Minecraft+Basics

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= = =**What the the game is like**=

Minecraft is designed to be played by single or multiplayers in three different modes:


 * Creative: you have unlimited resources available, no threats to die at night (eaten by zombies or creepers) and you can fly.The challenge here is to have fun building anything you want.
 * Survival: you start in a new world and need to collect resources to survive. The game is organized by achievements and once you get something you are able to move on to more sophisticated tasks. For example: get wood =>build a pick=> mine for coal.
 * Hardcore: similar to survival with the difference that everytime your avatar dies you lose all the resources you have collected and have to start again from scratch.

=**What all the buttons do, etc.**=

Here are some basic aout the Minecraft Controls, which are required to play the game.


 * WASD are to move.
 * Space key to jump.
 * R to respawn at the spawn point.
 * ENTER to set a new spawn point.
 * E to open the inventory.
 * F to toggle fog distance.
 * Escape to release the mouse and open game menu.
 * 1-9 to change the building block type.
 * Left mouse button to add a block.
 * Right mouse button to remove a block.
 * Middle mouse button to copy block type.

The controls might be different on different platforms and depending if you are playing from a laptop PC or a Mac, so keep that in mind. Below what some of us did to customize/arrange our controls as we best felt it suited the way we played:

One of the Minecrafters decided to change which button does what because they were using a Mac laptop and the pre-set control options were annoying for me. She had never played games on the computer (with the exception of solitaire, etc.), so I think I had to customize quite a bit in order to feel comfortable and get started. Examples of her customerzation was: The use of arrows for direction (ie: up=forward, left=left, right=right, down=back); I kept the spacebar to jump; Drop=D (makes more sense to me, I guess); I=Inventory (again, makes more sense to me); return key=attack/break/dig, etc.; back/delete=use item. NOTE: If you use a wireless mouse you will have a easier time looking around in different directions; I decided to make the left click the "attack" button and the right click the button to "use items". It made for faster building, digging, breaking, and zombie killin (It is important to note that it is possible to program the control keys of the game to accommodate left-handed players.)

=Blocks= From Minecraft Wiki




 * Blocks** are the basic units in Minecraft and are essential to the gameplay. Together, they build up the in-game environment, and can be mined and utilized in various fashions. There are one hundred and fifty three different types of blocks. Check out the PDF for tips on how to utilize the block units


 * What are you going to do with all those blocks?** Craft. But in order to do that you need a Crafting table. This is how you make one. Take four wood trunks and place them in your inventory area. (see picture below)
 * Remember :** to get to your inventory press “E” on the keyboard.



This is just the beginning of your crafting. You will use the resources you mined and found to make a your Minecraft world and to survive. Make your essential survival tools first, pick axes, ax, shovel, hoes, sword, a bed would be great...After you build your shelter. Here is just a sample of what you can make.

__**Advice on survival and play**__

Something else that is important to note is that the game is progressive in nature thus, until you have certain "achievements" or goals accomplished you are not going to be able to move on to build more complicated/sophisticated structures. For example: you start by gathering wood with your own hands (click backspace to "attack" with the cursor on the wood block), once you do that you can build yourself a wood pick which will lead you to the next achievement: mining (first for coal to build torches, to keep zombies away at night). To me this is similar to teaching any process (procedural rhetoric in mind). As teachers we try to scaffold lessons starting with the basics and building knowledge from there to help our students develop more complex ideas on their own; Minecraft uses the same method with its players, which works very well since they do not provide a manual and gamers have to build up from what they are learning.

Learn the process from the tutorial episodes. (Click on our file below for a tutorial link) Understand the environment, the material to be used to produce tools and stay away from darkness. Secure a safe place to built on while you make your material.

__**Here is a Helpful Hint!!**__ Don't forget about the crouch function! Its one of the most integral building tricks involved in minecraft. When building at extremely dangerous heights or cliffs, the crouched position enables the user to scale the edge without falling.

Here is a pdf for a more indepth review of the Basics of Minecraft including tutorial links.