Wow man just wow ive been scrolling trough this thread for some time now and its really nice how your play style of minecraft is so diffrent from the other play styles ive seen! I love the buildings and the style keep it up
Hey, those are some really kind compliments, warms my heart Zabarion, thank you!
Today, to get some variety from all the building I will post a travel journal I wrote on the 12th of February to spice things up. I know the writing could be improved a lot, but I don't have time to edit it at the moment, since I am on limited battery next to a closed library to access the WiFI =)
I still hope you like it.
Journey to mushrooms
I continue my exploration towards a mushroom biome. My last session ended just by a jungle temple, which I now proceed to raid for some sticky pistons (yes I don't have any good source of slime). I want to build a cool piston gate for a build I am planning, which I call 'the Adventurer's hub'.
After the temple I continue on for a brief time and eventually exit the jungle and move out onto a desert. I soon find a village. Its inhabitants are mostly clerics. I use up the bones I found in the temple to trade some emeralds for potatoes.
Just as I leave the village towards south-south-west, I spot a desert temple in the distance!
Great! I hope it has diamonds emeralds and enchanted books. Let's see!
It does have an enchanted book! Power IV, not too bad!
The rest of the content
4 golden ingots
A golden apple
1 iron ingot
3 spider eyes
17 strings
34 bones
8 gunpowder (one day I want to make fireworks!)
20 sand
I keep all the items, and I also take the 4 chests, since I find that chests take a lot of wood and time making. I want to stock up the general store. Since a lot of sand goes into making glass and concrete, I also grab a stack of smooth sandstone. I am not sure for what build I will use it yet, but I like using it. The TNT is of course also valuable and I grab it.
As the sun sets, I nibble some cookies and plop down my travel bed just before I reach a savanna.I almost immediately encounter the ocean in a bay with the savanna extending to the south and west.
I decide to jump into my jungle wood boat and row across. I do not want to get sidetracked, keeping my bearing south-south-west.
In this way, I am guaranteed to eventually reach the mythical mushroom biome!
I pass a beautiful ocean monument, which I might be well equipped enough to dare, since I have both Aqua Affinity on my diamond helmet and Depth Strider III on my diamond boots, but I spare it for another time. I know of two more temples to the south-south-east of Flower Valley as well. Eventually I hope to acquire prismarine blocks for any aquatic building to come. The sponge block is also something I have never experimented with.
But for now, I continue on.
A scenic hill desert rises in the distant horizon. Turning slightly more west, a village lies along the shoreline. It is time for the next stop! A librarian, a fletcher and a farmer are busy in the farm plots. I also find a cartographer and several other librarians. One has a Luck of the Sea III for sale. Another has Looting III for 35 emeralds.
Once again I use the bones to speed up the growth of some potatoes and carrots to trade. I am up to 9 emeralds this trip. Satisfied for now, I jump back into the boat and row along the shore to the west.
Just as I turn around a corner, I spot ANOTHER ocean temple to the north. And a second later, the familiar caps of mushrooms tower in the distance! I imagine Terrence MacKenna, the legendary proponent of psychedelics would love this biome featuring in the game!
It is time to bring out the shovel with silk touch! I want to gather 9 stacks. I can not only use these for building or spreading mycelium, but also to farm large mushroom blocks. I throw some less scarce items to clear my inventory. The ingots, leftover carrots and potatoes from the trades as well as some other scattered items has to go into the sea. The ender chest is vital as space for these resource gathering missions.
I finish and go back into my boat. I want to take a different route and explore more land on the map I brought, so I head north. I pass another ocean monument, and a desert village extended far out enough to be 'oceanic'.
As the sun sets I hit shore between a mesa and savanna. I also see jungle in the distance. This would be a great place for a settlement with variety. I also know there are swamps and pine forest not too far to the north, which is the direction I continue heading on for now. I sprint over the grass plains past horses and spot another desert temple! Beyond it, a dark roofed forest, which I plan to avoid because I want to go back into the jungle again.
The most important treasure for me in the temple turns out to be an emerald, some gold, quite a lot of gunpowder, the four chests and TNT under the trap. I also collect the string and rotten flesh for crafting and trading. Now my inventory is completely full, so I decide to head straight back to Flower Valley.
I wander east, following a river for a period. As i make shore, I notice that this area is very suitable for any tree-themed settlement, the wide opening between the roofed forest gently slops upwards towards the neighboring pine forest.
Climbing snowy mountains and crossing marshes I finally enter the calm lagoon connected to Flower Valley.
I celebrate my home coming with 'wait' in the jukebox while sorting out all the gathered treasure and resources.
Don't sell yourself short just because you're on survival. I only play vanilla survival and have made some pretty substantial structures. One of my biggest problems is unfinished projects though (I generally only complete around half my builds), so I see where you're coming from.
I also end up quite a bit behind where my world actually is when I'm keeping a journal, don't worry about it. Definitely looking forward to that curvy building though, sounds interesting!
We'll just have to agree to disagree ;P. I do make some pretty strange things sometimes and totally agree that people should go with their own creativity, I just think that glass flooring is a bit jarring and irks me personally.
I literally cannot stand seeing it used as flooring in my worlds, it drives me crazy seeing the block right under and the sides of the adjacent blocks. I do really like the skylight thing you did though. Now that's proper use of glass as "flooring", when you're standing above you can see into the room below. The clogs made me lol too, cute idea.
Love that "overview" screenshot of the village, it's coming together great. Keep up the good work.
TheWesson also reminded me of another voxel generator I use that you may find useful. I use it mostly for underwater domes but the cones can also be quite helpful as they can sometimes be tricky to do. It breaks the shapes down to each block layer or "level" as they call it, so it's pretty easy to follow.
You can use portions of ovals/circles. After a while you start to get used to eyeballing them.
These are both great tools! I have built offline so far, but since these tools are more useful the larger structures you build, and larger structures require more preparation, I can plan ahead and get the get the shapes when I am online. Thank you Adversity and TheWesson!
I have also experienced the problem with larger unfinished projects, that is definitely something that can be tricky. In fact, I stumbled upon my old saves including such 'mistakes'. I was cleaning up my hard drive and decided to rescue them. I want to include them in a future post to show how I used to build. I also think it is can be both fun and inspiring to look back in time once in a while. And sometimes old things can still have some greatness in them, even if we think our style and technique have improved and taste and preferences changed.
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* Snow and Ice Temple & Storage *
Background
I traded a map to a Woodland Mansion and went for a long, long trek south and then west. On this journey, over ten thousand blocks, I found three villages lined up along the same latitude, and with a spiky ice biome just next to them. I was thrilled enough by this discovery to gather all I could of packed ice, build a nether portal and return, abandoning the quest for the mansion to another time. I am not much of a fighter at this stage anyway.
To house the packed ice, as well as normal ice and snow, I start building on something I initially planned as 'the snowman's cabin'. It will actually turn out more like a combination of an igloo and a temple. Dedicated to ice and snow!
The extreme hills biome to northwest of the valley center has the place I am looking for. The hill is not extremely high, despite its name, so the build will be easily accessible and visible from the main area. Here lies a small water-filled cave which I previously dug out a channel from to create a naturally looking stream with waterfalls down the hill side. The cave has a shallow hollow in front of it which has triggered my imagination for this build. I want to build in the hollow and also include the cave.
the site
As per usual, i bring a temporary bed a chest to store the materials and manage my inventory more easily. And of course also a crafting bench along with my tools.
Gathering materials
To start with, I have some great fun with snowmen. I try to efficiently harvest snow from them by enclosing them with blocks.
First I make the mistake of placing the snowman on a dirtblock, so just after a few goes with the Efficiency IV diamond shovel, the snowman sinks down into a hole. I let him out to roam the hillside, and make another snowman. This time on top of an obsidian block, just to make REALLY sure.
snowman escape artist
To align the look of the area with the purpose of the build, covering it in snow is a great idea, so the escaped snowman is actually helping out!
Building
After acquiring a good 13 stacks of snow blocks, I start with the frame of the building, using andesite.
I want to use ice in between the structure frame. I will create something reminiscent of a snow flake pattern on the floor, surrounded by cyan terracotta. To do this, I first need to fill in some of the water pond. I redesign the water channel to instead be a sign of melting water from the ice and snow that makes up the building and its surroundings.
filling in the area and re-sourcing the water
I run out of terracotta and have to run to the mesa. Luckily, I finished an underground mine-cart track to the nearby village the day before. Now it saves me quite some time. In only a few minutes I can mine two stacks and get back to the construction site.
I highlight the snowflake pattern with some glazed light blue terracotta, but I am unsure if it improves the look. What do you think?
pattern without glazed terracotta
pattern with glazed terracotta
I fill the ceiling with ice to let light shine in. In the walls with packed ice, which would make sense also with the higher load it is under.
To light the temple I place a single glowstone lamp in the middle of the snow flake pattern.
On the exterior I add additional andesite to the lower part of the frame to create more depth.
In the back of the temple, I transform a small natural cave into a more icy cavern.
Finally, I add chests for the ice, packed ice and snow, along with a crafting bench and a white bed. I think the chests could be better integrated into the building, perhaps partially enclosed in ice. But I am freezing cold from doing all this in one sitting session and choose to leave that along with covering of the area with snow for another day, *shivers*!
