play on the server....

21 play about every day, and about 12 more either play every once in a while or rarely ever play.

o_0. That's a lot.

Hope this helped you understand some things!

Spiral Knights

Hello!
Wow, I haven't published a new post in over a month. That's because I've been playing a new game- It's called Spiral Knights. You can play it for free on Steam, or play it on Kongregate and other flash game sites.

In the plot of Spiral Knights, your civilzation's ship, the Skylark, crashes on a planet called Cradle. The Skylark's power system is broken, and the Spiral Knights need a almost unlimited source of power to leave the planet.

There's good news and bad news- The good news is that at the core of the planet is a GIANT power source that could easily get the Skylark off the planet. The bad news is that it's guarded by a massive mechanical complex called the Clockworks. The Clockworks is a massive series of floors and levels that are constantly changing- It's almost impossible to go the same way twice. You and the rest of the Spiral Knights have to get to the core of the planet in order to get off Cradle.

There are 3 "Tiers" to the Clockworks. Each one requires a special quality of gear to enter. You can make gear by either crafting it, trading it, or buying it from NPCs, or bidding at the Auction House.

The picture shown here is the Auction House. Here, you can start bids, bid in hopes of getting an item, or just buy the stuff (although it costs more to buy than bid). Almost everything is sold here- Swords, armor, helmets, shields, handguns, bombs, you name it.

The "elevator" shown here is called a Gate. These are the main way to enter the Clockworks. If you look at the monitor on the gate, the symbol tells you what level to expect next. Also, if you see the blue 10 above the gate, that's the symbol for Energy. Energy is one of the most important things in Spiral Knights. Energy is used to craft items, go into gates, join parties, etc. There are two kinds of Energy in Spiral Knights. Mist Energy is energy that slowly refills- You get about 1 Energy every 13.5 minutes, and it stores up to 100. It takes 22 hours to fill. The other kind is Crystal Energy, which can be brought with real money, in-game money, or traded for stuff.







This gate is a different kind of gate. See the house symbol? That means that this is as far as you can go in this part of the Clockworks- When everyone steps inside it brings you back up to Haven, the main Spiral Knights town. It costs no energy to go in these gates, which makes sense- After all, if it DID cost energy, if u had no energy left you would just be stuck there.








This is the list of players playing in your party. The maximum amount of players in a party is 4. On the list, it shows their name, their current health, if they are waiting at the exit lift, if they have their microphone on, and a portrait. If you are the party leader, you can also use this panel to kick players from the level.







This is a picture of me shielding. The shield mechanics in the game are quite good. This is how it works- If you bring out your shield, you will temporarily take no damage until the energy field breaks. The energy field is damaged when hit, and the better the shield the more hits it can take. If it's a really good shield, it can allow you to walk over spike pits and take no damage.


Just like in other games, there are many kinds of status effects. Players can be affected if a special kind of monster or trap hits them, and monsters can be affected when a status effect potion is thrown at them or they are hit with special weapons. The current status effects are shown below.

Shock, Stun, Fire, Poison, Freeze, Sleep, and Curse


Each one has a special ability it inflicts on players and monsters. You can combat these by using Remedy Potions or having armor resistant to a kind of status effect. You can change your armor when going on different kinds of levels for maximum defense.



This is a Stranger, one of the many native inhabitants of Cradle. Strangers are very helpful, and will either give advice or sell you items. Strangers sell Equipment, Potions, Recipes, and other things. Most of the Strangers can be found selling things in the Haven Bazaar or elsewhere in Haven, but a few can be found selling items to explorers inside the Clockworks, at either Clockwork Terminals or one of the towns inside the Clockworks.



This is an Alchemy Machine. Alchemy Machines are used to craft items and make tons of different stuff. Crafting requires 3-4 things:

1. Specific Materials
   
2. Crowns (The better the item the more Crowns)
   
3. Energy (The better the item the more Energy
   
4. (Not always): A specific weapon or armor of lower rank than the new item
   

As an example, to craft, say, the Tempered Calibur, you need some special materials, 1000 Crowns, 200 Energy, and a Calibur that is being "upgraded" to the Tempered Calibur.

The picture shown here is one of the many kinds of Crystals throughout the Clockworks. The crystals can be chopped down into smaller bits with weapons, the picked up and carried to the surface. Once collected, Crystals can be deposited into special kinds of Gates that need Crystals to be powered. The kind of crystals you put into a gate actually decide what theme the gate will be- Special kinds of crystals put in will make a certain theme.

The button shown here is a Group Button. It's activated when everyone in your group is on the button at the same time. This button is used in levels either to proceed to a new area or start a new boss/miniboss battle.

