Redstone

One major aspect of minecraft is the redstone. People that redstone are coined by the community as "Redstoners" and can create something as simple as a far or something as complex as another game. Redstone is most similar to electricity to us, but a lot simpler. It can be run through gates and comparators to either completely negate the power or just reduce it. In this way you can get a simpler version of binary and create some simple things. If a signal is on, then you can activate a functional block on the other end. 

The basic blocks of redstone include the the torch, repeater, comparator, redstone block, and the piston. A torch is a source of power and can be deactivated by powering the block it is attached to with strong power. After redstone extends 15 blocks past its source the power stops, the power must be renewed at this point with a repeater which delays the energy from going through by 1-4 ticks depending on its setting. Multiple repeaters can be used to make a clock which outputs redstone signal at regular intervals. Comparators compare the signal strength of two different lines of redstone, the main one is either decreased by the power of the secondary or just shut off depending on the settings of the block. A redstone block is another source of power that cannot be shut off, but can be shoved by pistons. Pistons come in one of two varieties, sticky and normal and push up to 15 blocks in one direction with the exception of a few blocks. The sticky pistons can also retract block while the normal one only push, these can be used to create hidden doors that can be hidden within walls or the floor.

Gates and structures of redstone can be a bit complicated to explain, so I have made a video that can help you with some useful tutorials even for experienced players. All of this is done in creative mode, but normally you would find redstone deep beneath the earth.I might even leave a link to one of the most impressive thing of all time. Most of the crafting recipes can be found on the wiki which I will leave a link to.

Link to redstone page: http://www.minecraft.gamepedia.com/Redstone

My video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG5WmZ9t1LQ

Survival of the Well Informed.

Minecraft is one of the most successful sandbox games that has ever been created and has an enormous lot of copycats that try to trail off it's success. Minecraft has an infinite number of ways to play them, but have decided to stick to just a few. This year we are going to post mini-games, adventure maps, and guides. There are many custom maps in the community of Minecraft and they are all unique in their own way, but before you can start to explore the many facets of this game, you must start at the very beginning and learn how to craft items.

There are many different tools and items in this game that you must have in order to play the game. The crafting system in this game is a little complicated and involves a lot of trial and error or you could just Google the recipes. The first item that you should get in the game is wood, which can be obtained by chopping down trees. Once you have chopped down some trees you have to put it in a two by two square and make a crafting bench. Then, you have to create a pickaxe which is mad by putting two sticks below a row of three wood, from there you can mine stone and get the next rank of items. You have to experiment the different ways to craft things, but the way you make things is just to make the shape of the thing you are trying to make. There are four tiers of items the starting being wood and stone. The better ones are diamonds and gold. This is a very crucial part of the game and cannot be played without it. I hope this brief introduction to crafting has helped you start your adventure.

These are the basics of crafting in minecraft and hopefully you have learned something. This game is a large and complicated one, but some of the basics of the game must be understood before we start to mess around with other things. All of the stuff that you could possibly need is on the Minecraft Wiki. This and next week Tycho and I will both be doing separate videos.

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Fxcv04bns&feature=youtu.be

Link to the wiki: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com