Instead, let's look at the result so far!!
front view
view towards valley
small render
I wish I had a laptop powerful enough to show you screenshots using shaders. The render in Chunky at least gives a little hint of how it could look like.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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A three-part mixed session
Part 1. Eleven wolves?
I go exploring south with three main goals, two of them related to a build that is currently named 'Adventurer's Hub'. I plan to use a natural cave in the southwest part of Flower Valley to decorate in an adventurous theme.
The goals for my journey are
Expanding the map which I will place on a wall in the hub.
Finding records for the juke box, to be able to play them there.
Taming wolves into dogs to bring to the Flower Valley. I just like the way they say 'woof'
Some additional minor goals are
Just enjoy exploring
Get XP
Get drops
The results: I find a really large pack of wolves but decide that three dogs is enough. I bring them home and color them red, green and blue.
Team RGB =D
After some silly nights of running around in circles around creepers and skeletons, my first disc is finally dropped, and it is the terrible broken '11'.
I also discover a village at coordinates [-10, 72, 2263], where the librarians have Flame and Silk Touch for trade.
Part 2. Up-route
I expand the railroad to the nearest village with a track up the stairs from the mining tunnel. With this missing piece in place, journeys to trade or gather sand or terracotta in the nearby mesa will be an even swifter affair!
Part 3. Straddling life
Again I explore north, north-east with the same goals as in Part 1, except I want to find a horse instead of wolves
This is the trip when I find the white horse also spoken about in a previous post. I name it Life!
I also get 'Strad' for the jukebox, which I quite enjoy. Not as much as Stal though, whose groove is hard to beat.
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Throwback
As promised, I will show some creations I dug up from my old world saves.
Let's start with two of those. that used the same seed (4031384495743822299).
The reason I liked the seed so much was that it had all the biomes within 2000 blocks from spawn!
Thus, I explored the world, but always got tired eventually since I didn't have any long-term plan
Eco-house
In the first world I built something I thought of as an 'eco-house'. It is a combination of a house for living in and a green house.
From outside I don't think it looks too bad actually, but the interior could be improved a lot according to my current standards.
I never had the patience to decorate the landscape around, except for a waterfall. It was built just after version 1.9. The beets had been introduced into the game and I was keen on using them.
Exterior
Interior
Location on world map
Cosmo Canyon remake
In the second world I created a remake of a location in the game Final Fantasy VII, a game I played on the Playstation in the 90's. First I played with my brother, and then I did several replays on my own. What I particularly loved about Cosmo Canyon was its planetarium and observatory, little huts on various heights and ladders and tunnels to get between them.
It might have been more true to the original to build in a mesa biome, but the height and look of the savannah mountains drew me to them. I actually progressed all the way to getting an Elytra (the first and only time I have done so as of date) just to be able to jump from the top of them.
For some reason I also started building a 'Tree Orangerie'. For me, it was a gigantic structure. I had great plans for it, I wanted to include all the tree types, but only the part for dark oak got completed.
Another pretty random feature was a large replica of the periodic table, smack in the middle of the ground level in the canyon.
In total, I built three of the circular houses and one small house on the ground. I also dug out the bar or inn, 'Cosmo Candle' into the mountainside.
Mountain view
Tree Orangerie
Periodic Table
Cosmo Candle
The next post will be all about redstone! I actually enjoy redstone a lot, but so far has not had any reason to use it in Flower Valley
The temple is pretty cool, but O...M...G... I love the eco-house! It looks so good and it has that cute pond next to it with the flow down the hill, just great. I think your builds are improving very quickly from one to the next.
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Quote from Swingerzetta »
This forum has made me decide that I now want kids, so that when they get old enough, I can forbid them from coming here. it's a terrible place.
I've gotta say I've been hawking over this thread for a few days now and it's quite inspiring. You've found your own niche when it comes to building and that's sorta what I'm striving for, it's like you're an advanced hermit. I oughta break free from the medieval/victorian building style I've forever stayed accustomed to. Loving the eco-house by the way!
I feel really happy to hear that I am inspiring you Rakkinishu, that is really my goal with this thread!
Medieval/victorian is great, but we also need to change things up, find new challenges and opportunities to learn.
You could use the things you know about medieval/victorian and integrate it in new ways, create your own unique niche too if you are up to it.
I must say it is a very rewarding feeling to join various fields of knowledge and styles.
You are right on the spot with likening me to a hermit. I actually live alone, and one of the Minecrafters on YouTube I particularly enjoy is generikb, also a self-styled hermit. I would say you are quite sage-like with this insight (also I see something of that in your chosen profile picture, am I right?)
The temple is pretty cool, but O...M...G... I love the eco-house! It looks so good and it has that cute pond next to it with the flow down the hill, just great. I think your builds are improving very quickly from one to the next.
I am surprised, I didn't think I would get such a positive response to the eco-house! It means I am onto something, I will build something similar in the surroundings of Flower Valley, expanding and improving on the original.
I think people all around the world has this yearning to live closer in touch with nature (also their own inner one), that is at least something within me that I try to tap into, while combining it with other fields like art, architecture, history and philosophy.
I've hit a brick wall for the time being since the survival area I'm working within is entirely medieval-themed already, but in the near future I'll branch out. And I thought so. I'm also a fan (well was) of generikb and was once a full-time hermit. Sage-like you could say, Confucius may agree. Hope the builds are going well in the last three days anyway. Looking forward to your next post.
Sometimes having to wait until doing something builds a great momentum that when you finally get to it your passion becomes unparalleled. i can feel it myself now that I have set the rule to not build more until I catch up with posting past material, I am really starting to feel the itch. But there is perhaps a week or two before I will be in synch! Until then, I am trying my best to get a more ordered way of working and posting in place.
Redstone-controlled nether portal with hidden door to treasure vault
Redstone!
The enjoyment I get from building with redstone is three-fold:
Experimenting and figuring out the small technical details, coming up with various ways of doing things, looking for the best one.
Finally getting your solution to work!
Putting it together in a survival setting. I especially like the duality of how on the one hand, all the wiring and other things are there, they might be very large indeed. But if you make it well hidden, you don't see anything from the outside, and the whole thing takes on a sense of magic!
Why am I building with redstone this time? Again it is about storing items. Emeralds, diamonds, lapiz and redstone are now so abundant that they are starting to flow outside my ender chest. I keep some of the lapis and redstone in the Wizard's house for enchanting and crafting redstone related items, and some diamonds at the blacksmith for repairs, but I don't want store all of it there. I think it is good to spread the risk, should disaster strike (particularly in the form of creepers). Plans were made earlier to rebuild the small sandstone hut into something like a treasury or bank, but now I don't feel at all in the mood to touch it
For this build I draw inspiration from one of my old worlds, actually the largest I ever made. I sadly do not have it anymore, but I can still picture it within my mind: I had hidden a piston door in the side of a hill of a small island in the middle of the main area. Inside the hill was a vault with all accumulated treasures. I want to add something like that to Flower Valley.
However, I want a bigger challenge than just a piston door, so I choose to try to integrate the door with the already built nether portal. To be specific, I want the nether portal to deactivate when the door opens, and activate when it closes. The vault-portal also neatly gives a place to store all the quartz, glowstone and other materials from the nether which until now was all dumped into a chest in front of the portal.
Design in creative
I load a creative test and practice world. In this way I can figure all the details out in a forgiving environment, and avoid digging up the whole valley,
First I explore by trial and error how dispensers work with portals. Combining behavior with requirements I start the circuit design. The library of basic circuits from various tutorials that I have collected in the test world helps as a palette to pick from. After perhaps an hour I get to something that works.
Design description:
The player interacts with either the pressure plate on the outside or the button an the inside. That interaction sends a pulse which is sent to a T-flip-flop. The T-flip-flop is a contraption which switches between two states at each signal pulse it receives. So the first state is open in terms of the door, and inactive in terms of the portal. The second state is closed in terms of the door and active in terms of the portal. From the T-flip-flop the signal is split depending on the destination:
To the dispenser with flint and steel activating the portal. This signal needs a mono-stable circuit, which converts the steady signal from the T-flip-flop into a pulse.
To to the dispenser with the bucket of water. This signal needs an inverter, so that it does not activate at the same state as the other dispenser. Then it needs a mono-stable circuit for the same reasons as the previous signal. Finally, a double pulse extender enables the water to be dispensed quickly, deactivating the portal, and then to quickly be removed again without flooding the entrance.
To the pistons opening and closing the door.
Finally I do my best to make it as compact as I can, which involves getting the signals to run as close as they can without getting mixed up and interfering with each other. For example, a repeater is needed along one of the door lines to avoid contact with the block that has the inside button.
It might be tricky to see how everything is laid out from the pictures, I apologize! I know color-coding the signals would have provided more clarity (it is almost necessary to keep things clear in larger projects). To get you somewhat oriented, in the picture from the top, the signal to the water bucket goes on the left, and the flint and steel to the right, but the visible lines are the ones to the pistons. The T-flip-flop is placed just underneath the middle of the door. The whole construction seems to take up a 9x9 block area, 8 blocks high.
Top view
Side views
Closeups
Finally, to make the construction in the survival world as painless as possible I write a list of the materials used. I present it here too, for the records, and in case anyone would want to try to replicate this. Note that the counts of some materials vary depending on the choice of door size,and its placement in relation to the portal.
