#We get to play in this sandbox and so many incredible pieces of creativity have come out because of MHA/BNHA

[qkmlh]

Midoriya Izuku. You will always be famous and beloved to me. Thank you for everything, Horikoshi-sensei.

[physalian]

In Defense of Fanfiction (Or the perfect starting point for your original novel)

Fanfic gets a bad rap pretty much everywhere except Tumblr. It’s misunderstood and misrepresented by its average works, seen as juvenile and cringey, or a banal point of contention between a famous person or piece of media and its fans.

Outside of fanfic that writes about real people, especially smut fics of real people, I support the art wholeheartedly. Fictional characters are one thing, but personally, caricaturing a celebrity’s life for public consumption and writing or drawing them in compromising content without their consent is a little weird. You do you. Don’t like, don’t read, as they say.

Fanfic is the perfect starting point for a few reasons:

It places you in a creative box and forces you to work within those constraints

It does all the worldbuilding and character concepts for you

It lets you write way outside your comfort zone

When published and receiving feedback, it boosts your self-confidence

It's incredibly flexible

It’s practice. All practice is good practice

—

Behold your creative box

When I was little I had no idea the majority of fanfic was shipping fics. I always pictured and looked for canon-divergent alternate universes. Like, what if X happened in this episode instead of Y? What if this character never died?

Fanfic demands you work within someone else’s canon, whether it’s an OC in the canonical world, or the canonical characters in an AU. These are like little bowling bumpers saving you from the gutter, but also keeping you on a straight-ish path toward the pins.

The indecisiveness of too many choices can be too intimidating when you’re first starting out. You want to be a writer but you have no idea where to begin, what genre to pick, what characters you want to chronicle, what themes you want to explore.

Even if it sits on your computer never to see the light of day, you still got those creative juices flowing.

Pre-packaged worldbuilding

Sometimes all we want is to get to the good stuff. Maybe I want to write a story about elemental magicians but Last Airbender already exists and I just want to play in a pre-existing sandbox. So I write some OCs into that world and have a free-for-all.

I don’t have to come up with my own lore, world history, magic system rules and mechanics, politics, geography—any of it. I get to just focus on the characters.

Even if you’re writing an AU, like say a coffee shop AU, you don’t have to think about brand new characters, you can just think “What would M do?” and go from there. The trade-off is your readers will expect canonical characters to behave in-character, but I think it’s worth it.

Stretch beyond your comfort zone!

Do you hate writing action scenes? Go practice with a shonen anime fic. Need work on dialogue? Write some high-fantasy fic, or a courtroom drama. Practice a fistfight by watching fistfights and writing what you see, and do it over and over again until what you read makes you feel like you're watching what’s on screen.

But beyond that—practice genres that you aren’t super familiar with. If you’re new to fantasy, write fantasy fic. Or a mystery novel/show, thriller, comedy, satire, adventure, what have you. The nature of fanfic still gives you those “guardrails” and you can get some brutally honest feedback on how you’re doing.

And, of course, the realm of M-rated romance and smut fics. I haven’t because I think I would die of embarrassment if I tried and I never intend to include sex scenes in my works anyway, but if you do want to, use the internet as your test audience. Post it on a throwaway account if you’re nervous.

Build that self-confidence!

The fandoms I used to write for are super dead, so it’s insane how I still get email notifications that so-and-so liked my fic to this day. Comments are as elusive as ever, but random strangers on the internet telling me they liked my work is a magical reassurance that my writing isn’t actually awful.

Random strangers on the internet are, as we all know, beholden to no moral obligation to be kind to your little avatar face, or be kind to be polite. So a rando taking the time to like my work or even leave a positive comment can feel more honest than one of my friends telling me what they think I want to hear.

I tend to avoid the more present aspects of fandom like online communities, forums, social media, what have you, so I get a delayed and diluted aspect of any given fandom through completed works. Which means, in general, I get to avoid the worst and most toxic aspects of fandom and get to sift through positive feedback and critique.

