Ziggurat of Ur

While I work on subway tunnels, get caught up on documenting previous builds, and chomp at the bit waiting for 0.11.0 to appear in my update list, I figured I’d post something small, and noticed I haven’t used the Minecraftspiration tag yet. Clearly that needs to be fixed.

At some point – not super soon cause OMG busy and stuff, and also because I am still burnt out on using sandstone after GCT – I think I’d like to build a ziggurat, probably based on Ur. I mean, look at that picture. It is screaming to be recreated in cubes. I already have a pyramid build, and its not bad for something constructed when this world was still strictly vanilla survival, but I’d like to build something ridiculously huge. Why not a giant Mesopotamian temple?

what it probably looked like from the air.
what it probably looked like from the air.

I’d have to find a desert biome big enough to build it in, but this could probably happen.

News!

Ugh Fell out of the habit of posting here regularly. Going to try to fix that over the weekend.

Not too much new to report on the world front other than “Hey! I built some subway tunnels!” Because that’s what I’ve been working on: the two side south tracks, aka the Granite and Brick lines. They run about 12 blocks below the original subway line (mostly to get around some logistical problems – unsure whether I’ll be keeping that double deck idea in the other three directions). So far there are new platforms below the Wilshire Castle and Crystal palace lines, but the tunnels connecting the castle and the palace are nowhere near done yet. 

I’d post pictures but sandhogging, much as in real life, is pretty monotonous and grueling. Of course real sandhogs get tunnel boring machines… I’d murder a score of innocent villager children for a way to dig out 5 x 5 blocks at a time. or at least copy/paste sections of tunnel considering they’re all uniform. But… pipe dreams. Anyway the one picture I’ll post is of the section of abandoned mineshaft running parallel to the Brick Line tunnel; it looked so cool I opted to glass that part of the tunnel so it would be visible to passing riders.

In OMG FLAIL SO EXCITED news, Mojang submitted 0.11.0 to the Apple app store last night, so the update will hopefully drop either this weekend while the kidlets are visiting (whoooo) or next week sometime. Depending on whether its been made available to Android/windows/kindle by Monday I may hold off on that week’s open server until everyone’s versions get caught up, since due to Apple’s approval process iOS is doomed to get it last. But yes so excited! It will no longer be a bunch of Steve clones running around! I can look like me! And since 0.11.0 will have file sharing and gamemode switch i can finally back up and run survival games again, though I’ve been enjoying the collective building on creative a lot in the meantime. Cannot. Wait.

I also started a subreddit for this last Monday because I felt a little guilty junking up the MCPE subreddit with my “please come play” announcements. So far The_Swarm_Hut and 576875 have been doing a great job so far keeping it lively in there. Hoping I can pull in a few other reddit people who have visited as well. Link is on the sidebar.

Lastly I’m looking into ways to get this game off my phone and onto either a dedicated Android device or resurrecting my main desktop and emulating Android there via Andy or Bluestacks. Several reasons for this – despite a desperately needed battery transplant last weekend, this game is murdering my poor old iPhone. đŸ˜› More than that though, there is clearly interest in a laid back griefer-free server, and people like tooling around my builds, so i want to find a way to leave it running more than Monday nights. I would also like more server controls (and less lag) that Plug PE offers, hence looking into jumping platforms. Ideally I’d love to run it on Pocketmine since php is my jam and I enjoyed running a server for me and the kids before 0.9.0, and the customizability of the gameplay experience was really appealling, but development on it seems to have stalled and there’s still no way to port LevelDB worlds into it as yet, so boo to that. Also it does look like someone’s developed a map tool for Android that works and y’all know how I’ve been wanting one of THOSE. So… hopefully I can get something more permanent set up by end of summer. More on that as it develops.

GCT is done!

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

I kinda fell off the face of the earth in terms of updating various blogs and journals. Sometimes real life (and chronic illness, unfortunately) catches up with me. I want to post on Monday’s server run (it was quiet due to problems with new settings in the updated Plug PE) and take pics of the various things 576875 and Swarmhut have been building. I’ll get around to those posts at some point, but here’s the big exciting news – aside from retail spaces and the food court 576875 is building on the mezzanine, Grand Central is finished!

