Hostile Mobs- Spiders, Cave Spiders & Spider Jockey!

It's bright and early, time for another hostile mob post! Like the usual, let's play this video by MCSpotlights to get us started.
 

[Video by MCSpotlights, click here for the original.]

 
Definition
 
Spiders are easily distinguished by their red eyes, flat body shape as compared to other mobs and have 8 legs in total, 4 on each side of their body. They can also scale vertical walls/blocks stacked as such.

Spiders only attack the player, however, when it is night time or in dark areas. When they are exposed to strong light (mainly sunlight), they will no longer be hostile. There are three different kinds of spiders:
 
1. Normal spiders. They are 2x2 blocks wide and 1 block high. They spawn in any dimly lit area. They have 8 health points.
 

 
2. Cave spiders. they are the same size as a regular 1x1x1 block, hence they are able to crawl through 1 block spaces. They only spawn via spawners in abandoned mineshafts, and when hit the player will be poisoned and slowly lose health. They have 6 health points.
 
The way to tell the difference between the two is by their colour. Normal spiders are black in colour while cave spiders are dark-blue.
 

[Normal spider behind, cave spider in front.]

3. Spider Jockey. It is simply that of a skeleton riding a spider. They are rare mobs that have both a spider's jumping ability and a skeleton's ability to shoot arrows at the player. However, this mob consists of 2 separate mobs, so if one dies, the other will still be alive.
 

[a Spider Jockey attacking the player. Original picture]

 

[String & Spider Eye]

Drops
 
Spiders and cave spiders only drop two items: string or spider eyes. A Spider Jockey, on the other hand, drops both the items for Skeletons and Spiders, such as the two items above and bows, arrows, etc.

*Special case

On hard difficulty, Spiders sometimes spawn with special potion effects such as strength, swiftness, regeneration or invisibility. These effects make spiders a lot tougher to defeat.

[Potion effects: regeneration (left), invisibility (right)]

Personal experience

For me, spiders aren't the scariest of mobs. They still give me quite a fright, however, when they suddenly drop down in front of me or attack me from behind. Also, if you look at it for a long period of time... You'll start becoming quite fond of it. Cave spiders are exceptional though.

That's it for this post, see you all again soon! Peace out!

Hostile Mobs- Creeper

Special thanks to Minecraft Wiki for some bits of information I didn't know! Now then, on to our third hostile mob! Like we did for the past two posts, let's play a video by MCSpotlights.
 

[video by MCSpotlights, click here to see the original video!]

 

That's right, this post's featured hostile mob is the infamous Creeper.

 
Definition

The Creeper is easily recognisable by its unique, green-coloured camouflage skin. It is almost 2 blocks high, has no arms but has 4 short legs to help it move about.
 

 

 Due to its ability to blend into most surroundings and the fact that it makes little noise when it approaches players, most don't realise one is creeping up behind them until it lets out its trademark burning-fuse sound and explodes, causing a lot of damage both to the player's health and to the environment.
 

[Damage done to different blocks by a normal Creeper's explosions]

 
*Special case

When a creeper is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm, it will have a light-blue glow around it. They are now called Charged Creepers and have an even bigger blast radius than normal Creepers, causing even more devastating aftereffects.
 
Unfortunately, Charged Creepers are the rarest mobs to find in Minecraft and I was unable to find one, so here's two videos to let you see one in action.
 
This first one was recorded by BFCGames on a server, so he/she was able to use server cheat codes to show how Creepers turn into Charged Creepers.
 

[Click here for the original video!]

 
The next one here is an actual sighting of a Charged Creeper in the game itself by Ethoslab from 00:00 to 13:30 and his pains of bringing it back to his base.

 [click here to watch the original episode of Ethoslab's survival series!]

Drops

Creepers only drop one item, and that's gunpowder (somewhat expected, wasn't it?). On special occasions whereby they are shot AND killed by a Skeleton, they will drop a music disc.

[Gunpowder. That's basically what it is.]