This box here is a Treasure Box. There are three kinds of Treasure Boxes- Green Treasure Boxes, Red Treasure Boxes, and Heart Boxes. Green gives random heat and crowns, Red Treasure Boxes have even better rewards, and Heart Boxes drop a ton of hearts when broken open. Be sure to look around for these in levels! This isn't the end of my showcase- I'll be doing a second part soon. See you later!

Terraria!

There's a new game that I've been watching with interest for a while- It's called Terraria.

To most people, at first glance it appears to be one of the millions of rip-offs of Minecraft. However, a closer look reveals lots more variety that the multi-million dollar Minecraft.

When you start out, you get to customize your own character and name it anything. Then, when you load the world, you will find you already have bronze tools in your inventory. The first thing you do, like in Minecraft, is chop trees. You also need to kill slimes to get slime gel- Unlike Minecraft, gel is used for torches. Also, gold has a lot more use- It's the best in the ores. The ores are Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Demonite, Meteorite, Hellstone, Cobalt, Mythril and Adamanite from least to greatest. At the very bottom of the map is the Underworld, which has demons, bone serpents, and other monstrosities.

One of the best parts about Terraria is the bosses- there are lots of super-hard bosses and invasions. The easiest boss is the Eye of Cuthulu, a giant eye. The next boss is the Eater of Worlds, which is a gigantic worm that splits in half when you destroy a part of it's body. You have to destroy all the segments to defeat it. By this point, you probally will have encountered the Goblin Army, an army of goblin warriors, archers, and spellcasters. Once you beat them, you go to the dungeon and battle Skeletron, a giant flying skeleton. Defeat Skeletron, and you unlock the Dungeon, one of the hardest areas in the game. Once it seems you have found every item and explored every nook and cranny, go to the Underworld and summon the Wall Of Flesh by sacrificing the Guide (an NPC that gives you hints and tips) with a Voodoo Doll. The Wall Of Flesh is, well, a giant wall of flesh. Once you have conquered the Wall Of Flesh, an ominous message appears, and you unlock Hardmode, the hardest difficulty of the game. In Hardmode, there are much harder monsters to kill, and a new biome, the Hallows, appears. You also unlock the Hardmode version of the first three bosses: The Twins (2 much harder Eye of Cuthulus), the Destroyer (robotic Eater of Worlds), and Skeletron Prime (A robotic Skeletron with 4 arms, powerful attacks, and an INSANE amount of health). The boss-killing never ends in this game...


There's a lot more weapon variety in the game. In Minecraft, I can mention all the weapons in a single sentence. (Wood sword, Stone sword, Iron sword, Gold sword, Diamond sword, Bow.) In Terraria, though... Dao of Pow, Aqua Specter, Rainbow Rod, Ball O' Hurt, Magic Missile, Light's Bane, Fiery Greatsword, Adamanite Repeater, Crystal Storm, Cursed Flames, Sunfury, Blue Moon, Muramasa, Dark Lance, Fire Flower, Starfury, Star Cloak, Wood Broadsword, Copper Broadsword, Iron Broadsword, Silver Broadsword, Gold Broadsword, Red Phasesaber, Blue Phasesaber, Purple Phasesaber, Yellow Phasesaber, Space Gun, Excalibur, Night's Edge, Blade of Grass, Wood Shortsword, Minishark, Musket, Phoenix Blaster, Megashark, War Axe Of The Night, Wooden Bow, Copper Bow, Iron Bow, Silver Bow, Gold Bow, Demon Bow, Molten Bow, Cobalt Chainsaw, Mythril Chainsaw, Adamanite Chainsaw, Spear, Trident, Gungnir, Naginata, Halberd, Cobalt Sword, Mythril Sword, Adamanite Sword, Sandgun, Cobalt Repeater, Mythril Repeater, Hallowed Chainsaw, Hallowed Repeater, Star Cannon, Copper Shortsword, Iron Shortsword, Silver Shortsword, Gold Shortsword, Light Discs, Demon Scythe. And I'm sure I haven't thought of some of them. Get the point?

This game is AMAZING. I easily recommend this to anyone who likes Minecraft, or just anyone at all. It's only $9.99 on the Steam store, so get it now!

A Very Fun "Tradition"

As you've probably read from the last few posts, I've been playing the Super Hostile adventure map series. (By the way, I co-play it with my brother, another veteran of Minecraft.) Well, me and my brother were trying to pass an EXTREMELY hard dungeon with a wool at the other end, and me and my brother made it there alive (Not without dying 90 times) and got the wool. But by then, there were already ghasts outside the wool chamber, so me and my brother just said, "Screw this, we're blowing up this dungeon." It was SO ANNOYING that we just went in Creative and blew up the whole dungeon. Then we went to the surface and blew up the rest of the map, It was fun, so me and my brother made up a little "tradition":

Every time we give up or succeed on a Super Hostile map, we're just going to go into Creative and blow the whole place apart. Then I'll just load the next map in and we'll play the next one. That's how frustrating these maps are.

