Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Stay in the open as much as you can, avoiding heavily wooded areas if possible.
Most mobs have a 16-block detection radar. If they can also draw a line of sight to
your position, they will enter
pursuit
mode. (Spiders can always detect you, even
through other blocks.) At that point they'll relentlessly plot and follow a path to
your position, tracking you through other blocks without requiring a line of sight.
Pursuit mode stays engaged much farther than 16 blocks.
Keep your sound turned up because you'll also hear mobs within 16 blocks, al-
though creepers, befitting their name, are creepily quiet.
Avoid skirting along the edges of hilly terrain. Creepers can drop on you from
above with their fuse already ticking. Try to head directly up and down hills so you
have a good view of the terrain ahead.
Mobs are quite slow, so you can easily put some distance between them and your-
self by keeping up a steady pace and circling around to get back to your shelter.
Sprint mode will leave them far behind.
Caution:
Sprinting Makes You Hungry
Sprint mode burnsuphungerpoints, sotrytouseit onlyinemergencies.
Hunger Management
Hunger plays a permanent role in Minecraft, much as in real life. While it's only possible
to starve to death on Hard difficulty, hunger does affect your character in other ways, so
it's always important to ensure you have the equivalent of a couple of sandwiches packed
before heading deep into a mine or on a long trek.
Hunger is a combination of two values: the one shown in the HUD's hunger bar, as well as
a hidden value called
saturation
. The latter provides a buffer to the hunger bar, decreasing
first.Infact,yourhungerbardoesn'tdecreaseatalluntilsaturationreaches0.Atthatpoint,
you see the hunger bar start to jitter, and after a short while it takes its first hit. Saturation
cannot exceed the value of the hunger bar, so with a full hunger bar of 20 points, it's pos-
sible to have up to 20 points of saturation. However, a hunger level of 6 points also only
provides a maximum of 6 points of saturation, and that makes you vulnerable.
You'll find some key information about the hunger system here:
On Easy and Normal Survival modes, there is no need to worry too much about
hunger because your character won't drop dead from it. If you're close to home
and pottering around in your farm or constructing some building extensions,
