07 `
Issue 1
Wednesday 31st
Hello! Welcome to a very special issue of the
Redstone Torch, the first one! Yes, that’s right, we’ve now started, and now that we’ve started, prepare to read until the end! Get supplies, make sure you have an hour to spare, and start reading!
Today’s theme is a new start, as it’s the start of the magazine. A rather fitting theme, I think you’ll agree.
We have some brilliant articles this issue, including an interview with Hans Lemurson, some brilliant texture pack and mod reviews, and even a very spooky enderman story.
So, what are you waiting for, start reading! Green, Owner of the Redstone Torch
This page is here for no apparent reason, do not read! Although, maybe someone – or something put it here‌
This is a spoiler telling you that diary of Herobrine is near...
REDSTONE CORNER Synthion Hello Redstoners! Today, we will be using the RS-NOR Latch. The RSNOR Latch is one of the simplest form of redstone “memory”. Its most obvious purpose is making a button’s charge permanent, instead of only 10 ticks. But it also has many other uses. This is a diagram of a standard RSNOR LATCH.
It works because the charge the button creates is sustained by briefly turning off a redstone torch, powering a second redstone torch indefinitely. The Green line represents Output, the Blue line represents Inverse Output. To erase the memory, simply power the second redstone torch with a button or lever. (That is the reason for the second lever in the diagram) This is useful for many reasons, on a grand scale, individual bits can stored in latches such as this to create a true computer of redstone. On a more realistic scale, your adventure maps can now have pressure pads that act as levers so that doors can close behind you permanently.
This is also handy for creating alarm systems for mobs or players (On SMP). Simply hook up a pressure pad for the initial input on the latch, and have the output go out to a 5-clock (other clocks are available), starting a cycle that can provide pulses of power to noteblocks. This creates a decent alarm system. And, a lever or button can turn it off. For those of you that are confused about clocks, we may cover that in a future segment. For now, happy redstoning!
Diary of Herobrine
Day 2 My day of beginning has passed, and I am searching for why I was made. Who am I? The memory of my name has been lodged in my head, like a scar. My name is Herobrine. I was created here for a purpose, one that I have yet to find. I will keep my memories in a written form. This will stop me from forgetting.... This will allow others to remember me. I don't quite understand it myself, but I have a feeling that I'm not alone in this world... Day 5 My feeling was correct! I have come across another being on this world! What I do not understand is why this being destroys the landscape like it owns it! This world is beautiful, and I don't think I can bear to see it destroyed right in front of me. I will follow this being, but I will not show myself outright. I will spy on it, and see what move it makes next... By Darkangle, more next issue!
Tips and Tricks! By JebusChrist666 This month's theme for tips is a new start! These tips will help you with fishing, farming, and basic building. Here's one good tip for fishing: When you fish in a boat, the fish will fly over your head, so it's easier to collect fish if there is a wall behind you. It will save some time, no one likes running around picking up fish when you could have them all in one place. Farming tips next! Here's a fairly basic tip: Wheat requires water up to four blocks away, so make sure your wheat is near water! Sugarcane is even more water-dependent, it must be next to water in order to plant it. Cacti, trees, and mushrooms require no water. Also, a useful tip for cactus harvesting is that cacti break if there is a block next to them. Since cacti grow, you can place a block to the side of where it would grow, and as soon as it does grow, it will break off! From there, it's easy enough to add water flow, and get a simple automatic cactus farm set up! And last but certainly not least, basic building tips! For the first night: It doesn't matter what you build your house out
of, just make it quick so you don't get stuck in a hole (or die). The easiest material to build your house out of once you get started is cobblestone, which is fairly blast resistant. However, for the ideal material to resist creeper explosions, you need obsidian, which is second only to bedrock. Obsidian will NEVER be destroyed by a creeper explosion, ever! (Not even Super Creepers can break it!) However, it requires a diamond pickaxe to mine, so cobblestone is best for a starting house. That's all of the tips for these two weeks, make sure to come back two weeks from now and check out the new tips!
MODS, Maps, and Texture Packs By: Synthion Well hello readers! Today’s segment is a special one, because it is the debut of The Redstone Torch! Yeah! Give it up! Anyway, this weeks theme is a New Beginning, so, I decided to theme this segment to the same style!
