Introduction: How to Survive Your First Night in Minecraft in Only 11 Steps

By
About: meh.

So you've finally given in to they hype and bought Minecraft.Great!Now,you just have to figure out how to play it.Sounds easy,right?Unfortunately,the Minecraft "universe" is vast and confusing.What's worse is that Minecraft doesn't come with tutorial levels.Not even written instructions.

I've written an in depth instructable to help you survive your first day.At the time I wrote this,Minecraft is in Beta.I'll update the instructable if enough people want me to.

If you have a question,or a comment,please feel free to tell me down below in the comment section.That's what it's for,right?

NOTE:Updated for 1.8.Updates are in the last two steps.

Step 1: A Description

Just some description about Minecraft-When you create a world,a world is randomly generated.Yes,randomly.Every world is different.

So go ahead and click on one of the empty worlds.It'll randomly generate a world for you,and then we can begin.

Step 2: Punching Trees

When you begin,you have nothing.We'll fix that,though.

The first thing you want to do is find some trees to harvest some wood.I can't tell you where to look,because like I said before,every world is different.They're pretty common,though,you won't have much trouble finding them.

Once you've found a tree,point your blocky hand at it and hold down your left mouse click.After a few seconds,a tiny tree block will pop out and the tree block will disappear.You should pick it up automatically.

You want to collect at least 16 of these.

Step 3: Refining

You've gotten your wood,but you can't use it yet!You're going to have to refine it.Sounds difficult,but it really isn't.

Hit the " e" key on your keyboard to bring up your inventory.Drag the wood anywhere into the 2x2 square of boxes in the top right.A different type of block will pop up in the 1x1 table,with the number 4 beside it.That means that one wood block will give you 4 refined wood(planks).

Keep clicking the planks until you have 32 planks.That's all you'll need for now.Keep the rest of your unrefined wood,you'll need it later on.Hit " e " again to exit your inventory

Step 4: Looking for a Home.

You're going to look for a home at this point,it's getting dark and you don't want to be outside when that happens,because zombies and skeletons and spiders spawn in the dark.

Preferable,it'll be near your spawn point(where you started),so if you die,you'll respawn near your home.

I like to make my homes into the side of a mountain/hill,because it's easier for me to harvest stone.I suggest you do this too.

You may see some caves here and there.I strongly advise you against building your home there,because like I stated above,monsters spawn in darkness,and caves are usually very vast and also very dark.

Clear out the dirt in a 1x2 fashion for about 3-4 blocks deep.Then,move on to the next step.

Step 5: Home Is Where Your Workbench Is

Now,you're going to need tools to harvest that stone,but you need a place where you can make those tools.That's where the workbench comes in.

Open up your inventory again and arrange your refined  wood in a 2x2 square in the 2x2 box(pic 1) and you'll get a workbench.Drag it down to your hotbar and hit " i " again to exit your inventory

Select your workbench by either using your scrollwheel or the number keys on your keyboard.You can select the first box by hitting 1,the second with 2 and so on.Right click on the gound soon to become your home.(pic 2)

Step 6: Let Me Pickaxe Your Brain

Now,you can make your tools.Every miner needs a pickaxe,so we're going to make that first.There are different types of tools,but right now a wooden pickaxe will suffice.

First,open up your crafting grid by right clicking on your crafting table.

Now,make some sticks.How,you ask?Put 2 blocks of refined wood on top of each other like in pic 1 to get sticks.

Then,arrange your sticks and refined wood like pic 2  to make a pickaxe.Easy as that!


Step 7: Do You Dig It?

Clear out a small area for you to stay in.A 4x4 flat area should suffice.(pic 1)

The sun should be setting by now,and you don't want the monsters to come into your nice space,so you'll want to make a door.Arrange your wood like pic 2,and put it down wherever you want your door to be.Make sure that your home is sealed,though(pic 3)

If you want to open the door,simply left click it.

Step 8: I Hope You're Not Afraid of the Dark

Once the sun sets,your home will be  extremely dark.We'll have to fix that,and quickly.

If you were so lucky to come across some coal,then you can skip the next  step.Coal ore looks like normal stone with black bits in it,which harvested,will produce coal.Coal itself is a small black triangle.

If you didn't get any coal,don't fret.There is another way out.Remember those logs I told you to save in step 3?We'll be using that to give us some light.Learn more in the next step.

Step 9: (char)Coal!

You're going to need a furnace to make some charcoal,a substitute for coal.

To make a furnace,arrange some cobblestone,harvested from normal stone,like pic 1.

Then,right click on your furnace,and put the logs on the top and the refined wood on the bottom,like in pic 2.A little flame will pop out,and once the arrow fills up all the way,you'll get some charcoal.