It’s going to be a very very VERY long time until I work with any kind of sandstone again, lol. Several weeks of a big build using nothing but and I am thoroughly sick of looking at it. Still, I’m really proud of this build, it came out awesome and even though I have a few problems with the final build (mostly aesthetic stuff)… yeah.

But enough blather. PICTURES. There are many.

The Terminal from the road.
The Terminal from the road.
Looking northwest.
Looking northwest.
a view from the top.
a view from the top.

So in preparation for boats, I dug some small canals around the station so that it wouldn’t entirely block off the river surrounding it on three sides. I honestly should have built one straight across on the north side. Might still.

Looking at the station from the North.
Looking at the station from the North.
Northeast Corner
Northeast Corner
Peeking in from the North windows.
Peeking in from the North windows.
South entrance.
South entrance.
window illumination outside
window illumination outside

I took lots of pictures inside the Grand Concourse. Mostly from similar angles, oops.

Dim and empty.
Dim and empty.
Sunrise.
Sunrise.
View from the floor.
View from the floor.
Information needed?
Information needed?
I sort of made Orion and then put more "stars" around him.
I sort of made Orion and then put more “stars” around him.
Looking south.
Looking south.
Moonrise
Moonrise
Grand Concourse, looking East
Looking East from the roof.
I like the pattern of light here.
I like the pattern of light here.
One of the corner antechambers.
One of the corner antechambers.

I’m not sure what to do with these rooms in the corners. Maybe additional reading/waiting space?

Overlooking the waiting area.
Overlooking the waiting area.
Waiting areas.
Waiting areas.

Think that sign needs to come down a block.

Ticketed passengers only
Ticketed passengers only
The waiting room looks comfy.
The waiting room looks comfy.

I haven’t managed to do much in terms of retail space (the real Grand Central is packed with shops), but there are at least four spaces under the grand staircases that I’ve managed to do things with.

some delicious cake for sale.
some delicious cake for sale.
No one seems to be here.
No one seems to be here.
A book for your journey perhaps?
A book for your journey perhaps?
Flower shop.
Flower shop.

A quick peek downstairs to see what 576875 has been up to.

Staircase down.
Staircase down.
Food court in progress.
Food court in progress.

Looks good so far!

Finally my favorite thing – stand on the roof of whatever I’ve built, batman style, and enjoy the view around it.

The road rambles on in the distance.
The road rambles on in the distance.
The road stretching east.
The road stretching east.
The river and flatlands to the northeast
The river and flatlands to the northeast

So yeah, there you have it. And now I have a tiny chunk of home in my minecraft world. đŸ™‚ I suppose I ought to get cracking on expanding the subway in its various directions, lol. Soon.

World: Main
Location: -1665 65 -3
Creation Mode: Creative
Build completed: Post date

GCT, part 2 and some notes on last week’s open server

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

Made a fair amount of progress in the past few days on GCT. It’s starting to actually resemble its inspiration now…

Chunk error.
Chunk error.

…well okay, when there aren’t huge holes in the floor/wall. Also there is apparently a HUGE cave system under the south tracks. Going to have to investigate that later.

track level from the corner.
track level from the corner.

Track level is done, lit, and has a ceiling. One of the challenges of this build was how to keep the various levels lit without having a mess of torches, something that proved challenging as GCT has >6 block high ceilings. This became much easier once I realized that light passes through stairs and I could hide glowstone behind “moldings.”

Mezzanine floor
Mezzanine floor

Time to do the next story! I’ve since finished up the mezzanine level.

The center column of the mezzanine level.
The center column of the mezzanine level.
Mezzanine staircases going both up and down.
Mezzanine staircases going both up and down.
Mezzanine lights
Mezzanine lights

It’s currently a big empty room bracketed by the two staircases on either side. I may put in some vendor booths and cafe tables later. The real station has a fancy food court and a branch of the NYC transit museum on this level.

I’m still working on the main level but so far it looks awesome.

View from East Staircase.
View from East Staircase.
Info Booth
Info Booth
Ticket office.
Ticket office.
The West Grand Staircase.
The West Grand Staircase.