MODs of the week Since we are talking about starting up, what better way to start then some simple, straightforward, if somewhat unimpressive mods, Starting Inventory and Craft Book. ~Starting Inventory Made by DaftPVF and featured in the wonderful Yogbox, it is simplistic enough, instead of an empty hot-bar upon spawning a new world, you have a customizable set of tools and items to start out with, to make your journey an easier one.
I would normally show a picture, but this really requires no further explanation. It’s quite a handy mod. The default settings in the Yogbox Version are a Wooden Axe and a Craft Book, which coincidentally (not really) is our next mod! ~Recipe (or Craft) Book By Risugami, yes, THE Risugami, behind ModLoader, AudioMod, and More Arrows. Also featured in the Yogbox, it is a book that resembles a regular book, just more redtoned. Upon right-clicking, it yields the recipe for every single recipe in the game, and the Yogbox version also contains all new recipes in the Yogbox such as More Arrows, Mystic Ores, and the like.
Some alternative textures included in the Yogbox. This can be extremely useful for new players, and new Yogbox users who want to know
their way around the world of new recipes and items. Maps Before joining The Redstone Torch team, I was, and still am, a popular map critic. So here is a map that is very good, but deserves a fresh start. I rate all maps on a 5-star scale. A diamond is a star. A Gold Ingot is a half-star. An Iron Ingot is Âź Star. For more information on how I rate maps, visit my full-time map review thread. Escape the Facility by guy1234567890 Adventure/Puzzle Wow. This guy I can tell has spent a lot of time on this map. Kudos to you. We need more map makers with your dedication. But why did you only get 2.5 stars?! Well, the map is a broken in a few places, the entire map seems
schizophrenic, and you don't seem to understand you own map. Don't worry, just work on it. I might actually consider re-reviewing it in a more developed version. And remember, my review is based off MY experience. Not others, or yours, but mine. Despite being marketed as an Adv/Puz, this is definitely a Puz. Is this review reminding you of something? Destroy the Diamond Comet maybe? I gave it the same score, it had the same issue with marketing it as an adventure, both similar atmospheres, it is really similar isn't it? Looking back at Diamond Comet, I think I didn’t give it enough credit, because it is similar to Portal, short, fun, tight, and well put together. This is not anything like that. It is tedious, enormous, desperately trying to fill in gaps (usually by repeating puzzles). I came into this map expecting to have fun with advanced redstone-powered
puzzles, high-tension dynamic parkour, and maybe some open-world exploration. And I was expecting a great story. Guess what I didn't get. You wake up in a room. You see some rules, but no story. By the name I understand I have to escape, but couldn't you have added anything else? The first couple of puzzles are parkour. Really? I don't mind a few original parkour puzzles (note I said puzzles, not just challenges) in a map, but there's a reason I don't do parkour maps. They are repetitive, tedious, and annoying. Especially without a checkpoint system. At least yours had one, no matter how rudimentary it was. There are several "puzzles" including more then one example of my LEAST favorite type of challenge. The "explore this environment for a single chest/spot
of clay". Are these fun for people? Are they? ARE THEY?! Because I can't stand them. To me it screams laziness and/or "I'm running out of ideas", and considering it was only the very beginning, I sure as hell was hoping it wasn't the second one. The maze where we had to find cobble was actually kind of fun, I love wellconstructed, multi-point mazes. And this was one of them. However, most people hate mazes. So I guess you also lose at this one too. Sorry. You know what, let me skip to where I got lost and could not move forward. A strange outside complex of buildings. Seemed like a dead-end. So do I just suck? Or is this a genuine problem? You know what, I probably just suck, but still, you should make all objectives clear. So I flew around, and let me just say this thing is frickin COLOSSAL. One of
the largest maps I've ever seen. And this means you have to fill these rooms. And I think you ran out of ideas. I broke into several places, and did the puzzles until I got lost again (happened a few times). And it was very repetitive. Same old boring parkour, search, and maze puzzles. All this is going on, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at certain times. It had the right atmosphere. The environments were complimentary and not jagged like so many other maps. The creator is one hell of an environment designer and logistics expert, but not so much with puzzle design, storyline creation, or anything else. If was gonna make a collaboration, I would probably want you on my team. But this feels like if there was only one Beatle, or if only one guy made the Aether. It feels dark, lonely, and unfinished.