Even if your fanfic isn’t written with stellar prose, it’s fanfic. We don’t expect Pulitzer-prize winning content. And if your work isn’t up to snuff, people are more likely to just ignore it than put you on blast (at least in my experience, I never got a bad comment or a “flame” in the old FFN days).

Fanfic doesn’t care about the rules of published literature

On the one hand, try not to practice bad habits, but with this point I mean that your layout, punctuation, formatting, paragraph styles, chapter length–all of it is beholden to no rules. I get as annoyed as the next reader with giant blocks of paragraphs, or the double-spacing between pages of single-sentence paragraphs, but if the story’s good enough I might ignore it.

There’s more than just straight narrative fics, though. People write “chat” fics, or long streams of text and group chat conversations. The scene breaks can come super rapidly–I’ve seen fics with a single sentence in between line breaks to show the passage of time. And without the polish of a traditionally published novel, I’ve never seen a purer distillation of author voice in any medium more than fanfic.

All practice is good practice

Even if it’s crack fiction, or a one-off one-shot, or something meant to be lighthearted and straightforward and free from complex worldbuilding and intricate plots. It really helps break writer’s block when you can shift gears and headspaces entirely and you can get relatively instant feedback to keep you motivated.

Beyond that, the “guardrails” help you stay consistent as far as character growth and personality if you struggle with designing rich characters.

The most recent fanfic I wrote was just a couple years ago, for a dead fandom I didn’t think would get any traffic whatsoever. It wasn’t my original works, but the feedback on that fic gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get back into writing more seriously.

—

In short, I support fanfic. I may not be proud of my earliest fics' prose now, but I am proud that they walked so I can now run.

[sapphosewrites]

It's time again for my one true love... an ask game. Thank you for the tag @o0anapher0o! This is one I have done before and I am sure as hell not going to let that stop me from talking about myself.

How many works do you have on AO3?

143! The next big milestone will be 150 if I ever post again lol

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

436,802 holy cow that is a lot of words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

It's DS9 all day over here right now! I have also written for Good Omens, Queen's Thief, Tales of Symphonia, and Next Gen and Lower Decks.

4. Top 5 Fics By Kudos

I'm always interested in if the answer to this has changed, because sometimes it does in unexpected ways. Confess Nothing always tops the list, but this time it's only ahead by 2 with All's Fair in Love, War, and Show Business close behind. I'm really surprised to see Personnel Review in third place, because Garak doesn't even personally show up in that one and I always got the sense TNG was much less popular. Fourth place is Lost in Translation, which is not at all surprising. But fifth place does surprise me: It Isn't Perfect (But It's Ours)! Those Good Omens fics really snuck up there while I wasn't looking. (I think Season 2 release, even if I haven't posted anything new, did drive a spike in that fandom.)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to and I want to but there are 200 unread comments in my inbox right now and I simply have too much ADHD to deal with that, and then I don't respond to new ones because it's overwhelming and the problem is self-perpetuating. I've read them all in my email notifications, and they've made me smile and laugh and experience great joy! But I am overwhelmed about the idea of trying to reply.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Last time I answered this I hadn't ever written something with an angsty ending, but now with certainty I can say it's Like a pain, the truth is mine in the Terok Nor AU, which is all about Garak's developing addiction to the wire and exploration of self-harm to trigger it. Second place goes to I'd Like to Give Up Now and When All Kindness Has Gone. The interesting thing about all of these, though, is that they exist within the larger framework of what the reader already knows will happen next in canon, which is Garak will survive and make connections with others on the station and it isn't the end of the world that it feels like for him. So does that still count?

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Not coincidentally, I'd probably say it's my two most kudos'd DS9 fics, Confess Nothing and Lost in Translation.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

The closest I've ever come to hate is someone commenting that I had a major tonal shift in the middle of a piece of writing, and they were correct. I have found the fandom to be incredibly kind, supportive, and generous.

