Issue 1

Wednesday 31st

07

`

Hello! Welcome to a very special issue of the

Redstone Torch, the first one! Yes, that’s right,

we’ve now started, and now that we’ve started,

prepare to read until the end! Get supplies, make

sure you have an hour to spare, and start reading!

Today’s theme is a new start, as it’s the start of

the magazine. A rather fitting theme, I think you’ll

agree.

We have some brilliant articles this issue,

including an interview with Hans Lemurson, some

brilliant texture pack and mod reviews, and even

a very spooky enderman story.

So, what are you waiting for, start reading!

Green, Owner of the Redstone Torch

This page is here for no apparent reason, do not read! Although, maybe someone – or something put it here…

This is a spoiler telling you that diary of Herobrine is near...

REDSTONE CORNER

Synthion

Hello Redstoners! Today, we will be using the RS-NOR Latch. The RS-NOR Latch is one of the simplest form of redstone “memory”. Its most obvious purpose is making a button’s charge permanent, instead of only 10 ticks. But it also has many other uses. This is a diagram of a standard RS-NOR LATCH.

It works because the charge the button creates is sustained by briefly turning off a redstone torch, powering a second redstone torch indefinitely. The Green line represents Output, the Blue line represents Inverse Output. To erase the memory, simply power the second redstone torch with a button or lever. (That is the reason for the second lever in the diagram) This is useful for many reasons, on a grand scale, individual bits can stored in latches such as this to create a true computer of redstone. On a more realistic scale, your adventure maps can now have pressure pads that act as levers so that doors can close behind you permanently.

This is also handy for creating alarm systems for mobs or players (On SMP). Simply hook up a pressure pad for the initial input on the latch, and have the output go out to a 5-clock (other clocks are available), starting a cycle that can provide pulses of power to noteblocks. This creates a decent alarm system. And, a lever or button can turn it off. For those of you that are confused about clocks, we may cover that in a future segment. For now, happy redstoning!

Diary of Herobrine

Day 2

My day of beginning has passed, and I am searching for

why I was made. Who am I? The memory of my name

has been lodged in my head, like a scar. My name is

Herobrine. I was created here for a purpose, one that I

have yet to find. I will keep my memories in a written

form. This will stop me from forgetting.... This will

allow others to remember me. I don't quite understand

it myself, but I have a feeling that I'm not alone in this

world...

Day 5

My feeling was correct! I have come across another

being on this world! What I do not understand is why

this being destroys the landscape like it owns it! This

world is beautiful, and I don't think I can bear to see it

destroyed right in front of me. I will follow this being,

but I will not show myself outright. I will spy on it, and

see what move it makes next...

By Darkangle, more next issue!

Tips and Tricks!

By JebusChrist666

This month's theme for tips is a new start! These tips will

help you with fishing, farming, and basic building.

Here's one good tip for fishing: When you fish in a boat, the

fish will fly over your head, so it's easier to collect fish if there

is a wall behind you. It will save some time, no one likes

running around picking up fish when you could have them all

in one place.

Farming tips next! Here's a fairly basic tip: Wheat requires

water up to four blocks away, so make sure your wheat is

near water! Sugarcane is even more water-dependent, it

must be next to water in order to plant it. Cacti, trees, and

mushrooms require no water. Also, a useful tip for cactus

harvesting is that cacti break if there is a block next to them.

Since cacti grow, you can place a block to the side of where it

would grow, and as soon as it does grow, it will break off!

From there, it's easy enough to add water flow, and get a

simple automatic cactus farm set up!

And last but certainly not least, basic building tips! For the

first night: It doesn't matter what you build your house out

of, just make it quick so you don't get stuck in a hole (or die).

The easiest material to build your house out of once you get

started is cobblestone, which is fairly blast resistant.

However, for the ideal material to resist creeper explosions,

you need obsidian, which is second only to bedrock. Obsidian

will NEVER be destroyed by a creeper explosion, ever! (Not

even Super Creepers can break it!) However, it requires a

diamond pickaxe to mine, so cobblestone is best for a

starting house.

That's all of the tips for these two weeks, make sure to come

back two weeks from now and check out the new tips!

MODS, Maps, and Texture Packs By: Synthion

Well hello readers! Today’s segment is a special one, because it is the debut of The Redstone Torch! Yeah! Give it up! Anyway, this weeks theme is a New Beginning, so, I decided to theme this segment to the same style!

