Chris InglisRecently my daughters and I went and watched A Minecraft Movie at the local cinema, and we all enjoyed the heck out of it. My daughters are 5 and 8 so it was great to see what made them laugh as they both saw references from the game on the big screen. Meanwhile here’s my laughing my head off at the flying scene with Jack Black and Jason Momoa top-and-tails going through the hole in the wall – hilarious. We all loved the movie and were keen to jump into Minecraft together the next day.
My daughters love playing in creative mode – my youngest doesn’t really know what’s happening so she follows us around looking at animals and placing 99 beds in our village. My eldest daughter loves horses, so she creates a farm with stables for different animals. We occasionally play survival, but my daughters always struggle surviving those first nights and figuring out what order to do things. Recently Xbox reached out and provided some new player tips and tricks about the game to help new players understand how to play Minecraft and the different versions on offer.
Understanding Minecraft
A Minecraft Movie has captured the imagination of all gamers, old and new, to re-explore and immerse themselves in the best-selling video game of all time. With many updates over the years, and Minecraft available in a range of versions, here are the top tips for understanding the best-selling video game of all time.
What is Minecraft
Minecraft is a creative sandbox game – meaning every Minecraft world is a wide-open playground with as much or as little structure as you want. You can play Minecraft as a survival game where you farm and gather resources while building shelters, an adventure game where you explore with your friends and venture into new dimensions, or a creative game with infinite access to all resources to build anything you can imagine.
What version to play
Minecraft has been around for 15 years, and there are different versions and platforms to choose from. There are two main editions – Java and Bedrock – with a few key differences. Java is the original version of Minecraft and is available only on PC. It’s preferred by players who like installing or even creating their own game mods. On the other hand, Bedrock is the newer version, built on a different code base that allows it to be cross-platform across PC, game consoles like Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, and even mobile devices. If you’re looking to play with your friends on game consoles or iOS and Android devices, then you’ll wind up playing Bedrock, which also has access to the Minecraft Marketplace, a storefront filled with fun additional content. There are other variants like Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends, but they are different games altogether. You can also read about our experiences with the Minecraft: Dungeons and Dragons DLC.
Starting a game
Now that you’ve understood the game and chosen the perfect version to play, you’ll want to know how to be as good as Steve from ‘A Minecraft Movie’ when you start a new world. From finding a village to protect you from hostile monsters to playing on a Realm with friends and family, the following tips and tricks will help you recreate Steve’s start in ‘A Minecraft Movie’.
Starting a new world
If you’re starting a brand new Minecraft world for the first time, you’ll be presented with lots of options. The most important ones are difficulty and game mode settings. Difficulty affects things like how much damage you take and how many hostile monsters you might face – for example, setting difficulty to “peaceful” will cause no hostile “mobs” to spawn at all. You can also choose between survival and creative modes – in the latter, there’s no hunger bar to manage, you can’t be killed, you can fly freely, and you have access to infinite building materials and resources.
Playing on an online Realm
If you’re looking to play your new Minecraft world across multiple devices, such as your PC and your phone, or if you want to share a world with friends or family, the best option is to sign up for a subscription to run a Minecraft Realm. A Realm is a way to keep your world online at all times – anyone who you’ve invited to the world can jump in any play, even if you’re not present, and any changes you make will be consistent no matter where you play. You can either create a new world as a Realm or convert one of your existing worlds into one. There are multiple affordable pricing options when subscribing to a Realm, and you can do it right in the Minecraft game menu. Depending on your subscription, you can also get new content each month, including maps, mini-games, and character skins.
Beginner Basics
Having followed Steve’s journey in ‘A Minecraft Movie,’ you’re now ready to forge your own path in the vast world of Minecraft. To truly thrive, mastering the fundamentals is key. The below gold nuggets will equip you with the knowledge to craft essential tools, build your first shelter, and survive your first night, setting the stage for countless zombie-free adventures to come!
Using a crafting table
If you’ve seen A Minecraft Movie, then you know that the crafting table is the crucial component that lets you craft everything else in the game. You can make a crafting table by mining a single log from any tree in your world. Use your simple crafting menu to break the log down into four planks, then use those four planks to create the crafting table. Place the table in your world and access its interface to unlock unlimited possibilities.
Surviving your first night
Just like the characters in A Minecraft Movie, you’ll be faced with a unique challenge after joining your first Minecraft world (as long as you’re playing in survival): surviving the first night. When the sun goes down and the world gets dark, about 20 minutes after you begin your first day, hostile “mobs” emerge and start chasing you, shooting arrows, and exploding on all sides. You’ll want to make sure you have a shelter before then.
It doesn’t have to be fancy – the iconic “first night base” for many players is a simple dirt cube. But you’ll want to ensure you have torches to light it up – use wood and stone to craft a pickaxe and mine some coal to craft them. Coal is found underground, so a lot of players will just dig themselves a cave and then build a roof so monsters can’t get in. But don’t dig too deep as it will get dark and you may also run into different types of monsters in the deeps. Sleeping in a bed can also help a lot by letting you bypass the night entirely – find some sheep and harvest their wool to make one.
There are plenty of resources out there to help you in your journey in the Overworld, and I recommend this one from Minecraft themselves. Best of luck in Minecraft on surviving those first nights and I am looking forward to many more adventures with my daughters. For more information about the game, head over to the official Minecraft website and thank you to Xbox/Microsoft for these starting tips.
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