Innholdsfortegnelse for Volume 13 i The Ultimate Guide to Minecraft!

Want to be responsible for the growth of artificial intelligence? Well here’s your chance. The incredible Project Malmo that uses Minecraft to test advanced AI research is now available to download for free on GitHub. It does require some novice coding knowledge, but means that AI can be tested on a grand scale to help develop better and smarter future robots. Led by Katja Hofmann and Matthew Johnson, the project had previously only been available on a small scale for researchers but has been opened up to the general public. “Minecraft, it turns out, is a pretty great proving ground for AI. It’s an open-ended game with hugely diverse challenges and opportunities for creative solutions, spatial and temporal reasoning, collaboration and more,” explains Mojang’s Marsh Davies. “In other words, it…

Love Studio Ghibli movies? So does Alan Becker, who’s been working on the world from Spirited Away for the last five years. Not only has he now created the bath house from the film, but also the entrance to the mysterious world encountered by Chihiro, the cottages within, and even the nearby forest. Somehow he’s even managed to find time to start on some of the locations from My Neighbour Totoro too. Thankfully last year he took on some additional builders and has been making plenty of progress in what he now calls Ghibli World. In his latest Ghibli World video – you can find him under AlanBeckerMinecraft – he reveals the city that comes alive around Spirited Away’s clock tower at night as the fields flood around the area.…

Imagine walking into your favourite Minecraft world. Look up and you can see the boxy clouds passing overhead. Look down and you can see the earth beneath your feet. Nearby mountains tower over you and ahead... wait, is that a creeper before me? Time to run. This is the promise of VR Minecraft. Five years ago this would seem like a fanciful idea, but virtual reality is here, and developers are using Minecraft as a testing ground for this exciting new technology. In 2016 we’ve seen the first virtual reality headsets released, and while there’s still some way to go until VR is affordable and refined enough to be comfortable for everyone, it’s an exciting and experimental new frontier that could revolutionise the way we interact with Minecraft, and in…

In virtual reality, Minecraft has different strengths and weaknesses to the regular game. Fast-paced combat and jumping puzzles become unwieldy, but slow-paced exploration is magnificent. Thanks to the huge number of user-made maps out there, you can tailor your experience to suit gaming in a virtual reality headset. These ten maps offer a variety of experiences that should amaze in virtual reality, and, for good measure, there’s a couple that might be slightly terrifying, too. Enjoy. The Sunken Island Download http://bit.ly/JQLlTP Scale can be very impressive in virtual reality, so the sight of the imposing mountain at the centre of this map will be particularly striking. This well-constructed map also has a great mix of spectacular indoor and outdoor locations, including many impressive underwater zones. Remember, you don’t actually need…

INFO MOUNTAIN CASTLE DIFFICULTY MEDIUM TIME NEEDED 40-60 MINS EXTRA INFO TRY USING DIFFERENT TEXTURE PACKS OR SKINS TO VARY THE LOOK 01 PICK YOUR PEAK FIRST you’ll need to find yourself a tall mountain – the kind that will be great for spotting enemies from. Pick one that you think has a cool shape, and preferably a flat bit to start building out from. 02 LAY YOUR FOUNDATIONS CHOOSE the steepest outward facing side of the mountain and start blocking out the space for a sheer, narrow wall that lines up with the top of the mountain. Try to work in a nice view, too. 03 WORK OUT THE SHAPE BLOCK out an area along the top of the mountain that will end up being your main room. Just…

INFO SCHOOL DIFFICULTY MEDIUM TIME NEEDED 2 HOURS EXTRA INFO MAKE EACH CLASSROOM DESIGN DIFFERENT 01 PLAN YOUR SPACE FIRST you’ll need to pick where you want your school to go, and then put down a rough space. The middle is 11x11 blocks, and the two ends are 7x15, including the middle walls. 02 MAKE IT FLAT YOU WANT your school to look the same on both sides, so dig down (or build up) to make the area flat all along the bottom, then add a birch plank floor all the way through. 03 FIRST CLASS GET STUCK IN with building the outside of your first classroom. On one side, build the wall 5 blocks high, leave space for 2x3 block windows on each side. Do the same on the…