9. Do you write smut?

SO once upon a time the answer to this was no but now we are inching our way towards a yes. I made a sock puppet account where I could experiment with writing more explicitly (it's lovely to have so many user subscriptions but also feels like a lot of pressure) and what I've found is there's simply not much more explicit that I'll go, but I'm trying.

10. Craziest crossover

The entirety of Thief Space 9, and of those specifically probably Spaceships and Gods.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Again, lovely fandom, beautiful people! I also have a standing policy that my works are a sandbox anyone can play in, so I have had remixes and things inspired by my work, but that's done with full permission and people bringing their own creative twists.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, that's the last thing outstanding on my 'bucket list', so to speak! My dreams were to have my fic inspire art, other fic, podfic, and translation, and we've achieved all but the last.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes and I'm a very bad co-author because there's a fic that's sat unfinished for actual literal years now and I'm not doing my part to finish it.

14. All time favorite ship?

I think I have an all-time favorite ship dynamic, which is any ship where one character could with both deep love and complete sincerity say to the other "I hate you, you're the worst person I know" as a form of foreplay.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I fear we're living in a world where I never finish anything ever again, but in particular there's one fic I posted to aforementioned sock puppet account specifically because I thought it might get permanently abandoned and I didn't want people knowing it was me if that happened because I am a coward

16. What are your writing strengths?

You know, the answer to this has changed! It used to just be dialogue, but now I'd like to think it's also my willingness to experiment with form/format and use even little moments to poke at big questions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Look, I'm never going to be a writer of lush descriptions. We've come a long way, but settings are actually the worst.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Hasn't changed- translate it if your POV character would understand it, leave it untranslated if they wouldn't. The point of how you write is to communicate information and convey emotion and whatever else to your audience, not to show off your conlang abilities.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

I think I've shared this before, but I wrote a self-insert ship fic with Shadow the Hedgehog for my older sibling for Sonic Adventure 2 Battle when I was far too young.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I can't answer this. This is a cruel question. Um, at this exact moment in time, possibly Comparative Literature?

Well, there's more information than anyone wanted or needed, but now you have it! You all should do it too so I look slightly less narcissistic. @hellostuffedtiger @ectogeo-rebubbles @ernmark but also you know, anyone who wants to! Whenever I have to tag I immediately forget every single person who exists on this website.

[filthyjanuary]

I've never seen an episode of supernatural all I see is what's on your blog and each and every day I become more confused about the writing of the show and why people enjoy it :l

okay well first off i am SO sorry you have to see me like this jknbuvgyuhjn i cannot believe im spnblogging in 2020 like im 15 again but things happen i guess.

second of all, the thing to know about supernatural is.... i think, for general audiences, it is an average-to-good show. it's not Bad. It's not Beloved and/or Acclaimed. objectively, i think is also probably the most balanced view of the show and is also probably what the cw and/or people who worked on the show see it as. it lasted 15 years because it consistently pulled in reliable numbers for the cw and grabbed a lot of demographics. like i know the tumblr bubble skews perceptions but, people of all ages, genders, sexualities watched and enjoyed supernatural, yes even to the very end. most people are also not looking at supernatural with the hyperfocused lens that tumblr is and that’s like... okay. those fans aren’t any less relevant or important. if only tumblr was watching supernatural, i promise it would’ve been cancelled like at least 7 years ago.

the spn *fandom* is interesting because like one, no one is watching the same fucking show. like we all watched the same episodes but like this fandom cant even agree on like...basic facets of canon, let alone digging into complex meta. people’s views of characters actions and motivations skew wildly. things one side of the fandom considers nearly canon are like essentially viewed as ooc on other sides of the fandom. you love and hate all the characters and everyone is always about to start swinging on everyone else. you have to simultaneously juggle the ideas that the writers — and for the record this show has had four showrunners and like a billion individual writers who all see and interpret it slightly differently — are brilliant and the writers legitimately are both stupid and bad at their jobs. you have to turn your brain off in terms of continuity because they retcon their own lore every 15 seconds. this isn’t even getting into the ship wars, the boundary crossing, the weird invasiveness , etc., etc., etc. supernatural’s writing is sometimes incredible, sometimes terrible, but generally pretty average, but it had a charm (ESPECIALLY IN SEASONS 1-3) that reeled you in, even if you hated the genre.