It also doesn't help with how unoriginal the idea is. I go on the maps forum page often to check my thread's status. There are really only 3 types of posts. ~32% of them are Survival Island Maps, ~32% are escape the facility/prison maps, and ~32% are looking for people to be in a youtube series like the yogscast. That last 4% are the things I notice. Yours would have just faded in with the background. In addition, making maps so ridiculously long, but still so repetitive is a good way to make sure NO ONE sees the ending. I know I didn't. Texture Packs Texture Packs change not only the look of Minecraft, but the feel of minecraft. So let us look upon the fall of arguably the most popular RPG texture pack, and its new start. For as a
phoenix rises from the ashes, from the death of Dokucraft, comes the official continuation pack.
Dokucraft: The Saga Continues Doku unfortunately decided to discontinue updating Dokucraft permanently “for my own reasons”. Fans of Dokucraft wonder how they will move on from such wonderful and diverse RPG textures provided in Dokucraft Light, Dark, and High. I’ll admit it is one of my most used Texture Packs. Dokucraft: TSC as I call it, aims to use Dokucraft textures, update them, add to them, improve them, and add mod support. A brave goal, but even Doku contributes to this pack. Also, this pack aims to be community driven, and has a customizer to make your pack absolutely PERFECT.
From the forum post With mod support for such incredible mods as the Aether, Better than Wolves, and Clay Soldiers already, few can doubt the promise of this pack. But will it stand the test of time? Will numerous important updates break it? Only time will tell, friends. But what I can say is that I loved Dokucraft, and I am starting to love this one.
Well, that’s all for this week, next week we’ll touch on some bigger mods, some less known texture packs, and a new map. That’s all for Mods, Maps, and Texture Packs!
SKINS With Aeronnax Have you been looking for a new skin? Tired of looking like the same old Minecrafter who hasn’t changed? Well then this is the article for you! “SKINS” is a section where I, Aeronnax, review 5 skins each issue and give a short review of each skin. I’ll also tell you where to find these skins to give yourself a whole new makeover! I’ll be naming the skins with the names they have on the Skindex.
The RED Spy The RED Spy, from Team Fortress 2 which I downloaded off the Skindex (minecraftskins.com), is a great roleplaying skin for city-based servers. If the server has Mobdisguise, a Bukkit plugin which allows players to transform into any mob or player, it makes this skin even better.
Forest Adventurer The Forest Adventurer, again from the Skindex, is a great skin for roleplaying /PvP servers. This skin is great if you like living under thick canopies of leaves, and dwell in tree houses suspended from leaves and branches.
Pirate Captain *Breathes in* Ahhh‌ don’t ye just love the salty aroma of the ocean? The Pirate Captain is great for, well, pirate-themed roleplaying servers. Once again from the Skindex, rule the seas with this incredibly detailed skin!
Creepers fear me‌ A skin fit for futuristic roleplaying servers. This Sci-Fi skin, pulled off the Skindex, is very detailed and has a nice golden/bronze powersuit.
This warrior, off the Skindex, has seen everything to do with war. Prepare for PvP and dominate enemies with this skin!
Well, that’s it for this issue! Stay tuned for more skins to suit yourself with, and for now, roleplay and PvP away!