Personal experience

When I first consulted a junior of mine before I started playing Minecraft, he would always say that "Creepers are the most annoying and difficult mobs to handle". I don't usually have a problem with Creepers though. And personally, I find them pretty cute... lol

... It's late. Time to sleep. Peace out! :)

Hostile Mobs- Skeleton

It's been a busy week with all the anime conventions and school concert rehearsals, but I finally managed to squeeze some free time to do this post. Let's do this!

Like the usual, here’s a video by MCSpotlights to get us started…
 

[short video on skeletons]

And for those who still aren’t sure after watching the video, today's featured Hostile Mob is the Skeleton.
 
Definition

Like its name, it looks just like a skeleton with grey-coloured skin. It is 2 blocks high with 10 health points, carries a bow in its right hand and will shoot arrows when your character is within its range of 16 blocks. They also spawn in dark areas like caves.

 

[skeleton with a normal bow & an enchanted bow]

Like other undead mobs, skeletons will burn in sunlight. Unlike zombies, however, they will instinctively search for darker areas such as under trees, in caves, etc.
 

Like zombies, skeletons sometimes spawn with armour or enchanted bows.

[skeleton wearing armour]

Drops

Skeletons usually drop bones, arrows and sometimes bows. The bows may also come with enchantments such as Power I-III, Punch I, Flame I or Infinity I. Bows rarely come with multiple enchants.

 

[some Skeleton drops]

 

Achievements

Shooting and successfully killing a skeleton from 50 blocks away can earn you the in-game achievement of Sniper Duel.

 

Personal Experience

I don’t deal with skeletons often, but they are very dangerous in their own right. With the 1.5.1 update, Skeletons shoot faster when you’re nearer to them. Since I’m not very good at PVP (Person-versus-Person fights), I tend to get shot as I try to attack the skeleton. Which is very nerve-wrecking in my opinion.



Others- Minecon 2013 Day 2 livestream

Like the title says: the link for Minecon 2013 Day 2 livestream, for those who aren't there in person!

CLICK HERE~!!

Hostile Mobs- Zombies

I stayed up until 3am just to watch the Minecon Day 1 youtube livestream, specifically David, Steven & Jordan's talk session on Minecraft animations. And I'm proud to say that I didn't regret doing so. It was a wonderful experience. Now on to the first hostile mob!
 
First, a quick question: why is this week's mobs (monsters) labelled 'hostile'?

It's simply because these mobs will attack you and try to kill you if you aren't prepared for them.
 
Thus, today's featured hostile mob is none other than... you probably guessed it, the Zombie! Here's a short video by MCSpotlights to get us started:

 

Definition
 
Zombies are the most common of all hostile mobs in Minecraft. They are undead mobs with 10 health points and spawn in dark places like caves.

They are easily identified by their dark-green skin, cyan shirt and darker blue pants. You will also be able to hear groaning and growling noises if you're nearby.
 
There are three kinds of zombies in the regular game:
 

[from left to right: normal, baby, villager]

 
Normal zombies: are 2 blocks high. They move as fast as the player's walking speed.
 
Baby zombies: are about 1.1 blocks high and are extremely fast. However, they cannot fit through one block gaps.

Villager zombies: are similar to normal zombies, except for their heads. They either spawn naturally or were originally villagers attacked by zombies.
 

[zombies trying to attack villager]

 
Also, zombies tend to attack villagers within a distance of 16 blocks. Being an undead mob, they burn in sunlight/during daytime except for armoured zombies and baby zombies.
 

[zombie burning in sunlight]

 

[armoured zombie not burning in sunlight]

In addition to all that, Minecraft 1.5 update causes more zombies to spawn if you attack one directly. So approach them with caution!

(Item) Drops

Zombies drop a whole variety of items when they are killed, the most common being rotten flesh. Other rare drops include carrots, potatoes, iron ingots, tools like shovels and even armour.
 

[some examples of zombie drops]

 
Note: Only armoured-zombies have a chance of dropping armour. These zombies are tougher to defeat due to the extra protection, but a good sword should take them down quickly.

Personal experience

I remember my first time playing the mobile version of Minecraft. I certainly wasn't prepared when night came, so all I did was dig a hole and hide in it. The next thing I knew I was attacked and killed by a swarm of zombies. It wasn't very fun, and I spent the next of my days in a dirt house on a tree on top of a hill.

