The devs were apparently on a 2-week vacation, so nothing new right now. Still having fun with what's there, though.
^Never occurred to me to try that. I just enlarged and expanded a natural crevasse then built a glass roof for it. I think using sunlight is far more appealing and even with all that glass you still probably use up less coal than the underground method. That or find a nice flat open area, light it and and enclose it with a three block high fence to keep out the mobs at night. Either way digging out large underground chambers like that is a little too tedious for my taste.
Hah, I've encountered problems digging diagonally. There was this one time where there was no block underneath the one I had dug out and I fell right through a couple of levels. Luckily I didn't fall into lava! So, now whenever I dig, I'm extra careful to try to fix things by adding blocks to patch things up before I continue to dig. The absence of blocks can really screw you up if you're not paying attention. I had to have my friend bail me out and build an elevator (we use a mod on the server that allows it). All I ever do is log in to the server to play anymore. I hardly play single-player anymore. It's fun to keep adding to stuff and see the world that someone else is also working in grow. My Friend has completely remodeled his area, including the spawn and added a completely new building, which is still part of the boardwalk/bridge, and I think we're growing into an interesting community. His House Spawn New Building:
I wouldn't call it much of a loss of my free time, because all I do lately is go to school and goof off on Minecraft. I have started another file up, and I have been experimenting a little bit. I've successfully built a literal tree house... as in I put a small cabin in the top of a tree. Keeps me sorta safe from mobs, and the view is breathtaking. Been debating whether i want to build a house under water, or what my next move should be. I do know that on my original save file I'm going to take my fortress of solitude up into the clouds! But not much else has crossed my mind.
My girlfriend is talking about getting a Minecraft server, which I would administer. I don't really want to play online unless it's my server or being run by someone I know personally. Don't like the idea of investing a bunch of time on some random server that could go down at any moment, you know? Oh, and I'm still working on my castle footprint in my SP World 4. Dug deep enough to find gold. Also hit a couple caves, which I sealed off and left small entrances for (so I can get to them later.) I think I'm about halfway (or more) to the bedrock.
TheGodBen: That definitely takes some talent, and a crap load of time to do. Congrats to em, but I don't think I'd ever pull off something like THAT!
Don't know if anyone else noticed but there was an update today. The McRegion mod was made part of the official code, which stores your save files in a compressed format and supposedly boosts performance. Seemed a little snappier when I was playing with it, at least. The "better lighting" mod was also made a built-in option. There were also some content items added--some redstone block types and beds.
Beds, excellent! I was building a path across my island and I was sick of returning to base with nothing to do for 8 minutes, so I set the game to peaceful and worked through the night. I felt like I was cheating. But now when I extend the road north I'll be able to keep it on normal and just head home to sleep every night.
Eventually, beds will set your spawn point. HALLELUJAH! That's the feature I've been waiting for. It would finally allow me to build a vast network of residences, not worrying about dying far from my spawn point and being unable to find my way back. Some people bitch that it takes away from the survival aspects, but I disagree. Actually, if the beds did nothing but set your spawn point, I'd be satisfied with that. Oh, and in case no one noticed yet: wood no longer burns forever under any circumstances, and sandstone is now naturally occurring in new worlds. I'd still like some better navigation tools, or at least a way to show your current X,Y,Z without bringing up all the bullshit F3 displays. In the real world, you would have things to help you orient yourself and navigate, even in a "survival" situation. Minecraft is still lacking some useful tools in this area. The spawn compass is nice but a built-in minimap and putting your coords in the corner of the screen would be nicer.
Sounds like a great idea. If beds become spawn points, this means that you could have a few beds scattered everywhere in specific locations, everyone having their own. That becomes useful for multiplayer where everyone has their own area, outside the initial starter spawn of course. There's a mod that allows to set your spawn point.
I'm hesitant to use mods since the game is still in development. Once it reaches release or at least has a built-in mod capability, I will consider using more mods. Right now, I tend to limit myself to using texture packs and a handful of performance tweaks.
Well, right now our server is offline until the server tools can be updated to match the latest version. I know there's a lot of interest in playing on a server here, so I'd like to extend the invitation to two people here for when the server comes back up. Those interested can PM me with their Minecraft username in order to add them to the whitelist. This is on a first come, first served basis, so when it's filled up, I'll let you all know. I might be able to open it up to more people later on.
Good luck! I'd take you up on the offer but I'll be starting my own (private) server soon and odds are I won't play on two, so I don't want you to waste a slot on me. Be sure to post pics of anything cool that gets built on your server, though!
Slimes are new for me having joined the game rather recently, so it was a bit disconcerting coming across a lava pit full to the brim with them, all making a horrendous cacophony of slapping noises.