INFO BOAT RACE DIFFICULTY MEDIUM TIME NEEDED 2 HOURS EXTRA INFO TRY ADDING BRANCHING PATHS 01 PLAN YOUR ROUTE AFTER you’ve picked out a spot for your boat race ride, you’ll need to roughly plot the area of the course. It can be as big or small as you want it to be. The bigger it is the more time it’ll take to build. 02 MAKE A CHANNEL ONCE YOU KNOW what rough path you want it to take, it’s time to start making the track. Keep it 6-8 blocks wide in most parts, but make it wider in others to give it variety. You’ll need to dig lots! 03 HAIRPIN BENDS TIGHT CORNERS like this one will add challenge to your course. Add one easily by making a straight…

MAKE A BUSY MARKET 1 USE wood blocks of your favourite colour to make this shape. It’s 4 by 6 blocks, with a gap for an entrance. 2 ADD fence posts to act as your stand, and a gate for the entrance. You can use a trap door instead of the gate if you like. BUILD THIS! 3 BUILD a wool roof on top of the fence posts in this shape. The higher bit in the middle makes it easy to stand under. 4 NOW decorate, with different wool colours for stripes, and add items for your shop. Now just repeat the design! MAKE COOL STATUES 1 THIS merman statue is made using stair blocks and slabs to get the curves and fence posts for the trident. 2 THE legs…

Mini games on console are clearly a bit like buses. You wait for one free update and two come along at once. Not only has Battle Mode been added to PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U, but now Mojang has surprised us with Tumble on consoles. This absolutely free mini game sees you destroying the blocks underneath your foes feet to send them, errr, tumbling into an abyss below. If you’re a PC player and this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s based on popular community game Spleef. But how does it play out on consoles? “There are two variants of the game to choose from: one which lets players launch snowballs, the other equipping combatants with shovels,” explains Mojang’s Marsh Davies. “Each bout consists of a best…

Sick of your creepers just not being, well, creepy enough? Well that’s about to change. Another of Mojang’s E3 announcements revealed the new Add-ons function coming to Pocket and Windows 10 Editions this autumn, and it’s ridiculously exciting. Add-ons will allow us to customise the game however we want by using simple scripting tools and Microsoft Paint. Mojang has allowed all the customisable parts to be visible and edited using a format called JSON – that’s Java Script Object Notation – which is easily accessible across all platforms. This means you can up the speed of your Creepers, add weapons, give abilities to monsters who didn’t have them before, and even edit your own textures in Paint – hmm yes I want this Creeper to be bright yellow and wearing…

Minecraft’s simple design means it never feels outdated. While other games try to amaze us with photorealism and clattering set-pieces, Minecraft has remained blocky, simple and superb. It’s better for it. We can smile at people spending their pennies on PC upgrades, then smugly return to our cubic wonderland, safe in the knowledge it doesn’t matter what Minecraft looks like. But what if you were tempted by that dark path? What if you wanted to keep digging, but in a world that looked incredible – surely, there’s a limit to what you can do to a game about boxy dirt? Prepare to be amazed. Shaders are a type of mod that lets you tweak the appearance of the game, without altering the core structure of Minecraft. By using them, you…

Oculus Rift What is it? An advanced virtual reality headset that uses headtracking and accelerometers to let you look around inside Minecraft. Price £550 Release date Out now Pros The Oculus Rift is cheaper than the Vive, and hosts the official VR Minecraft game. Cons Head tracking lets you look around, but you can’t get up and walk around inside the world as you can with the Vive. HTC Vive What is it? It’s a full-motion virtual reality headset, that comes with a pair of motion-sensitive controllers. Price £770 Release date Out now Pros The most advanced VR device on the market to date, with full-room tracking that lets you actually walk around inside a game of Minecraft. Cons There’s no official Minecraft support yet, but the Vive VR Minecrift…

Shader Chocapic13’s Shaders Link http://bit.ly/1yaQA4M FANTASTIC BEASTS AND HOW TO MOD THEM ADD A LITTLE ANIMAL MAGIC TO YOUR MINECRAFT WORLDS There’s plenty of wildlife in Minecraft. From the cute and oh-soharvestable mooshrooms, pigs and rabbits, to the slightly more problematic creepers, spiders and the rest. The whole game is positively alive with fur, legs and eyes (and not always in the best ratios), but it could be alive-er-er, which is a technical term for modding in extra hooves, claws and teeth. Step outside the vanilla menagerie and there’s a range of interesting creatures just waiting to be tracked down or run away from, depending on what new bits you’ve added. This selection of extras will quite literally mod Minecraft to life. There’s a wide range here with a variety…

