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Minecraft For Dummies

Minecraft For Dummies

by Jesse Stay
Publisher: For Dummies
Release Date: January 2015
ISBN: 9781118968246
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Book Description

Don't be a Minecraft tourist - get expert tips and advice in this full-color primer

Minecraft For Dummies is the complete guide to playing within the Minecraft world. With easy-to-follow guidance from a team of Minecraft experts, you'll develop programming and engineering skills as you build amazing creations using in-game blocks and mechanical devices. Whether you prefer the PC, console, or portable platform, this helpful guide will walk you through the process of setting up and beginning gameplay, and engage with other users from all around the globe. With this trusty guidebook in hand, you'll navigate the infinite world of Minecraft with confidence, skills, and a storehouse of expert advice.

Minecraft is the sandbox construction game that has become a mainstream phenomenon with over a hundred million players. A virtually infinite world and versatile style of play offer endless possibilities for both the hardcore gamer and the total noob, and Minecraft For Dummies shows you everything you need to know before you break your first block.

  • Choose your platform, download the game, and play in all three modes

  • Gather resources, place and break blocks, and use circuits and logic gates

  • Defend your creations against spiders, skeletons, zombies, and the Creeper

  • Travel across the biomes and defeat the enderdragon to win the game

    • Whether you play to win or just like to explore, there is a style of Minecraft that will spark your imagination. Create or destroy, make war or peace, attack or defend - the game is whatever you want it to be. If you're ready to leave your mark on this digital universe, Minecraft For Dummies is the primer you need to get up to speed.

