Muffin's Minecraft Tutorial: The Basics/Surviving the First Night

[Muffincat]

Hullo, everyone. As we've had a surge of popularity in Minecraft, lately, I thought I'd make a little tutorial on the basics for those of you who are interested. There's a lot of confusion when you first start playing the game, so I've put together a little guide to help get you started! If you've been swayed into buying this game by Dili's review (http://www.gamers-forum.com/showthread.php?t=19198), then let me help you out by giving you a little more information. This will be a picture-heavy post, so beware!

All right! So, let's say you've opened the game, and you're now... sitting in the middle of a large, blocky world. The first thing you should do is look for one of these bad boys:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial1.gif?t=1304840236

Yeeeeah. Trees are the most important thing to find when you're starting out. Go ahead and left click on a block of the tree trunk (don't click multiple times -- hold the mouse button down), and you'll see this happen:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial02.gif?t=1304840435

Pick up the little block of wood, and you'll have gotten your first resource! Yay! Keep hacking away at that tree for some more wood, and a few more trees, if you like. What you need to do next is start looking for a shelter before the night comes. As you search, you'll probably notice some animals around you:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/animals.gif?t=1304841435

Hit sheep for wool, kill cows for leather, and kill pigs for porkchops. Chickens lay eggs randomly and will drop feathers upon dying. Make sure you get a few porkchops as you look for a suitable area, as you'll need them later.


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial03.gif?t=1304840519

I got lucky when I found this mountain with some coal visible right on the surface. If you can find something like this, it will make a wonderful hovel! Coal is a really important resource. You want to go ahead and carve into the dirt somewhere to make a nice little home for yourself. Then, you'll want to do some crafting.


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial04.gif?t=1304840628

Open up your inventory ("i" or "e" by default) to see this screen. Put your wood in one of the crafting boxes to make wooden planks.


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial05.gif?t=1304840709

Once you've got planks, put one plank in each of the slots, and you'll get a crafting table! This is one of the most important things you can make in the game, and allows you to make almost everything else you need. Put the crafting table in the bottom line of your inventory, and then use your mouse wheel (or number keys) to get to the right item slot. Right click with the crafting table selected, and you've got it set :)


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial06.gif?t=1304840785

Note the gray block, stone, which you can technically break by hand, but will not be able to harvest resources from. To be able to mine it, we need to make a pickaxe! Take your wood planks, and put one plank in the square above another plank (can be done in your inventory instead of the crafting table).


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial07.gif?t=1304840896

Once you've got some sticks, you're ready to make a pickaxe! Remember that in Minecraft, you place the items in the relative shape of the item you want to create. Thusly, we can make a pickaxe with wooden planks and sticks like so:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial08.gif?t=1304841022

This will create a wooden pickaxe (which is not very strong or durable). Once you have other resources, you can substitute the wooden planks at the top for stone, iron, gold, or diamond (diamond being the most desirable and gold being kind of worthless). You can also make other tools (swords, hoes, axes), too, but I won't get into them in this tutorial. Now you can mine stone and coal! Get some coal to make torches, which are incredibly important. This is how you make them:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial09.gif?t=1304841178

You're going to want to light up your little hovel with some torches, because monsters will only spawn in dark places. If you've got a lit room, you'll be safe for the duration of the night (as long as they can't get inside). Speaking of them getting in, you should make a door to your place! This is how they are crafted:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial10.gif?t=1304841298

Doors are nice, as they let you see when it starts to get light outside again, and monsters can't open them. This is what it will look like:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial11.gif?t=1304841379

If you haven't mined some stone, you should do so. Once you get enough, you can craft a Furnace.


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial12.gif?t=1304841615

Furnaces allow you to smelt things. You can smelt an incredible amount of resources, and this allows you to craft better, stronger materials. Right now, you'll want to cook your porkchops in it! Raw porkchops will restore lost health (from falling damage or being hit by monsters), but cooked porkchops restore a lot more!


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorial13.gif?t=1304841909

You can use a lot of different things as fuel to smelt things, such as coal (you usually want to use this), wood, and even lava.

Before I end the tutorial, I'll talk briefly about monsters.


