Downloaded MCEdit so the 8YO can edit Minecraft worlds. He used it to fill ten entire chunks with TNT…then lit one of the edges. The chain reaction has been going for at least ten minutes, punctuated by periods of major lag.
Category: Games
A Dynamite Approach
Working through a book on modding Minecraft with the kiddo. It knows its target audience: the first few lessons are all about explosions!
It’s written for 1.8, which is a problem because a lot of the structure has changed between then and 1.12, but a decent IDE with auto complete and a sense of common naming schemes has made it relatively easy to adapt the simple lessons so far. We’ll see how well that works as they get more complicated.
Upgrade Frustration
A few years back, we replaced our aging Windows PC with a newer system, figuring on using it mainly for office-type applications, casual games, and kids’ games. (Both of us had drifted out of playing the sort of game that really pushes a system’s specs, largely because there was a small person in the house who needed a lot of attention.) So we bought a Dell Inspiron, and it did its job for quite a while.
But eventually that small person discovered Minecraft. And Youtubers who play Minecraft. And the other games that those Youtubers play that need stronger hardware.
OK, it was old, it could use upgrading anyway. I didn’t want to flat-out replace the system, because it was still quite usable otherwise. And I hate moving data from one computer to another, because there’s always something that doesn’t transfer, and there’s always something that you forgot, and so on.
So we’ve been upgrading things bit by bit over the last few months. Continue reading
Need to Find a Safe Point
Interesting vocab mixup with the 7YO last night: He agreed to stop a game at “the first save point” and get ready for bed. When he didn’t, he said he hadn’t gotten to a “safe point” yet.
It turned out he didn’t understand what a save point was, because all the games he’s played up until now either don’t save progress at all, or save continuously.
Mobile Minecraft
The first time I played mobile Minecraft, I ended up stuck in a tree all night, trying not to move so the skeletons wouldn’t shoot me down. Every time I ventured down to try to finish my shelter, I got killed and re spawned in that tree, so I finally just set the phone down and waited for daylight.
Minecraft’s Hierarchy of Needs
Minecraft’s hierarchy of needs:
- Tools
- Shelter
- Light
- Food
Once all those are taken care of, you can start exploring and building.
A Minecraft Halloween
Homemade spider jockey costume (a composite Minecraft monster consisting of a skeleton archer riding a giant spider). Kid-sized, built by Katie (I assisted, mainly with painting, but the design, planning, and most of the construction was her).
Mostly cardboard, covered with paper to smooth it out and provide a painting surface. Heavy fabric and dowels to form the frame for the center of the spider body, with paracord to hold the legs on. For the skeleton: felt panels, some pinned to a black shirt, some to the suspenders. Which, incidentally, were made from old Comic-Con lanyards.