when a show is on this long, i think the fans (rightly so) will look back and dig in and get nitpicky on things they wish were covered with more care. things that the show obviously did not decide to write with the intention of addressing/grappling with later on. case in point: dean’s drinking habits. with the exception of like... season 7 where they DO address it, dean drinks a lot as a feature of his character with little to no consequence. he doesn’t get drunk. he’s always driving. it might as well be water. the writers don’t intend for that to be more than just a facet of what makes him a rough and tough action hero even though logically, he should be drunk all the time. even w/ interviews w/ the cast/crew, it’s clear the writers don’t think the fans will care and/or notice a lot of things. they do, because well, they’re invested. the fandom extrapolates because that’s what fandom does, but i really don’t think the writers connect those dots because dean’s drinking /isn’t/ a problem until they need it to be. because spn has gone on so long, it has more instances of things like this than other shows, and our cultural contexts have also evolved a lot along the way from 2005 to 2020. so again, there’s a lot to work with. i don’t really think that’s so much a reflection of the quality of the show than it is a reflection of how long it’s been on and the way society has changed since then. dean not knowing what myspace is is funny for two completely different reasons in 2005 and in 2020, for example.

my own personal opinion is, there’s a lot to enjoy about supernatural. seasons 1-5 are legitimately good tv. for all their flaws, they have a very clear aesthetic and tell a story that is well-structured and relatively coherent in terms of themes and continuity. they set up complex characters and relationships and everyone’s motivations make sense and that arc wraps on a tragic but ultimately narratively consistent and thus fulfilling point. of course, there’s stuff i personally like and dislike but separating my emotions from it, it’s very good. i think if anything, i would recommend anyone watch those five seasons and then decide whether they want to continue or not. if you don’t, you’ll end on a note that feels complete. it’s what i’m doing w/ my friend elaine, currently, actually. if she decides she wants to continue after 5, we’ll do that, but for now we’re just vibing in season 1. after that point, i think if you decide you care enough about the characters to push through wildly inconsistent writing, there’s stuff to enjoy in seasons 6-15, but the quality and particularly the consistency dips and this is also where the retconning really starts to...intensify. it’s also where the mythos of supernatural grows bigger than the show itself, which i think was always supernatural’s downfall. the crew started caring more about the whims of the fandom and frankly the fandom became more of the story than the show, and that’s how you get people piecing together what supernatural is based on out of context gifsets that skew perceptions wildly and get Supernatural Fandom™ which... frankly, in my opinion, changed fandom culture as a whole for the worse, like yes it’s a huge, powerful and often memeable behemoth but also... the way it changed creator-fan interactions is something we’re going to be unpacking for a long time. i think had the writers tuned out fandom wars and internet yelling and strived to tell a story that made sense and was well constructed to /them/, we wouldn’t be here and seasons 6-15 could’ve found a way to be as beloved as the first third of the show. i’m personally of the opinion that being a fan of something, for better or for worse, does not entitle you to part of it’s creative process. it doesn’t become a collaboration, and the door is always there if you get to the point where you want to leave. i think supernatural getting too caught up in its own fandom and balancing all these conflicting interests is ultimately what made the last 10 seasons, and particularly the back third of the show oftentimes flounder. the finale chaos, in my opinion, happened because they tried to please everyone by keeping too many things vague so people would have room to play in their own sandboxes and round out the story the way they wanted to see it and thus ultimately, a lot of things were left in the air and so for many people, the closure they were hoping for just wasn’t there.

i dont know how this became a long and scattered collection of thoughts but tldr, people enjoy supernatural because at the end of the day, it’s an enjoyable show and i think the more you stew in a fandom bubble, there’s more to get worked up about. which is fine. i like that fandom engages in complex conversations that the show won’t grapple with, but that’s not for everyone and i don’t think the fact that we have these conversations is necessarily an indictment of the show’s overall quality.