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/monsters.gif?t=1304842009

Monsters spawn at night (or will frighten you as you mine and open up a dark cavern), and they each have their own special traits. Skeleton archers can shoot you from far away, zombies will moan at you and are generally easily evaded, spiders are quick and can climb walls, and creepers will silently come at you and SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsuicide bomb you and hurt you as well as exploding a ton of blocks around wherever you are. Skeletons drop bones, zombies drop feathers (for some mysterious reason), spiders drop string, and creepers will drop gunpowder if you kill them.

In addition, spiders and creepers will not disappear with the sunrise. Skeletons and zombies, however, will be set on fire:


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/tutorialskellyfire.gif?t=1304842397

They only catch on fire in sunlight, not the light of torches, so :P

This concludes my basic tutorial for very, very basic survival skills. There's so much more to learn to the game!

Make sure to check out the Minecraft wiki, especially the Crafting (http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Crafting) page!

Thanks for reading, or skimming to the bottom of the post because you were too lazy to read it. :P

TL;DR: ....play Minecraft!

[paecmaker]

You know, you can have a serie of it.

Either way good tutorial.

[Saph]

Awesome guide Muffin :D Love it, check your inbox though!!!

[Muffincat]

You know, you can have a serie of it.

Either way good tutorial.

Ah, I don't think I'll make any more of them... In my opinion, a huge part of this game is exploring and figuring things out; I wouldn't want to spoil too much of that. I know others are interested, though, which I wouldn't mind :P

The first step into the world can just be really confusing, and I think after you've got these first things under your belt, you're free to go about on your own!

[Saph]

Hay guys! I'll be making the 2nd chapter of this guide :) Just for those who'd like some tips n' tricks on how to avoid unnecersary death and death-by-fire (falling in lava), also some tips on how to build your home safer, and faster, so you can get on with the decorations faster :) Minecraft relies alot on HOW you build, and the more trivial little things you do while building, the more daylight you waste, and the more time you actually spend building during the night(which can be very tricky)

So I has reserved the 2nd chapter :) For those who got the basics from Muffins wonderful review, I'll be adding the frosting to the cake in a few hours!

[Exentenzed]

Now Saph, are you sure you are realy the right person to tutor people on how to not end up in lava? :P (Saph's #1 reason for death: Lava.) xD

No but seriously though, I suppose since you have the most experience with it you would make a good tutorial on that. ;)

[paecmaker]

ahhh, lava the nr 1 cause of human torches.

[Saph]

@Exe: Lol Exe you hit the nail on the head :cheesy: Since I've died in a fire so many times now, I figured I could make a tutorial not on what to do, but on what NOT to do! Lol :laugh1:

Off topic PS: Hope you like the mini entrance I made on your gate, just to avoid accidental mob entrances.

@Paec: Got that right, as Exe can give a testimony for I have lost possibly THOUSANDS of blocks, be it dirt, stone, gravel, gold etc. from falling into lava. The style I am most prune to? Digging downward and not even considering the option that I may fall helplessly into a 3 blocks deep pool of lava............

[Diligence109]

Now Saph, are you sure you are realy the right person to tutor people on how to not end up in lava? :P (Saph's #1 reason for death: Lava.) xD

No but seriously though, I suppose since you have the most experience with it you would make a good tutorial on that. ;)

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read that post

After chapter 2, who knows, maybe I'll drop a chapter of a minecraft tut :o we can make a GF collective of minecraft information!

[Saph]

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read that post

The part that It is NOT a good idea that I do it, or the part that it IS a good idea that I do it?

[Synge]

Very helpful Muffin, great guide!

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp268/mousekittenbear/Minecraft%20Tutorial/monsters.gif?t=1304842009

^ It's Rattlez! He doesn't look happy to see you :P

[Saph]

Hay, thats what I named him!!! :p Didn't think you'd actually go with that, lols!

[Ilyich Valken]

I gotta say, the 'piggies' and the 'sheepies' like pretty freaking derpy.

[Muffincat]

It was Rattlez! I'm glad you recognized him XD

And, yeah, Ilyich. They look really derpy XD

[Saph]

Yeah the sheep to me especially are extremely derpy, you should see one after it's been sheared of its wool, they look so friggin stupid XD Like an old lady with a REALLY bad hairday, LOL!

[Saph]

Double post cause I'm writing the 2nd chapter now :)


So Muffin quite skillfully covered all of the basics that are very much required to master Minecraft, and it is true, after you have those basics covered and imprinted in your mind, it's pretty easy from there on out, as the rest really speaks for itself.