Obsidian portal
At least 3 wide, so 12 obsidian blocks
Door
2 to 6 sticky pistons (depending on size wanted)
Full blocks to stick on the sticky pistons + to cover anything left
Portal mechanism
2 dispensers
1 bucket of water
1 flint & steel
T-flip-flop
3 droppers
1 hopper
1 comparator
Signal hub
1 full block
Inverter, delay and double pulse for water dispensal
6 halfslabs
4 full blocks
5 redstone
1 redstone torch
4 repeaters
1 sticky piston
Delay for flint and steel
6 halfslabs
1 full block
5 redstone
1 sticky piston
1 repeater
Piston door circuit
1 full block per piston on each side
13 halfslabs
13 redstone plus one per piston on each side
2 repeaters
Activation mechanism, shared
2 halfslabs
2 redstone
Activation mechanism, inside
1 button
4 full blocks
3 half slabs
5 redstone
Activation mechanism, outside
1 wooden pressure plate
2 full blocks
2 half slabs
3 redstone
Totals
32 halfslabs
12 full blocks plus 1 per sticky piston used in the door, and the door itself (ex, a 4 by 3 door uses 12)
33 redstone, plus one per piston in the door
1 hopper
2 sticky pistons, plus the ones in the door
3 droppers
2 dispensers
7 repeaters
1 comparator
1 redstone torch
1 button
1 pressure plate
1 bucket of water
1 flint and steel
I feel quite proud with the result, I think it is the best redstone-build I have done in terms of quality. Most larger systems I built in the past were from tutorials, so I don't count them. Other large builds were very messy, and sometimes not 100% reliable.
Implementation in survival
Back in Flower Valley, I add glowstone lamps in the ceiling which activate when the door is closed to prevent mobs from spawning inside. I also place a bed inside the vault there for emergency naps. Purple to match the portal of course!
Interior
For materials, I think quartz make the interior feel 'vault-like', and nether bricks contrast well with quartz, being black in the texture pack I use. By chance, due to the necessity of stairs to get in, the quartz part of the entrance viewed from outside takes on the shape of a sword. It ties in with the theme of the build planned next to it, the Adventurer's Hub, and I like it!
Exteriors (closed/active portal vs open/inactive portal)
Looking at the last picture, I definitely want to clear out those dirt blocks, they don't make any sense to me!
For now I am happy with this solution for diamonds, emeralds, lapiz, redstone and glowstone. In the future I might move them to a building with a specific gem-related purpose.
This was a technical post, even writing it. To balance it, and give me a bit of rest, the next ones will be more simple,
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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Sometimes I don't have creative inspiration, or, I have TOO MUCH inspiration, the head is full of ideas, but they are many and unorganized and I am unfocused and feel inadequate.
In these moments I approach Minecraft (and life in general) as a meditation. I set aside all plans and just take a single small thing right in front of me and try to just do that, as best I can, without thinking about anything else.
Today's post comes from a time when this was the case, but what was supposed to be just one simple thing quickly escalated!
From Wheat to Wither, part I
I feel pretty bad and I don't know what to do. I decide that I will just harvest wheat. Only that.
From that monotonous thing, harvest, plant, harvest, plant, harvest, plant, my mood and energy gradually improves. I begin to set some small fun goals.
Instead of just harvesting wheat, I take on all the crops. Pumpkins, melons. The axe with Efficiency V makes it challenging to not chop off anything behind them.
Carrots and potatos are like wheat but more sweet. Beet are a treat for someone who doesn't eat meat. Enough rhymes, I am on repeat.
a cheer for sheer shearing
For novelty's sake, I explore one of the most underrated tools, the shear! This curiosity, which unlike almost all others tools can only be made of one material is crucial to a survival builder! It can gather many of the blocks and items adding the final touches to make a build blend in well with the environment. Leaves and vines in particular, but also ferns and grass.
I try to do as much as I can with shears:
I shear all the sheep around the valley.
I discover that you can shear the pumpkin off the snow golem, so that it looks like a typical snow man!
I shear the vines on the steeper valley sides.
I trek south to a spruce forest to gather ferns.
That final trek gives me wanderlust. With a map and a horse I'm off to the east. An expansive land blending deserts, mesas and savannas.
Two villages and three temples later I haul back includes a ton of horse armor, saddles, golden apples. Even a few emeralds, a diamond and a book with Fortune III.
mine, mine, mine!!!
Then starts a serious mining session. Instead of continuing the original mine to the east of the main area, I branch off a northward descent just at the entrance of the mines. From level 10 I turn left, and eventually reach the area under the snow and ice temple. This area is extreme hills+ and VERY rich. I find an enormous cave system with very cool geological features; a large cave with a multitude of tunnels and a five-six block wide hole from the surface to down to height level 30.
In a short time I have my inventory and ender chest full:
What a haul!
8 emerald blocks
7 diamond ore blocks
11 redstone ore blocks
27 gold ore block
11 lapis ore blocks
92 iron ore blocks
120 coal ore blocks
47 redstone blocks
1 stack of andesite
1 stack of granite
2 stacks of smoothstone
6 stacks of cobblestone
I then discover my first mob spawner, with spiders!
chest loot and coordinates for the afterlife. Also, seeing the specs makes me facepalm! I have been running all this time with only 1GB RAM allocated on a laptop with 16 available!
Name Tag
Saddle
Projectile Protection
6 gold ingots
20 gunpowder
1 'blue' golden apple
4 melon seeds
I decide that this area will be where all my mining efforts are directed in the forseeable future and thus begin a minecart track so I can dump off more material in carts with chests. Especially larger builds of stone will benefit by accumulating great quantities from branch mining here.
The head is now spinning with ideas; I want to build a beacon to increase the efficiency even further. I actually NEVER took on the Wither, so it is about time for a player who has been around in the game since alpha!
fishy business
To not rush into things however, I spend a good time just sitting and fishing by the river branch that runs into the valley from the south. The fishing rod has Mending, Luck of the Sea III and Unbreaking III, so it is not a bad way to gain some experience level.
The coveted Frost Walker-book eludes me, but the levels let me upgrade the sword 'Loot Sharp' to Sharpness V.
I also fish a Mending to put on one of the bows!
the nether weathers me
I spend a long time in the nether and get two skulls. I am exhausted and do not continue until the next day.
The goal of the beacon still beckons... All the time in the nether opens my eyes to some improvements to be had there. A shorter route to the nether fortress and a XP farm (generikb's ghetto version) gets built in a few grinding hours.
the impenetrable tunnel I built from the portal to the fortress. It packs packed ice and looks like a demonic high-speed train to me
The bows get Punch II upgrades. Bow pow!
'Flamending'
Power V
Unbreaking III
Mending
Flame
Punch II
'Fouris'
Power V
Unbreaking III
Infinity
Punch II
Finally, I somehow juke out another music disc, 'cat' from the creepers and skeletons.
At least an hour is spent running around the nether fortress until finally, a third wither skull! Phew! Then I remember, weren't I just harvesting wheat?
I go back, chill, brew potions, beet soup and bake potatoes.
Am I prepared enough? I have NO idea.
My first humbling encounter with the Wither will be told of after the next post, which will be all about bridges!
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Adaptive pathing and bridge building
I want to make a road to the desert village in the east.
There is already a short path towards it ending in a fork just after the Animalist's cottage that I can work with
I select the southern route. This way, the road will be more direct, but it will have to cross the river four times.
First I create the paths. In the grassy areas I mix path-blocks, coarse dirt, gravel, mossy cobblestone and andesite.
I try to make the path wind gently and also not climb to steep where possible.
In the desert I mix sandstone with smooth sandstone.
I use half slabs in every height transition to avoid bumpy walks. I think it looks better too!
Arriving at the village I see that the path I made is too organic compared to the ones in the village
I round off the village paths a bit, shaving off a few piles of sand to improve the visibility and aesthetics. I add half slabs in the village too. The exit from the mine-cart track gets an access path into the village center. Pleased with these results I can now start on the most exciting part of this session, the bridges!
For each river crossing I follow this method of three steps (feeling very scientific)
review the demands of each crossing
pick something that suits it from the sources
adapt it to Minecraft
Log bridge
The first crossing the path has to make is a small one, only three blocks, in fact I think I dug this channel out once to connect the small northern stream to the larger river in the south. Here, I choose one of the the most ancient method known, throwing logs across supported by stones underneath on each side
just toss two logs and we are basically done!
Wooden bridge with stone support
The second crossing is a ten block jump between sand and gravel beaches in grassy hills.
From the source documents I choose the bridge in Assus 2400 years ago in Asia Minor. The scale of that bridge suits very well here. Since it had a span of around 3 meters between each support, I can divide the bridge in three parts, plus the paths leading up from the paths on each side. So I build two support pillars in the river, and one support on each beach.
I love mossy cobblestone
I emulate the materials as best I can; the supports of the ancient bridge were made of stone, with stone beams between them
this looks rather shaky... if I only could rotate those cobblestone fences 90 degrees!
The stone beams are connected with wooden shears and covered with wooden beams as well.
mind your step (or rather, your right mouse button) on this bridge
I mix cobblestone, mossy cobblestone and andesite for the pillars. For the stone beams I use cobblestone fences, and trap doors for the wooden shears. I had planned wooden pressure plates as a cover, but they cannot be placed on top of trapdoors. Instead I add a wooden fence on each side.
at least now we won't fall off sideways
Arched stone bridge
The third crossing is a 14 block leap from sand to grass
only occupants so far: octupuses
I want to try an arched bridge with semi-circular arches. Since the river banks are three blocks high, I think a diameter of the semicircles of seven would me a good choice, creating two arches and placing one support pillar in the middle of the river.
