Hello, welcome back to Across The Map!

A while ago, I started work on a texture pack I called FreshCraft. Just recently, I've done some work, and decided it was worthy of being shown off here, at Across The Map. The current version (as of this post) is 0.1.7. It is unfinished, so sorry, no download available yet. This post contains screenshots comparing FreshCraft to the default game textures.


First, a small house.


Default



FreshCraft

 My aim with this texture pack is to make the textures look smooth, close to the defaults, and vibrant.
I hope the jungle wood planks aren't too pink for you guys. This was the best shade I could find, which is actually darker than what it used to be. I made it darker because the color was obnoxiously bright.

All the different trees currently in the game.
As of right now, the saplings use the default texture.

Default

FreshCraft



This was my glowstone texture test. Not much to see here, but it looks cool.

Default




FreshCraft

At least I have an excuse about why I made glowstone look the way it does, now.
The first time I'd ever seen glowstone was in Paulsoaresjr's Minecraft Alpha tutorial about the Nether. When he looked up at the ceiling, there were some glowstone stalactites hanging. I remember thinking: wow. That stuff is amazing! The YouTube video was kinda low-quality, so I never got a good look. Until I'd seen it up close, this is how I imagined it to look. Personally, I think they look supremely glow-rified in my texture pack.. ;)

By the way, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YhBkVfQ5jE&feature=context-shows&list=SL
(Note: these tutorials are very old. Some things taught no longer work, and there is a lot that is not covered. (Some are so old, there are no biomes!) If you need a tutorial, follow seasons 2 and above.)


Moving on, here's a dungeon and some mobs I spawned. (Actually, I built this one.)

Default

FreshCraft


Typical Minecraft terrain. Just in case you wanted to see.

Default

  FreshCraft


Last but not least, ze Nethah!

Default


FreshCraft

Well, that's it for today! I hope you liked seeing my texture pack. Oh, yes. I'll be putting up a poll asking whether or not I should use FreshCraft in my screenshots. As always, comments are appreciated, and thanks for stopping by!
See you all next post. Until then!

Hello! Welcome back to Across the Map!
I'm here at my trading post to build a forge, based off of Paulsoaresjr's Acme corp. forge. Let's get started!


Doorway: check! Now on to planning out the inside.

It's a little later. I just went to go get some bricks, and I found this guy while patrolling at night! Right now, he seems to be obsessed with my wall.(Actually, I buried my villagers in there so they don't get killed by him.)


Okay, so on the left wall, we can have some chest storage shelves. On the right wall, we'll place the crafting table and anvil. In the center, I'm gonna put some furnaces. Looks a bit odd, don't you think? You'll see why in a moment.


Boy, did these cost a lot of cobblestone!

Here's the scoop: I wanted to put a wall of lava in front of the furnaces. I thought it'd be cool if I made it seem like you were using the lava to melt the metal, and carve it into the shape of the tool head.
It may not be necessary, but I placed a dirt block below where I'm gonna pour the lava to make sure it spreads the way I want it to. The railing is just another safety feature.


Pouring the lava!

Yes, good.

 Now if we remove the dirt... Perfect!
I have to say, it kinda looks like a slice of those Nether fortresses we all love.

Anyways, I'll go move some furniture in here, and I'll show you guys the finished product!

Before that, enjoy today's...

Impromptu bonus screenshot of the day!

My caption: Diamond, the potted mushroom is not a nest!

And here it is! Now, I have a good smelting spot, and an appropriate place to keep an anvil!

Well, that's it for today! As always, comments are appreciated, and thanks for stopping by!
See you all next post. Until then!

Hello, welcome back to Across The Map!

Today. I decided to do a recap about what's been added to Slab Search #1 - Midnight Pines, because a fair bit has changed.

First, the second dungeon is (mostly) complete. The name I chose for it is: Shadowthorn Cavern!
Here are some photos:
(WARNING: if you plan on playing the map and don't want spoilers, skip forward until you see bright green text. Sorry for the inconvenience.)








 Woo! big, empty anti-spoilers blank space for the win!




















This is Shadowthorn cavern. Yeah, looks ominous, eh? I left you a blaze spawner, too.


One of my favorite views of the main area.

So, there are two ways to go about beating this area. Either you can use the sand ribbons to avoid most of the spawners, but risk being knocked off or having them get destroyed, or you can just fight off all the monsters and knock out the spawners to begin with. I did try to reward combat with a random loot box chamber and whatnot. The design was that you would miss the loot if you just ran through to ditch the spawners.

This is our random loot box. Like my fancy text? You can't see it in this screenshot, but the gibberish does randomly flash. (Note: night vision was used in this screenshot.)


This is the "boss room".  These are what I call short-fuse creepers. They have a shorter than normal fuse time, but they spawn with four and a half hearts. Their explosion radius is what I believe to be smaller than a normal charged creeper, but they can still knock you down to half your health on normal difficulty, and even while wearing really strong armor.

If you are in your own map and you see this, you know you're brutal.
Bwahaha! 











Anyways, this is the Slab Cube of the dungeon.


If you wonder where the light's coming from, this is where. I thought it'd look cool if I put lava fall lighting/decorations in

Back at the surface, we have some new hills to see.

Okay! You can keep reading now!
(If you don't mind seeing insignificant hills near the spawn.)


Next up, we have Mt. Sparrow. It is a reference to the "Chicken and Cobra structure" in AntVenom's Hunt for the Golden Apple world seed, and is therefore dedicated to him. 

I made this one just this morning. On top are some ruins.


