I suck at Minecraft

[Kekkles]

1. Grow giant toadstool
2. Hollow out giant toadstool
3. Live in giant toadstool
4. ???
5. Profit!

I had to quickly scroll down before I got sucked in by your avatar...

OT: I usually open up MSPaint and draw a pixel planning of something. Be it a skull shape into a mountain side with lava pouring from it's mouth or just a nice little mansion in the middle of the desert. This also helps with pixel art, just import .gif version of said picture and copy block by block.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

-snip-

*rubs hands*
Ask, and you shall receive, seriously, i got a line of good ideas for you.
Just ask away!

 

[CleverNickname]

I have the same problem. 90% of everything I do ends up as a smooth stone rectangle, sometimes cube. I always want to make something impressive, but since I never plan much, my instinctual measurements end up square.

I have one building that's largely rounded... and I promptly gave it a square stone tower.

It does work much better if you incorporate a building into the landscape, or take the landscape's shape as inspiration.
Sometimes, just adding an irregular row of one different material can work wonders, too. Just last night I built a prison tower (at least for that the flat grey square behemoth has a point - bleak intimidation) and just had the broken stone brick floors of the cells extend to show up on the outside walls. Instantly broke up the huge grey monotony.
And it's on an island whose unaltered shape I took over. The square-fetishist in me had a great time dividing up the rooms

 

[Silenthillreturnz]

Never got into Minecraft

 

[Argtee]

I just end up with a cube shaped house every single time.

You could play classic or creative mode and build stuff there.
That way, you can get good ideas for building, but without having to get a whole bunch of materials before-hand.

Or you could draw out your building ideas on grid paper or something. Whatever you like more.

 

[Scow2]

You're not the only one with this problem:

http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/555

 

[Death God]

I usually watch other minecrafters like the Yogscast, EdidZP, surelog, and xxslyfoxhoundxx. Occasionally I look at games. There are a few times when I just start building random mansions and guard towers and such. Currently, I am building my dream mansion with 4 floors and just start adding in random things you'd see in a house. Just finished my pool table room.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I watch videos or view other bits of architecture that I want to recreate.

Here's my current project.

 

[Ranorak]

Thanks for the ideas guys.
They were helpful, but I found out a new issue.

Working alone is mind numbingly boring.

I know there is a escapist minecraft server.
How do you go about joining something like that?

 

[Evil Top Hat]

What I tend to do is come up with awesome ideas for houses, but don't actually build anything because I can't be bothered to stare at cobblestone for hours.

I'm not really sure how I get ideas, just say "You know would be totally awesome?" and then whatever naturally occurs to you after that is a cool thing to build.

If I could be bothered to start building again, this what I would build:

I giant spherical underwater mansion, made entirely from glass.

A series of batcave style structure built inside the tips of a few mountains (in the middle of a mountain range) with bridges connecting them together, possibly made from glass.

A man made island in the middle of the sea, lit well, and so far from regular land that mobs pose no threat to me, and I cn just leave all my belongings and crafting stations underneath the shade of the torch clad trees.

A series of trees planted closely together, so that I could create a gigantic platform of leaves, and carve out my home. This is my "eco friendly, everything I do is renewable" plan.

 

[Gunpowder]

If your looking for a good server then play on this one: play.minecraft.cc
It's fun and has a very nice community. Been playing on it for years

 

[chaos order]

No no, not at the combat, or the exploring.
I have a nice stack of materials in my chests, and I know how to make the tools.

I just end up with a cube shaped house every single time.

I have no inspiration, or imagination, or skill perhaps, to build something neat.

Where do you get your ideas from, and can I totally steal them?

this is pretty much the same reason i got out of minecraft. i just built what was necessary like bunker, and then game over. i mean i enjoyed the exploration to an extend but it got old fast. of course this was way back in alpha

 

[Ranorak]

If your looking for a good server then play on this one: play.minecraft.cc
It's fun and has a very nice community. Been playing on it for years

Can I just hop on there?
Rules?

 

[Gunpowder]

well you can check out their website www.minecraftcc.com
All the rules are on there for you to read. Currently we are just on a pvp temp map normally we have multiple worlds
But give it a try, just remember: NO SWEARING that's probably the most important rule there

 

[Ranorak]

well you can check out their website www.minecraftcc.com
All the rules are on there for you to read. Currently we are just on a pvp temp map normally we have multiple worlds
But give it a try, just remember: NO SWEARING that's probably the most important rule there

Pvp?
As no survival? Building type of server?

I'm a newbie when it comes to multiplayer.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Minecraft encourages and challenges you to use your imagination. This also means that the more you play, the more imaginative you will become. Most Minecraft players tend to gravitate towards underground bases because they're easier to design and develop so I suggest you start with that. Playing with friends also helps a lot, at least it did in my case. By the way, smoothstone and stone slabs make everything look nice and tidy.

 

[Gunpowder]

normally it has pvp, survival, 3 types of build (Normal, spheres, and nether) and also a creative world and a games world. But right now it's changed to 1.8 so a lot of the plugins aren't updated. That's why it's a temp map :/ Still fun though

 

[Ranorak]

normally it has pvp, survival, 3 types of build (Normal, spheres, and nether) and also a creative world and a games world. But right now it's changed to 1.8 so a lot of the plugins aren't updated. That's why it's a temp map :/ Still fun though

Eh, could still be fun, do I have to register? or can I just hop in?

 

[Gunpowder]

no need to register but recommended if you have any questions to people on there. The moderators are very nice and fair and will do their best to answer your questions ;D

 

[Khundes]

I'm currently challenging myself everytime I start a new world now to build a base that won't go defunct when Notch makes torches expire and replaces them wil lanterns.

The first design was a palace of lava that was built out of nothing but glass, lava, and some stone halfblocks for stairs leading up the central tower(A dangerous tower since the corners were pillars of lava so the ciruclar stairway had to have glass ramps added). I've since them put the project on hold because acquiring all the lava is taking forever.

My latest design however is just a giant pit dug from the grouind to the bottom to always be illuminated by normal light. Monsters that spawn too close will just meet a dirt wall they can't climb over, and spiders fall to their deaths. An improvement was made due to endermen where the pit is built in the ocean, and so is the underwater access.


So I guess my advice would be: creatively challenge yourself with your house beyond it just "keeping you safe". Try to implement something that will meet an extra need. You'll most likely force yourself out of that square mentality of yours that way.