To challenge myself, and to adapt the shape of the land I build the bridge at a slight angle, shifting one block in the north-south direction each eight block. I mix stone bricks, mossy stone bricks and stone brick stairs for the pillars and arches.
pillars perfectly spaced out
To highlight the structure I use smooth andesite and carved stone bricks. Stone slabs and cobblestone fences make the railings, and cobblestone slabs form the walking path in the middle.
could it be the nicest bridge I have ever built?
I think it actually looks even better in the vanilla texture pack
Horses cannot pass this nor the previous bridge properly but there is the northern alternative route for them to take.
only me and my ass fits, no donkeys or horses!
Flat wide sandstone bridge
The last crossing is another ten blocks from sand to sand.
Here the ancient bridge over the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia inspires me. That bridge spanned 300 meters, so some scaling down needs to be made I improvise using similar materials, sandstone bricks and sandstone slabs.
The bridge does not have arches, but sturdy supports on the sides of the wide walkway.
octupus: "why is he building statues of himself in the river?"
The complete bridge fits great into the desert biome!
to my friend, April: "You may march on this one in June, when I get a world download up!"
To celebrate the completed path and bridges I indulge in rendering all of it
Flower Valley is now officially connected to the outside world
In the next post: The conclusion to of first Wither encounter along with another fatal failure
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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This is the coolest thing ever! Thank you for sharing your progress with us, it's really neat to see your world develop. I'm really inspired to try making my own Survival Journal now!!! =D
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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Upplands Väsby
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Location:
Upplands Väsby, Sweden
Minecraft:
AvionPhoton
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From Wheat to Wither, part II
I want to have a source of slime blocks, so I dig out a 19x2x19 area at level 37-39 in the main mine shaft staircase. I knew that slimes had been spawning there when I initially dug the descent. But this time the search turned out to be fruitless.
Instead I spend some time lighting up areas, mining smooth stone, andesite and diorite for future larger building projects.
I also gather ores and coal for XP and future use.
I find a large ravine from [450,547] to [393,596] where it joins another one all the way to [473,640]. It has a water exit in the river to the east of flower valley at [400,560]. This could be a place to build something cool, a water entrance to a underground hideout!
I go fishing for a while and get a book with Efficiency IV and Power IV. Since I am already maxed with Efficiency V on all tools and power V bows, I don't know what to use it for.. Perhaps a specialized bow, without Punch or Flame... Or a silk touch axe?
To my great joy I discovered I already had a Lure III stored away, which I will put on the fishing rod to complete it. I name this ultimate fishing rod Lucky Lure, after the legendary comic book character and sharp shooter Lucky Luke. Trying it out, it catches sooo quickly!
Now I have enough levels to repair my diamond armor: 'Jazzy Hat' and 'Artemis Demise' (boots). I don't deem the chest-plate and leggings worth it, I think it is better to get new level 30 enchanted armor with level IV Protection.
I go to the closest swamp to look for slimes. It is just beyond the extreme hills to the west, passing a small patch of desert.
I cut down some oak trees (replanting them a bit further away) for materials to build a farm, relying on an old memory of one I once built in an old world.
I terraform the area a bit, I want a terrace system with several levels, where all slimes eventually end up in a single collection point.
I wear out my first diamond shovel 'No spoon' and enjoy inaugurating the Level V shovel 'Silk Spoon'.
I build the farm from dirt, using wood only to cover it.
And then I discover that it doesn't work. Nothing spawns =D !!
What to do with this ugly mess? Tear it all down or re-purpose it somehow?
Instead go mining in the extreme hills. I find plenty of caves and ravines to run around in. I gather no less than 40 diamonds, fill three chest mine carts, and a crazy battle in the largest cave renders the another addition to the music collection, the precious disk 'stal'.
Finally I feel confident enough to take on the Wither. I summon it in the deserts to the north. I consider the terrain boring enough so that battle damage won't be too harmful.
I think I am very well prepared, with plenty of golden apples and potions.
But little do I know how wrong I am.
I did not count on my poor control and am not prepared for the speed of the Wither! After some sniping with the bow at a distance
Well, the Wither gets my number and comes upon me. I try to run away an heal, but keep panicking and falling into sandy holes. Finally, I reaching the edge of the desert, where I fall to my death by the river like a cowardly version of Boromir.
So I lost badly in Hard Mode, despite good material preparation. My fighting skills are nothing like they used to be. I decide that since the purpose of Flower Valley is foremost to enjoy building, the best way to progress is to set the game first to Peaceful to recover the equipment, and do the next battle on Easy.
I grind for another 3 wither skulls, and this time I get them pretty quickly!
The fight on Easy is so easy I don't know what to write about it.
I placed four iron golems around the desert to provide distraction. I doubt they made a difference, and finally my first nether star is in my hand.
I have the idea of placing the beacon under the Wizard's house, with the beam going through the crystal, but for the moment, I set it up in the extreme hills.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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Also, I know it's from a long time ago, but I really loved how in your original post you talked about how the only things you've killed animals for were leather and ink. I agree it would be cool if they came up with an alternative way of getting these types of materials just for some different options. I saw a post where someone started a "vegan" survival world where they only ate plant foods instead of animals, so it got me thinking. Your post has expanded on that idea! Now I want to try something like this as well. =) Anyways, keep up the good work, the world is looking great~!
Also, I know it's from a long time ago, but I really loved how in your original post you talked about how the only things you've killed animals for were leather and ink. I agree it would be cool if they came up with an alternative way of getting these types of materials just for some different options. I saw a post where someone started a "vegan" survival world where they only ate plant foods instead of animals, so it got me thinking. Your post has expanded on that idea! Now I want to try something like this as well. =) Anyways, keep up the good work, the world is looking great~!
I am happy to hear this! I am actually considering making a mod, since I have a few other ideas which could fit too!
Background: Flower valley needs ocean materials, and I explore ocean temples for the first time
I start by following the nearby rivers by boat, first east, and then south-east. I hike through beautiful blend of lush hilly plains, desert, birch forest and mesa while filling in more uncharted territory onto a large map I brought. Sheep, pig and wolves roam the forests and as I approach the ocean I feel excited!
I traverse yet another river, with steep mountains on the right.
Just before the shore I spot a torch-lit cave: I have been here once before; it was while searching for the Woodland Mansion. I never reached the mansion, but other places to revisit; villages, and a spiky ice biome. I discover the boat I left behind as I circle a cozy narrow coastal island. I stop to pick rose bushes on the shore, uncertain if there are any in Flower Valley.
I then embark south across the ocean. Before the edge of the map a light from an ocean temple shows up below the distant surface. It is time to dive! I am well prepared with Aqua Affinity and Respiration III on the helmet and Depth Strider III on the boots.
I want to gather a good number of building materials. I especially see potential in prismarine as roof tiles and floor tiles.
I gather sea lanterns and find eight gold blocks in the first temple, impossible to resist!
There is a second temple just south of the first. Eight more gold blocks, and perhaps the greatest treasure: a room full of sponges!! Hooray!
Intoxicated by this gold fever, I accidentally throw my map in the ocean on the way back! I spend quite some time scouring the ocean floor for it...
Devastated, I leave for an IRL break, get something to eat and move the legs.
Back from the break and back from the trip to the ocean, I create the little map display for a map in scale 1:2 that is shown in the last picture of the last update.
Intermission
Direction: Just up the hill
Goal: Gather wood
I plan a build using lots of wood. It will probably be oak or spruce.
So it is time for a lumber gathering session. I gather a few stacks of each type, along with leaves.
I want to make custom trees in the future, especially high pines (using spruce wood and spruce or dark oak leaves and birch trees.
While chopping and shearing I forget to pay attention to jungle saplings and run completely out!
I know of a jungle biome to the south west where there are several temple ruins. Visiting these will be a bonuse, since they provide sticky pistons (these are still scarce, with all slime farms failing).
Just embarked I stop for a moment to gaze across the lake towards Flower Valley.
on the lake, taking a break
I pass a village on the way. The armorer interests me and there is also a farmer to trade with.
I discover swamps with a witch hut, adding a second to the one I found west of the main base.
Entering the jungle, I start gathering jungle wood to get few saplings.
I traverse the jungle westward and spot the first ocelot in this world! It is down in a cave! At the moment I do not want to make a cat out of it.. But I would love if it would want to come closer to Flower Valley. But ocelots do not mix well with chicken... perhaps I can make them to coexist peacefully by changing a gamerule? This must be investigated later!
Later I catch more of these rascals in action!
oh why oh why this senseless violence?!
Four innocents chicks falls before the feline flees into the foliage. I follow its direction and after some hundred blocks, I spot something cobbly!
where is my hat and whip?
The temple is void of mossy cobblestone stairs. I am at odds. Where to get these!? Taiga biomes?
I gather other valuables, I am happy with the redstone contraptions, saving me the time having to craft them.
Passing on northwest, I spot a third ocelot just before approaching a lake.