Step 10: Torches

Now,open up your crafting grid again,and take the leftover sticks from your pickaxe and the coal/charcoal and arrange it like in pic 1.You'll get torches,8 of them in total from your two sticks.

That's all you'll need for now.Just place your torches down around your house to light it up,and now for the boring bit...

Waiting for night to end.


Step 11: Beds!(updated for Beta 1.4)

Beds were introduced in Beta 1.3.They let you sleep through the night.I've listed it as optional because you don't need a bed,and a bed requires wool(dropped by sheep when you hit them)

To make a bed,arrange wool and wooden planks like in pic 1.

One bed "block" fills up two squares,so make sure you have enough space

You can only sleep at night.

Though you wake up in the morning,time pretty much stops for you.No time will pass,only the sky changes.So you cannot put something in your furnace,go to bed,and expect it to be done when you wake up.Slightly hard to explain,if you have any questions about this,ask below in the comments.


Before placing down your bed,read the text in bold!!!

Currently,there is a glitch with beds.If any hostile mob(skeletons,zombies,creepers etc.) come within 2 blocks of the bed,they will automatically stand beside your bed and wake you up.This means if your bed is next to a wall,and a mob stands against that wall,they will automatically be beside your bed and wake you up.

So make sure your bed is not within 2 blocks of any walls(pic 2)



Beta 1.4 update!

As of Beta 1.4,when you sleep in a bed,it automatically becomes your spawnpoint.So when you die,you will respawn next to your bed instead.If your bed is destroyed,your spawn will revert back to the original.



Step 12: Sunrise

Once the sun has risen and everything is bright outside,all the monsters should have died by now.Don't be surprised if you see some still out and about,though.

Congratulations!You've survived your first night.Now,it's up to you what you want to do.The possibilities are endless.

If you have any questions,any at all,go ahead and make a comment down below.

Step 13: Achievements,statistics and Weather!(Beta 1.5 Update)

Achievements-
If you've played any other game,you'll probably have seen achievements.They don't really do much other than give you a goal and some guildines on what to do.You won't get anything if you complete all of them,and you don't miss out on anything if you don't try for the achievements.If you're stuck on what you need to do next/just bored,try doing some of them.

Statistics-
Nothing much,either.Just tells you how many of what blocks you've mined,picked up,place,etc.

Weather-
There are two types of weather in Minecraft.Rain,and snow.Rain happens in foresty biomes(aka areas) and normal(Taiga) biomes.Snow happens in Snowy biomes,of course.

There are some side effects to rain+snow.They will lower the light level enough so that monsters can spawn.Yes,you heard me right,monsters will spawn when it's raining or snowing.There are some other side effects,but they do not really apply to this i'ble,so I'm leaving them out.

Step 14: Hunger

There's two new bars included in update 1.8-Hunger and experience.Experience doesn't do anything,so I'll explain hunger.

When you eat food,you no longer regenerate health instantly.Now,you fill up your hunger bar instead.When your hunger bar is full,or close to full,you'll regenerate health.Vice versa,when your hunger bar is low,you lose health,so it's important to keep food at hand constantly.

However,there are many more varieties of food,which can be cooked to fill up more bars.Food is now available from cows and chicken,and can be farmed as watermelon as well.More on what drops what in the next step.

Step 15: Mobs

You may have realised I've mentioned other creatures in the i'ble-I'll explain 'em briefly here.

NON-HOSTILE

Pigs
-Drop porkchop which can be eaten

Cows
-Drop leather or steak,steak can be eaten and leather can be used to craft armour

Chicken
-Drop chicken or feathers,feathers can be used for crafting of arrows and chicken can be eaten

Sheep
-Drop wool,can be used in multiple things.inculding beds.Killing will drop 1-2 wool,shearing a sheep will drop 2-4 wool.

Wolves
-Can be tamed to follow you around and fight other mobs by rightclicking with bone selected.They are non-hostile unless you hit them

HOSTILE

Creeper
-Large,green phallic shaped mobs,they blow up when you come to close to them,killing you as well as destroying the enviroment.Drop gunpowder which can be used to make tnt

Endermen
-Large,black mobs who are non-hostile until you look at them.They will start glowing and when you look away from them they will teleport to you and kill you.Creepy,right?Drop ender pearl,currently no use.

Skeletons
-Shoot arrows at you,drop bones and arrows.Bones can be used to create bonemeal,which can be used on trees,grass and crops to quicken growth.

Zombies
-Slow,moaning mobs that drop rotten flesh.Rotten flesh can be eaten,but you will be poisoned for a short time,in which you will not regain health

Spiders(Cave/Normal/Spider Jockey)
-Spiders can climb walls,and cave spiders can poison you so that your health drops to 1/2 a heart.Spider jockeys occasionally spawn,they are skeletons riding spiders(yes really)