Monthly Archives: March 2011

Minecraft Update – Beta 1.4

Another Minecraft update everyone! Honestly I’m not as excited for this update as I have been for past ones, but that could change depending on how this one all works out. Here’s the update info:

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Minecraft Road Construction

Got back to playing some Minecraft for a bit over the last couple days. I was prevented from playing one evening due to my server being down, network issues or something, but it was brought back up quickly.  I didn’t feel like bobbing around the ocean so I picked up some cobble and started on another project.

The World - March 30th

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Return to eRepublik

A couple years ago, I was pretty big into a web game that some  may have heard of called eRepublik. It’s an interesting simulation of economy and politics which allows anyone to try their hand at running a company or running for political office, all the way up to country president.

Finding a job, going to work, but still fun!

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Exploring Minecraft’s Unique World

I mentioned a journey to explore the world in my previous post, and here it is. I tried to be fairly exhaustive with the journey, and especially our campsites, so this post is a bit longer than any of my previous ones.

After working underwater for long hours, even in Minecraft, you can start to feel a bit claustrophobic. When I ran out of glass I decided to take a break from some of that monotony and go out exploring with my buddy George on the server. He’d been going out looking for sheep and roses (for red dye), and after he had a bad break with some creepers I decided to head back out with him and help.

Rest Stop Alpha - Camp for the first night.

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Minecraft: Underwater Construction Project

Well finally I get to post about my latest Minecraft project, that I started a week ago!  Before I build the ultimate altar for the Great Yawning Hippo, I decided I needed a better way to get there than to simply bob across the friggin ocean.  So I stripped several desert islands of sand and began construction on this:

Outside view of the water tubes.

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Regarding My Blog

Apologies to my quite few readers in regard to my long gap in posting.  I’ve had an extremely busy week at work, and have also found my internet access curtailed somewhat (It’s a pain, let me tell you!).

I will still be making updates regarding Minecraft or any other game I may be playing, though I haven’t yet figured out what kind of posting schedule I will be able to keep. Given the change in situation, I am thinking I will probably begin posting more about other interests as well, rather than have to leave the blog without new posts for days. So things will be a bit less exclusively about Minecraft, but never fear, I still love the game and will post about it whenever I’m able.

One of my other primary interests is in computer programming. I have been reading  up on Java a bit lately, which I haven’t used since school, and am thinking of trying my hand at writing a game. I’ve always wanted  to give it a try, and I should make myself go through it to have the experience of actually making even a simple game. Another language that I find myself using rather frequently, is the AutoIt scripting language. It’s not for writing “real” programs by any means, but nothing beats it (in my opinion) for quick and dirty automation of tasks in Windows. I use it fairly often at work to automate repetitive tasks, as I tire of repetition quickly. I also think it’s fun to work with, as you can achieve some really neat things with surprisingly little code.

Well, hope no-one is put off by the slight changes, but keep an eye out for more Minecraft posts soon, as my “weekend” has only just begun! Happy Crafting!

Bridges, Exploration, and Slime Infestations

Playing Minecraft is endlessly entertaining. After I got bored with projects such as terraforming and farming, there were other things to be done. :D

First off, I was gathering up resources from my various chest locations and discovered we have a problem down in the mine. A problem with Slimes that is. I used to think that the Slime was a rare mob in Minecraft, but clearly not any longer.

Slime infestation at bedrock level

They're coming for me...

After pushing my way through the slimes, I headed back up to the main level of the fortress to grab all the cobble I could carry. I went up to a spot I had picked out a few days ago and began my bridging. Bridges are possibly my favorite thing to build in Minecraft. The number of styles you can use to create them plus the complete lack of physical limitations can make for some really cool and gigantic bridges.

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Snacking on some Yan Yan

Just a quickie update, I don’t want to fall into the slump of leaving my blog too long between posts!

I had an interesting food today.  We went to our very new local Woodmans grocery and had a look at the international foods aisle.  My wife picked up some kind of cookie stick thing called “Yan Yan” by meiji, from Japan. It’s not far off from snacks you see in the United States, a container of cookie sticks with an accompanying compartment of chocolate to dip them in.

The best part of it however is that the cookie sticks have animal names printed on them, with an accompanying doodle. There is also a statement printed on them that at first glance you might assume corresponds to the animal mentioned in some way. I took a quick shot of a couple of my favorites with my phone:

OK I'll buy the Fox one, but what kind of squirrels do they have in Japan?

Upon further investigation I actually found a page on engrish.com with a few more. I believe my wife had a “Whale – Biggesy Mammal” cookie before I got a picture as well.

Construction: Coming in for a Landing

Another construction update on my Minecraft world. I’ve had an idea for a construction project that I’d wanted to do for a while. And now that my fortress is complete, and I have a large field to work with, I’ve done it.  I now present my airfield:

Airfield next to the new farm.

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A Tour of Terraforming

Apologies for the gap in posts, but I took a couple days to just chill and enjoy the weekend. I played a bit of Minecraft while relaxing of course, and yesterday I was able to complete the last phase of my terraforming project. My base built into the side of a large hill is now converted into an enormous fortress. And though I didn’t really take any screenshots of the before, I’ll happily be including a few after shots along with a some cartographer maps from a few stages of the project.

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