If you ever play the Super Hostile map series on multiplayer, I would suggest doing the same. It's a great way to blow off steam and "get revenge" on those really hard dungeons that you died in a million times.

Tale of Kingdoms Mod

About a month ago, I found a mod for Minecraft called Tale of Kingdoms. It's a really great mod, and as you've probably guessed, it involves kingdoms.

When you first spawn in a new world, nearby you will find a Guild Castle. The castle is guarded by members, and at the highest floor you will find the GuildMaster. Talk to him, and you will join the Guild- Now, whenever you kill a monster, you will gain Honor. Gain enough Honor, and you will be able to become a king and rule your own kingdom. You also gain Gold Coins when you kill monsters, which you can use to buy items at the several shops in the castle.

Also, note to everyone- I recommend using Mo' Creatures with this mod, as it adds a lot more variety to the monsters instead of just killing zombies and skeletons. It's also fun to use a pegasus to fly around the kingdom. :D

Once you become a King, talk to the City Builder and he will follow you to where you want to build your kingdom and he will build it. From then on, you can give cobblestone and logs to the City Builder so he can build more shops and houses for your kingdom. Once you build all the buildings in a Tier, you can unlock the next Tier which will expand your city walls and unlock more buildings.

However, there is a dark side to this mod- Shortly after you become a king and leave the Guild Castle, an army from the Nether will invade the Guild Castle, killing everyone in it and destroying the Castle. To take revenge, you must train an army in the Barracks and go into the Nether to avenge the Guild.

It's a really cool mod, and I suggest it to everyone. Here's the link:
Tale of Kingdoms Main Page

Super Hostile is Very Hostile

Recently, I just started playing a new adventure map series called Super Hostile. If you don't know what adventure maps are, they are maps created by a person that either has specified goals, a storyline, or you just have to explore. The Super Hostile map series is a group of the hardest maps in Minecraft history. Here  is what a sign in one of them reads:

"This map is hard, I hate you and I want you to die."

It certainly speaks the truth- I've never seen anyone play one of them without dying at least 10 times. The ultimate goal in every map is to find every color of wool and complete the Victory Monument, which is hidden somewhere in the level. All of them have tricks designed to be purely cruel, like a diamond just out of your reach or a chest of treasure with a trap that blows the chest up when you go near it. There are many maps in the series, I'm going to give a brief description of them:

MAP 00: Training

This level is just designed to give you the basics of Minecraft, and some VERY helpful tips that will help you survive.

MAP 01: The Sea Of Flame

In this map, you find yourself on an island of sand, stone and obsidian surrounded by a sea of lava with only one tree (which has a trap hidden inside). You must build a shelter of sand and stone and explore the vast underground areas, with places like the Pigman Temple and the Snow Caves.

MAP 02: The Endless Deep

A map covered by an ocean, where you spawn on an airship. The map includes several secrets, such as a massive underwater dungeon.

MAP 03: The Infernal Sky

A massive series of floating islands- Don't fall off!

MAP 04: The Kazio Caverns

A intricate network of massive cave systems. The whole map takes place underground, and you are surrounded by a massive cube of bedrock, so you will be underground the entire time. This map has amazing variety.

MAP 05: The Black Desert

Welcome to the Black Desert, a place of eternal pain and despair. The entire sky is covered by obsidian, leaving the desert below pitch black (Hence "The Black Desert"). Your only refuge is small holes in the sky where light pours through. Attempt to survive in this wasteland, or die trying!

MAP 06: Canopy Carnage

This map if filled with exotic, massive trees that reach to the top of the world. Falling out of one is instant death! There are many hidden treasures in the trees, as well as chests on the forest floor and a temple. Unlike all the other maps, Canopy Carnage has an abundant source of wood available the second you load the map.

MAP 07: Legendary 

This map is called Legendary because of it's difficulty- Vechs (creator) came up with a name to describe it's hardness, "ROMhack" (probably because you need to hack to beat it :P). This map has several different environments to explore, and is one of the hardest in the series. In the words of Vechs:

You will die. You will suffer. You will yell at your computer screen. You will never beat this map, you will only occasionally hear about someone else who did. Good luck, because you will need it.

MAP 08: Nightmare

Unlike the other maps, this one starts hard and stays that way. This one is also a ROMhack difficulty level.

MAP 09: Sunburn Islands

Feel like you need a break from all this madness? Then head over to Sunburn Islands, which is quite easy(for a Super Hostile map, anyways...). The whole 

map is on a series of sandy islands. Veterans will find this one easy as pie.