(SPOILER) It kind of indicates the presence of the dungeon (Frostbight Temple) below it.
Lore-wise, this was once the entrance to the ancient ruin, which is still in perfect condition. (That is, until you show up and trigger the bomb trap planted by later inhabitants of the area.

Fact: in the earlier days of the map, the entrance to Frostbight Temple used to get destroyed by the proximity bomb? As of Cheffoo's first play test, the room is now reenforced with obsidian, and the Slab Cube room was also guarded with bedrock to prevent tunnelers from skipping combat.

Impromptu bonus screenshot of the day!
The other day, a spider jockey spawned from a spider spawner in Shadowthorn Cavern while I was showing Fire_Cat2000 around the place. When we came back a few moments later, this is what we saw:

 (Also notice the confused spider in the background.)

My caption: A ghost jockey! everybody RUN! 
Fire_Cat2000's caption: um... sir?

The skeleton was actually invincible, and we think it was a ghost skeleton.
What I think caused it was: the spider despawned, glitching the skeleton like this.

Moving on. If I haven't shown this off yet, we have a new basin-hill thing. There are some coal veins, but they're unintentionally hard to find in the snow. Sorry! :(


This pleasant little glowstone water spring is relatively new, too.

Well, that's all I can think of to show you guys for now. I'll try not to spoil too much in the future, but I couldn't resist showing it off this time.
As always, comments are appreciated, ant thanks for stopping by!
See you all next time. Until then!

Hello, welcome back to Across the Map!
Over the course of yesterday and the day before, I explored a stronghold with Cheffoo on my world. Actually, it was my first time visiting a stronghold on survival, if not my first ever. Today, I will be showing off the most interesting photos I took.


The end portal room, where we just busted in. (Don't mind Cheffoo in the corner. :D)



 Introducing... the world's most pointless hallway! It goes nowhere, except for looping back around!


Huh. Apparently floating doors don't pop off when you open them. That's new news to me! Also, it could make for a funny trap for unsuspecting players. >:)




"We all float, down here!"

(Below: Cheffoo ponders how to debug physics.)

(This just doesn't make sense.)


It's the great creeper attack of 2012!



Ding dong! Guess who? *Hiss?* SMACK!

Did you know that strongholds can generate with more than one library? Again, that's new news to me.


This is a room by the end portal (which is in the back of this photo) that Cheffoo and I cleared out. He likes to do this kind of thing.
Random thought: this place could make a cool secret hideout!

 For the record, I have no plans of entering The End any time soon.


Cheffoo standing next to the entrance. That structure is one of my "underground point of interest" beacons. Please also notice the chicken in the background being stupid.


Well, that's all the (worth showing) photos I took. As always, comments are appreciated, and thanks for stopping by!
See you all next post. Until then!

Hello, welcome back to Across the Map!

I just downloaded the new patch: 1.4.4, and I  knew I wanted to get my hands on the new music disc: Wait by C418. (Also known as Where Are We Now.) First, I think I want to bring Ralph the wolf to the new Cozy Cabin I built.



I'm at the boat dock, here to test if dispensed boats are still bugged, and to get a ride.


Definitely feels bugged to me. Oh, well. I can always punch it up and place it back down to fix it, I guess.


Wow! I just got out of my boat and encountered a beautiful view of the mountain Stardust Tower is on.

Anyways, I just arrived here at my cozy cabin, and I got Ralph! He will be living here, now. I dyed his collar, too! Looking good, old pal!


Let's head back for some real fun at Stardust Tower!



Here's another amazing view of the mountains. This is why I like this place. These mountains are so familiar, but they never fail to amaze me!



Out of curiosity, I wonder what this world would generate like in Minecraft 1.1?



Oh, yeah. I recently built a new balcony on top of my staircase. The spot looked like it needed something on it, so I decided, why not?


To get on, head up this ladder.


Once you do, this is the view you're rewarded with.



 Let's start hunting! However, it's too quiet.



Better! Let's roll!



Okay, so here we are at the bottom of my music disc trap. How cozy they look!:D Well, they're about to be reduced to piles of drops! Let's grind em'!



Ow. Well, I can't please everybody. At least I can show off the new sticky arrows! Players only, sadly. Actually, this was a feature for mobs too, back in Minecraft Beta 1.8. Personally, I quite liked it!

 Psst! Bonus screenshot of the day! This is what happens when I play with my punch skeletons in my test world. One time, it actually looked like I had an Afro of arrows!




It has actually been two nights of grinding, but there it is! The blue disc there in the drop pile is what I've been after. I'll meet you guys back upstairs in Stardust Tower to give you all a review.



Here we are! I just listened to it, and it has earned a rightful place in my music chest! (Also, chests now have a smaller hitbox, as seen in this somewhat random screenshot!)



I have to say, the new disc has to be one of my favorites! When I heard the start, I thought it'd be a boring song, but no! The next part was mesmerizing and calm, like the song Far. Then, an upbeat track starts for the rest of the song. Overall, the song sounds like it comes from a video game (which is a good thing), and there's an instrument or two that sound 8-bit in the song.

Basically, I feel like jumping up and down and joining in with an electric guitar or something! Wee!


Oh, hi Diamond! No, I'm not being weird, I was just trying to set an example for the blog!
By the way, could you just do me a quick favor for me? Smile for the blog!

 Yes, like that! Perfect!
Chickens can now look up! (and it's so cute when they do! <3)




Well, that's all for today! As always, feedback is highly appreciated, and thanks for stopping by!
See you all next post. Until then!