[colony22graphics]

            ❝Shine on,                  diamond.❞

◆ member since: nov. 22, 2013 ◆ longest character: alexander donovan ◆

@alexander-donovan, Well, here we go. 

Rory, there's no way on earth I could possibly describe what you've done for this community. Aside from making it all in the first place, constructing the post-apocalyptic sandbox we all hold so dear, you also pay attention to how it's executed---from basic principles of operation and how we ought to respect each other as players, down to the smallest, weirdest headcanon. It matters to you---which I think is probably the best way to summarize your energy and wisdom, the Rory-ness of it all: 

Things matter. People matter. Caring matters. 

In a world where we're pretty damn used to moving from one diversion to the next at a moment's notice, you make something that's absolutely set apart by saying, resolutely and passionately, that what we do here really matters.

And you're right, to think that. If you need any further proof that you---Rory---matter, you can look at me writing this damn letter (and swearing every three sentences, sorry). But you in your extremely Ro way, said hey, six years fucking matters, and so do all the people we play with, so let’s get mushy on the main and tell them. And I can tell you to your face you're right and this was a stellar idea because... I do that now. Because of your influence, I'm a better person, one who does actually try and tell people what I think. 

You challenge people to care, and to translate their caring into something others can recognize, and reciprocate. You’re never afraid to point out the importance of saying things and leaving a meaningful mark, becoming an active part of our community instead of staying in our own heads (as introverts on the internet are prone to doing).

You're also a hell of a writer, which is inspirational in itself, and I can’t leave that out of it. Your dedication to your characters, to their motivations and struggles, shines through in every post you make, and you don't let fear or insecurity take root or stop you from doing what you love. You know it's not about achieving perfection, but about collaboration and growth. The way we write is an exercise in discipline and embracing the joys of language, it's not meant to be fine art (though a lot of the stuff you come up with off the cuff blurs the line between the two on a regular basis.) It's really very rude how talented you are. 

I won't talk too much more about you and me personally because you already know it pretty well, but I will mention that when I offered to help out with tech stuff, you don't even know how impossible being a full mod felt for me, at the time. I'd just come out of some rough experiences and was ready to never do that again. But over the years, you gave me steps that I could take only when I felt comfortable, and let me accept only the responsibility that I thought I could manage (though you always told me you knew I was more than capable of handling it). In a very real way, with your patience and understanding, you gave me back my confidence, and my willingness to be vulnerable. That's something I won't ever forget.  

You have my respect and my friendship, always.

And dear lord, if Tumblr has managed not to self-destruct in the next five or ten years, I really hope we're still around doing this shit. No place I'd rather be.

Love you, Ro.

<3 Lottie.

(Oh, by the way, I took the liberty of adding something else, under the cut. I knew that I would never be able to cover everything, and that I’d run out of words, so I turned to others to fill in the gaps and maybe it’ll help convey it all a little more properly. Many thanks to everyone.)  ❤

         —-     Happy Colony 6th Anniversary      —-

     RO, YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE GIFT. I’m incredibly grateful all those years ago I saw that Bones bio and decided to join this crazy little family because that is exactly what you have created with the Colony: You have made a family. You have always been a pleasure to write with, a hard-working and careful admin, and now this second go-round I'm happy to call you a good friend. I wanted to mirror your sentiment on my anniversary post, it is amazing how time rewards our patience with this second meeting! I owe you a very real debt because thanks to this group when a friend let me down whilst I was on a different goddamn continent, thanks to you, I found Cassie there to help me out! The group is an extension of you: thoughtful, kind, emotional, and funny as hell.                                                                                                             - Nicola

     Rory, your dedication to the Colony (and previously Belvedere) astounds me every day. Writing with you is an absolute joy, thank you for all that you do for us!!                                                                                                             - Cassie

