User:Simons Mith/Construction Tutorials

How to make an effective construction tutorial
Roughly speaking, the construction tutorials are organised into five broad areas – general, basic, intermediate, advanced and Redstone. These guidelines focus on the distinctions between 'basic', 'intermediate' and 'advanced'.

Basic-level tutorials
Basic tutorials cover things which are so simple to make that they need little if any planning ahead, and it may also cover the components of larger builds. A good principle to follow is that compared with intermediate-level construction (see below), the exact placement of blocks should not matter very much.

Screenshots
A smallish screenshot of a completed example should be enough information to recreate these structures. The object is to give users a visual catalog of the available options, and help them choose the basic elements for their own designs.

Scale
Constructions should broadly be to scale with the village buildings already in the game. If a design needs to be made to a different scale, please explain its requirements.

Only list materials in special cases
Normally, designers will use their own materials to match their own building styles, which means a materials listing is a waste of effort. So please do not list materials requirements unless a design specifically needs a particular block. Do mention the block types used when they are not obvious, or if you are using them in an unexpected way. If it isn't clear from a picture how a block is being used, explaining the usage in the description will help players interpret the picture.

Exceptions apply for aesthetics guides, where it would be helpful to give block combinations that work well together – and perhaps also combinations to avoid – and also for modular designs such as piston roads, where it is very useful to know that you need say, 7 pistons and 20 redstone per 5 meters travelled.

Outside of those two special cases, materials requirements are rarely necessary.

Possible tutorial subjects
Good subjects for basic-level tutorials include:


 * Roofs (done)
 * Provide examples of common roof types, their names, and pictures of each variant. Naming particular components is helpful because it's much easier to remember a particular design of roof if you know what it's called.
 * Please refer to the roof tutorials for examples of what to include and the level of detail to use for a good tutorial.
 * Furniture
 * Furniture is mostly decorative in Minecraft. The challenge is that many pieces need to be modeled using just 2–6 blocks yet still be recognisable. Example pictures of common pieces of furniture would be very useful for inspiration. Very common pieces of furniture such as chairs and tables should offer a small selection of designs.
 * Castles and fortifications
 * A good castle tutorial should cover the different types of castle and fortification, such as motte and bailey, hill fort, keep and bailey, shell keep and so forth, with descriptions of their key features and examples showing them built in Minecraft. A second section describing the key components of a castle, such as the drawbridge, the gatehouse, the keep, the enceinte and so forth would also be helpful.
 * Ships and boats
 * This should describe common types of ships, covering the basic hull types that ships use, and provide examples for how masts, funnels or gun turrets are commonly arranged. Examples of how to model the awkward curves commonly seen in ships' hulls and sails would be particularly helpful, although that section may be worth treating as an intermediate-level tutorial.
 * Trivial redstone (done)
 * Some users find redstone intimidating. However, the most basic redstone circuits can be done with just 2–6 components. For example, a door that closes behind you just needs a door and a pressure plate; a switchable light can be done with a redstone lamp and a lever. Ultra-simple circuits like these could be made by anyone.

Image style guidelines
Good-quality images are very helpful. Wherever possible, try to follow the existing wiki guidelines for creating screenshots, including:
 * Always take screenshots during the day when possible.
 * Always use PNG rather than a 'lossy' format like JPEG.
 * Always crop images where possible.

For tutorial images, some useful extra guidelines are:
 * Keep example designs as simple as possible.
 * Use a standard set of materials in a consistent way.
 * When adding to an image set started by someone else, follow the style they have used.

For example, the roof tutorials follow this scheme:
 * Oak wood blocks are used for the body of a building.
 * Buildings in a particular image set usually have similar wall heights.
 * Roofs are generally of cobblestone stairs.
 * When a particular roof element needs to be highlighted, or contrast is needed, the area concerned is marked using red brick instead.
 * For dark areas (such as the interior of the helm roof) quartz blocks are used as they provide very high contrast.
 * Where other areas of contrast are needed, dark wood is used for walls and sandstone for roof parts.

Intermediate-level construction
Intermediate-level tutorials commonly cover redstone circuits, mob grinders, automatic item farms and so forth. These things are more advanced than the basic level because placing a block wrongly may cause the system to stop working. For this reason block placement can be critical and plans of the design are much more useful. Most of the designs covered on the wiki are intermediate level.


 * Example intermediate-level tutorials
 * [Example redstone tutorials]
 * [Example mob grinders]
 * [Example farms]
 * Modelling curved roofs
 * Modelling ship hulls and sails
 * &hellip;

Advanced-level construction
At advanced level, the need for some level of planning ahead is largely unavoidable. However, every advanced project is unique, so prior plans won't exist and users will have to make them for themselves. By this stage minor implementation details are not a concern, and advanced construction might include a paragraph or two of advice on the following areas:


 * Planning tips
 * Determining materials requirements
 * Using external design tools
 * Aesthetics
 * Scale considerations
 * Managing group projects
 * Tips on terraforming
 * Using in-game tools
 * Using external terrain and building editors.
 * Modular design tips
 * Producing models for real-world output
 * Tips for converting from real-world models
 * Tips for converting from other computer models
 * Scaffolding tips for large structures
 * Automatic construction
 * Hard-to-manage materials
 * Adverse construction environments
 * Tips for the Nether or the End?
 * Making construction videos, including tips for timelapse videos
 * Sources of inspiration
 * Estimating time

The intended target audience is someone comfortable making simpler structures who now wants to try something more ambitious, or who wants to make a video of a construction project. Note that a project isn't advanced just because it's big, unless it's so big that it's only feasible using external tools such as world editors.