The grand staircases were annoying to design and build, and I ended up trying three different things before settling on this, and then I had to build it from scratch an extra time since I had a game crash and none of the work I’d done that afternoon saved. D’oh!

Honestly I should have known the game was a little screwy – I cam up to work on one of the starcases to find that all of the stairs I’d put down had oriented themselves facing north.

Thats a weird looking glitch.
Thats a weird looking glitch.

I didn’t get a picture but some of the stairs I’d placed upside down in places had also turned themselves around. It was a little creepy looking I won’t lie. But then the game crashed and I had to start over, but the nice thing about having to build a thing twice is that you’ve already worked out the kinks so it goes a lot faster the second time around.

Peeking down the stairs.
Peeking down the stairs.

This is just the top of the staircases down to Mezzanine level.

So, yeah, it’s coming along. Maybe a little slower than I’d like, but I’d been busy this week with other stuff.

I realized earlier that I hadn’t made my post-open-server post this week, so I’ll just take this moment to thank The_Swarm_Hut, Mathguy40, 576875, and Brandonthekid-don’t-remember-your-reddit-handle-lol for coming. 5’s underwater surprise seems to be coming along, while The_Swarm_Hut built a bunch of neat stuff by spawn. I’ll probably make a separate post about this tomorrow, but I’ma need folks to start ranging a bit away from spawn for building stuff – the area by Spawn House is filling up quite a bit. đŸ™‚ But yeah, it was a good open server night, and being able to play with friendly company was nice after a long and unfortunately crappy day beforehand. I will be running tomorrow night at 6, hope to see folks there.

Comfortable in ones own skin

Busy busy busy, working on stuff. GCT is coming along and I will hopefully be able to post a batch of new pictures by the end of the weekend, after I’ve had a few hours to really go nuts with working on it.

I know I’ve mentioned that one of the main reasons I’m looking forward to 0.11.0 is that finally, FINALLY we will get to have skins.

I am a black cisfemale gamer and any game that gives me the option of being a black woman in-universe is an extra bit of win. Its interesting because I feel like the first question anyone is going to ask me is why I would want to play as myself when games are fantasy and I could escape into being not-me. I see the point, but really it comes down to representation – I think I would be more inclined to want to escape playing myself if I had more opportunities to actually play myself, if that makes any sense.

I guess long story short? Dear lord, I’m tired of being Steve, lol.

One of the things I’ve been working in in anticipation of Yay! Skins! is, in fact a skin. I’d been playing with a bunch of skin editors on my phone and found Skinseed seems to work best for me. (The app itself is buggy and riddled with ads.) Anyway since I kinda such at pixel art type stuff I found a skin I liked as a base and spent about a week tinkering with until I had something that I both really really liked and that looked like, well, me. Only, you know, boxy and pixelated. Big wide world, meet ARBT:

No prizes for guessing my favorite color.
Gold sword sold separately.

For comparison’s sake, this is what I actually look like. On a good day anyway.

Aside from hair color and glasses, reasonably accurate.

Aside from it being red yarn instead of purple and, well, glasses, I think it’s a reasonably good likeness. đŸ™‚ I’m really happy with how the skin came out, and I can’t wait to actually play as her. Me. Whatever! I mean, sure I’ll still sound like a burly dude with a goatee when I get hit, but hey I’ll look awesome doing it. Even better, I’ll look like me doing it.

GCT, part 1 & subway expansion

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

I feel a little bad starting a completely new build when I’m still technically not finished with Bad Joke Prison (I’ll explain it when I post about it), or a lot of the last little fiddly details of Wilshire castle or Sand Baori, though they look awesome as is and I shouldn’t stress about it. I mean when you really get down to it there some detail work I haven’t finished on the Crystal Palace. and that was months ago. I’m really excited about this build though, and after my nerdrage of last week, plus some real life Stuff Happening, things to get excited about = win.