MODs of the week

Since we are talking about starting up, what better way to start then some simple, straightforward, if somewhat unimpressive mods, Starting Inventory and Craft Book. ~Starting Inventory Made by DaftPVF and featured in the wonderful Yogbox, it is simplistic enough, instead of an empty hot-bar upon spawning a new world, you have a customizable set of tools and items to start out with, to make your journey an easier one.

I would normally show a picture, but this really requires no further explanation. It’s quite a handy mod. The default settings in the Yogbox Version are a Wooden Axe and a Craft Book, which coincidentally (not really) is our next mod! ~Recipe (or Craft) Book By Risugami, yes, THE Risugami, behind ModLoader, AudioMod, and More Arrows. Also featured in the Yogbox, it is a book that resembles a regular book, just more red-toned. Upon right-clicking, it yields the recipe for every single recipe in the game, and the Yogbox version also contains all new recipes in the Yogbox such as More Arrows, Mystic Ores, and the like.

Some alternative textures included in the Yogbox. This can be extremely useful for new players, and new Yogbox users who want to know

their way around the world of new recipes and items.

Maps

Before joining The Redstone Torch team, I was, and still am, a popular map critic. So here is a map that is very good, but deserves a fresh start. I rate all maps on a 5-star scale. A diamond is a star. A Gold Ingot is a half-star. An Iron Ingot is ¼ Star. For more information on how I rate maps, visit my full-time map review thread.

Escape the Facility by

guy1234567890

Adventure/Puzzle

Wow. This guy I can tell has spent a lot

of time on this map. Kudos to you. We

need more map makers with your dedication. But why did you only get 2.5

stars?! Well, the map is a broken in a

few places, the entire map seems

schizophrenic, and you don't seem to

understand you own map. Don't worry,

just work on it. I might actually consider re-reviewing it in a more developed

version. And remember, my review is

based off MY experience. Not others, or

yours, but mine.

Despite being marketed as an Adv/Puz,

this is definitely a Puz. Is this review

reminding you of something? Destroy

the Diamond Comet maybe? I gave it

the same score, it had the same issue

with marketing it as an adventure, both similar atmospheres, it is really similar

isn't it? Looking back at Diamond

Comet, I think I didn’t give it enough

credit, because it is similar to Portal,

short, fun, tight, and well put together. This is not anything like that. It is

tedious, enormous, desperately trying

to fill in gaps (usually by repeating

puzzles).

I came into this map expecting to have

fun with advanced redstone-powered

puzzles, high-tension dynamic parkour,

and maybe some open-world

exploration. And I was expecting a great story.

Guess what I didn't get.

You wake up in a room. You see some rules, but no story. By the name I

understand I have to escape, but

couldn't you have added anything else?

The first couple of puzzles are parkour.

Really? I don't mind a few original parkour puzzles (note I said puzzles,

not just challenges) in a map, but

there's a reason I don't do parkour

maps. They are repetitive, tedious, and

annoying. Especially without a checkpoint system. At least yours had

one, no matter how rudimentary it was.

There are several "puzzles" including

more then one example of my LEAST favorite type of challenge. The "explore

this environment for a single chest/spot

of clay". Are these fun for people? Are

they? ARE THEY?! Because I can't stand

them. To me it screams laziness and/or "I'm running out of ideas", and

considering it was only the very

beginning, I sure as hell was hoping it

wasn't the second one.

The maze where we had to find cobble

was actually kind of fun, I love well-

constructed, multi-point mazes. And

this was one of them. However, most

people hate mazes. So I guess you also

lose at this one too. Sorry.

You know what, let me skip to where I

got lost and could not move forward. A

strange outside complex of buildings.

Seemed like a dead-end. So do I just suck? Or is this a genuine problem? You

know what, I probably just suck, but

still, you should make all objectives

clear.

So I flew around, and let me just say

this thing is frickin COLOSSAL. One of

the largest maps I've ever seen. And

this means you have to fill these rooms.

And I think you ran out of ideas.

I broke into several places, and did the

puzzles until I got lost again (happened

a few times). And it was very repetitive.

Same old boring parkour, search, and maze puzzles.

All this is going on, but I'd be lying if I

said I didn't enjoy it at certain times. It

had the right atmosphere. The

environments were complimentary and not jagged like so many other maps.

The creator is one hell of an

environment designer and logistics

expert, but not so much with puzzle

design, storyline creation, or anything else. If was gonna make a collaboration,

I would probably want you on my team.

