Building Tutorials

Minecraft is not just about mining and crafting. With the constant dangers of being mauled by Zombies and blown up by Creepers, any player has to consider making a shelter, whether for storing valuable items or for increasing one's chances of survival. This article will give some important tips on building stuff in Minecraft, and will (hopefully) cover everything from building a starter shack (that's not inspired by Direwolf20) to expanding your base into a thriving community.

Things to consider
Upon building a house, there are a few factors that can be considered before planning a new build project.
 * Theme - For some players who want to focus on aesthetics while playing a game of Survival, the theme of the build can be something to consider. The theme usually begins with the player itself or, in Multiplayer, is determined by the theme of the server (if there is one).
 * Location - Determining one's location brings forth the question of which resources are available nearby. In Survival, it is necessary to start your base with resources that are readily available from your surroundings; it quickens the time needed to build a house, and alleviates the risk of having to stay without a shelter.
 * Function - A room dedicated to brewing will definitely look different from a storage room. For this reason, planning a building often involves deciding what the building is made for. Depending on the its function, a building can have some things that aren't necessary in other buildings.

The Starter Shack
While you collect resources to be able to survive and be able to build a base, prepare yourself a small with little to no decoration which will be temporal so dont try to make it look to nice.

Expanding to Mid-Game
When you have gathered enough materials to build a base, try setting a theme and choose an appropiate block pallete according the theme you chose; If its future or a tech base try using factory blocks and laboratory blocks from Chisel. Then make a shape of a base adjusting the terrain into the shape, it is reccomended that you use wool or a similar cheap block to mark the shape before actually placing the real materials so that way you dont have to rebuild if you are unsure about how the shape looks.

Resource Links

 * Google Images - Your trusty source in looking for just about anything can also bring up pictures of building inspiration for your builds. Real-life buildings and existing builds in Minecraft can be searched here. Alternatively, use any search engine of your choice.
 * Paint, GIMP or any image editing program with pixel painting support - This is often used to map out the size of buildings, as well as planning the design.
 * /r/feedthebeast - Considering that reddit has a bigger userbase and that posts get archived you can easily search for desings of buildings and for inspiration as well. The same applies to /r/minecraft.