I’d considered teasing what it’s going to be, but I’m terrible with that sort of thing, so in case you couldn’t figure it out from the title:

Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY
Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY
This is a multi-layered challenge for me. One, this is the first time I’m building something based on a place I’ve actually been, as opposed to seeing a picture of somewhere and thinking “ooh, that looks cool” and building something with a LOT of imagination and creative license filling the gaps. Not only that, this is one of my favorite places on earth. To a native New Yorker who is also mad for all things having to do with railed transport, Grand Central is like… you know what, there aren’t even words. I guess the closest I would come up with is a devout Catholic getting to visit the Vatican. So there’s an emotional component in this build. This isn’t to say there won’t be creative license taken with it – it’s not going to be a dead accurate model by a long shot – but I hope to capture the feel, the grandness, if you will, of this train station by the time I’m done.

But before I get into how I’m doing with that so far, a common question from people visiting my open runs is “how the heck did you build this subway and how long did it take you?” I usually answer something along the lines of “in sections, and for-freaking-ever,” but since I had to expand the tract from its former northern terminus at Wilshire Castle on up to the GCT site, I figured I’d try documenting the process a little.

I will note that building said subway expansion is a crapton easier now that Plug gives me coordinates. Now that I know the extant subway runs at (x, 42, -3), all I have to do is line up x.

Lets say Point A is where the existing subway ends and point B is where the new station/end/next build will be. The first thing I do is dig a 1×2 tunnel all the way end to end.

what the initial tunnel looks like from point B.
what the initial tunnel looks like from point B.
Honestly this part can be the most tedious, especially when either a) you don’t know where precisely you’re going because you don’t have access to coords and are therefore counting off every time you move forward a square or b) you DO know where you’re going and you’re all like “what, I’ve only gone 100 blocks? and I have 500 more to go?”

also bad if 2 block high spaces trigger claustrophobia.
also bad if 2 block high spaces trigger claustrophobia.
Then once you have your teeny Steve-sized tunnel you get to go back through it, laying down TNT in intervals. You can also just keep digging it out by hand/tool. Either way this process involves running back and forth through your tunnel a LOT.)

Pro-tip: do not place TNT on cobble fences.
Pro-tip: do not place TNT on cobble fences.
Tedious as it is the fun part is if you do this correctly, you light the TNT at one end and then it just keeps going off in thin this lovely chain of explodey all the way to the other end. It’s kind of hilarious because it only goes so far as the couple of chunks you can see, and then you walk forward a few minutes later and OH NO MORE SPLODE. It’s pretty glorious.

But then the funs over and you have detritus to clean up. Ugh.

we're gonna need a few more pickaxes.
we’re gonna need a few more pickaxes.
If you’re in creative mode, this is where “bulldozing” comes in handy, especially if a) you’re flying b) you have blocks above you to clear. Get your face level with the line of blocks you want to clean out, then tap and hold. You’ll dig out the six blocks in front of you and then stop. Keep holding, but hit the forward arrow at the same time. Watch the blocks in front zip apart as fast as you can fly at them. Makes things a lot less tedious. It does also work with blocks directly in front of you on the ground, but you do run the risk of jumping if you don’t time it right. Still – practice! Anything that makes clearing a large number of block faster = win.

It's getting better...
It’s getting better…
I dig out a five block high by five across square for my subway, and then line it with cobblestone on the top and sides. The bottom gets gravel in a 3×2 U formation, with the track running in the groove in the middle. But before I start slinging cobble around I end up with these cavernous long square holes that call to mind the giant water tunnels running waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay below Manhattan. Go look em up sometime.

Clear tunnel.
Clear tunnel.

a long cuboid to nowhere.
a long cuboid to nowhere.
Well now I have a tunnel, now what? Dig out a line of holes on either side? Why would I do that?

Wait no actually I AM doing that.
Wait no actually I AM doing that.
No real practical reason besides aesthetics. I put netherrack in those spots so that the tunnel walls have a little color. It makes more sense in the next shot.