But this feels like if there was only one

Beatle, or if only one guy made the

Aether. It feels dark, lonely, and unfinished.

It also doesn't help with how unoriginal

the idea is.

I go on the maps forum page often to

check my thread's status. There are

really only 3 types of posts. ~32% of

them are Survival Island Maps, ~32%

are escape the facility/prison maps, and ~32% are looking for people to be in a

youtube series like the yogscast. That

last 4% are the things I notice. Yours

would have just faded in with the

background.

In addition, making maps so ridiculously

long, but still so repetitive is a good way

to make sure NO ONE sees the ending.

I know I didn't.

Texture Packs

Texture Packs change not only the look of Minecraft, but the feel of minecraft. So let us look upon the fall of arguably the most popular RPG texture pack, and its new start. For as a

phoenix rises from the ashes, from the death of Dokucraft, comes the official continuation pack.

Dokucraft: The Saga Continues

Doku unfortunately decided to discontinue updating Dokucraft permanently “for my own reasons”. Fans of Dokucraft wonder how they will move on from such wonderful and diverse RPG textures provided in Dokucraft Light, Dark, and High. I’ll admit it is one of my most used Texture Packs. Dokucraft: TSC as I call it, aims to use Dokucraft textures, update them, add to them, improve them, and add mod support. A brave goal, but even Doku contributes to this pack. Also, this pack aims to be community driven, and has a customizer to make your pack absolutely PERFECT.

From the forum post With mod support for such incredible mods as the Aether, Better than Wolves, and Clay Soldiers already, few can doubt the promise of this pack. But will it stand the test of time? Will numerous important updates break it? Only time will tell, friends. But what I can say is that I loved Dokucraft, and I am starting to love this one.

Well, that’s all for this week, next week we’ll touch on some bigger mods, some less known texture packs, and a new map. That’s all for Mods, Maps, and Texture Packs!

SKINS

With Aeronnax

Have you been looking for a new skin? Tired of

looking like the same old Minecrafter who hasn’t

changed? Well then this is the article for you!

“SKINS” is a section where I, Aeronnax, review 5

skins each issue and give a short review of each

skin. I’ll also tell you where to find these skins to

give yourself a whole new makeover! I’ll be

naming the skins with the names they have on the

Skindex.

The RED Spy

The RED Spy, from Team Fortress 2 which I

downloaded off the Skindex (minecraftskins.com),

is a great roleplaying skin for city-based servers. If

the server has Mobdisguise, a Bukkit plugin which

allows players to transform into any mob or

player, it makes this skin even better.

Forest Adventurer

The Forest Adventurer, again from the Skindex,

is a great skin for roleplaying /PvP servers. This

skin is great if you like living under thick canopies

of leaves, and dwell in tree houses suspended from

leaves and branches.

Pirate Captain

*Breathes in* Ahhh… don’t ye just love the

salty aroma of the ocean? The Pirate Captain is

great for, well, pirate-themed roleplaying servers.

Once again from the Skindex, rule the seas with

this incredibly detailed skin!

Creepers fear me…

A skin fit for futuristic roleplaying servers. This

Sci-Fi skin, pulled off the Skindex, is very detailed

and has a nice golden/bronze powersuit.

This warrior, off the Skindex, has seen

everything to do with war. Prepare for PvP and

dominate enemies with this skin!

Well, that’s it for this issue! Stay tuned for more

skins to suit yourself with, and for now, roleplay

and PvP away!

Enderman’s Stare

By Cheezman

It was about 9 AM. Jeremy was thinking about

what he should do in Minecraftia for the day. His

final decision was to go out of his small cabin and

find a satisfactory mine for diamonds and such.

He stepped out of his tiny, but cosy, house, and

looked at his clock. About 10 AM. He had better

get going.

After a few minutes of traveling, Jeremy spotted

something out of the ordinary. It was a large sort

of shadow, very much like the silhouette of

something very tall. In fact it looked like it was

holding a dirt block. But that just couldn't be.

Jeremy lived very far away from the nearest

settlement. Curiously, Jeremy ventured forward.

Jeremy had gotten to be about 100 feet away

from the mysterious figure. He hadn't even

realized that it was night time. Suddenly, it

noticed him. It turned, froze and just stared

straight back into Jeremy's eyes, and oh, those

eyes, they were simply terrifying. It was like

staring into a hypnotizing void of white, that

never ended.