Enderman’s Stare By Cheezman
It was about 9 AM. Jeremy was thinking about what he should do in Minecraftia for the day. His final decision was to go out of his small cabin and find a satisfactory mine for diamonds and such. He stepped out of his tiny, but cosy, house, and looked at his clock. About 10 AM. He had better get going. After a few minutes of traveling, Jeremy spotted something out of the ordinary. It was a large sort of shadow, very much like the silhouette of something very tall. In fact it looked like it was holding a dirt block. But that just couldn't be. Jeremy lived very far away from the nearest settlement. Curiously, Jeremy ventured forward. Jeremy had gotten to be about 100 feet away from the mysterious figure. He hadn't even
realized that it was night time. Suddenly, it noticed him. It turned, froze and just stared straight back into Jeremy's eyes, and oh, those eyes, they were simply terrifying. It was like staring into a hypnotizing void of white, that never ended. Suddenly extremely nervous, Jeremy turned to leave. He could get away. He would be fine. Out of nowhere, he was struck harshly on the back of the head.... By a block of dirt. Barely conscious, Jeremy looked up at the sky, he was being surrounded by those white portals of nothingness, getting closer, and closer.... After a few seconds, Jeremy passed out. When he awoke, Jeremy could hardly move. He was in so much pain. He knew he needed help. Strangely, he had been taken right outside of the city. He could barely manage a crawl. He saw someone. They were mining a wall nearby. He
crawled up to the man pleading for help while he did so. Little did Jeremy know that the "S" in the end of his please, had turned into a never-ending hiss. Frightened, the man turned around, only to see a glimpse of green and see a terrible looking face before the wall he was mining was mined for him in a brutal flash of smoke.
Craft for a Cause By Green Craft for a Cause is a excellent non-profit organization that allows building in Minecraft to be more worthwhile than it currently is – by making it into a competition! Instead of just admiring the beauty of what you have built, the founders of Craft for a Cause pick the best one. It must be a hard choice.
The amazing builder that is the winner then gets a brilliant 20% of all donations (capped at £50) and the other 80% is given to a charity which changes every week. For example, if £200 was donated, the winner would receive £20 and £180 would be donated to a charity.
Personally, I think it is a wonderful idea and cause and I’m sure you will think the same.
Hans Lemurson Interview By JebusChrist666
Today’s interview is with Hans Lemurson, the renowned redstoner who has made a Minecraft within Minecraft! His responses were very long, so several revisions were made, indicated by ".....". Jebus: When did you first start playing Minecraft, and why? Hans: I first started playing Minecraft in early October 2010. A friend had shown the game to me, with a little house he made in a cave next to a tamed zombie-spawner, and lit beacons leading from his spawn-point on the beach to his inland base. I was impressed by the absolute creative freedom of the game, but was a little bit concerned about what I perceived as its lack of depth, since once you'd done all of the things to set up a functional base...what then? Still, the
game settled itself into my mind and I decided to buy it so that I too could carve out my own little corner of the world. Jebus: When did you first start working with redstone? I started working with Redstone probably in late October.... My first creation was making a 5-clock, then I started experimenting with "clocks" that used an even number of torches and was intrigued by how they could settle into one of 2 different states. This was my first Memory Cell. I then figured out how to turn this into a device where it would change its state every time you pressed a button, so I created a T Flip-Flop on my own. My intention with the T Flip-Flops was to create a binary counter hooked up to a clock which could keep track of the day/night cycle. For many months, my Redstone ambitions never exceeded this, and the whole thing was eventually rendered moot when Notch released the craftable
Pocket-Watch item. It would actually be a while before I got back into Redstone Engineering. When Noteblocks were released, this inspired me to come back to Minecraft, since I had a grand idea for making a proper "Music-Box". Not the kind where a signal simply travels down a String of note-blocks triggering them in turn, but something that used just 8 Note-Blocks but stored the data in a long array for which ones would be activated in what order.... ...When Repeaters came out, I was a bit offended at how easy it was to make precision timingcircuits out of them. You could now make a "String" Music-Player even more compact and with less materials than before! Where was the ROM Music-Player's place in the world now? But then I realized that the compactness of the Repeater also lent itself to compact data storage in the form of pulses traveling down a line or them. The Data was being stored dynamically in