However, there're a few things that I want to point out in this 2nd chapter that will also aid you. In my opinion, things I cover in this chapter are some of the later, but much more dangerous threats than zombies or poorly aiming skeletons.


Part 1: Building efficiently!
Important note: Holding down the Shift button while cause you to tread carefully, making it impossible for you to walk over an edge. This detail is invaluable when building structures!

Each and every person have their own little unique ways of building in Minecraft, and obviously some are more efficient than others. But in the end, whatever style you use is yours to choose, but let me point out a few things which are NOT smart! (I speak from experience)

1) Do NOT rely on just a 1 block thick spire to work on while doing stuff to the outside of your dangerously tall building. This speaks for itself, there's little room for error when on such a small support, and taking a few steps forward to reach a far away spot could lead to an untimely and annoying death. So when you've built your work spire, build a platform ontop, to widen the acceptance of error steps(maybe pushing the A key by accident).

2) Do not build where lava and water meet. This might sound wierd, but there's a good reason. Water running towards lava and vise versa is extremely dangerous! If you're for example building an underground house with garden and everything, if you take a miss step while trying to build in flowing water, you might get swept away by the current and thrown into the lava, if the lava is shallow, not too much harm done, as the water will put out the fire, but if its deep, you wont survive.

3) Place torches!!! This can't be emphasized enough. Torches are your friends. Even while your building is unfinished, fill it up with torches before continueing. The last thing you need while trying to focus on building is to have a group of monster fall from your unlit balcony above and kill you while you're still focusing on building.

4) Be careful! Minecraft rewards patience and controlled determination, rushing or trying to do something fast can be very dangerous. Are you sure there's another block beneath the block you're standing on? Are you sure there's not a lava pool behind this block?

5) Number 4 made me think of 1 more point: Don't stand on the block you're mining! You might end up in lava, or a dead drop down, you never know, you might also land straight ontop of a creeper!



Part 2: Lava is NOT your friend!


I speak from experience as Muffin, Exe, and Dili can tell you. I have learned the hard way how to NOT fall into lava!

"Why is falling into lava such a big deal anyway? You die, you run back, big deal!"

Big deal indeed. Unlike dieing from falling, drowning, or dieing from monster attacks, dieing in lava is extra punishable!

When you die, you drop all of your carried items, for you to pick up later, but when you die in lava, all of those items fall into the lava. They are burned, destroyed, and completely unretrievable, that includes diamonds, obsidian, iron, gold, anything you're carrying will be burned. This is why it is EXTREMELY important that you avoid lava at all costs. And if you decide to work with it? Treat it like explosives, be sure you're NOT placing it in a hazardous spot, and make sure it wont reach other people or their property(Lava burns anything alive, and wood, and crops etc. almost all other blocks wont burn from lava(When they're placed, dropped items, even if they're stone blocks, still burn) ).

So now that you fully understand WHY not to fall into lava, here's how not to!


1) Never dig a 1 block thick hole straight down. This is the main way people lose all of their stuff. Noob people who want to dig their first mine, and just keep digging down and down and down. There's ALOT of lava underneath you, and it's highly unlikely that you can dig straight down without hitting lava even once. If you dig down in a 1 block thick hole, and you hit lava, there's nothing you can do. You fall into a deep underground lava pit and you sink to your death, all your belongings burn along with you. Not a cool thing, especially when you think about that had you only NOT dug that last block you would still have your stuff.

How to properly dig straight down: Dig straight down using 2 blocks or more, so you have a way to progressively dig your way down. I know 1 block is easier, but like I said above, people who are impatient will be rewarded with lost items and a temper tantrum which your keyboard will most likely not like. So do yourself a favor, and be patient. If you're using a 2 block wide hole, switch between standing on either block. Dig down 2 blocks, make sure its safe, then jump on that. Dig 2 blocks down on the other side of the hole, make sure thats safe, now jump into that again, and dig down 2 blocks on the other side again. This way you ALWAYS have a way to see what the next block down holds, and if you hit lava with this technique, you will have a block to stand on, and you can then either find a safe place to stand on at the lava pit by making your hole wider(Obviously dont mine the block you're standing on, lol), or if you didn't want lava holes, just block the hole back up, and dig sideways. That leads me to my next way to avoid lava deaths.