From the former terminus.
From the former terminus.
And here.

beginning of tunnel lining
beginning of tunnel lining
Also about every 64 blocks or so, there’s a shaft with a ladder up to the surface.

hey there is sky up there!
hey there is sky up there!
I used to need to dig these up so I could figure out where the hell I was. Also it proved handy sometimes to have a periodic access point to the train tunnel below from the surface. Slightly less handy from the tunnels, but still possible if you have a couple of blocks and a couple of extension ladders with you.

an end section waiting...
an end section waiting…
Most of the rest of the tunnel construction is just more running back and forth laying down cobblestone, gravel, rail, alternating patterns of torches and netherrack, and it’s all very tedious grunt work at this point.

Almost done, just gotta do the ceiling.
Almost done, just gotta do the ceiling.
one thing that does liven things up is that digging out subway tunnels you will inevitably cross paths with a wandering cave or three. I don’t seal these intersections usually, it’s more fun to leave access to caves open for later exploration. If the cave is mostly above the tunnel, I glass in the ceiling instead of using cobblestone so you can see up as you pass. Occasionally this leads to random discoveries, like hey, I’ve never been in this cave before why is that wall randomly cobblestone?

There is nothing suspicious about this wall, nor about the moaning behind it.
There is nothing suspicious about this wall, nor about the moaning behind it.

Murrrrr. Growl. Gurrrrr.
Murrrrr. Growl. Gurrrrr.

Totally a dungeon.
Totally a dungeon.
We’ll have to come back and investigate that at some point.

Meanwhile above ground…

Outline in gravel
Outline in gravel
This pretty much looks like a glorified crop circle (crop square?) but it’s actually me translating a graph paper outline to the actual terrain. (Terribly; I had to lay down that gravel three times before I got it right. D:)

And then you pull out the explosive stuff.
And then you pull out the explosive stuff.
clearing out that sizable of a space requires quite a bit of both controlled detonation and “lets pack a 7×7 space full of TNT and see what happens” sort of detonation.

still clearing out the rock.
still clearing out the rock.
And occasionally putting up single walls.

One wall up to the surface and 3 bellmouths of subways future.
One wall up to the surface and 3 bellmouths of subways future.
So there are going to be 12 tracks feeding into here altogether. I highly doubt I’ll build out ALL of them, but I’ve always been more ambitious than practical.

Clear crater. Or hole? Or something.
Clear crater. Or hole? Or something.

Looking at the cleared space from above.
Looking at the cleared space from above.
The obsidian is just for me to keep track of where the middle is.

More bellmouths for additional lines.
More bellmouths for additional lines.
Thinking since the primary subway line had Netherrack embedded in the wall I may change that up for the other ones. I think I want some sort of green block for the line that will eventually go east/west. Or hell, I always end up with more lapis than I ever know what to do with, maybe I’ll just make it the blue line. We’ll see.

Finished the floor, bellmouths and track stubs.
Finished the floor, bellmouths and track stubs.
Makes an interesting light pattern.

Floor notches, for later
Floor notches, for later

Finished bellmouths with walls.
Finished bellmouths with walls.
I’m pretty happy with how the wall patterning came out here.

That’s all I’ve done so far, but it’s going really well and I remain really psyched about this. There will be more work in progress updates to come… can’t wait to get the mezzanine done so I can get cracking on the grand hall.

Sightseeing!

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

Just for laughs last week I took a long wander towards the north on the road with the GUI off taking snapshots of interesting things along the way.

The Four Guardians

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

One of my MCPE builds on Fisher Price® My First Creative Worldâ„¢ was a giant zombie. It was a challenge figuring out what color blocks to use, and working around the fact that unlike skins, blocks have the same texture on all four sides. But the statue got built with the necessary fudging of detail and it lurked on one side of several incarnations of my scavenger hunt world, at least until in some of them, Wee Beastie TNT’ed them to the ground. ‘Cause, you know, Giant Zombie.

Fast forward to my infinite world, and a pretty patch of shoreline and a small island out from the mainland, and I thought, what the heck, I’ll rebuild the Giant Zombie. And then I thought, nah. I’ll build FOUR of them. Get all Lord of the Ringsy. So I squared off and expanded the island and built these four colossal gentlemen quietly menacing onlookers in each direction. Though it’s really hard to menace anything with hordes of chickens sprouting out of your feet.