Time rather than statically in Space, and at a density approaching 1 Bit per Block. THIS was the data-storage revolution I had been waiting for in order to make my Music Box!!! However, the trick would be catching the data as it flowed by in its long loop, and I didn't quite know how to do this. I then started my first "Redstone Experimentation" map.... On this world I experimented with precision timing and "Catching" a signal..... I made a lot of progress on the system, and eventually forgot that its original purpose was for a Music-Player, since now I was getting into studying how computers worked and was simply going to appreciate a Memory unit for it's own sake, even if it didn't play music......you could have a device that could perform 8 different logical operations. I then made such a device and released my first video, "Hans Lemurson's MultiFunction Logic Gate", and I was now set irrevocably down the path of pursuing Redstone Computation. Wow, that turned into a whole
history! Jebus: What about redstone interests you so much? Hans: When I was in 8th grade, I learned the basics of how Logic Gates operate, and how Adders worked, but still felt dissatisfied with a big gap in my knowledge: How do you go from basic Logic Gates to a Computer that runs programs? I wanted to be able to understand how Computers worked from the transistor level up. Redstone in Minecraft gave me the opportunity to explore this without having to fiddle around with wires on a breadboard, or use a Logic Simulator where I felt too many components are pre-made (so you don't understand how they work), and the ones that weren't resulted in a tangled mess of wires and gates on the 2d screen. In Minecraft, all of the Gates operate simply
because of the fundamental behavior of the Redstone torch, and you can build up complex relationships between different parts of a device that eventually result in the function you want. Despite not simulating Electricity properly, it felt a little more "authentic" and much more useful to my goal of understanding how a computer is made from component parts.... I only like to "Make things that DO things", and Redstone is a perfect medium for this if you have the patience and inclination to understand how it works (which I do). So that's why I like Redstone. Jebus: What is your favorite redstone creation? (Yours or someone else's.) Hans: Oh, that's a tough one. As supremely arrogant and self-centered as it sounds, I'd actually say that my favorite Redstone creation is actually my "Mini-Minecraft" machine because of the balance it strikes between doing computations, but doing them simply enough that
you can actually USE the device without getting totally bored. My machine is actually playable. I mean, so long as you have enough patience to wait 5 seconds for a button-press to result in an action on the screen. But at least it's not 15 seconds! If I had to pick somebody else's creation, I'd go for Ohmganesha's "Instant Carry" Adder, due to how it has revolutionized the speed at which computations can be done. ....Redstone Computation revolutionized overnight. Now around the same time, some people in the RDF were working on a similar concept, but their resulting device wasn't as fast or compact as Ohmganesha's by the time he completed his. Jebus: Do you have any plans to improve your Mineception project by making a bigger screen or making it better in any other way? Hans: No. I planned it as an 8x8 and I'm satisfied
with it now that it's complete. This is the biggest project I've ever attempted and I'm really glad that it's FINALLY finished now. Well, the work isn't quite complete since I still need to make a Video presentation about it, but once that's done and I've made the schematic public, I'm going to consider the project DONE. Anybody can then feel free to attempt to surpass me, to make a device that bigger, runs faster, includes creepers, uses colored-wool displays, whatever. You have to realize that 2 months ago, I already knew how the machine was going to work....I really had to push myself at times to keep working on "MiniMinecraft" even though it was tedious construction and debugging rather than innovation....
Jebus: Do you do anything other than work with redstone in Minecraft? Hans: These days, not really. I've thought about
getting back into playing minecraft normally and just making a little base for myself, but I think I might just run into the problem which plagued me earlier before I got into Redstone heavily: "Ok, now what?" Once I've established a secure perimeter, stable food supply, and have all the equipment for survival, I'm often at a loss for what to do next. I'm really good at planning and am extremely careful and cautious, so there are rarely any challenges that I cannot overcome unless they involve actually engaging in combat. I suck at combat, so what I usually end up doing is just building a completely self-sufficient underground base and then just staying in there where it's safe from creepers. I'm deathly afraid of creepers and skeletons. Skeletons are tolerable if I spot them first, but it always makes me jump when I'm walking around and suddenly *TWANG!*. I don't like being scared and Minecraft is a kind of scary game, but once you set it to peaceful, there's no danger at all and I'm still stuck in an existential crisis. So I do Redstone.