That's it for zombies. I hope this helped somewhat.

Peace out! :)
 
 

Others- Rest day & Minecon!

And... Welcome back! I'm taking a break today because I'm done with most of the basic administrative stuff. What am I doing right now, you may ask?

Well... I'm just trying to catch legendary pokemon with catch rates of 3 (0.4%). Which kinda sucks.

Next up. Starting tomorrow I will be posting up on a different topic- Hostile Mobs! And you guys should know what that means: your favourite zombies, creepers, etc!

Also, for those who don't know, Minecon- Minecraft's yearly event- is taking place right now at Orlando, Florida. It must be nice to live in America where plane tickets are cheaper than one from Asia to America.

Oh, and I just caught Terrakion. Sweeet.

That's all for today. Good night everyone! :)

Starting- Making your own Minecraft skin!

The third post for today! It came out later than expected because I was at the airport. Unfortunately... No. I'm not going to Minecon. I would really like to go this year, but I still have school. And with that out of the way, let's get on with this short post.

First, simply search Minecraft skin editor on Google and select the first link Minecraft Skins Editor. The picture below should appear:

[basic skin provided by the website]

You can use the options to create your very own skin or download one from the website if you have a Skindex account.

Here's an example of a skin I've done using this same skin editor.

[Can anyone guess who this is, and from which anime? :d]

When you're done with your skin, click the download to computer button and save the file. Then go to your profile page.

 

Click browse, select your saved skin file (it's likely to be in PNG format) and click upload. Your Minecraft skin would have changed by the next time you play Minecraft using your account.

That's the last for today. I shall be off to bed now. Good night, and peace out!

Starting- How to get an account?

Good morning! Anyone watched Thinknoodles&Graser-organised UHC Season 3's latest episodes yet? It's pretty epic! But enough of that, let's get on to this really long post!
 
So from what I've shared last night (or rather, 12 this morning), in order to play the game on ONLINE mode, you need to get a Minecraft account.
 
First, you'll need to access Mojang's main page. If you already have a Mojang account, go to the next step. If you don't, click register on the top-right navigation bar. You should see the page below:

 

[click here for immediate access!]

 

This account is very important, so make sure you remember your username and password!

Once you're done finalising your account, go back to Mojang's homepage. Click Minecraft under the Games tab.

 

 

It should bring you to this site:

 

[click here for immediate access!]

Log in with your Mojang username and password. On most occasions you will have to answer a security question as well. Once you're in, click Store.

 

Do you notice anything different between our pages?

 

 

You probably got it! On the box to buy Minecraft it says: this account is already premium. That means you can only have one Minecraft account per every Mojang account you set up.

Now for the last step, simply click the tab that looks similar to the one below and follow the instructions to buy an account. Mine was around S$34.

 

Note: It would be advisable for the younger gamers to notify your parents about this before purchasing an account.

 

And all you have to do is wait for the notification email to pop up in your mailbox, confirm your account name (the one to be seen on Minecraft servers). Time to officially start your gameplay in the Minecraft world!

 

Well, that's all for now. Peace out, guys!

Starting- Offline VS Online

Hi, I'm back again! How's your Halloween been? Did any trick-or-treating? Or are you guys preparing for Minecon this Saturday? Either way, let's begin this first informative post with a bang!

As per the post title, it is important to know that there are two ways to play Minecraft after you download it: Offline and Online.

[sample of opening screen connected to the internet]

 



So, what's the difference?

Offline mode is accessible to players when:
1. you have no internet connection
2. you don't have a Minecraft account / you are not logged into an account.

However, your single-player worlds can still be played and  (if you use F5 to toggle your perspective) your default skin is a Steve-skin as shown below.

[default skin- Steve next to a zombie spawner]

Online mode, on the other hand, provides many more features. By having internet connection and a Minecraft account, you:
1. can view your personalised skin by toggling F5
2. play on minecraft servers
3. set up personal servers and play custom maps with your friends.

[snapshot taken on Mineplex server]

 

That's all for tonight I guess, I'll post up more later in the day. Until then, peace out! :)