    Table of Contents

      1. Introduction
        1. About This Book
        2. Conventions Used in This Book
        3. Foolish Assumptions
        4. How This Book Is Organized
          1. Part I: Getting Started with Minecraft
          2. Part II: Learning Basic Survival Skills
          3. Part III: Developing Advanced Skills
          4. Part IV: Customizing Minecraft
          5. Part V: Making Minecraft a Family Affair
          6. Part VI: The Part of Tens
        5. Icons Used in This Book
        6. Beyond the Book
      2. Part I: Getting Started with Minecraft
        1. Chapter 1: Entering Minecraft
          1. Getting to Know Minecraft
          2. Registering a Minecraft Account
          3. Purchasing and Installing Minecraft
          4. Playing the Game
            1. Logging in and operating the main menu
            2. Starting your first game in SinglePlayer mode
            3. Understanding basic controls
            4. Watching the Heads-Up Display (HUD)
          5. Minecraft PE
            1. Purchasing PE
            2. Starting PE
            3. Understanding the Heads-Up Display (HUD) for PE
        2. Chapter 2: Surviving the First Night
          1. Preparing for Your First Night
            1. Devising a game plan
            2. Using the inventory
            3. Manipulating the inventory
          2. Setting Up for Your First Night
            1. Harvesting trees
            2. Building a crafting table and shelter
            3. Making sticks and wooden tools
          3. Completing Optional Day One Activities
            1. Constructing a chest
            2. Mining cobblestone and coal
            3. Building a bed
          4. Surviving the Night
            1. Switching from Peaceful mode to Easy mode to Normal mode
            2. Surviving the first night: Three strategies to light the way
          5. Surviving the Night
            1. Implementing a Minecraft PE strategy for surviving the night
      3. Part II: Learning the Basic Skills
        1. Chapter 3: Surviving Hunger
          1. Understanding and Avoiding Hunger
            1. Finding food
            2. Eating food
            3. Saturation: Making the most of your food
            4. Limiting exhaustion
          2. Understanding Minecraft PE and Food
          3. Attacking and Defending
          4. Making Weapons
            1. Wielding swords
            2. Stringing the bow
          5. Protecting Yourself with Armor
            1. Wearing leather
            2. Donning the helmet
            3. Pounding the chestplate
            4. Putting on leggings
            5. Walking in your boots
            6. Storing armor
        2. Chapter 4: Discovering Blocks and Items
          1. Starting In the Wooden Age
          2. Making It Through the Looting Age
          3. Surviving the Stone Age
          4. Using the Furnace
          5. Using the Stonecutter with Minecraft PE
          6. Building an Effective House
          7. Moving from Effective Houses to Bases
      4. Part III: Mastering Techniques
        1. Chapter 5: Understanding Biomes and Mastering Farms
          1. Knowing Your Biomes
            1. Generating worlds
            2. Growing flowers
            3. Playing in snowy biomes
            4. Chilling in cold biomes
            5. Living in medium biomes
            6. Roasting in warm biomes
            7. Exploring in neutral biomes
          2. Building the Perfect Farm
            1. Growing crops
            2. Knowing the basic plants
            3. Farming animals
            4. Growing mushrooms
          3. Knowing the PE Farming Differences
          4. Examining Different Types of Mobs
            1. Living with docile mobs
            2. Protecting yourself from hostile mobs
            3. Ignoring neutral and allied mobs
            4. Raising pets
            5. Playing with PE mobs
        2. Chapter 6: Mastering Mines
          1. Mining Efficiently
            1. Cave mining
            2. Digging into branch mining
            3. Stepping into staircase mining
            4. Building a quarry
            5. Ripping into strip mining
            6. Rushing into speed mining
          2. PE Mining: Random Mining
        3. Chapter 7: Increasing Resources through Villages and Excavation
          1. Trading in Villages
            1. Exploring village features
            2. Trading with emeralds
            3. Surviving zombie sieges
          2. Exploring PE Villages
          3. Excavating Structures
            1. Excavating a Desert temple
            2. Finding jungle temples
            3. Breaking into a dungeon
            4. Invading the witch hut
            5. Exploring an abandoned mine shaft
            6. Finding a Stronghold
            7. Exploring the nether fortress
            8. Discovering ocean monuments
          4. Understanding Minecraft PE Excavation
        4. Chapter 8: Developing Redstone
          1. Playing in Creative Mode
          2. Understanding Redstone Basics
            1. Transmitting power with redstone wire
            2. Using other redstone mechanisms
            3. Applying redstone circuits
            4. Advanced redstone circuitry
          3. Counting Minecraft Ticks
          4. Activating Command Blocks
          5. Creating Self-Sustaining Farms
        5. Chapter 9: Progressing Through the Later Block Ages
          1. Exploring the Iron Age
            1. Using Tools of the Iron Age
            2. Playing with fluid dynamics
          2. Entering the Agricultural Age
          3. Reaping the Benefits of the Age of Wealth
            1. Finding the Nether and End
            2. Coloring with dyes
          4. Finding the Fun Stuff
          5. Starting Big Projects
            1. Farming hostile mobs
            2. Farming golems
            3. Exploring the block ages in Minecraft PE
          6. Building Transportation Systems
            1. Building boats
            2. Riding pigs and horses
            3. Transporting by way of minecarts
          7. PE Transportation
          8. Securing Your Base
        6. Chapter 10: Powering Up
          1. Enchanting Weapons, Tools, and Armor
            1. Enchanting an item
            2. Using enchantments
            3. Repairing things on the anvil
          2. Brewing Potions