Jebus: Are you currently planning another project, and if so, could you say anything about it? Hans: I've been toying with making a reconfigurable Maze with pistons. I've been studying different patterns looking for ones that give the best trade-off between Path Complexity and Piston Density, and have found a number of candidates. Ideally what I'd like to do is actually be able to hook up the maze to a Memory unit so that you could design mazes and save them and you could make your maze effectively much bigger by having "checkpoints" in it where you reach a pressure plate and step on it, causing the maze to shift do design #2 which you then have to navigate through again. I'd want to hook this up to a display so that you could see what the maze would be as you're designing it. Except for the Maze part, the project would actually be quite similar to PeterC1's "Minecraft Paint 2.0", which bears many similarities with my own "Mini-
Minecraft". I will have to study how he saves and loads large 2D images in such a compact way and see if I can reproduce it for my Maze's pistonconfiguration. Jebus: Are you planning on making any tutorials for redstone? Hans: From the moment I submitted my first Minecraft video, I have intended to make an informative tutorial series about Redstone so that anybody could understand how it works and build what they need. I just...haven't gotten around to it yet. One of my great skills is in explaining things clearly to other people, and I really enjoy it. I feel that many people are held back from experiencing the joy of Redstone Engineering simply because they haven't had access to the proper information to understand how the stuff works. What's the most important I've found is having a solid conceptual framework....Too many people when explaining complicated ideas simply give a bunch
of information without any context. I intend to provide good quality explanations...once I eventually get around to actually making the tutorials. Did I mention I have a problem with procrastination? Jebus: What do you think of Notch/Mojang? Hans: I'm impressed by how much Notch was able to accomplish on his own in making minecraft from the start.... one thing that we all have to remember is that one of the biggest contibutors to Notch's success with Minecraft is that he got really lucky. Notch isn't unique in his ability to code a game like Minecraft, and Minecraft wasn't even the first voxel-manipulation game out there. Notch didn't know ahead of time that the stars had aligned for a game with the exact qualities as the one he was making to jump to unprecedented popularity. If he had made it at a different time.... then Notch's Minecraft might not have caught on and 6 months later some other Indie game would
have surged in popularity and we'd all be praising the genius of that other developer. I'm not saying Notch doesn't deserve the success he's gotten, not at all, but that the level of success that Notch and Mojang have seen are due to much more than simply the talent they have available. I actually see myself and "Mini Minecraft" in a similar light..... The machine isn't any more complex than many of the Redstone Computer systems out there, and takes no more talent to build. So why has my creation struck such a chord? Not because it's an elaborate Redstone contraption, but because it's "Minecraft in Minecraft". My fame in this regard is due to the target I chose and the task I set for myself. When I started working on it, I tried to keep as secretive about it as possible, in fear that somebody else more dedicated than me might steal my idea and beat me to it. You only really get credit if you're the FIRST person to make "Mineception".
In fact, the idea of how cool it would be to take the prize and be the guy who made "Minecraft in Minecraft" was sometimes the only thing that kept me motivated to return to the project whenever I began to waver over just how much work was involved in building the darn thing. But I knew that if I completed it, I'd be famous. And THAT is actually what I admire Notch for the most: He didn't know in advance that Minecraft would be a success, yet he kept at it nonetheless. Jebus: Who is your favorite MC forumer, and why? Hans: My favorite? Gosh, I always have difficulty with questions like this. I try not to be judgemental. I'll go with "Which member of the Minecraft Forums do you admire the most?" Even then it's still a toss-up. The two names that come to mind are Conundromer and CX Gamer. CX Gamer I admire because he has a really deep understanding of how redstone and logic circuits
in general operate..... He is among the people who I consider to be better at Redstone than myself. Conundromer has made a variety of really cool creations in his time, and was the person that I wanted to be as cool as when I first joined the forums. Also, he too had been planning a "Mini Minecraft" type game of his own....he messaged me and we talked about it and he agreed that I would be the one to complete the project, and he contented himself with building a fully operational Rubik's Cube. So I kind of owe him a bit for this chance at greatness that I've been given. So there you go, you asked for one person and I gave you two. Two for the price of one!
Jebus: If you could choose one improvement for Notch to add to redstone, what would it be?