Yes, they are connected.
Yes, they are connected.
A door inside!
A door inside!
Its a long way up...
Its a long way up…
Shoulder level!
Shoulder level!
balconies and doors connect the four.
balconies and doors connect the four.
A view out of an arm
A view out of an arm.
Interior of Head #1
Interior of Head #1
Interior of Head #2
Interior of Head #2
Interior of Head #3
Interior of Head #3
Interior of Head #4
Interior of Head #4
There were stairs going down too.
There were stairs going down too.
A vast white room...
A vast white room…
Wait, more down?
Wait, more down?
down down down
down down down
Four Guardians subway station
Four Guardians subway station

This was actually the first subway station I built on the north/south line. (When I add more, it’s gonna be called the Netherrack line.) It’s a little smaller than subsequent stations, since I was still figuring things out, and the only one with stairs on the platform instead of in a space behind the wall. The rest of the stations got more standardized over time, but this one gets to be quirky because it was first.

Not pictured – I should have gotten a picture of the island from the sky during a creative run, because the water around these guys? FILLED with chickens. There is a circle of flapping white specks around the island. Yes, there’s a spawner somewhere. Occasionally they get down into the subway and hop a minecart. Chickens in minecarts are way funnier than they ought to be.

And thusly ends the tale of the four.

UPDATE (6/28/15): About that aforementioned picture:

So. Many. Chickens.
So. Many. Chickens.

Also these guys have since acquired names. They are Icky, Stinky, Yucky and Clyde. Don’t ask me which one’s which.

World: Main
Location: 551 64 16
Creation Mode: Creative
Build completed: Summer 2014

Taking the Scenic Route

Most of this weekend’s build work included laying a ~1115 block segment of road running from a brick house* I’d mostly finished a few weeks ago (just had to add the roof) to the mostly unexplored northwestern shoreline. This was slightly more of a pain in the neck than usual (literally at some points throughout Sunday even) because after last Monday’s server session I’d left my game set on survival for Reasons.** After having my game mostly creative for the past little while, I’d kinda forgotten how arduous building a Large Thing in Survival mode is, even if you’re using Plug to cheat a little with regard to tools and inventory. Arduous, but somehow satisfying.

Anyway, I did finish the road (and the house, which I’m calling Rose House, not Brick… hoooooooooouse***), and since Survival mode did slow me up a little it meant I had time to stop and appreciate the scenery along the way.

Rose House from the road.
Rose House from the road.

I was experimenting with a different roof shape on this house. Very unsure if like.

Back of Rose House
Back of Rose House

We’re getting ready for boats, hence the dock in the back. Also if you look carefully through the water you can see the double basement.

Off in the distance...
Off in the distance…

I really love having my view distance hacked to 255 blocks. it doesn’t seem to slow up my gameplay much, aside from an uptick in chunk errors. Still, a view like that… worth it.

Tiptoe... through the tulips... with me...
Tiptoe… through the tulips… with me…
Another stunning view!
Another stunning view!
Sunset over the cliffs
Sunset over the cliffs

I have a horrific compulsion to take pictures at sunset. Minecraft sunsets are just so PRETTY now.

Shore Cave
Shore Cave

I decided it would be really cool to have the road end emerging through this cave. I wanted to take a before picture first through.

Also can I just say I love that Plug gives you access to coordinates? It makes road planning way easier.

All roads have an end.
All roads have an end.

But this road ends emerging triumphantly through a cave!

Night and day
Night and day

The other thing I like to do is if I found something super pretty, I like to stand in one spot and take a lot of pictures. This is the first time I’ve spliced those time-lapsed screenshots into one picture though, and I like how it came out. Might print and frame it even.

So yeah, now we have come… to the ENNNNNND OF THE ROOOOOOOOAD.****

behold, a Boyz II Men song.
behold, a Boyz II Men song.

Meanwhile in B plot land, 576875 showed up for a bit on Sunday afternoon to work on the farm they’re building across from Spawn House so players don’t have to go ranging far and wide for food. It’s coming along nicely. As of last night it did not have a roof, 5 put that in tonight.

