Surviving your first night in Minecraft.

Assuming that you are able to download, buy and start up Minecraft. This tutorial will cover off how to survive your first night in Minecraft.I am using Minecraft Beta 1.2 for this tutorial and these basics will more than likely cover any future versions.

When you spawn, you will be 99.99% of the time on a beach. You will always be on the highest block available. Your first base should always be very close to your spawn.
1. Make your way to an area with a few trees.

 Everything in Minecraft is made of blocks, to collect these blocks, simply punch (or use tools) to break down the block and collect it (Note: some blocks require specific tools for the block to drop)
 2. Start collecting some logs by clicking and holding down the left mouse button. The block will start to break apart by showing black lines.

Once you have broke the block, a smaller , floating version of that block will appear. Simply walk over it to add it to your inventory.
3. Keep breaking down trees until you have about 10 tree logs..

 4. Open the inventory screen (using the "I" key) and then click and move the logs into the crafting box as shown. Wooden planks will appear in the box next to the arrow. Drag the wooden planks into an empty spot in your inventory. (They can stack up to 64 at a time on the same spot) Keep doing this until you have used up all of your logs. 


Hint: You can right click the planks repeatedly to stack them up on your mouse so you can move more of them at once.

5. Create 20 sticks by placing wooden planks as shown a in the crafting box. Drag and drop them into an empty spot in your inventory (They can also stack up to 64 at a time).

6. Create a crafting table by placing 4 wooden blocks in the pattern shown in the crafting box in your inventory. Place the crafting table in the bottom row of your inventory.

The bottom row of the inventory screen will be visible at all time. This allows you to select the tools or blocks that you wish to place or use by hitting the 1-9 keys on the keyboard. 1 being the first slot and 9 being the last.
7. Using your crosshair, look at the block where you want to place the crafting table. A small black border will appear around that box.

8. Right click to then place to block down.
The same thing applies to all blocks. They can also be placed on any side of a block.

Creating tools are essential. They will allow you to break down blocks faster as well as allowing you to obtain drops from certain blocks. 
9. Create a shovel and pickaxe by placing the sticks and wooden blocks in the patterns shown. Tools can only stack one a time in an inventory slot. 

 At night, monsters will start to spawn in your world. They can and will spawn anywhere where it is quite dark so light is essential in keeping your shelter free from them.
10. Find some coal. The blocks will look like the above image and can be found on the side of mountains, usually next to large stone areas.

11. Break down the coal block using the pickaxe you created and a piece of coal will drop (as shown above). Just walk over it to pick it up.
Collect about 2-3 pieces of coal, but if you can only find a single piece, that will be adequate for your first night.




Hint: Coals usually comes in very large amounts in a single node so it is worth just getting your 2-3 pieces, remembering where the coal is and moving on.

12. Create a few torches by placing sticks and coal as shown in the crafting box either in your inventory or on a crafting table. Torches can stack up to 64 at a time.

13. Look for a hill that will make a suitable position for your shelter. Digging into a hill is the best way as it will allow you to collect blocks to finish the shelter as you go along.
It is important that your first shelter is near your spawn point. The hill I am using is the same hill seen from the first picture of my spawn point.

14. Start digging into the hill until you have a square hole about 3-4 deep. Use your shovel to break down dirt, sand and gravel blocks faster and your pickaxe to break down stone blocks faster.
Your character is 2 blocks high so make sure you have enough roof to fit in. I would recommend having your walls 3 blocks high.


Hint: Sand and gravel cannot "float" in middair as other blocks do and will fall to the next block down. You can get hurt if they fall on your head so be aware of these blocks when mining.

15. Using the blocks you have created. fill in the missing areas of your shelter to create a cube. There should be no holes apart from a 2x1 doorway for you to enter and leave. This includes holes in the ceilings as monsters can drop through these. 

16. Place some torches in your shelter so it is well lit. You can either place torches on the floor or walls as shown above. 
I would recommend a minimum of about 3 torches depending on how big you have made your shelter.




Hint: It is a good idea to break down your crafting table to move it inside your base. You do not need any tools to do this.

17. Create a door by placing 6 wooden blocks as shown above using the crafting table. Place the door in your inventory. (Doors can stack up to 64 at a time).

18. Place the door  in the 2x1 gap that you made earlier. The door can be opened and closed by left clicking it. 

  







Hint: Placing torches outside your shelter will stop any monsters from spawning near you. This is not to say that they will not wander over to your shelter during the night.

Your shelter is now complete and ready to help you survive the night. Your first night may be boring as you wait it out but you can do a few things such as:

 1. Start digging a mine into the hill or even the floor. You can find the best blocks closer to the bottom of the world (Make sure you can make your way back up and you have plenty of torches)
2. Look up some more tutorials. (Note: Pressing esc or simply minimizing your game will cause it to pause. To get around this, open your inventory and then minimize. This will allow the world to keep running in the background)