Think you're ready for the challenge? If you're up to it, here's the link:

Vech's Super Hostile Maps

Have a fun time dying!

Full Version of Minecraft 1.0 is OUT!

Hurray!

On October 18 (Friday), the full version of Minecraft came out! Now I have lots of bragging rights, because I've played through Alpha, Beta, and the full version. :P

They added lots of new things. 1.9 was kinda mixed together with the full version (they're the same thing), so now you can use potions and enchantments. On my server (Yes, I own a server, might do a post about that later on), I have a Sharpness III (extra damage) and Fire Aspect II (sets mobs and players on fire) sword, which is awesome. They also added Nether Fortresses, which are basically strongholds in the nether made of NetherBrick, NetherFence and NetherStairs (new items). They're the only place where you can find Blazes that drop Blaze Rods, an essential ingredient for potion-making and stronghold-finding. They also have Magma Cubes in the Nether, which are basically red slimes that set you on fire. Monsters are now a lot harder- it now takes 1 or 2 more hits with a diamond sword to kill them.

But I haven't gotten to the main attraction- The End. The End, as the name says, is the final piece of the game, and you need to have mastered both the Nether and the Overworld to find it. In strongholds, there is now a mysterious portal. Activate it and go through it, and you shall enter the End, domain of the Endermen and the powerful Ender Dragon. The Ender Dragon is the final boss- beat it, and you will have completed the game. Here's a picture of the Ender Dragon:

The Ender Dragon- Way bigger than you.

The End is made out of EndStone (the ground) and these GIANT obsidian pillars with End Crystals on top of them. 

The Ender Dragon may seem easy to beat- until you realize that those crystals regenerate the dragon's health.

When the Ender Dragon flies past a pillar, a beam of light will shoot out from the crystal towards the dragon and restore it's health. So, before you bring the fight to the dragon, you have to get to the top of every obsidian pillar and break the crystals (You can also shoot the crystals with an arrow). Every once in a while, though, the Ender Dragon will dive towards you, and if you are on a pillar, knock you flying and make you fall to the ground. Once you break every crystal, you can start attacking the dragon. It's almost impossible to hit the dragon with a sword (except when it's diving towards you) so your main weapon will be a bow and STACKS AND STACKS of arrows. The dragon has 100 hearts, so it will take a long time to kill it. When you finally kill it, beams of purple light will shoot out of it and it will disinegrate, leaving behind a dragon egg, a portal back to the real world, and THOUSANDS of experience points. When I beat the Ender Dragon, I collected all the experience and went from level 10 to level 97. When you hit the Dragon Egg, it will teleport- the only way to collect it is to put a torch under the block the egg is on and break the block it's on. Currently, the dragon egg has no use (maybe it'll hatch into a tame baby ender dragon?), but it will most likely have one later on. When you go through the portal, the credits play, along with a poem that makes barely any sense at all. Then you spawn back in the Overworld, and you have beaten the game

Also, moon phases have been added :D

It's been a long time since I first started playing Minecraft (About a year!), and it's come a long way- first the Nether, then dogs, then the Adventure Update, and finally the End. I hope the future updates will be just as amazing.

When I was your age, there was no such thing as the Nether...

 For a while now, I've noticed how much Minecraft has changed since I first started playing. There's been a lot of changes, and a few things taken out of the game...

I started playing in Alpha, about a month or two before the Halloween update was released. Around 1.6, people will know that weather was added to the game. Do you know it was actually RE-ADDED? When I first started playing, they had two kinds of worlds that would randomly generate: You would either spawn in a Normal world or a Winter world. In the Normal world, there was no weather at all, but in a Winter world, it was ALWAYS snowing, and there was snow everywhere. I honestly perferred to play on the Normal world though, because the snow could get very annoying.

Also, back when I started playing, you didn't need shears. You just punched a sheep once, and it dropped 1, 2, or (if you were very lucky) 3. Back then, there wasn't really any use for wool other than paintings and decoration (although colored wool hadn't been added) since beds hadn't been added. No wolves, either- They're actually not very helpful, but they're kinda OK at fighting and the "drying off" animation is really cool. The hunger bar wasn't there either, so you could just spam cooked pork and be basically invincible. Speaking of food- No cooked chicken or steak, those were only added recently.

There haven't been many new mobs recently, although I've seen the release of Squids, Endermen, SilverFish, and soon, Ender Dragons. Yes, I know I'm sounding like an old man ("When I was your age, we had none of those fancy-pants pistons and there was no such thing as a Nether!"), but I'm still amazed at all the new stuff. Keep working hard, Mojang!