Suddenly extremely nervous, Jeremy turned to

leave. He could get away. He would be fine. Out

of nowhere, he was struck harshly on the back of

the head.... By a block of dirt.

Barely conscious, Jeremy looked up at the sky, he

was being surrounded by those white portals of

nothingness, getting closer, and closer.... After a

few seconds, Jeremy passed out.

When he awoke, Jeremy could hardly move. He

was in so much pain. He knew he needed help.

Strangely, he had been taken right outside of the

city. He could barely manage a crawl. He saw

someone. They were mining a wall nearby. He

crawled up to the man pleading for help while he

did so. Little did Jeremy know that the "S" in the

end of his please, had turned into a never-ending

hiss.

Frightened, the man turned around, only to see a

glimpse of green and see a terrible looking face

before the wall he was mining was mined for him

in a brutal flash of smoke.

Craft for a Cause

By Green

Craft for a Cause is a excellent non-profit

organization that allows building in Minecraft

to be more worthwhile than it currently is –

by making it into a competition! Instead of

just admiring the beauty of what you have

built, the founders of Craft for a Cause pick

the best one. It must be a hard choice.

The amazing builder that is the winner then

gets a brilliant 20% of all donations (capped at

£50) and the other 80% is given to a charity

which changes every week. For example, if

£200 was donated, the winner would receive

£20 and £180 would be donated to a charity.

Personally, I think it is a wonderful idea and

cause and I’m sure you will think the same.

Hans Lemurson Interview

By JebusChrist666

Today’s interview is with Hans Lemurson, the

renowned redstoner who has made a Minecraft

within Minecraft! His responses were very long,

so several revisions were made, indicated by

".....".

Jebus: When did you first start playing Minecraft,

and why?

Hans: I first started playing Minecraft in early

October 2010. A friend had shown the game to

me, with a little house he made in a cave next to a

tamed zombie-spawner, and lit beacons leading

from his spawn-point on the beach to his inland

base. I was impressed by the absolute creative

freedom of the game, but was a little bit

concerned about what I perceived as its lack of

depth, since once you'd done all of the things to

set up a functional base...what then? Still, the

game settled itself into my mind and I decided to

buy it so that I too could carve out my own little

corner of the world.

Jebus: When did you first start working with

redstone?

I started working with Redstone probably in late

October.... My first creation was making a 5-clock,

then I started experimenting with "clocks" that

used an even number of torches and was

intrigued by how they could settle into one of 2

different states. This was my first Memory Cell. I

then figured out how to turn this into a device

where it would change its state every time you

pressed a button, so I created a T Flip-Flop on my

own. My intention with the T Flip-Flops was to

create a binary counter hooked up to a clock

which could keep track of the day/night cycle. For

many months, my Redstone ambitions never

exceeded this, and the whole thing was eventually

rendered moot when Notch released the craftable

Pocket-Watch item. It would actually be a while

before I got back into Redstone Engineering.

When Noteblocks were released, this inspired me

to come back to Minecraft, since I had a grand

idea for making a proper "Music-Box". Not the

kind where a signal simply travels down a String of

note-blocks triggering them in turn, but

something that used just 8 Note-Blocks but stored

the data in a long array for which ones would be

activated in what order....

...When Repeaters came out, I was a bit offended

at how easy it was to make precision timing-

circuits out of them. You could now make a

"String" Music-Player even more compact and

with less materials than before! Where was the

ROM Music-Player's place in the world now? But

then I realized that the compactness of the

Repeater also lent itself to compact data storage

in the form of pulses traveling down a line or

them. The Data was being stored dynamically in

Time rather than statically in Space, and at a

density approaching 1 Bit per Block. THIS was the

data-storage revolution I had been waiting for in

order to make my Music Box!!! However, the trick

would be catching the data as it flowed by in its

long loop, and I didn't quite know how to do this.

I then started my first "Redstone

Experimentation" map.... On this world I

experimented with precision timing and

"Catching" a signal..... I made a lot of progress on

the system, and eventually forgot that its original

purpose was for a Music-Player, since now I was

getting into studying how computers worked and

was simply going to appreciate a Memory unit for

it's own sake, even if it didn't play music......you

could have a device that could perform 8 different

logical operations. I then made such a device and

released my first video, "Hans Lemurson's Multi-

Function Logic Gate", and I was now set

irrevocably down the path of pursuing Redstone

Computation. Wow, that turned into a whole

history!

