Minecraft

**Minecraft** is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios.

## Synopsis

Welcome to the world of Minecraft where you can build, brew potions, enchant your armor and tools and adventure other biomes. Visit the Nether, or even defeat the Ender Dragon in the End.

## Plot

When first beginning a game of Survival or Hardcore, collect wood from nearby trees. Wood is needed to create a crafting table and a wooden pickaxe. The wooden pickaxe is necessary to harvest cobblestone, which will allow you to create a stone pickaxe and a minimum of 1 furnace, although 3 are recommended later on. Also useful at the cobblestone level, a stone sword is advised as one needs to upgrade to iron next, and it is likely that will take a while and night will probably come before then, and some degree of protection is advised. After a stone pickaxe is obtained, use it to harvest a minimum of 3 iron ingots and a minimum of 1 coal. It is recommended to harvest 32 iron ingots to create iron armor and an iron sword, along with an iron pickaxe and bucket for water. At this stage, if you want to try to go to the nether and you are having a hard time finding diamonds, you could also gather an additional 6 iron to make 2 buckets, fill one with water, and find a natural lava pool on the surface. Once you have found it, you can place the water and lava next to each other around a backboard to create a frame. Note that you need to have the lava turn into obsidian quickly, because it will flow down and make it harder to fill the frame.

Next, it is recommended that players obtain full diamond gear, preferably all enchanted, before venturing into the Nether. A minimum of 31 diamonds must be harvested. Finding a naturally occurring cave or fissure that drops to the last 16 levels of the world will facilitate diamond mining. It is also recommended to look around lava, because you will see more open rock at once. It has never been proven or confirmed that diamonds are generated more around lava pools. Remember, upon finding diamonds, dig around them first to ensure that they won't fall into lava and burn. A bucket of water is found to be very useful as one bucket can diffuse an entire lake of lava, and still retain the bucket. You need 5 diamonds to start progressing: the first three should go to a diamond pickaxe for mining obsidian and the other two for an enchanting table. If 2 more diamonds can be found, it is recommended to craft a diamond sword. Also, grab any gold (for golden apples), lapis lazuli (for enchanting) that you see and at least some of the redstone (for potions). If still in the bowels of the world, it is likely obsidian may have been spotted. A minimum of 10 obsidian must be harvested using a diamond pickaxe to create a frame for a nether portal and an enchanting table. Once a minimum of 10 obsidian has been harvested, return to the surface, collecting 1 flint from gravel on the journey up. 1 iron ingot will also be needed. If you are having trouble finding diamonds, you can also find diamond from structures such as desert temples, dungeons, jungle temples, villages, buried treasure, pillager outposts, etc.

Once breathing fresh air again, decide whether to collect ender pearls or collect blaze rods first. Note that ender pearls can aid in traversing nether terrain, however ender pearls are valuable resources. If you decided to harvest ender pearls, aim for a bare minimum of 12, though a highly recommended number is between 15 and 20.

If you chose to collect blaze rods, proceed to build a nether portal frame, and craft a flint and steel. 14 blocks of obsidian are needed for a full portal, but you can skimp on the corners if you don't have much obsidian and the portal will still work. It is also recommended to have a stack of dirt or cobblestone to use as markers when venturing through the Nether. Activate the portal with the flint and steel, and enter the nether. Once in the Nether, locate a nether fortress, proceed to locate blazes, and neutralize them until you have harvested enough blaze rods to account for half of the ender pearls you have or plan on having. It is recommended to obtain at least 10 blaze rods, but more are good. 1 blaze rod will create 2 blaze powder.

Once the ender pearls and blaze powder have been obtained, combine the two to create eyes of ender. Bring at least 3 for locating an end portal, and 12 for filling the end portal, although most end portals already have 1 or 2 eyes of ender already in them. Launch an eye of ender to obtain a starting direction, and head that way. Launch another eye of ender once in a while to ensure the correct path is being followed, and that the nearest portal hasn't been passed. Ensure that the eyes are recollected at every given chance. When an eye heads into the ground, a portal has been located. At this point, one can attempt to find a cave that leads to the stronghold, or mine a spiral stair all the way down, so as to avoid digging straight down. Try to avoid falling into the pit of lava which is found under every portal.

Once the portal has been physically located, activate every frame and the portal to the end will be revealed. Enter and prepare for a long and somewhat uneventful fight. A bow with Power and Infinity, a diamond sword with Sharpness, full diamond armor and several slow falling potions are recommended, or you can take a water bucket instead.

Fighting the dragon is very difficult. Shoot the non-caged crystals with your bow, climb to the top of the caged towers, break into the cages and destroy the crystals. If the dragon launches you into the air, drink a slow falling potion or place a water bucket on the ground just before impact. Watch out for the dragon's breath and shoot the dragon with arrows. Periodically, the dragon flies down to the end portal, and it become immune to arrows. Melee attack it, but beware of its head attack. If the dragon is not killed then, the dragon will fly away, once again vulnerable to arrows. Continue this combat until depleting the dragon's health bar, at which point the dragon will explode in a spectacular white explosion. A large amount of experience will fall from the sky. At this point, the end portal will open.