Autumn is hot on our heels and it’s time for that TV show with all the cake. But even if you spend more of your time with mobs than mixing bowls, there’s no need to feel left out of the fun. After all, Minecraft’s world lends itself perfectly to being recreated in the form of sweet treats. Even better, you won’t even need to have your work judged by the scarily intense blue-eyed dude or the suspiciously nice old lady that you secretly really wish was your grandma. Over the next few pages, we’ll be showing you step by step how to make three delicious delicacies, all themed around your favourite game. We’ve started with a supereasy snack to help boost your confidence, building up to a more advanced bake…

BUILD A MINI BOAT! 1 START with this template at water level. It’s five blocks long and one wide. Use any type of wooden plank you like. 2 FA N out the shape from the bottom to step away from the middle. You’ll need two layers, but extend the ends a block. 3 BUILD a mast nine blocks high out of a different wood type. Add some prongs sticking out at the seventh block. 4 ADD a sail using wool. To make it look like there’s wind, step it one block forward. And now you’re done! BUILD THIS! BUILD A FOUNTAIN 1 CREATE a border using stone slabs (five across at widest parts), then dig two down and fill the bottom with bricks. 2 MAKE a fat cross shape in…

BUILD HOT AIR BALLOONS 1 BUILD a basket with wooden planks in a 3x3 square base, wood at the corners and upside down stairs at the edges. 2 PLACE wooden posts 4 blocks high, then fill the area inside their tops with wool. Step up and out from this 2 times. 3 NOW go straight up 2 blocks to make the large flat faces, then back and up a block twice to make the top bit. Fill it in. BUILD THIS! 4 ADD detail by giving the balloon a coloured stripe and adding a burner to the bottom using a glowstone. NEVER GET LOST WITH MAP WALL 1 CREATE a wall and put item frames on it. Console version will be 5x5, but in PC and Pocket edition it can…

BORDER PATROL Give your garden patch a border, but instead of boring fences, try using leaf blocks to make tall hedges. You can also use them to make an archway. WASH OUT Improve a pond by making a fountain out of stone bricks. You’ll need to make it two blocks deep so the water doesn’t pour out of the back. SUN LOUNGER Every garden needs a patio where you can sit and soak up the sun. Lay down some bricks of a similar type to your building so that it matches, and then add some seating. These benches use a slab of birch with trapdoors for arms and the back. GROW YOUR OWN A veggie patch is a must! Tilled earth might look weird next to the rest of your…

The Great Fire of London in 1666 was definitely only ‘great’ in its sense of scale, not the other definition. Well, not one likes to come home to find their street has been burned down. That’s definitely not great, The city was on fire for four days and destroyed the homes of around 70,000 of the 80,000 people who lived inside the City walls. No, it was absolutely nothing to do with lava, but regardless, the Museum of London has painstakingly recreated 17th century London in Minecraft to mark the 350th anniversary of the most devastating blaze in the entire history of the city. “The Great Fire 1666 maps will allow Minecraft players to explore the City of London and experience the story of the fire like never before,” explains…

Prepare for a lot of numbers. It was bound to happen when two seemingly infinite games exist and the internet has plenty of time on its hands. PS4 and PC space exploration fest No Man’s Sky is enormous. Featuring procedurally generated galaxies, aliens and solar systems, No Man’s Sky promises – wait for it – 18 quintillion planets. Yep, that’s 18 zeroes so many, many lifetimes worth of exploration in just one game. But how does it compare to Minecraft? Which game is bigger? That was what YouTuber ibxtoycat decided to work out. “Something I think everyone kind of has a rough kind of handle on is a Minecraft world because for most people it is essentially infinite, and realistically if you wanted to reach the edge it takes months…

