Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The Connected Chest
Chests are undoubtedly useful; it's difficult to survive without them. But
you can't transport a chest's contents with you. Need to shift your stash
of diamonds? That can make for a fairly fraught journey.
Enter the Ender chest, which is like storage in the cloud. An Ender chest
isn'tcheaptomake.You'llneedeightObsidianblocksobtainedbycom-
bining lava with water, or through regular mining and caving, and one
Eye of Ender, collected from a downed endermen. So what's so good
about Ender chests? All of them access the same virtual chest, sharing
all contents between them. So let's say you've built multiple dwellings
acrossyourvastworld,andyouhavesomeitems—afewfavorites—that
you'd like to be able to access anywhere you go. Place an Ender chest
in each of your dwellings; any items that you place in any of the chests
become available in all others. It's like quantum travel without all that
entanglement business.
Avoiding Monsters
There's a key difference between the Minecraft world on the first and second days. In a
word, mobs: hostile ones to be specific. Mobs only spawn in dark areas, and some only
during the night, so if you are outside during your first day and stay in well-lit areas, you'll
be reasonably safe. By the second day, however, mobs have had a chance to build their
numbers and wander about. It's not that likely you'll encounter them on day 2, but it's best
to be prepared.
There are 14 types of hostile mobs in the Overworld. These are the ones you might meet
on your second day outside:
Zombies
—Zombies burn up in sunlight but can still survive in shadows or rain, or
when wearing a helmet, and, of course, in dark caves all hours of the day or night.
They are relatively easy to defeat, and if any come after you, just head to a well-lit
area and keep your distance while they burn up in the sun.
Skeletons
—Skeletons also burn up in sunlight unless they are wearing a helmet,
and they can survive at any time in lower light conditions. They're quite deadly
with a bow and arrow and best avoided until you have an iron sword and sufficient
cover to avoid their line of fire.
Spiders
—Spiders come in two variants: large or blue. You'll probably only see the
larger spiders at this stage. They are passive during the day but become hostile in