Jebus: What about redstone interests you so

much?

Hans: When I was in 8th grade, I learned the

basics of how Logic Gates operate, and how

Adders worked, but still felt dissatisfied with a big

gap in my knowledge: How do you go from basic

Logic Gates to a Computer that runs programs? I

wanted to be able to understand how Computers

worked from the transistor level up.

Redstone in Minecraft gave me the opportunity to

explore this without having to fiddle around with

wires on a breadboard, or use a Logic Simulator

where I felt too many components are pre-made

(so you don't understand how they work), and the

ones that weren't resulted in a tangled mess of

wires and gates on the 2d screen.

In Minecraft, all of the Gates operate simply

because of the fundamental behavior of the

Redstone torch, and you can build up complex

relationships between different parts of a device

that eventually result in the function you want.

Despite not simulating Electricity properly, it felt a

little more "authentic" and much more useful to

my goal of understanding how a computer is

made from component parts.... I only like to

"Make things that DO things", and Redstone is a

perfect medium for this if you have the patience

and inclination to understand how it works (which

I do). So that's why I like Redstone.

Jebus: What is your favorite redstone creation?

(Yours or someone else's.)

Hans: Oh, that's a tough one. As supremely

arrogant and self-centered as it sounds, I'd

actually say that my favorite Redstone creation is

actually my "Mini-Minecraft" machine because of

the balance it strikes between doing

computations, but doing them simply enough that

you can actually USE the device without getting

totally bored. My machine is actually playable. I

mean, so long as you have enough patience to

wait 5 seconds for a button-press to result in an

action on the screen. But at least it's not 15

seconds!

If I had to pick somebody else's creation, I'd go for

Ohmganesha's "Instant Carry" Adder, due to how

it has revolutionized the speed at which

computations can be done. ....Redstone

Computation revolutionized overnight. Now

around the same time, some people in the RDF

were working on a similar concept, but their

resulting device wasn't as fast or compact as

Ohmganesha's by the time he completed his.

Jebus: Do you have any plans to improve your

Mineception project by making a bigger screen or

making it better in any other way?

Hans: No. I planned it as an 8x8 and I'm satisfied

with it now that it's complete. This is the biggest

project I've ever attempted and I'm really glad

that it's FINALLY finished now. Well, the work isn't

quite complete since I still need to make a Video

presentation about it, but once that's done and

I've made the schematic public, I'm going to

consider the project DONE. Anybody can then feel

free to attempt to surpass me, to make a device

that bigger, runs faster, includes creepers, uses

colored-wool displays, whatever. You have to

realize that 2 months ago, I already knew how the

machine was going to work....I really had to push

myself at times to keep working on "Mini-

Minecraft" even though it was tedious

construction and debugging rather than

innovation....

Jebus: Do you do anything other than work with

redstone in Minecraft?

Hans: These days, not really. I've thought about

getting back into playing minecraft normally and

just making a little base for myself, but I think I

might just run into the problem which plagued me

earlier before I got into Redstone heavily: "Ok,

now what?" Once I've established a secure

perimeter, stable food supply, and have all the

equipment for survival, I'm often at a loss for

what to do next. I'm really good at planning and

am extremely careful and cautious, so there are

rarely any challenges that I cannot overcome

unless they involve actually engaging in combat. I

suck at combat, so what I usually end up doing is

just building a completely self-sufficient

underground base and then just staying in there

where it's safe from creepers. I'm deathly afraid

of creepers and skeletons. Skeletons are tolerable

if I spot them first, but it always makes me jump

when I'm walking around and suddenly

*TWANG!*. I don't like being scared and

Minecraft is a kind of scary game, but once you

set it to peaceful, there's no danger at all and I'm

still stuck in an existential crisis. So I do Redstone.

Jebus: Are you currently planning another project,

and if so, could you say anything about it?

Hans: I've been toying with making a

reconfigurable Maze with pistons. I've been

studying different patterns looking for ones that

give the best trade-off between Path Complexity

and Piston Density, and have found a number of

candidates. Ideally what I'd like to do is actually

be able to hook up the maze to a Memory unit so

that you could design mazes and save them and

you could make your maze effectively much

bigger by having "checkpoints" in it where you

reach a pressure plate and step on it, causing the

maze to shift do design #2 which you then have to

navigate through again. I'd want to hook this up

to a display so that you could see what the maze

would be as you're designing it. Except for the

Maze part, the project would actually be quite

similar to PeterC1's "Minecraft Paint 2.0", which

bears many similarities with my own "Mini-

Minecraft". I will have to study how he saves and

loads large 2D images in such a compact way and

see if I can reproduce it for my Maze's piston-

configuration.

