Over the summer of 2019 with the release of 1.14, various memes, and people playing it again, Minecraft was suddenly popular once more. Despite having grievances with the stale gameplay, it got to me. I got the itch.
There wasn’t anything specific I wanted to accomplish this time, much like the world I played the year before (2018). I spawned on the border between a taiga and a plains biome between two hills. As soon as I did, I knew I wanted to build my base into the hill overlooking the vast plains below.
One minor shtick I employed for this world was a log in a book (on the new pedestal block) everything I did. It’s located right at the world spawn for anyone to read… in a singleplayer world. At least it makes writing this page easier!
July 2019 was standard Minecraft gameplay: exploring, getting diamonds, enchanting, etc. I found two villages within a few hundred meters and (ab)used trading with them to get rare enchants like mending. Later, I got diamond tools and armor trades as well.
I had no idea what I wanted to build as always, but 1.14 introduced stone slabs. I’ve always hated the look of the default terrain in Minecraft so I utilized this new block to resurface the hill of my base to look a little cooler with steeper slopes and a bare stone face all around. To make use of height I made it plateau at different levels. The end result reminds me of the Hanging Gardens from Tactics Ogre. Mobs won’t spawn on slab so no worries about Creepers falling on your head as an added bonus.
This led me to wanting to make the entire area mob-proof. I still hate the look of torches and the eerie glow at night, so I proceeded to transform half the area into a giant farm that will never be fully utilized. Roads around the base are also slabs and I connected the billion “Minecraft puddles” into a water irrigation system for the farm.
August 2019 continued the landscaping by transforming the taiga border hills into the same style. Flat land, especially with grass, needed light to prevent hostile mobs from spawning. I did my best to hide it under carpets in bright green grass with leaves and tall grass around it, or under colored grass with leaves on top of that in the taiga biome or areas up against the roads. This led to a messy landscape full of rocks, “bushes”(leaves), and lots of tall grass. Lawnmower not included. This works for some areas, but others – like animal pens – can’t be easily decorated every five blocks.
That’s most of the world so far. Exploring in Minecraft is fun but its all standard Minecraft terrian. The new shipwrecks are fun. Drowned holding tridents are not. I have gotten a couple beacons and defeated the Ender Dragon. I’ve also built a small map room and dabbled in interior design… however I’m not happy with any of it. I still don’t know what I want the base to look like but I at least have an idea of the layout. I suspect I’ll need to build everything, tear it all down, and rebuild it a million times until I’m satisfied. Until it’s necessary though I think I’ll do my best to procrastinate by continuing to landscape the empty land around my base instead.