5's farm
576875’s farm
Crops and lights
Crops and lights

By the way, holy cats, it’s actually really hard and frustrating trying to lead livestock into a confined area. I’d only done it with sheep before, and they’re dumb enough to follow you relentlessly anywhere so long as you’re holding wheat. Cows, pigs and chickens aren’t nearly so cooperative.

Moooooooooooo
Moooooooooooo

They will however get RIGHT up in your grill though.

While fishing the above pictured cow out of the river and trying to lead it back to the farm, I stumbled across a house built by mathguy04 a few sessions back.

mathguy04's house.
mathguy04’s house.

One of the reasons I’m really enjoying having guest players is that they bring some fresh ideas and building styles into my world. For example 5’s farm system of placing down a square of water for the crops, placing a slab one block over it, and then having a floating glowstone block above that as a crop light. I also really liked how mathguy framed the giant bay window of his house entirely with doubled slabs, which gives it a neat look. So yeah, live and learn. Reminds me, his house is missing a bed, I may go back and leave one and a houseplant for him as a housewarming present.

Hopefully I’ll have more news from the open server front soon. I’m open all week but haven’t been advertising it much. Hopefully I’ll get a few more folks in later in the week or over the weekend. Also I’m so behind on the build posts front. I’ll tackle that project this week I think.

* she’s mighty mighty… letting it all hang out ayyyy she’s a brick… HOOOOOOOOOUUUUSE… sorry, couldn’t help myself.

** Reasons being I wanted to hack in iron doors for the prison build, which is coming along. Hopefully done this week.

**** …for exactly this reason.

**** Its apparently just that kind of post. đŸ˜›

Server Time, and MCPE 0.11.0 news!

Monday night server time was had tonight! I only had two guests tonight: 576875 and Team Heath Bar, but a good time was had arrowing mobs, adopting wee cows (one of whom THB has dubbed Mr. Moo) and 5 has started a farm at the Spawn House so folk coming in don’t have to scrounge around for food, initially. I’m starting to quite look foward to my weekly visitors. đŸ™‚

In belated OMG! News, turns out the rumors swirling about the MCPE 0.11.0 beta were legit, and y’all lucky folks with Android devices do indeed get to beta test it. Some of the pictures released are massively exciting. While I’m envious of my Android compadres as a non-jailbroken iOS user, I am still excited because beta test now = update SOON.

So what am I excited for in MCPE 0.11.0? Lots.

  • Boats! Cause swimming/flying across oceans is a pain.
  • Skins! Steve I love you, but you and i need to see different people and as a black lady gamer I’m tired of playing as a goateed white guy. Sorry not sorry. I made a new skin that’s all ready to go even.
  • “new” mobs! Bats, Squids, fish and cave spiders may be old news to all y’all PC Minecraft players but they will be entirely new to me. Doesn’t seem to be ocelots yet, so I’ma have to be patient for a while longer before I can have a creeper scaring kitty cat in game.
  • Dyeable doggie collars! Cause being about to tell which dogs are who would be nice, lol.
  • Gamemode Switch! For real, not just hacking the level.dat! that’d be real nice because creative mode with no flying and still getting hurt? Not fun. Might as well be playing in survival with Plug on spamming the give command. đŸ˜›

I am cautiously excited about the option to make old worlds infinite. I don’t know if I’d be up for going back to either the Hunt world or the Dreamscape world and expanding them that way. Honestly, if I could find some way of dropping both worlds and their accompanying projects somewhere in my current infinite map I’d do that instead, seeing as I’ve sunk so much time into the current map. I am glad to finally be able to rename my main world though – not that I’ve thought up a good enough name for it yet.

So yeah – SOON.

There doesn’t seem to be a WBC up on Reddit this week, as the sticky post has been hijacked by the MCPE 0.11.0 bug reports posts. Which is good, in a way – In among the other stuff I want/need to do this week, I need to seriously sit down and actually finish the prison dungeon build I’ve been working on for awhile, and then start sketching up the next couple of builds I’ve had percolating in the meantime, not to mention do some exploring in uncharted territory. Still on the lookout for a PC mapping tool that will work with the MCPE leveldb. And I need to make posts about my other builds too. So much to do, so little time!