Jebus: Are you planning on making any tutorials

for redstone?

Hans: From the moment I submitted my first

Minecraft video, I have intended to make an

informative tutorial series about Redstone so that

anybody could understand how it works and build

what they need. I just...haven't gotten around to

it yet. One of my great skills is in explaining things

clearly to other people, and I really enjoy it. I feel

that many people are held back from experiencing

the joy of Redstone Engineering simply because

they haven't had access to the proper information

to understand how the stuff works. What's the

most important I've found is having a solid

conceptual framework....Too many people when

explaining complicated ideas simply give a bunch

of information without any context. I intend to

provide good quality explanations...once I

eventually get around to actually making the

tutorials. Did I mention I have a problem with

procrastination?

Jebus: What do you think of Notch/Mojang?

Hans: I'm impressed by how much Notch was able

to accomplish on his own in making minecraft

from the start.... one thing that we all have to

remember is that one of the biggest contibutors

to Notch's success with Minecraft is that he got

really lucky. Notch isn't unique in his ability to

code a game like Minecraft, and Minecraft wasn't

even the first voxel-manipulation game out there.

Notch didn't know ahead of time that the stars

had aligned for a game with the exact qualities as

the one he was making to jump to unprecedented

popularity. If he had made it at a different time....

then Notch's Minecraft might not have caught on

and 6 months later some other Indie game would

have surged in popularity and we'd all be praising

the genius of that other developer. I'm not saying

Notch doesn't deserve the success he's gotten,

not at all, but that the level of success that Notch

and Mojang have seen are due to much more

than simply the talent they have available.

I actually see myself and "Mini Minecraft" in a

similar light..... The machine isn't any more

complex than many of the Redstone Computer

systems out there, and takes no more talent to

build. So why has my creation struck such a

chord? Not because it's an elaborate Redstone

contraption, but because it's "Minecraft in

Minecraft". My fame in this regard is due to the

target I chose and the task I set for myself. When I

started working on it, I tried to keep as secretive

about it as possible, in fear that somebody else

more dedicated than me might steal my idea and

beat me to it. You only really get credit if you're

the FIRST person to make "Mineception".

In fact, the idea of how cool it would be to take

the prize and be the guy who made "Minecraft in

Minecraft" was sometimes the only thing that

kept me motivated to return to the project

whenever I began to waver over just how much

work was involved in building the darn thing. But I

knew that if I completed it, I'd be famous. And

THAT is actually what I admire Notch for the most:

He didn't know in advance that Minecraft would

be a success, yet he kept at it nonetheless.

Jebus: Who is your favorite MC forumer, and why?

Hans: My favorite? Gosh, I always have difficulty

with questions like this. I try not to be

judgemental. I'll go with "Which member of the

Minecraft Forums do you admire the most?" Even

then it's still a toss-up. The two names that come

to mind are Conundromer and CX Gamer.

CX Gamer I admire because he has a really deep

understanding of how redstone and logic circuits

in general operate..... He is among the people

who I consider to be better at Redstone than

myself.

Conundromer has made a variety of really cool

creations in his time, and was the person that I

wanted to be as cool as when I first joined the

forums. Also, he too had been planning a "Mini

Minecraft" type game of his own....he messaged

me and we talked about it and he agreed that I

would be the one to complete the project, and he

contented himself with building a fully

operational Rubik's Cube. So I kind of owe him a

bit for this chance at greatness that I've been

given.

So there you go, you asked for one person and I

gave you two. Two for the price of one!

Jebus: If you could choose one improvement for

Notch to add to redstone, what would it be?

Hans: Make the wires easier to control. Redstone

devices are always so bulky because of the need

to keep wires insulated from each other, and the

difficulty of getting the wire to point into the

block you want signalled.

A more reasonable request though would be to

make the Redstone Wire stop lying to you! There

are a number of situations (usually dealing with a

torch on top of a block) where the direction that

the wire points has no relation to which blocks are

actually getting a signal from it. Make it so that if

looks like the wire is pointing into a block, then it

is.

