User:Pallascat/Pallascat's Guide

This article is a compact guide on how to get started at creating  your world in Minecraft Alpha. It's meant to answer first-timers' common questions about the basics of gameplay, building,  survival and mining. Alpha is available for  paid users only, the difference   between the free Creative Mode being   that Alpha is deeper in gameplay, as players have to earn their building   materials. Being a sandbox game, there is no pre-set goal in Alpha other  than survive and prosper.

= The Guide =

Starting Out
Now  that you're a proud owner of Alpha, the first thing to do is to create  a  new world. Select Single Player from the main menu and choose one of  the empty saves. The game will now randomly generate terrains consisting of numerous blocks. A default world is a 3D cube that  extends 256 blocks into each direction, half of it above sea  level; to put things in perspective,  you are only 2 blocks high. You will start out in a random spot inside  this world with no equipment. The starting location for your player remains the same within this  world, and since you will be dying a lot, it's wise not to obstruct your  spawn point.

You can move  using WASD, jump using space, attack things by left-clicking, and use objects by   right-clicking. Since monsters will spawn and  seek out defenseless players at night, the first   thing to do is to find a shelter. Higher spots are usually better, as  enemies have problems reaching them. Unfortunately, so do you, which is  why you may have to destroy dirt blocks by holding left-click   at them. You'll notice this makes collectible dirt fall out, which you  can pick up to your inventory and place in a different spot by  selecting  it and right-clicking on solid ground. This is the core game mechanic  of Minecraft, and once mastered, it'll eventually allow you to  build  whatever you can think of.

Resources & Crafting
Now that the very basic criteria for survival are met, it's time to start  gathering resources.

Wood
Logs are essential at the start, and can be easily  found by cutting down  tree trunks. By crafting them, you can create the necessities for more advanced bases - wooden pickaxes that  can mine stone and coal, workshops that  improve your crafting possibilities, plus tools that make your  everyday routines easier. Open your inventory with 'I' and simply place your newfound logs to any of the four crafting squares at the top. The arrow now points at the potential outcome - wooden planks. You get four blocks of refined wood per one log. Left-click on the results and place them into your inventory. One wood can be further crafted into four sticks, generally used as tool handles.

The default crafting panel has 2x2 squares, which is not enough for  creating basic tools. The solution is to build a Workshop by inserting one refined wood into each square. Place this into a safe area, namely inside the shelter you've built before. Place it on the ground, right-click on it and you'll be taken into a crafting screen with a 3x3  space for resources. You'll lose control of your character while using the Workshop, so remember to place it in a safe place, such as the  shelter you built before. If you want to move your Workshop later on, don't worry, just destroy it and it'll drop another one.

The most useful craftable item at this point would be a wooden pickaxe, as  it allows you to collect more valuable resources and build better tools. It's recommended that the pickaxe should be your first and last wooden tool, as their kind aren't very durable and stone is even more common. Go to the Workshop, place three refined wood on the top row, one of the aforementioned sticks at the center, and another one below it. You should now be able to craft your first pickaxe. Say goodbye to mining stone by hand, which is a very slow process and only lets you shatter  it, not gather.

Stone
Stone can be found underground, so if none is exposed near your base,  dig  through the dirt a little. (This can be done by hand, as a pickaxe has no effect on dirt digging speed but will still wear out -  watch out for  the health bars on tool icons. Be careful to dig down in a staircase  fashion rather than directly, as you may fall into dark tunnels and  don't have the proper equipment to explore them yet.) Mining stone with a  pickaxe makes collectible cobblestone fall out, which  now allows you to craft stone tools.