Hans: Make the wires easier to control. Redstone devices are always so bulky because of the need to keep wires insulated from each other, and the difficulty of getting the wire to point into the block you want signalled. A more reasonable request though would be to make the Redstone Wire stop lying to you! There are a number of situations (usually dealing with a torch on top of a block) where the direction that the wire points has no relation to which blocks are actually getting a signal from it. Make it so that if looks like the wire is pointing into a block, then it is. Jebus: What is your least favorite thing about redstone? Hans: The bulk. Making structures in minecraft is a bulky enough affair because all blocks occupy a cubic meter of space (even the ones that don't fill
it still prevent anything else from being placed in their spot). However, redstone wire is so tricky to handle that you often have to take circuitous routes in order to get everything to align properly. It's bad enough that a wire occupies an entire block of space, but the lengths that you have to go through to prevent signal contamination only serve to multiply the problem. I didn't make each pixel occupy a 4x4 space because it would look cool (although it does). I did it because that was about as compact as I could get all of the display components. I probably could have compacted the pixels to 3x3, but I couldn't figure out a good way to make the pixels look pretty, so 4x4 it was. Jebus: If you could give one piece of advice to a novice redstoner, what would it be? Hans: Learn how the stuff works. It's not completely straightforward, there are limitations and behaviors which are unexpected, and it's not always obvious when a signal is getting
transmitted or not. Many of these non-obvious things are critical to making compact components. A solid foundation in the fundamentals will allow you to begin to translate your ideas into actual components. The best way that I've found to do this is to get your hands on a flat map, acquire an infinite supply of redstone, and then start tinkering. Also try using some Redstone Simulators so that you can test things out before committing the greater time it takes to make them by hand in-game. Jebus: Is there anything else you want to say about anything? Hans: The key to completing any large-scale project is to set a clear goal that you can measure your progress against, to see how each little addition you make, no matter how small, is bringing you forwards to completion. If I didn't have any idea of what my finished project was
going to look like, I probably would have given up halfway through. I have....a piece of paper on which are the initial equations I used to describe the different actions I wanted my machine to perform and then on the flip side contains a sketch of how all the different "Units" that perform each operation are arranged relative to each other..... So yeah, plan ahead.
The Hunger Bar By Ryukoy
Recently, there have been whispers around the forums and fansites that 1.8 or another update coming soon will bring the addition of a hunger bar. While many survival fans praise the hunger bar concept for its realism and extra challenge, there are people who believe that it'll be a game breaker, expecting it to be buggy, useless, and broken. However, many speculate it'll be an optional setting, such as difficulty level. Many people also point to the reported food items coming with 1.8 to be evidence of said hunger bar. Notch himself has shown some interest in the concept of a hunger bar, which also leads to speculation that it's going to be in a future update. While many believe it's coming, they also concede it may have some flaws:
-It will be a game breaker, especially in desert maps, where very little animals spawn. - Many believe that it'll be the cause of many cheap deaths. -Others believe that it will bog down inventories with food items that could be filled with precious tools, ores, and materials.
Build Spotlight By Lord_Earthcraft
Welcome to the very first Build Spotlight for the Redstone Torch! Lord Earthcraft here, bringing you some of the finest builds in all of Minecraftia! Many say that the mega-structures are some of the best buildings out there and, certainly, many of them do deserve time in the spotlight. Today, however, we’re looking at new beginnings. Some of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in Minecraft have been quite small. There is an elegance in simplicity that cannot be denied and purist66 is here to show us exactly that.
Here we have a quaint little village, built by purist66. Many of us would look at this and think, “I could do that.” That may be true, but I would point out that this village, while not very large, has heart. Any one of us can build a small house to survive in. It takes talent to make your little wooden structure feel like home. With simple aesthetics and intuitive interior design, purist66 has accomplished this. He’s created a place that any Minecrafter would love to come home to. Have a look at some of the screens.
But that’s not all! One of the things about this build that really caught my attention was this swank sugarcane farm.
Powered by redstone, this farming device makes gathering cane quick and painless. This device is
simple, efficient and a great addition to any village. I must say, I’m seriously considering adding one to one of my own worlds! Have a look at it.