At edge of the jungle, on the northern side of a plain there is a spruce forest. I continue to follow the jungle edge however, to encounter a second jungle temple! This one is richer in treasure. Three diamonds, seven gold ingots, and an enchanted book with mending!!! BUT it also has Curse of Binding D...:
jungle loot
As I leave, I trip into a deep hole, falling at least ten blocks. I would have died if it were not for the 'Artemis's Boots' with Feather Falling IV on. Phew'!
The rest of the trip is without obstacles. I expand the explored area of the western map, while mourning the loss of the central map to the depths of the ocean in the previous journey
Back home, I ponder. Is it worth putting the cursed mending book on any of my equipment?
I jam to Stal and discover that adding the book does not transfer the curse!
Adding mending to the Silk Touch pick is too expensive, but for sword. reaching level 14 suffices. It is definitely worth it!
Being at level 11, I head down the strip mine in the extreme hills to get those levels mining.
I catch myself on fire at the end of the minecart track. To remove the hazard I mine away all the obsidian and make the place more open and friendly. But I leave a small lava pool for later mass smelting of cobblestone.
hundred blocks per bucket is hard to beat
With most lava removed I can hopefully avoid accidents such as throwing Level V-Unbreaking--Fortune III-Mending pickaxes away like dirt blocks! To be really safe I even reconfigure my key settings. Q is so terribly closely tucked in between 1, W and A to trust that no mishaps will occur on my trigger-happy mechanical keyboard. I move the drop function on H instead.
I gather sixteen diamonds, some lapis, redstone and iron and run out of torches. I want to head up anyway, to move the beacon. At the surface, I realize how little lighting the valley has, it is crawling with zombies and skeletons!
I have enough XP, and add mending to the sword. What a powerful artifact!
my pencil sharpener
After that. I move the beacon to a lower level, just next to the minetrack.
I start making a larger pyramid, but after stopping and counting I realize I am still short about 20 blocks to enable the secondary power.
I need to include my gold blocks too. The two ocean temples I explored make this possible! For fun and aesthetics, I gather all my accumulated treasure into the ender chest
bling!
After juggling deep lava pools, the full beacon is complete!
powering up the magical boost kit!
Obsidian is mined as stone with a stone pick and we are ready for serious strip mining! I test out the range of the beacon, it seems to be around 50 blocks in each direction, well within the extreme hills biome.
Summing it up, the main accomplishments of these sessions were
building up a stockpile of prismarine, lanterns, spunges and wood for the next building
Nice! Let me know if you ever release that mod =) I'd love to try it out!
So happy to hear that you want to help me test it. I will definitely tell you when it is done!
Now, a short update to show what I am up to!
I caught up with old stuff, so two days ago I finally got to start a new project, a gigantic tree!
This will be the largest build so far in this survival world.
A screenshot of the progress so far:
I built the trunk and roots the last two days, and the branches today.
I greatly underestimated the amount of materials needed.
For the next phase I have one double chest of leaves gathered, but doubt that will get me far!
I am also considering adding more vertical branches above the current ones.
I want to finish it the coming week. But the tree will include buildings inside and on top of it, so perhaps one week is not enough. However, after the tree and some landscaping.I think the main area of Flower Valley might be ready for a first world download. In May, maybe?
Hey, those are some really kind compliments, warms my heart Zabarion, thank you!
Today, to get some variety from all the building I will post a travel journal I wrote on the 12th of February to spice things up. I know the writing could be improved a lot, but I don't have time to edit it at the moment, since I am on limited battery next to a closed library to access the WiFI =)
I still hope you like it.
Journey to mushrooms
After the temple I continue on for a brief time and eventually exit the jungle and move out onto a desert. I soon find a village. Its inhabitants are mostly clerics. I use up the bones I found in the temple to trade some emeralds for potatoes.
Just as I leave the village towards south-south-west, I spot a desert temple in the distance!
Great! I hope it has diamonds emeralds and enchanted books. Let's see!
It does have an enchanted book! Power IV, not too bad!
The rest of the content
As the sun sets, I nibble some cookies and plop down my travel bed just before I reach a savanna.I almost immediately encounter the ocean in a bay with the savanna extending to the south and west.
I decide to jump into my jungle wood boat and row across. I do not want to get sidetracked, keeping my bearing south-south-west.
In this way, I am guaranteed to eventually reach the mythical mushroom biome!
I pass a beautiful ocean monument, which I might be well equipped enough to dare, since I have both Aqua Affinity on my diamond helmet and Depth Strider III on my diamond boots, but I spare it for another time. I know of two more temples to the south-south-east of Flower Valley as well. Eventually I hope to acquire prismarine blocks for any aquatic building to come. The sponge block is also something I have never experimented with.
But for now, I continue on.
A scenic hill desert rises in the distant horizon. Turning slightly more west, a village lies along the shoreline. It is time for the next stop! A librarian, a fletcher and a farmer are busy in the farm plots. I also find a cartographer and several other librarians. One has a Luck of the Sea III for sale. Another has Looting III for 35 emeralds.
Once again I use the bones to speed up the growth of some potatoes and carrots to trade. I am up to 9 emeralds this trip. Satisfied for now, I jump back into the boat and row along the shore to the west.
Just as I turn around a corner, I spot ANOTHER ocean temple to the north. And a second later, the familiar caps of mushrooms tower in the distance! I imagine Terrence MacKenna, the legendary proponent of psychedelics would love this biome featuring in the game!
It is time to bring out the shovel with silk touch! I want to gather 9 stacks. I can not only use these for building or spreading mycelium, but also to farm large mushroom blocks. I throw some less scarce items to clear my inventory. The ingots, leftover carrots and potatoes from the trades as well as some other scattered items has to go into the sea. The ender chest is vital as space for these resource gathering missions.
I finish and go back into my boat. I want to take a different route and explore more land on the map I brought, so I head north. I pass another ocean monument, and a desert village extended far out enough to be 'oceanic'.
As the sun sets I hit shore between a mesa and savanna. I also see jungle in the distance. This would be a great place for a settlement with variety. I also know there are swamps and pine forest not too far to the north, which is the direction I continue heading on for now. I sprint over the grass plains past horses and spot another desert temple! Beyond it, a dark roofed forest, which I plan to avoid because I want to go back into the jungle again.
The most important treasure for me in the temple turns out to be an emerald, some gold, quite a lot of gunpowder, the four chests and TNT under the trap. I also collect the string and rotten flesh for crafting and trading. Now my inventory is completely full, so I decide to head straight back to Flower Valley.
I wander east, following a river for a period. As i make shore, I notice that this area is very suitable for any tree-themed settlement, the wide opening between the roofed forest gently slops upwards towards the neighboring pine forest.
Climbing snowy mountains and crossing marshes I finally enter the calm lagoon connected to Flower Valley.
I celebrate my home coming with 'wait' in the jukebox while sorting out all the gathered treasure and resources.
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
These are both great tools! I have built offline so far, but since these tools are more useful the larger structures you build, and larger structures require more preparation, I can plan ahead and get the get the shapes when I am online. Thank you Adversity and TheWesson!
I have also experienced the problem with larger unfinished projects, that is definitely something that can be tricky. In fact, I stumbled upon my old saves including such 'mistakes'. I was cleaning up my hard drive and decided to rescue them. I want to include them in a future post to show how I used to build. I also think it is can be both fun and inspiring to look back in time once in a while. And sometimes old things can still have some greatness in them, even if we think our style and technique have improved and taste and preferences changed.
Thank you ProfessorMonkey5! <3
The next build will be posted will be tomorrow!
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
* Snow and Ice Temple & Storage *
Background
I traded a map to a Woodland Mansion and went for a long, long trek south and then west. On this journey, over ten thousand blocks, I found three villages lined up along the same latitude, and with a spiky ice biome just next to them. I was thrilled enough by this discovery to gather all I could of packed ice, build a nether portal and return, abandoning the quest for the mansion to another time. I am not much of a fighter at this stage anyway.
To house the packed ice, as well as normal ice and snow, I start building on something I initially planned as 'the snowman's cabin'. It will actually turn out more like a combination of an igloo and a temple. Dedicated to ice and snow!
The extreme hills biome to northwest of the valley center has the place I am looking for. The hill is not extremely high, despite its name, so the build will be easily accessible and visible from the main area. Here lies a small water-filled cave which I previously dug out a channel from to create a naturally looking stream with waterfalls down the hill side. The cave has a shallow hollow in front of it which has triggered my imagination for this build. I want to build in the hollow and also include the cave.
the site
As per usual, i bring a temporary bed a chest to store the materials and manage my inventory more easily. And of course also a crafting bench along with my tools.
Gathering materials
To start with, I have some great fun with snowmen. I try to efficiently harvest snow from them by enclosing them with blocks.
First I make the mistake of placing the snowman on a dirtblock, so just after a few goes with the Efficiency IV diamond shovel, the snowman sinks down into a hole. I let him out to roam the hillside, and make another snowman. This time on top of an obsidian block, just to make REALLY sure.
snowman escape artist
To align the look of the area with the purpose of the build, covering it in snow is a great idea, so the escaped snowman is actually helping out!
Building
After acquiring a good 13 stacks of snow blocks, I start with the frame of the building, using andesite.
I want to use ice in between the structure frame. I will create something reminiscent of a snow flake pattern on the floor, surrounded by cyan terracotta. To do this, I first need to fill in some of the water pond. I redesign the water channel to instead be a sign of melting water from the ice and snow that makes up the building and its surroundings.
filling in the area and re-sourcing the water
I run out of terracotta and have to run to the mesa. Luckily, I finished an underground mine-cart track to the nearby village the day before. Now it saves me quite some time. In only a few minutes I can mine two stacks and get back to the construction site.
