Getting Started - The Ultimate Player's Guide to Minecraft - page 11

so you can move quickly from open land to a jungle, through a forest and so on, gathering
all the bits and pieces you need as you go.
Large biomes open up the terrain, making it more like the real world. These worlds present
a greater challenge for the intrepid explorer, with Columbus-confounding oceans that dis-
appear over the horizon, large flat grasslands perfect for galloping across at high speed on
horseback, dense endless forests, and majestic mountains. They force you to get out and
see more of the world, and you'll need to be prepared for a lot of impromptu camping on
the way.
Thesuperflatworldislessinterestinginthatsense,withnaryabumptodisturbtheground,
but you might prefer its blank canvas to explore different techniques in creative mode.
By the way, each block in Minecraft measures 1m per side, or one cubic meter. Each world
in the PC edition has 64 million × 64 million blocks and is therefore 64,000 kilomet-
ers long by 64,000 kilometers wide. Or, to put it another way, it's massively larger than
Earth itself. Happy exploring, and if you need inspiration, see Far Lands or Bust at ht-
tp://farlandsorbust.com , where you can track Kurt and Wolfie's daily journey to the fabled
Far Lands. Kurt's journeying to raise money for a children's charity and has been trekking
since March 2011. He and his canine companion probably have quite a few more years to
go.
TheXboxeditioncreatesaworldofjust862x862blocks,whereasthePocketEditionmeas-
ures a much smaller 256x256.
Singleplayer Game Modes
Minecraft offers a variety of gameplay modes:
Survival —This is the default mode for all new games and is the one I'll mostly fo-
cus on throughout the topic. Survival mode is made up of two phases: day and
night. During the day, you have a 10-minute window to gather resources, mine,
build, farm—do whatever you need to do. During the first few days, this is usually
made up of a few key activities, but after you've established your base, be it under-
ground, in a walled fortress, in a building, or even in a tree house (see Chapter 8 ,
Creative Construction , ” page 137 ), you can rest a little easier. If you spawn near
sheep, you can also kill a few to quickly build a bed, even out in the open, and
blissfully slumber the night away as long as no hostile mobs are present. I'll show
you how in Chapter 2 . Daylight is followed by 1 ½ minutes of dusk—time to get
back to your base. The nighttime phase lasts 7 minutes and is a time you definitely
don't want to be outside protected with nothing but your stumpy fists. They might
be able to beat chunks out of trees, but they won't help you in a deadly scrap. Sun-
rise and dawn last another 1 ½ minutes and cause some hostiles, although not all,