Jebus: What is your least favorite thing about

redstone?

Hans: The bulk. Making structures in minecraft is

a bulky enough affair because all blocks occupy a

cubic meter of space (even the ones that don't fill

it still prevent anything else from being placed in

their spot). However, redstone wire is so tricky to

handle that you often have to take circuitous

routes in order to get everything to align properly.

It's bad enough that a wire occupies an entire

block of space, but the lengths that you have to

go through to prevent signal contamination only

serve to multiply the problem. I didn't make each

pixel occupy a 4x4 space because it would look

cool (although it does). I did it because that was

about as compact as I could get all of the display

components. I probably could have compacted

the pixels to 3x3, but I couldn't figure out a good

way to make the pixels look pretty, so 4x4 it was.

Jebus: If you could give one piece of advice to a

novice redstoner, what would it be?

Hans: Learn how the stuff works. It's not

completely straightforward, there are limitations

and behaviors which are unexpected, and it's not

always obvious when a signal is getting

transmitted or not. Many of these non-obvious

things are critical to making compact

components. A solid foundation in the

fundamentals will allow you to begin to translate

your ideas into actual components.

The best way that I've found to do this is to get

your hands on a flat map, acquire an infinite

supply of redstone, and then start tinkering. Also

try using some Redstone Simulators so that you

can test things out before committing the greater

time it takes to make them by hand in-game.

Jebus: Is there anything else you want to say

about anything?

Hans: The key to completing any large-scale

project is to set a clear goal that you can measure

your progress against, to see how each little

addition you make, no matter how small, is

bringing you forwards to completion. If I didn't

have any idea of what my finished project was

going to look like, I probably would have given up

halfway through.

I have....a piece of paper on which are the initial

equations I used to describe the different actions I

wanted my machine to perform and then on the

flip side contains a sketch of how all the different

"Units" that perform each operation are arranged

relative to each other.....

So yeah, plan ahead.

The Hunger Bar

By Ryukoy

Recently, there have been whispers around the

forums and fansites that 1.8 or another update

coming soon will bring the addition of a hunger

bar. While many survival fans praise the hunger

bar concept for its realism and extra challenge,

there are people who believe that it'll be a game

breaker, expecting it to be buggy, useless, and

broken. However, many speculate it'll be an

optional setting, such as difficulty level. Many

people also point to the reported food items

coming with 1.8 to be evidence of said hunger

bar.

Notch himself has shown some interest in the

concept of a hunger bar, which also leads to

speculation that it's going to be in a future

update. While many believe it's coming, they also

concede it may have some flaws:

-It will be a game breaker, especially in desert

maps, where very little animals spawn.

- Many believe that it'll be the cause of many

cheap deaths.

-Others believe that it will bog down inventories

with food items that could be filled with precious

tools, ores, and materials.

Build Spotlight

By Lord_Earthcraft

Welcome to the very first Build Spotlight for the

Redstone Torch! Lord Earthcraft here, bringing

you some of the finest builds in all of Minecraftia!

Many say that the mega-structures are some of

the best buildings out there and, certainly, many

of them do deserve time in the spotlight. Today,

however, we’re looking at new beginnings. Some

of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in

Minecraft have been quite small. There is an

elegance in simplicity that cannot be denied and

purist66 is here to show us exactly that.

Here we have a quaint little village, built by

purist66. Many of us would look at this and think,

“I could do that.” That may be true, but I would

point out that this village, while not very large,

has heart. Any one of us can build a small house

to survive in. It takes talent to make your little

wooden structure feel like home. With simple

aesthetics and intuitive interior design, purist66

has accomplished this. He’s created a place that

any Minecrafter would love to come home to.

Have a look at some of the screens.

But that’s not all! One of the things about this

build that really caught my attention was this

swank sugarcane farm.

Powered by redstone, this farming device makes

gathering cane quick and painless. This device is

simple, efficient and a great addition to any

village. I must say, I’m seriously considering

adding one to one of my own worlds! Have a look

at it.

I took some time to talk to purist66 about his

build. Here’s what he had to say.

Earthcraft - Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Purist - Well not much to know really, but I enjoy

playing Minecraft to relax, also playing Terraria

helps me relax as well. I like to play guitar in my

spare time and go for bike rides. Just about to go

off to college so I am trying to get in as much

Minecraft time as possible at the moment!

Earthcraft - How were you introduced to

Minecraft?