2) Never dig fast and furiously ahead. Again, patience and controlled determination! Holding down the W key and the left mouse button and just full steam ahead will most likely hold the same outcome as digging down. Lava pits are never just 1 block deep, they can be VERY VERY DEEP!! I remember trying to dig underneath a lava pit that I swear stretched downward for 10 blocks+! So if you just dig full speed ahead and hit the side of a lava hole, you'll run head long straight into a lava pit, instantly dieing(You dont even take time to burn if your head goes below lava. The moment your sight sinks under lava you die instantly)

How to dig safely: Easy, be careful and take it steady, obviously dont go at a snails pace, but dont try and outrun a cheetah either. Be at a comfortable pace, and keep an alert eye out for light that you do not remember placing!(Lava has its own light emition).

3) Two of the above mixed together! If you're not digging straight ahead nor down, but a mix(making a staircase), here's what to do:

Use all of the steps I used above. Make the passage atleast 2 blocks wide and 2 blocks high to have some security meassures! Now to dig a good steady path down, dig 1 block down straight ahead of you, then dig another block down, and widen the path enough to pass through, and jump down onto the level you just made. This'll also make you able to place stone steps on the staircase shaped blocks without having to widen the passage up top!


You wanna do WHAT!?!?!?

Minecraft is a VERY diverse game, and it allows your mind to go completely haywire, and build the most rediculous and outrageous things!(One guy is in the process of building a full scale sized, 750 blocks long USS Starship Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation!)

Here's a movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn2-d5a3r94

But this exact thing right now is about lava, so if you wanna work with lava as a means to make your house look more awesome, then there're some things that you have to watch out for!

First: How do you pick up lava? With buckets! You'll need 3 iron ingots to make one, and a crafting table.
Place 1 ingot in the middle left slot, 1 ingot in the bottom middle slot, and 1 ingot in the middle right slot, this'll make an iron bucket, and it can hold milk, water, and lava, any liquid in the game can be held in a bucket!

1) Make sure you place the lava somewhere safe!!! If you're looking at minecraft,you might see a black line encircling whatever you're currently targetting. This means that you'll place whatever you're holding(if its placeable)directly next to this block at the spot closest to you! This would be bad for lava, since you'd place lava right ontop of yourself! And it's a liquid, so it flows, spreads, and burns anyone or anything wood in a ~7 block radius, maybe even more. So before you place the lava, make sure the spot you want it in is highlighted on your screen!

2) Take security meassures into consideration! No one wants to fall into lava, and its quite annoying when lava is at groundlevel with no barrier to keep a guy from accidentally falling in! This can be avoided by placing a simple fence around the lava.

3) Make sure it doesnt land somewhere dangerous! If you have lava pouring from a high spot, be mindful of where it'll land! If it lands near someones house, you'll probably not be too popular with him!

That's all for now on this part 2 :) Might add more in the future!

[ROFLBRYCE]

So...I may be picking this up in the next few days. You guys communicate through chat or just typing?

[Diligence109]

So...I may be picking this up in the next few days. You guys communicate through chat or just typing?

We've been using Reddit.com/r/leaugueoflegends's mumble server to communicate. If I can get W1CKED's Vent server working we might use that. But, yeah - having VoIP is over 9000 times more fun than just typing

[Saph]

In the game? We communicate through a chatbox system that can be accessed with the T button.

You're welcome to join bro :) We'll have Muffin set up a welcome chest for you(A chest where you can store stuff you dont wanna share :) It's also a gift drop off box to help newbies along if you know what I mean :) )

Its $20 and quite easy to begin playing. Just pay n' Download and you're good to go, since it's all one big .exe file, you can also play through your browser for when you dont have your own computer!

Once you're ready and you have the game and on the main menu, just post in one of the Minecraft related threads for the server IP, and someone will give it to you in a PM :)

[ROFLBRYCE]

We've been using Reddit.com/r/leaugueoflegends's mumble server to communicate. If I can get W1CKED's Vent server working we might use that. But, yeah - having VoIP is over 9000 times more fun than just typing

Alright :) Just be nice to hear human voices for once playing games xD Have a WoW guild of ~150 and there's noone on Vent. EVER. =/


In the game? We communicate through a chatbox system that can be accessed with the T button.

