The Ultimate Player's Guide to Minecraft

Stephen O’Brien is an Australian-born writer and entrepreneur currently residing in Sydney after too many years in Silicon Valley. He has previously written 27 books across multiple editions with publishers such as Prentice-Hall and Que, including several best-selling titles. He also founded Typefi, the world’s leading automated publishing system, and in his spare time he invented a new type of espresso machine called mypressi. He has been playing Minecraft since its earliest days and remains astounded at the unparalleled creativity it engenders.

Introduction 1

What’s in This Book 2

How to Use This Book 4

Crafting Recipes 4

There’s More Online… 5

 

Chapter 1 Getting Started 7

Registering and Downloading 7

Registering a Mojang Account 8

Purchasing Minecraft 10

Launching Minecraft 12

Starting a New Game 14

Choosing a World Generation Style 16

Singleplayer Game Modes 16

Seeding Your World 18

Controls 19

The Bottom Line 20

 

Chapter 2 First-Night Survival 23

Survive and Thrive 23

Head for the Trees 25

Using Your Inventory 27

Build a Crafting Table 29

Let’s Build Some Tools 30

Creating a Shelter 33

The Furnace Is Your Friend 38

Let There Be Light 39

Slumber with Lumber 41

The Bottom Line 44

 

Chapter 3 Gathering Resources 47

Introducing the HUD 47

Improving Your Tools 51

Chests: Safely Stash Your Stuff 54

Avoiding Monsters 55

Hunger Management 58

Your Mission: Food, Resources, and Reconnaissance 59

Food on the Run 61

Finding a Building Site 63

A Resourceful Guide to the Creative Mode Inventory 66

The Bottom Line 68

 

Chapter 4 Mining 69

Dig Deep, My Friend 69

The Mining Layer Cake Guide 71

Lava Lakes and Other Pitfalls 73

Descending to Layer 11 74

The 2x1 Ladder Descent 74

The Straight Staircase 76

The Spiral Staircase 77

Layouts for Fast, Efficient Mining 78

Staying Safe While You Mine 81

The Bottom Line 82

 

Chapter 5 Combat School 83

Introducing the Menagerie 83

Zombies 84

Spiders 86

Skeletons 87

Cave Spiders 88

Spider Jockeys 89

Creepers 89

Slimes 90

Endermen 91

Zombie Pigmen 91

Defensive Mobs 92

Snow Golems 92

Iron Golems 93

Weapons and Armor 94

Swordcraft 95

Bows and Arrows 95

Armor-All 98

Color Coordinate Your Leather 100

The Bottom Line 101

 

Chapter 6 Crop Farming 103

Choosing a Crop 103

Establishing a Farm 106

Automated Farms 113

Creating a Piston Harvester 117

Sticky Piston Harvesting 119

Creating a Water Harvester 119

Harvesting Other Crops 122

The Bottom Line 123

 

Chapter 7 Taming Mobs 125

Farming and Working with Friendly Mobs 125

Using Leads 128

Breeding Animals 129

Taming and Riding Horses, Donkeys, and More 130

Armoring Your Horse 132

Loading Up the Pack 133

Riding Pigs 134

Fishing 134

The Bottom Line 135

 

Chapter 8 Creative Construction 137

Leaving the Cave 137

Unleashing Your Interior Decorator 140

Building Underwater 147

Protecting Your Perimeter 153

Become a Ditch Witch 153

Mob Pitfalls 155

Thick as a Brick 157

The Bottom Line 157

 

Chapter 9 Redstone, Rails, and More 159

Seeing Red: A Beginner’s Guide 160

Power Sources 160

Redstone Wiring 164

Powered Blocks 166

Modifiers 167

 Repeaters 168

 Comparators 170

Output Devices 171

Automatic Doors 173

Vertical Currents 178

Advanced Circuits 180

NOT Gates, aka Inverters 180

OR Gates, or Any Input Will Do 181

AND Gates, Two True 182

Repeater Loops 184

Rail Transport 185

Have Minecart, Will Travel 186

Rolling on Rails 188

Making Tracks and Stations 190

T-Junctions 191

Halfway Stations 192

A Word About Hoppers 193

The Bottom Line 194

 

Chapter 10 Enchanting, Anvils, and Brewing 195

Enchanting Wiles 195

Creating and Mining Obsidian 197

Crafting Books 200

Casting Enchantments 200

Improving Enchantment Chances with Bookshelves 202

Earning and Managing Experience 203

Spruce Up Your Weapons 204

Enhance Your Armor 205

Improve Your Tools 206

Hammer It Out with the Anvil 207

Brewing Potions 209

Brewing Up a Storm 211

Enhancing Potions 214

The Bottom Line 215

 

Chapter 11 Villages and Other Structures 217

Village Life 217

Emerald City: Your Ticket to Trade 220

Hidden Temples and Other Structures 222

Desert Temples 223

Jungle Temples 224

Witch Huts 224

Dungeons 225

Abandoned Mineshafts 226

Strongholds 226

Nether Fortresses 227

Mapping, or There and Back Again 227

Crafting a Clock 229

The Bottom Line 230

 

Chapter 12 Playing Through: The Nether and The End 231

Alternate Dimensions 231

Getting to The Nether 234

Portal Magic 236

Surviving the Nether Fortress 239

Nether Mobs 240

The End Game 242

Finding a Stronghold 244

Defeating the Ender Dragon 246

The Bottom Line 250

 

Chapter 13 Mods and Multiplayer 251

Customizing Your Experience 251

Changing the Skin You’re In 252

Minecraft Skin Editors 253

 Skincraft 253

 Minecraftskins 253

 Novaskin 254

Resource Packs: Change Your World 255

Mind My Mods 258

Installing Forge Mods 259

Too Many Items 261

More Explosives 262

Super Heroes 262

REI’s MiniMap 263

Legendary Beasts 263

More Mobs 264

Multiplayer Madness 265

Sharing and Joining on LAN 266

Joining a Multiplayer Server 267

Hosting a Multiplayer Server 269

The Bottom Line 272

 

Appendix A Crafting Recipes (Online)

 

Index 273