Purist - Can't remember exactly but I think I saw a

thread in the Bungie(the blokes who made halo )

forums

Earthcraft - How long have you been playing

Minecraft?

Purist - Since Beta 1.2...however long ago that

was!

Earthcraft - Can you give me a little bit of

background about how this village started? What

inspired you to create it the way that you did?

Purist - When I started the world I just explored a

bit and then found this little area after I had dug a

tunnel through a hill. I then thought it would be

cool to build that underwater passage. But I

hadn't set the difficulty to peaceful like I usually

do (I put it on that because I just like building) so I

had to make a little dirt hut to survive the night. I

thought the area was quite cool and that I could

utilize the area to build something nice, I then

proceeded to put it on peaceful so I could build! I

just let my imagination lead the way then really.

Didn't really have any inspiration apart from the

design of the well... I asked in the discussion

forum about a design for a well and a user called

M_Unit posted a pic of a design which I took

inspiration from. I guess I just wanted the village

to look simple.

Earthcraft - Tell us a little bit about the features of

this build.

Purist - Well at the moment none of the buildings

are actual homes, they are more like communal

areas for people to relax. I guess that's why I put

lots of bookshelves in them and a couple of

jukeboxes. I think that is one of my building styles,

I like to make buildings that everyone can use.

The well is quite useful because it has an infinite

water source which is quite convenient I think.

The wheat farm has all the water below it to

hydrate the farmland...I'm not quite sure why this

works because really it has to be on the same

level, but I managed to get it working somehow!

The redstone harvester is quite simple really but it

does its job well. It can harvest 24 sugarcane

whenever you need any and the sugarcane

doesn't need replanting.

Earthcraft - How long did it take you to build this?

Purist - Not very long, a few hours at most I think

Earthcraft - Did you gather the materials

legitimately or did you use an inventory editor?

Purist - All legit apart from the redstone and the

repeaters. I just couldn't be bothered to mine for

it all! haha... Oh and the lime green wool for one

of the buildings (I couldn't find any cacti).

Earthcraft - Which texture pack is that? Looks

wonderful.

Purist - John Smith’s texture pack...but I used the

customizer for it.

Earthcraft - What did you have the most difficulty

with while building this?

Purist - The underwater tunnel...It was just

annoying when trying to remove the water from

the middle and then when I was close to finishing

it I sometimes accidentally broke some of the

glass so the tunnel flooded...and I'm sure you

know how slow you walk in water now! But I got

there in the end.

Earthcraft - Let's talk a little bit about your

sugarcane farm. What was your inspiration for

that?

Purist - I didn't actually have any to be perfectly

honest. I know someone said that they had seen

the design before and that I took it from someone

else, but I am being totally honest, I have never

watched any video or seen any pictures of a

design like that. I just thought, "I want it to look

like this," then I built it... Just so happens that it is

quiet a common design, I guess this is because it

works well and is simple

Earthcraft - Tell us a bit about how this machine

works.

Purist - Basically it is all connected by the one

button at the front of the machine. Once that

activates all three sets of piston will extend to

push the sugarcane into a stream below which

then collects the cane and brings it towards the

front so you can pick it up all in one go!

Earthcraft - I know that experimenting with

redstone can be frustrating. What did you have

the most difficulty with while building this?

Purist - Well the first design only had one layer of

pistons and a height of 2 so it would just push the

second layer of the sugarcane...A problem with

this though was that the 3rd layer of cane would

often get stuck on top of the pistons which would

result in it not dropping into the stream below, so

I added the 3rd layer of pistons. Another issue I

had was that I couldn't get all the pistons to

activate at once if I didn't use the repeaters to

power them. But that was fixed easily.

Earthcraft - Do you have any future plans for this

build? Tell us what's next!

Purist - I'm just going to keep expanding it I

believe...See where my imagination leads me!

Earthcraft - Can we expect you to be submitting

more content for the Build Spotlight?

Purist - I certainly think so! And I will be sure to

favourite 'The Redstone Torch'.

That wraps it up for this issue’s Build Spotlight! If

you have a build that you would like me to

consider for this column, check out my thread!

You can find a link to it on the main thread for the

Redstone Torch. Just look for the Build Spotlight!

Hope to see you there!

-Earthcraft out

Well, that’s all for this week’s issue! Liked it? I did!

Come back next time for more Minecraft news,

interviews, storys, mods and more. But for now,

goodbye!

-The Redstone Torch team