I highlight the snowflake pattern with some glazed light blue terracotta, but I am unsure if it improves the look. What do you think?
pattern without glazed terracotta
pattern with glazed terracotta
I fill the ceiling with ice to let light shine in. In the walls with packed ice, which would make sense also with the higher load it is under.
To light the temple I place a single glowstone lamp in the middle of the snow flake pattern.
On the exterior I add additional andesite to the lower part of the frame to create more depth.
In the back of the temple, I transform a small natural cave into a more icy cavern.
Finally, I add chests for the ice, packed ice and snow, along with a crafting bench and a white bed. I think the chests could be better integrated into the building, perhaps partially enclosed in ice. But I am freezing cold from doing all this in one sitting session and choose to leave that along with covering of the area with snow for another day, *shivers*!
Instead, let's look at the result so far!!
front view
view towards valley
small render
I wish I had a laptop powerful enough to show you screenshots using shaders. The render in Chunky at least gives a little hint of how it could look like.
UPDATE:
I managed to get shaders working
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
A three-part mixed session
Part 1. Eleven wolves?
I go exploring south with three main goals, two of them related to a build that is currently named 'Adventurer's Hub'. I plan to use a natural cave in the southwest part of Flower Valley to decorate in an adventurous theme.
The goals for my journey are
Some additional minor goals are
The results: I find a really large pack of wolves but decide that three dogs is enough. I bring them home and color them red, green and blue.
Team RGB =D
After some silly nights of running around in circles around creepers and skeletons, my first disc is finally dropped, and it is the terrible broken '11'.
I also discover a village at coordinates [-10, 72, 2263], where the librarians have Flame and Silk Touch for trade.
Part 2. Up-route
I expand the railroad to the nearest village with a track up the stairs from the mining tunnel. With this missing piece in place, journeys to trade or gather sand or terracotta in the nearby mesa will be an even swifter affair!
Part 3. Straddling life
Again I explore north, north-east with the same goals as in Part 1, except I want to find a horse instead of wolves
This is the trip when I find the white horse also spoken about in a previous post. I name it Life!
I also get 'Strad' for the jukebox, which I quite enjoy. Not as much as Stal though, whose groove is hard to beat.
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Throwback
As promised, I will show some creations I dug up from my old world saves.
Let's start with two of those. that used the same seed (4031384495743822299).
The reason I liked the seed so much was that it had all the biomes within 2000 blocks from spawn!
Thus, I explored the world, but always got tired eventually since I didn't have any long-term plan
Eco-house
In the first world I built something I thought of as an 'eco-house'. It is a combination of a house for living in and a green house.
From outside I don't think it looks too bad actually, but the interior could be improved a lot according to my current standards.
I never had the patience to decorate the landscape around, except for a waterfall. It was built just after version 1.9. The beets had been introduced into the game and I was keen on using them.
Exterior
Interior
Location on world map
Cosmo Canyon remake
In the second world I created a remake of a location in the game Final Fantasy VII, a game I played on the Playstation in the 90's. First I played with my brother, and then I did several replays on my own. What I particularly loved about Cosmo Canyon was its planetarium and observatory, little huts on various heights and ladders and tunnels to get between them.
It might have been more true to the original to build in a mesa biome, but the height and look of the savannah mountains drew me to them. I actually progressed all the way to getting an Elytra (the first and only time I have done so as of date) just to be able to jump from the top of them.
For some reason I also started building a 'Tree Orangerie'. For me, it was a gigantic structure. I had great plans for it, I wanted to include all the tree types, but only the part for dark oak got completed.
Another pretty random feature was a large replica of the periodic table, smack in the middle of the ground level in the canyon.
In total, I built three of the circular houses and one small house on the ground. I also dug out the bar or inn, 'Cosmo Candle' into the mountainside.
Mountain view
Tree Orangerie
Periodic Table
Cosmo Candle
The next post will be all about redstone! I actually enjoy redstone a lot, but so far has not had any reason to use it in Flower Valley
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
The temple is pretty cool, but O...M...G... I love the eco-house! It looks so good and it has that cute pond next to it with the flow down the hill, just great. I think your builds are improving very quickly from one to the next.
The BEST way to mine diamond, layer 12 and you.
I feel really happy to hear that I am inspiring you Rakkinishu, that is really my goal with this thread!
Medieval/victorian is great, but we also need to change things up, find new challenges and opportunities to learn.
You could use the things you know about medieval/victorian and integrate it in new ways, create your own unique niche too if you are up to it.
I must say it is a very rewarding feeling to join various fields of knowledge and styles.
You are right on the spot with likening me to a hermit. I actually live alone, and one of the Minecrafters on YouTube I particularly enjoy is generikb, also a self-styled hermit. I would say you are quite sage-like with this insight (also I see something of that in your chosen profile picture, am I right?)
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
I am surprised, I didn't think I would get such a positive response to the eco-house! It means I am onto something, I will build something similar in the surroundings of Flower Valley, expanding and improving on the original.
I think people all around the world has this yearning to live closer in touch with nature (also their own inner one), that is at least something within me that I try to tap into, while combining it with other fields like art, architecture, history and philosophy.
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Sometimes having to wait until doing something builds a great momentum that when you finally get to it your passion becomes unparalleled. i can feel it myself now that I have set the rule to not build more until I catch up with posting past material, I am really starting to feel the itch. But there is perhaps a week or two before I will be in synch! Until then, I am trying my best to get a more ordered way of working and posting in place.
Redstone-controlled nether portal with hidden door to treasure vault
Redstone!
The enjoyment I get from building with redstone is three-fold:
Why am I building with redstone this time? Again it is about storing items. Emeralds, diamonds, lapiz and redstone are now so abundant that they are starting to flow outside my ender chest. I keep some of the lapis and redstone in the Wizard's house for enchanting and crafting redstone related items, and some diamonds at the blacksmith for repairs, but I don't want store all of it there. I think it is good to spread the risk, should disaster strike (particularly in the form of creepers). Plans were made earlier to rebuild the small sandstone hut into something like a treasury or bank, but now I don't feel at all in the mood to touch it
For this build I draw inspiration from one of my old worlds, actually the largest I ever made. I sadly do not have it anymore, but I can still picture it within my mind: I had hidden a piston door in the side of a hill of a small island in the middle of the main area. Inside the hill was a vault with all accumulated treasures. I want to add something like that to Flower Valley.
However, I want a bigger challenge than just a piston door, so I choose to try to integrate the door with the already built nether portal. To be specific, I want the nether portal to deactivate when the door opens, and activate when it closes. The vault-portal also neatly gives a place to store all the quartz, glowstone and other materials from the nether which until now was all dumped into a chest in front of the portal.
Design in creative
I load a creative test and practice world. In this way I can figure all the details out in a forgiving environment, and avoid digging up the whole valley,
First I explore by trial and error how dispensers work with portals. Combining behavior with requirements I start the circuit design. The library of basic circuits from various tutorials that I have collected in the test world helps as a palette to pick from. After perhaps an hour I get to something that works.
Design description:
The player interacts with either the pressure plate on the outside or the button an the inside. That interaction sends a pulse which is sent to a T-flip-flop. The T-flip-flop is a contraption which switches between two states at each signal pulse it receives. So the first state is open in terms of the door, and inactive in terms of the portal. The second state is closed in terms of the door and active in terms of the portal. From the T-flip-flop the signal is split depending on the destination:
Finally I do my best to make it as compact as I can, which involves getting the signals to run as close as they can without getting mixed up and interfering with each other. For example, a repeater is needed along one of the door lines to avoid contact with the block that has the inside button.
It might be tricky to see how everything is laid out from the pictures, I apologize! I know color-coding the signals would have provided more clarity (it is almost necessary to keep things clear in larger projects). To get you somewhat oriented, in the picture from the top, the signal to the water bucket goes on the left, and the flint and steel to the right, but the visible lines are the ones to the pistons. The T-flip-flop is placed just underneath the middle of the door. The whole construction seems to take up a 9x9 block area, 8 blocks high.
Top view
Side views
Closeups
Finally, to make the construction in the survival world as painless as possible I write a list of the materials used. I present it here too, for the records, and in case anyone would want to try to replicate this. Note that the counts of some materials vary depending on the choice of door size,and its placement in relation to the portal.
Obsidian portal
Door
Portal mechanism
T-flip-flop
Signal hub
Inverter, delay and double pulse for water dispensal
Delay for flint and steel
Piston door circuit
Activation mechanism, shared
Activation mechanism, inside
Activation mechanism, outside
Totals
I feel quite proud with the result, I think it is the best redstone-build I have done in terms of quality. Most larger systems I built in the past were from tutorials, so I don't count them. Other large builds were very messy, and sometimes not 100% reliable.
Implementation in survival
Back in Flower Valley, I add glowstone lamps in the ceiling which activate when the door is closed to prevent mobs from spawning inside. I also place a bed inside the vault there for emergency naps. Purple to match the portal of course!
Interior
For materials, I think quartz make the interior feel 'vault-like', and nether bricks contrast well with quartz, being black in the texture pack I use. By chance, due to the necessity of stairs to get in, the quartz part of the entrance viewed from outside takes on the shape of a sword. It ties in with the theme of the build planned next to it, the Adventurer's Hub, and I like it!