You're welcome to join bro :) We'll have Muffin set up a welcome chest for you(A chest where you can store stuff you dont wanna share :) It's also a gift drop off box to help newbies along if you know what I mean :) )

Its $20 and quite easy to begin playing. Just pay n' Download and you're good to go, since it's all one big .exe file, you can also play through your browser for when you dont have your own computer!

Once you're ready and you have the game and on the main menu, just post in one of the Minecraft related threads for the server IP, and someone will give it to you in a PM :)

Sounds good man :) Just don't know how great I'd be at building xD My imagination is...slow to start. I'll probably just add more and more crap to your existing whatever haha.

It's relatively cheap yeah, just saving up my paychecks is all. Have to fork out money for a phone bill, flight for a friend's grad to be her escort, and a present for me and my girlfriend's two year anniversary all within a month D:

May pick this up in the next week though I have some extra cash handy xD

[Synge]

You should totally get it man. I was skeptical but decided to give it a go based on Muffin and Dili's recommendation. I'm surprised at how quickly I'm falling victim to Minecraft addiction :O

[Muffincat]

Yeah... it's incredibly addicting. I never wanted to play before... but when I tried it out... I got completely hooked :|

[Saph]

I've actually hit a snag in minecraft. I've finished all of my projects, and am now project less :( Spend my time farming resources for the kingdom etc. but I am not building anything at the moment.

Some suggestions would be awesome :) I can't think of anything to build >.<

[paecmaker]

I've actually hit a snag in minecraft. I've finished all of my projects, and am now project less :( Spend my time farming resources for the kingdom etc. but I am not building anything at the moment.

Some suggestions would be awesome :) I can't think of anything to build >.<

Build a ship, a wall to expand your kingdom, a temple or an extreme underground chapel.

[Diligence109]

I've actually hit a snag in minecraft. I've finished all of my projects, and am now project less :( Spend my time farming resources for the kingdom etc. but I am not building anything at the moment.

Some suggestions would be awesome :) I can't think of anything to build >.<

Come help with the secret dwarven kingdom that you didn't know we were making yet ;)

[Saph]

Yeah Exe told me, why did you keep this a secret from me!?!?!?

But actually I'm gonna build Kaza'dum from Lord of the rings(The HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE open underground courtyard with pillars reaching way the hell up, and the part where Gandalf gets pulled down by the Balgrog!)

[ROFLBRYCE]

Sooo how do I log on to play and to communicate with you guys :)

[Saph]

You got the game? :D

[ROFLBRYCE]

You got the game? :D

Yeah man, made my girlfriend drive me uptown to pick up a pre-paid Visa an hour ago xD Just been playing single-player, still not sure how everything works but I'm sure I'll get help and tips//tricks :)

[paecmaker]

Yeah Exe told me, why did you keep this a secret from me!?!?!?

But actually I'm gonna build Kaza'dum from Lord of the rings(The HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE open underground courtyard with pillars reaching way the hell up, and the part where Gandalf gets pulled down by the Balgrog!)

Make a HUUUUUGE statue of youreslf on top of a mountain in pure gold.

[vepanator]

My lil bro did it.
Got me into minecraft.
So here I am. Mining stuff and trying to survive. Yay me.

[Saph]

Lol I'm still playing Minecraft but not on the same scale as before, since it used to be the only interesting game I had!

Now I play LoL quite a bit :) Since there's no level system, and since its pretty much impossible to lack in anything due to inactivity in Minecraft(WHICH IS AWESOME!!!)Then I am playing that MUCH slower, and am paying more attention to LoL :)

[Diligence109]

My lil bro did it.
Got me into minecraft.
So here I am. Mining stuff and trying to survive. Yay me.

You should take your entusiasm to the RespawnGaming/Gamers-Forum server at 24.62.88.96 and play with us :P

[MrFr3drik]

Nice Tutorial!

[Psychotray]

Thanks for the help, I always have trouble on the first day in Minecraft.
And those goddamn creepers always explode close to my house, and I always end up having to rebuild it.
Creepers are the most annoying things to exist.

[Slay]

Nice tut!
For some reason after the OpenGL update my MC wont work...

[EpsilonX]

If I can't find Coal, what are other ways to have light?

[Jokersvirus]

If I can't find Coal, what are other ways to have light?

take wood put it in the furance and create charcoal