Zombies + Binary #1

Minecraft Basics

Instead of expecting humans to adapt to an interface slapped together by engineers, engineers should strive to create a system that is designed for humans in their natural form. — Radia Perlman

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Minecraft is an indie sandbox game in which players break and place blocks. Some blocks can be combined or broken to form materials. These can then be used to make tools, food and building materials.

Lovely diamonds →

In each new world, players start with an empty inventory. Players need to gather food and build a shelter before nightfall. That’s when skeletons, zombies and creepers start to appear.

Players can find different kinds of precious minerals, below ground. These can be crafted into better tools and armour, as well as used to trade and build. One of these minerals is called Redstone…

Redstone

Redstone is at the heart of all Minecraft circuitry. It can be found as a block, which when broken becomes a few pinches of dust. Players can place this dust on flat surfaces to create a conductive trace. It’s like the silvery lines on the back of circuit boards.

Redstone →

Minecraft power sources do not have polarity. This means charge flows in all directions and does not need to return to a ground terminal. Different power sources also emit charges of different strength.

The simple power sources (like switches) emit a charge which travels along 15 Redstone trace blocks before it loses all strength. We’ll need to remember this when we build larger circuits. There are special blocks to repeat the charge over longer distances.

Getting Resources

If you enjoy playing Minecraft, then one way of getting Redstone is just to mine it up during the course of play. You’ll need to build shelters, tools and armour. You’ll need to gather food and fight off monsters. This way will take lots of time. It can be fun though!

If you’re keen to dive right into the programming and electronics bits, then you might want to start a map in creative mode. Creative mode gives players access to unlimited building materials and makes players invulnerable. You can even start a map which is completely flat, and ready for prototyping…

Creative Maps

1. Select Singleplayer
2. Select Create New World
3. Give the world a name and select More World Options
4. Change World Type to Superflat

You can customize this world even further:

1. Select Customize
2. Find the Redstone Ready option
3. Finally, select Create New World!

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