Exteriors (closed/active portal vs open/inactive portal)
Looking at the last picture, I definitely want to clear out those dirt blocks, they don't make any sense to me!
For now I am happy with this solution for diamonds, emeralds, lapiz, redstone and glowstone. In the future I might move them to a building with a specific gem-related purpose.
This was a technical post, even writing it. To balance it, and give me a bit of rest, the next ones will be more simple,
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Sometimes I don't have creative inspiration, or, I have TOO MUCH inspiration, the head is full of ideas, but they are many and unorganized and I am unfocused and feel inadequate.
In these moments I approach Minecraft (and life in general) as a meditation. I set aside all plans and just take a single small thing right in front of me and try to just do that, as best I can, without thinking about anything else.
Today's post comes from a time when this was the case, but what was supposed to be just one simple thing quickly escalated!
From Wheat to Wither, part I
I feel pretty bad and I don't know what to do. I decide that I will just harvest wheat. Only that.
From that monotonous thing, harvest, plant, harvest, plant, harvest, plant, my mood and energy gradually improves. I begin to set some small fun goals.
Instead of just harvesting wheat, I take on all the crops. Pumpkins, melons. The axe with Efficiency V makes it challenging to not chop off anything behind them.
Carrots and potatos are like wheat but more sweet. Beet are a treat for someone who doesn't eat meat. Enough rhymes, I am on repeat.
a cheer for sheer shearing
For novelty's sake, I explore one of the most underrated tools, the shear! This curiosity, which unlike almost all others tools can only be made of one material is crucial to a survival builder! It can gather many of the blocks and items adding the final touches to make a build blend in well with the environment. Leaves and vines in particular, but also ferns and grass.
I try to do as much as I can with shears:
That final trek gives me wanderlust. With a map and a horse I'm off to the east. An expansive land blending deserts, mesas and savannas.
Two villages and three temples later I haul back includes a ton of horse armor, saddles, golden apples. Even a few emeralds, a diamond and a book with Fortune III.
mine, mine, mine!!!
Then starts a serious mining session. Instead of continuing the original mine to the east of the main area, I branch off a northward descent just at the entrance of the mines. From level 10 I turn left, and eventually reach the area under the snow and ice temple. This area is extreme hills+ and VERY rich. I find an enormous cave system with very cool geological features; a large cave with a multitude of tunnels and a five-six block wide hole from the surface to down to height level 30.
In a short time I have my inventory and ender chest full:
What a haul!
I then discover my first mob spawner, with spiders!
chest loot and coordinates for the afterlife. Also, seeing the specs makes me facepalm! I have been running all this time with only 1GB RAM allocated on a laptop with 16 available!
I decide that this area will be where all my mining efforts are directed in the forseeable future and thus begin a minecart track so I can dump off more material in carts with chests. Especially larger builds of stone will benefit by accumulating great quantities from branch mining here.
The head is now spinning with ideas; I want to build a beacon to increase the efficiency even further. I actually NEVER took on the Wither, so it is about time for a player who has been around in the game since alpha!
fishy business
To not rush into things however, I spend a good time just sitting and fishing by the river branch that runs into the valley from the south. The fishing rod has Mending, Luck of the Sea III and Unbreaking III, so it is not a bad way to gain some experience level.
The coveted Frost Walker-book eludes me, but the levels let me upgrade the sword 'Loot Sharp' to Sharpness V.
I also fish a Mending to put on one of the bows!
the nether weathers me
I spend a long time in the nether and get two skulls. I am exhausted and do not continue until the next day.
The goal of the beacon still beckons... All the time in the nether opens my eyes to some improvements to be had there. A shorter route to the nether fortress and a XP farm (generikb's ghetto version) gets built in a few grinding hours.
the impenetrable tunnel I built from the portal to the fortress. It packs packed ice and looks like a demonic high-speed train to me
The bows get Punch II upgrades. Bow pow!
Finally, I somehow juke out another music disc, 'cat' from the creepers and skeletons.
At least an hour is spent running around the nether fortress until finally, a third wither skull! Phew! Then I remember, weren't I just harvesting wheat?
I go back, chill, brew potions, beet soup and bake potatoes.
Am I prepared enough? I have NO idea.
My first humbling encounter with the Wither will be told of after the next post, which will be all about bridges!
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Adaptive pathing and bridge building
I want to make a road to the desert village in the east.
There is already a short path towards it ending in a fork just after the Animalist's cottage that I can work with
I select the southern route. This way, the road will be more direct, but it will have to cross the river four times.
So it is time to work bridge building skills!!!
I Google to research about bridges.
These are the sources I end up using:
First I create the paths. In the grassy areas I mix path-blocks, coarse dirt, gravel, mossy cobblestone and andesite.
I try to make the path wind gently and also not climb to steep where possible.
In the desert I mix sandstone with smooth sandstone.
I use half slabs in every height transition to avoid bumpy walks. I think it looks better too!
Arriving at the village I see that the path I made is too organic compared to the ones in the village
I round off the village paths a bit, shaving off a few piles of sand to improve the visibility and aesthetics. I add half slabs in the village too. The exit from the mine-cart track gets an access path into the village center. Pleased with these results I can now start on the most exciting part of this session, the bridges!
For each river crossing I follow this method of three steps (feeling very scientific)
Log bridge
The first crossing the path has to make is a small one, only three blocks, in fact I think I dug this channel out once to connect the small northern stream to the larger river in the south. Here, I choose one of the the most ancient method known, throwing logs across supported by stones underneath on each side
just toss two logs and we are basically done!
Wooden bridge with stone support
The second crossing is a ten block jump between sand and gravel beaches in grassy hills.
From the source documents I choose the bridge in Assus 2400 years ago in Asia Minor. The scale of that bridge suits very well here. Since it had a span of around 3 meters between each support, I can divide the bridge in three parts, plus the paths leading up from the paths on each side. So I build two support pillars in the river, and one support on each beach.
I love mossy cobblestone
I emulate the materials as best I can; the supports of the ancient bridge were made of stone, with stone beams between them
this looks rather shaky... if I only could rotate those cobblestone fences 90 degrees!
The stone beams are connected with wooden shears and covered with wooden beams as well.
mind your step (or rather, your right mouse button) on this bridge
I mix cobblestone, mossy cobblestone and andesite for the pillars. For the stone beams I use cobblestone fences, and trap doors for the wooden shears. I had planned wooden pressure plates as a cover, but they cannot be placed on top of trapdoors. Instead I add a wooden fence on each side.
at least now we won't fall off sideways
Arched stone bridge
The third crossing is a 14 block leap from sand to grass
only occupants so far: octupuses
I want to try an arched bridge with semi-circular arches. Since the river banks are three blocks high, I think a diameter of the semicircles of seven would me a good choice, creating two arches and placing one support pillar in the middle of the river.
To challenge myself, and to adapt the shape of the land I build the bridge at a slight angle, shifting one block in the north-south direction each eight block. I mix stone bricks, mossy stone bricks and stone brick stairs for the pillars and arches.
pillars perfectly spaced out
To highlight the structure I use smooth andesite and carved stone bricks. Stone slabs and cobblestone fences make the railings, and cobblestone slabs form the walking path in the middle.
could it be the nicest bridge I have ever built?
I think it actually looks even better in the vanilla texture pack
Horses cannot pass this nor the previous bridge properly but there is the northern alternative route for them to take.
only me and my ass fits, no donkeys or horses!
Flat wide sandstone bridge
The last crossing is another ten blocks from sand to sand.
Here the ancient bridge over the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia inspires me. That bridge spanned 300 meters, so some scaling down needs to be made I improvise using similar materials, sandstone bricks and sandstone slabs.
The bridge does not have arches, but sturdy supports on the sides of the wide walkway.
octupus: "why is he building statues of himself in the river?"
The complete bridge fits great into the desert biome!
to my friend, April: "You may march on this one in June, when I get a world download up!"
To celebrate the completed path and bridges I indulge in rendering all of it
Flower Valley is now officially connected to the outside world
In the next post: The conclusion to of first Wither encounter along with another fatal failure
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
This is the coolest thing ever! Thank you for sharing your progress with us, it's really neat to see your world develop. I'm really inspired to try making my own Survival Journal now!!! =D
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From Wheat to Wither, part II
I want to have a source of slime blocks, so I dig out a 19x2x19 area at level 37-39 in the main mine shaft staircase. I knew that slimes had been spawning there when I initially dug the descent. But this time the search turned out to be fruitless.
Instead I spend some time lighting up areas, mining smooth stone, andesite and diorite for future larger building projects.
I also gather ores and coal for XP and future use.
I find a large ravine from [450,547] to [393,596] where it joins another one all the way to [473,640]. It has a water exit in the river to the east of flower valley at [400,560]. This could be a place to build something cool, a water entrance to a underground hideout!
I go fishing for a while and get a book with Efficiency IV and Power IV. Since I am already maxed with Efficiency V on all tools and power V bows, I don't know what to use it for.. Perhaps a specialized bow, without Punch or Flame... Or a silk touch axe?
To my great joy I discovered I already had a Lure III stored away, which I will put on the fishing rod to complete it. I name this ultimate fishing rod Lucky Lure, after the legendary comic book character and sharp shooter Lucky Luke. Trying it out, it catches sooo quickly!
