Minecrafting: Holiday Hindsight

The holidays, with all the time-consuming fun entailed, have successfully kept me very occupied for some time now, and obviously my posting habits have suffered. However, I am now pleased to inform you that I did, in fact, find some time over the holidays to celebrate Christmas in our Minecraft world, though it wasn't as easy as I had originally hoped.

Now, without further ado, I give you . . .


Part 5 of the ongoing adventure in the mysterious world of Minecraft . . .

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It's the Christmas season, and while there might not be any ornaments, stockings, or even appropriately blocky packages in Minecraft, I'm going to celebrate as best I can. In fact, Notch's stunt with adding a Christmas cape has given me an idea -

I'll build a Christmas tree!

With the world being as pixellated as it is, I decide to use Notch's own cape image as a rough guide to my final product. I have a feeling that this will turn out to be a bit less simple than it sounds, so I decide to construct test models out of dirt before I work on the final version. With this aim in mind, I trudge down into the valley, where a swarm of undead attempt to impede my construction.

They meet a swift end, after which I grab my not-inconsiderable pile of dirt blocks (with a couple of logs to use as a base) and get to work.

Christmas Tree Mk. I is . . . less than satisfactory.

I compare it to my saved picture of the cape. Nope, not even close. I build a new model.

This is embarrassing. Maybe my standards are too high, but that just doesn't look right at all. A pair of creepers take advantage of my distraction and try to sneak up on me, but I have little trouble dispatching them.

Once again, a new tree is erected.

Still weird-looking, but I'm doubting whether I could even build an ideal three-dimensional tree out of 1-meter cubes even under the best conditions. I load the second one with torches for a festive look, but it doesn't help much.

The sun has set, so it's time that I got back to my house.
Thanks to the thriving local population of creepers, I've got enough sulphur stockpiled to make TNT.

And so I do. Four sand is mixed with five sulphur, and now I have a block of incredible destructive power in my possession.
I spend the rest of the night building a new room, and adding an expansive window overlooking the valley where I plan to put the final Christmas tree.

The next morning, I venture out on top of the cliff I inhabit, and gaze down upon the lumpy dirt trees below me. Under the circumstances, I think I'm going to have to go with the second model I developed, since it's the most tree-like one of the bunch. As for the method, I think I'll start by checking to see if trimming a normal tree down to size could possibly work.

Unfortunately, I'm so caught up in my moment of contemplation that I lose my footing and fall off the cliff.
*splat*

After retrieving my scattered and damaged belongings, I plant a few saplings to experiment upon. Naturally, a wandering creeper blasts one of them into a smoking crater.

I pick a tree to modify, and once again set to chopping. Once satisfied, I switch to Fast Graphics mode to turn the leaves opaque, then load it with festive torches.
With that final touch . . . it's done!

Well hey, I guess it's not that bad.

A belated Happy New Year, everyone!

Next: Cliff Dwelling 2.0