I took some time to talk to purist66 about his build. Here’s what he had to say. Earthcraft - Tell us a little bit about yourself. Purist - Well not much to know really, but I enjoy playing Minecraft to relax, also playing Terraria helps me relax as well. I like to play guitar in my
spare time and go for bike rides. Just about to go off to college so I am trying to get in as much Minecraft time as possible at the moment! Earthcraft - How were you introduced to Minecraft? Purist - Can't remember exactly but I think I saw a thread in the Bungie(the blokes who made halo ) forums Earthcraft - How long have you been playing Minecraft? Purist - Since Beta 1.2...however long ago that was! Earthcraft - Can you give me a little bit of background about how this village started? What inspired you to create it the way that you did? Purist - When I started the world I just explored a bit and then found this little area after I had dug a
tunnel through a hill. I then thought it would be cool to build that underwater passage. But I hadn't set the difficulty to peaceful like I usually do (I put it on that because I just like building) so I had to make a little dirt hut to survive the night. I thought the area was quite cool and that I could utilize the area to build something nice, I then proceeded to put it on peaceful so I could build! I just let my imagination lead the way then really. Didn't really have any inspiration apart from the design of the well... I asked in the discussion forum about a design for a well and a user called M_Unit posted a pic of a design which I took inspiration from. I guess I just wanted the village to look simple. Earthcraft - Tell us a little bit about the features of this build. Purist - Well at the moment none of the buildings are actual homes, they are more like communal areas for people to relax. I guess that's why I put
lots of bookshelves in them and a couple of jukeboxes. I think that is one of my building styles, I like to make buildings that everyone can use. The well is quite useful because it has an infinite water source which is quite convenient I think. The wheat farm has all the water below it to hydrate the farmland...I'm not quite sure why this works because really it has to be on the same level, but I managed to get it working somehow! The redstone harvester is quite simple really but it does its job well. It can harvest 24 sugarcane whenever you need any and the sugarcane doesn't need replanting. Earthcraft - How long did it take you to build this? Purist - Not very long, a few hours at most I think Earthcraft - Did you gather the materials legitimately or did you use an inventory editor? Purist - All legit apart from the redstone and the
repeaters. I just couldn't be bothered to mine for it all! haha... Oh and the lime green wool for one of the buildings (I couldn't find any cacti). Earthcraft - Which texture pack is that? Looks wonderful. Purist - John Smith’s texture pack...but I used the customizer for it. Earthcraft - What did you have the most difficulty with while building this? Purist - The underwater tunnel...It was just annoying when trying to remove the water from the middle and then when I was close to finishing it I sometimes accidentally broke some of the glass so the tunnel flooded...and I'm sure you know how slow you walk in water now! But I got there in the end. Earthcraft - Let's talk a little bit about your
sugarcane farm. What was your inspiration for that? Purist - I didn't actually have any to be perfectly honest. I know someone said that they had seen the design before and that I took it from someone else, but I am being totally honest, I have never watched any video or seen any pictures of a design like that. I just thought, "I want it to look like this," then I built it... Just so happens that it is quiet a common design, I guess this is because it works well and is simple Earthcraft - Tell us a bit about how this machine works. Purist - Basically it is all connected by the one button at the front of the machine. Once that activates all three sets of piston will extend to push the sugarcane into a stream below which then collects the cane and brings it towards the front so you can pick it up all in one go!
Earthcraft - I know that experimenting with redstone can be frustrating. What did you have the most difficulty with while building this? Purist - Well the first design only had one layer of pistons and a height of 2 so it would just push the second layer of the sugarcane...A problem with this though was that the 3rd layer of cane would often get stuck on top of the pistons which would result in it not dropping into the stream below, so I added the 3rd layer of pistons. Another issue I had was that I couldn't get all the pistons to activate at once if I didn't use the repeaters to power them. But that was fixed easily. Earthcraft - Do you have any future plans for this build? Tell us what's next! Purist - I'm just going to keep expanding it I believe...See where my imagination leads me! Earthcraft - Can we expect you to be submitting
more content for the Build Spotlight? Purist - I certainly think so! And I will be sure to favourite 'The Redstone Torch'. That wraps it up for this issue’s Build Spotlight! If you have a build that you would like me to consider for this column, check out my thread! You can find a link to it on the main thread for the Redstone Torch. Just look for the Build Spotlight! Hope to see you there! -Earthcraft out
Well, that’s all for this week’s issue! Liked it? I did! Come back next time for more Minecraft news, interviews, storys, mods and more. But for now, goodbye!
-The Redstone Torch team