Now I have enough levels to repair my diamond armor: 'Jazzy Hat' and 'Artemis Demise' (boots). I don't deem the chest-plate and leggings worth it, I think it is better to get new level 30 enchanted armor with level IV Protection.
I go to the closest swamp to look for slimes. It is just beyond the extreme hills to the west, passing a small patch of desert.
I cut down some oak trees (replanting them a bit further away) for materials to build a farm, relying on an old memory of one I once built in an old world.
I terraform the area a bit, I want a terrace system with several levels, where all slimes eventually end up in a single collection point.
I wear out my first diamond shovel 'No spoon' and enjoy inaugurating the Level V shovel 'Silk Spoon'.
I build the farm from dirt, using wood only to cover it.
And then I discover that it doesn't work. Nothing spawns =D !!
What to do with this ugly mess? Tear it all down or re-purpose it somehow?
Instead go mining in the extreme hills. I find plenty of caves and ravines to run around in. I gather no less than 40 diamonds, fill three chest mine carts, and a crazy battle in the largest cave renders the another addition to the music collection, the precious disk 'stal'.
Finally I feel confident enough to take on the Wither. I summon it in the deserts to the north. I consider the terrain boring enough so that battle damage won't be too harmful.
I think I am very well prepared, with plenty of golden apples and potions.
But little do I know how wrong I am.
I did not count on my poor control and am not prepared for the speed of the Wither! After some sniping with the bow at a distance
Well, the Wither gets my number and comes upon me. I try to run away an heal, but keep panicking and falling into sandy holes. Finally, I reaching the edge of the desert, where I fall to my death by the river like a cowardly version of Boromir.
So I lost badly in Hard Mode, despite good material preparation. My fighting skills are nothing like they used to be. I decide that since the purpose of Flower Valley is foremost to enjoy building, the best way to progress is to set the game first to Peaceful to recover the equipment, and do the next battle on Easy.
I grind for another 3 wither skulls, and this time I get them pretty quickly!
The fight on Easy is so easy I don't know what to write about it.
I placed four iron golems around the desert to provide distraction. I doubt they made a difference, and finally my first nether star is in my hand.
I have the idea of placing the beacon under the Wizard's house, with the beam going through the crystal, but for the moment, I set it up in the extreme hills.
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Love the Wizard's house btw
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Thank you FunGameFam! <3
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Also, I know it's from a long time ago, but I really loved how in your original post you talked about how the only things you've killed animals for were leather and ink. I agree it would be cool if they came up with an alternative way of getting these types of materials just for some different options. I saw a post where someone started a "vegan" survival world where they only ate plant foods instead of animals, so it got me thinking. Your post has expanded on that idea! Now I want to try something like this as well. =) Anyways, keep up the good work, the world is looking great~!
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I am happy to hear this! I am actually considering making a mod, since I have a few other ideas which could fit too!
But now onto today's post:
Two journeys and a beacon
Journey 1
Direction: South-east
Goal: Explore ocean temples
Background: Flower valley needs ocean materials, and I explore ocean temples for the first time
I start by following the nearby rivers by boat, first east, and then south-east. I hike through beautiful blend of lush hilly plains, desert, birch forest and mesa while filling in more uncharted territory onto a large map I brought. Sheep, pig and wolves roam the forests and as I approach the ocean I feel excited!
I traverse yet another river, with steep mountains on the right.
Just before the shore I spot a torch-lit cave: I have been here once before; it was while searching for the Woodland Mansion. I never reached the mansion, but other places to revisit; villages, and a spiky ice biome. I discover the boat I left behind as I circle a cozy narrow coastal island. I stop to pick rose bushes on the shore, uncertain if there are any in Flower Valley.
I then embark south across the ocean. Before the edge of the map a light from an ocean temple shows up below the distant surface. It is time to dive! I am well prepared with Aqua Affinity and Respiration III on the helmet and Depth Strider III on the boots.
I want to gather a good number of building materials. I especially see potential in prismarine as roof tiles and floor tiles.
I gather sea lanterns and find eight gold blocks in the first temple, impossible to resist!
There is a second temple just south of the first. Eight more gold blocks, and perhaps the greatest treasure: a room full of sponges!! Hooray!
Intoxicated by this gold fever, I accidentally throw my map in the ocean on the way back! I spend quite some time scouring the ocean floor for it...
Devastated, I leave for an IRL break, get something to eat and move the legs.
Back from the break and back from the trip to the ocean, I create the little map display for a map in scale 1:2 that is shown in the last picture of the last update.
Intermission
Direction: Just up the hill
Goal: Gather wood
I plan a build using lots of wood. It will probably be oak or spruce.
So it is time for a lumber gathering session. I gather a few stacks of each type, along with leaves.
I want to make custom trees in the future, especially high pines (using spruce wood and spruce or dark oak leaves and birch trees.
While chopping and shearing I forget to pay attention to jungle saplings and run completely out!
Journey 2
Direction: South-west
Goal: Gather jungle saplings and explore jungle temples
I know of a jungle biome to the south west where there are several temple ruins. Visiting these will be a bonuse, since they provide sticky pistons (these are still scarce, with all slime farms failing).
Just embarked I stop for a moment to gaze across the lake towards Flower Valley.
on the lake, taking a break
I pass a village on the way. The armorer interests me and there is also a farmer to trade with.
I discover swamps with a witch hut, adding a second to the one I found west of the main base.
Entering the jungle, I start gathering jungle wood to get few saplings.
I traverse the jungle westward and spot the first ocelot in this world! It is down in a cave! At the moment I do not want to make a cat out of it.. But I would love if it would want to come closer to Flower Valley. But ocelots do not mix well with chicken... perhaps I can make them to coexist peacefully by changing a gamerule? This must be investigated later!
Later I catch more of these rascals in action!
oh why oh why this senseless violence?!
Four innocents chicks falls before the feline flees into the foliage. I follow its direction and after some hundred blocks, I spot something cobbly!
where is my hat and whip?
The temple is void of mossy cobblestone stairs. I am at odds. Where to get these!? Taiga biomes?
I gather other valuables, I am happy with the redstone contraptions, saving me the time having to craft them.
Passing on northwest, I spot a third ocelot just before approaching a lake.
At edge of the jungle, on the northern side of a plain there is a spruce forest. I continue to follow the jungle edge however, to encounter a second jungle temple! This one is richer in treasure. Three diamonds, seven gold ingots, and an enchanted book with mending!!! BUT it also has Curse of Binding D...:
jungle loot
As I leave, I trip into a deep hole, falling at least ten blocks. I would have died if it were not for the 'Artemis's Boots' with Feather Falling IV on. Phew'!
The rest of the trip is without obstacles. I expand the explored area of the western map, while mourning the loss of the central map to the depths of the ocean in the previous journey
Back home, I ponder. Is it worth putting the cursed mending book on any of my equipment?
I jam to Stal and discover that adding the book does not transfer the curse!
Adding mending to the Silk Touch pick is too expensive, but for sword. reaching level 14 suffices. It is definitely worth it!
Being at level 11, I head down the strip mine in the extreme hills to get those levels mining.
I catch myself on fire at the end of the minecart track. To remove the hazard I mine away all the obsidian and make the place more open and friendly. But I leave a small lava pool for later mass smelting of cobblestone.
hundred blocks per bucket is hard to beat
With most lava removed I can hopefully avoid accidents such as throwing Level V-Unbreaking--Fortune III-Mending pickaxes away like dirt blocks! To be really safe I even reconfigure my key settings. Q is so terribly closely tucked in between 1, W and A to trust that no mishaps will occur on my trigger-happy mechanical keyboard. I move the drop function on H instead.
I gather sixteen diamonds, some lapis, redstone and iron and run out of torches. I want to head up anyway, to move the beacon. At the surface, I realize how little lighting the valley has, it is crawling with zombies and skeletons!
I have enough XP, and add mending to the sword. What a powerful artifact!
my pencil sharpener
After that. I move the beacon to a lower level, just next to the minetrack.
I start making a larger pyramid, but after stopping and counting I realize I am still short about 20 blocks to enable the secondary power.
I need to include my gold blocks too. The two ocean temples I explored make this possible! For fun and aesthetics, I gather all my accumulated treasure into the ender chest
bling!
After juggling deep lava pools, the full beacon is complete!
powering up the magical boost kit!
Obsidian is mined as stone with a stone pick and we are ready for serious strip mining! I test out the range of the beacon, it seems to be around 50 blocks in each direction, well within the extreme hills biome.
Summing it up, the main accomplishments of these sessions were
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Nice! Let me know if you ever release that mod =) I'd love to try it out!
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So happy to hear that you want to help me test it. I will definitely tell you when it is done!
Now, a short update to show what I am up to!
I caught up with old stuff, so two days ago I finally got to start a new project, a gigantic tree!
This will be the largest build so far in this survival world.
A screenshot of the progress so far:
I built the trunk and roots the last two days, and the branches today.
I greatly underestimated the amount of materials needed.
For the next phase I have one double chest of leaves gathered, but doubt that will get me far!
I am also considering adding more vertical branches above the current ones.
I want to finish it the coming week. But the tree will include buildings inside and on top of it, so perhaps one week is not enough. However, after the tree and some landscaping.I think the main area of Flower Valley might be ready for a first world download. In May, maybe?
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Thanks for the seed! I'll have to check it out! And, awesome ideas!