            1. Brewing basic potions
            2. Using potions
            3. Modifying potions
            4. Brewing negative potions
            5. Brewing splash potions
            6. Reverting potions
            7. Brewing order
            8. Fighting witches and potions
          3. Building the Beacon
        7. Chapter 11: Advancing to the Nether, the End, and Beyond
          1. Reaching the Nether
            1. Building a portal
            2. Surviving the Nether
            3. Finding the Stronghold
          2. Playing PE Minecraft — the Nether
            1. Conquering the End
            2. Staying busy in the afterglow of completing The End
          3. Surviving Hardcore Mode
      5. Part IV: Expanding Your Minecraft Experience
        1. Chapter 12: Playing in Multiplayer Worlds and Cheats
          1. Starting or Joining a Multiplayer World
            1. Setting up a LAN server
            2. Joining a public server
            3. Joining regular and bukkit servers
          2. Playing PE MultiPlayer Mode
          3. Using the Chat Menu and Cheats
            1. Entering commands that can be used by all players
            2. Using operator-only commands
            3. Using operator-only, public-server-only commands
            4. Using nonspecific parameters
          4. Playing Mini Games
        2. Chapter 13: Customizing Your Experience
          1. Implementing Additional World Options
            1. Using seeds
            2. Customizing a superflat world
            3. Choosing large biomes and amplified worlds
            4. Playing in Customized mode
            5. Playing in Debug mode
            6. PE Old World Type
          2. Using the Profile Editor
          3. Managing the .minecraft Folder
            1. Using .minecraft
            2. Recovering .minecraft
          4. Exploring Adventure Mode
          5. Playing Custom Maps
            1. Using CTM maps
            2. Exploring adventure maps
            3. Using game maps
          6. Navigating the Escape Key Window
            1. Earning achievements
            2. Adjusting your options
          7. Customizing Skins
          8. Installing Resource Packs
          9. Installing Mods
          10. Installing Mod Packs
          11. Customizing Gameplay Through Apps
        3. Chapter 14: Minecraft in the Larger World
          1. Checking Out External Sites and Resources
          2. Watching YouTube
            1. Subscribing to Redstone YouTubers
            2. Finding Minecraft YouTube groups
            3. Watching building-focused YouTube channels
            4. Learning about plugins
            5. Finding map makers
            6. Listening to Minecraft music on YouTube
          3. Going Beyond YouTube
          4. Going to Minecon
      6. Part V: Making Minecraft a Family Affair
        1. Chapter 15: Choosing the Platform That Works for You
          1. Playing Minecraft PC
          2. Exploring Minecraft PE
          3. Using Minecraft on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PlayStation 3
          4. Using Minecraft for Raspberry Pi
          5. Anticipating Future Editions of Minecraft
        2. Chapter 16: Understanding the Minecraft Game Modes
          1. Entering Survival Mode
          2. Practicing with Creative Mode
          3. Navigating Adventure Mode
          4. Torturing Yourself Through Hardcore Mode
          5. Seeing the World Through Spectator Mode
          6. Dying and Respawning
            1. Dying in Hardcore and Peaceful mode
            2. Implementing cheats
          7. Understanding Game Modes in Minecraft PE
        3. Chapter 17: Understanding What Every Parent Needs to Know about Minecraft
          1. Teaching Through Minecraft
          2. Knowing Where to Buy Minecraft
            1. Differentiating between game types
            2. Ordering your child’s first Minecraft account
            3. Registering a Minecraft account
            4. Purchasing and installing Minecraft
          3. Keeping Your Kids Safe
            1. Knowing whom your kids are playing with
            2. Understanding Minecraft channels on YouTube
            3. Installing safe software
          4. Teaching Proper Minecraft Etiquette
            1. Preventing server crashes
            2. Stealing is wrong
            3. Asking permission
          5. Playing with Your Children
            1. Mastering the basics
            2. Playing in Creative mode
            3. Winning the game
      7. Part VI: The Part of Tens
        1. Chapter 18: Ten Helpful Survival Tips
          1. Dig Safely
          2. Cook Efficiently
          3. Obtain Obsidian and Portals Quickly
          4. Mine In the Right Location
          5. Avoid Overexertion
          6. Defeat Basic Mobs
          7. Obtain Experience Points
          8. Craft Quickly
          9. Check Basic Equipment
          10. Find Natural Comfort
        2. Chapter 19: Ten Helpful Building Tips and Tricks
          1. Making Your Starter Home Stylish
          2. Improving the Exterior Design in Three Stylish Ways
          3. Hiding Lighting
          4. Combining Blocks in Different Ways
          5. Understanding Circles, Spheres, and Domes
          6. Designing the Interior
            1. Building tables
            2. Arranging chairs
            3. Creating bunk beds
            4. Lighting the fireplace
          7. Playing with Sand and Gravel
          8. Laying Roofs
          9. Terraforming the Terrain
          10. Using Pressure Plates
        3. Chapter 20: Ten Helpful Redstone Tips and Contraptions
          1. Keeping the Power On with a T Flip-Flop
            1. Building Design A
            2. Building Design B
            3. Building Design C
          2. Getting Hopper Help
          3. Building a Block Update Detector (BUD) Switch
          4. Creating a Constant Signal Switch with the RS-NOR Latch
          5. Walking Through Walls with a Double Piston Extender
          6. Creating Short Pulses with a Monostable Circuit
          7. Extending Pulses with Pulse Extenders
          8. Creating Hidden Doors with Sticky Piston Doors
          9. Creating Hidden Inputs
          10. Blowing Things Up with TNT Contraptions
      8. About the Authors
      9. Cheat Sheet
      10. More Dummies Products