It is a strange experience to physically step into Minecraft, to turn around and see a blocky mountain behind you, and to reach out and punch a block of stone into fragments. That is the unique promise of the HTC Vive, a stunning headset-controller combination that lets you walk around inside the game using a fan-made mod called Minecrift. The first thing I noticed was that everything felt huge. An ordinary block came up to my chest. The nearby hills looked monstrously tall. The Vive lets you walk around a limited area, but you can teleport short distances to move that area. When you hold down the teleport button with your left thumb the game shows you a pink arc so you know where you’re about to end up. I…

Diary, you know I’m a moral man. A good boy. A real top banana. I’ve always believed that lying is wrong, so it’s odd that I’ve gotten so good at it. But it’s not my fault! Kind of! You see, all I’ve ever really wanted, apart from to play Minecraft all day, is for my beloved family to be proud of me. Problem is, I’ve never really achieved anything. Not anything any sane family would be proud of, anyway. All my achievements seem to start in ‘uh oh’ and end in ‘help, fire!’ I’ve tried everything to make my family proud of me. I’ve tried building a zoo (now sadly closed). I’ve tried digging a hole to the centre of the Earth (now gladly filled in). I’ve tried opening my…

For regulars who’ve read our last Command Block code exploration, you’ll remember that these bold blocks are the key to shaping your game exactly the way you want it to be. Set them down, code them up, and change the way the world works. It’s like a kind of dream! You might think you know all about it, but surprise! There’s now even more you can do with them, so don’t worry if you missed our last installment – we’re going back to square one with these crafty creatures to take a look at the changes. These blocks are bigger and better than ever, so we’re diving straight back in for another session. Eyes down, get learning! The world of command blocks is more massive than your largest map, though.…

Did you know that, way back in the 1500s, King Henry VIII himself used to load up his copy of ‘Ye Olde Mining-The-Craft’ and merrily build blocky castles all day long? It’s important to know your history – that’s why we’ve put together this awesome medieval Minecraft competition that’ll let one lucky winner follow in the royal fat man’s footsteps! Answer our brain-teaser correctly, and you’ll be in with a chance of winning three brilliant prizes, all of them perfect for budding castle architects. First of all, you’ll get a copy of the Minecraft: Exploded Builds: Medieval Fortress book (1), an excellent illustrated guide to constructing every element of your medieval kingdom. If our castle-building feature has got you eager to learn more, this is the tome for you. You’ll…

Survival may be key in this game, but it can be pretty exhausting to maintain. Even the fittest of us need a fun, relaxing break sometimes. You can see where this is going, I’m sure! That’s right, it’s time to get up, put on your shorts, take a long crafting break and get out into the real life wilderness… haha no just kidding. Don’t be silly, you’re going to build a whole holiday island yourself. Obviously. Picture it now: open ocean all around, shimmering soft sand, palm trees, sunsets and sunbathing galore. An adventurer like you deserves the splashiest, sunniest, sweetest holiday spot of all (with no rules, no creepers and no homework). But let’s be honest – you want to keep your safe haven to yourself, right? So sail…

Ah, those first nights in Survival mode. Fond memories of huddling in your fresh new dirt hovel, waiting patiently for the sun to rise and hoping nothing and no one notices you. Just like a real holiday. It’s no wonder a home to call your own is the primary mission for most, but it can be overwhelming to think about how to put together your perfect dwelling. A well equipped house is the key to surviving, of course – but you don’t want to just survive, you want to thrive! You want to be ready to take on the world, well armed, well fed, and well supplied. And when you do, you want to win. Well don’t worry you brave survivor, help has arrived. It’s no big deal that everyone…

Can you make a ’50s-style burger bar in Minecraft? With mods like Pam’s Harvestcraft, it’s possible – as are over 275 mouthwatering new recipes. Yum! So join our culinary adventurer as she sets off in pursuit of happiness (and happiness equals french fries, duh). HOW TO INSTALL First, you’ll need to make sure your game runs mods. Go to files.minecraftforge.net to download Forge for your PC or Mac. Start the installer, check that ‘Install client’ is ticked, and install. Grab Pam’s HarvestCraft here: http://bit.ly/gmharvest. Drag the downloaded file into the ‘Mods’ folder of your game’s ‘Minecraft’ folder, and voila! Now you’re cooking with gas. 1 Priorities in Minecraft survival mode: number one, a breathtaking view. Number two, erm, probably not dying or something. After a voyage worthy of Columbus himself,…