     RO HOLY COW!! It's insane to think of being part of something so wonderful for so long, I can't imagine how proud you must be to call this place home. I absolutely love writing with every character I've gotten to interact with, you approach your characters and this RPG with such a passion, it's always made getting to be part of it all the more special to me! To many years to come!                                                                                                              - Molly

     The things I admire most about you are your kindness, your compassion, your understanding and the way you always make the best of a situation. You've been nothing but welcoming and kind to me since I've had the privilege of joining this insanely talented and incredible group, and every day I am in awe of the love and care and detail you pour into the rpg. You have been so supportive over these past few months, every day I consider myself insanely lucky to have met you. I adore you and I'm so happy for you that you've come so far in your own personal journey, you truly do deserve all the happiness in the world.                                                                                                             - Lou

     Ro, you’re an absolutely wonderful mod and person. I’ve never met a more dedicated and creative mod in all my years on this website. You’re an astounding writer and creator who leaves me wanting to be better. You’re a wonderful person to write with and an even better friend. I love you and all the work you do for everyone in this group. Thank you for creating this fantastic place and starting this wonderful family.                                                                                                              - Lee

     Thanks for always being so open and welcoming! It's been such a blast writing with you.                                                                                                             - Ren

     Your commitment to this game and its players is absolutely next level, and it shines through in literally everything you do for us. I haven’t felt so at home and so comfortable in an RP in such a long time, possibly ever, and I know so much of that has to do with the amazing environment (both IC and OOC) you’ve spent such a long time painstakingly and lovingly cultivating. This RP wouldn't be the incredible space it is without such an incredible and dedicated team of mods. I hope you know how much I appreciate all you do, and how much I flippin' love ya!                                                                                                              - Alex

     Rory, you're a perfect admin and an amazing friend! You've always made me feel so welcome here, from day one, and my heart feels warm and fuzzy when I think of you. I utterly adore all your characters and your writing is just brilliant, it's always so much fun to brainstorm and write and plot with you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!                                                                                                              - Ellie

     When an rp has a lifespan of not just a year or two, but SIX FREAKIN YEARS, you must look to your leader. Ships don’t sail without a captain, and you have been the most loyal, loving, and adventurous captain to your crew. Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment, love. xoxo.                                                                                                              - Amy

     Rory, I just wanted to thank you for how welcome you've made me feel since I joined the group. It takes a special person to be an admin (dedicated, patient, and just a little bit weird), and the six years you've been running this group is a testament to how well you do it. You've got incredible creativity and passion, and I know I'm not the only one that feels so lucky to write with you in this world you've built. Congratulations on six years! Here's to many more.                                                                                                             - Nick

     RORUUUUU. I literally have no idea where my life would be now if I'd never met you. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you inspire me to be braver and stronger and more self-loving. Thank you for being my friend even after all these years.                                                                                                             - Mika

I don’t think I can concisely put into words how much you mean to me, but I’ll try: we first met in 2012 and through all these years you’ve continually inspired me with your talent and hard work. You’re more than just an incredible friend, you’re an ICONIC leader that has the determination and talent to keep this group running for six amazing years (with the help of your equally talented and wonderful co-mod, naturally, wink wonk). The Colony is a family to me, and I think to all of us, even before it’s a writing group. It couldn’t be what it is today without someone as tirelessly understanding and creative at its helm. You’re an absolute gift, you’ve been there for me through thick and thin, and I’m grateful every day that I get to call you a friend.                                                                                                             - Maddie

     Ro, you have been so kind and amazing since day one! You have this astonishing energy and a kindness that honestly makes the colony feel like another home. You’re such a phenomenal writer, and have made this rp a community like no other. I can’t quite put into words how much I appreciate you, and how much effort you put into everything you do. You’re so talented and I feel incredibly lucky to say I’m a part of this community. Thank you for being you. xxx.                                                                                                             - El

     The Colony has been a living, breathing world in which to create, and the key piece - creativity - is embedded in your DNA. You aren't just an enthusiastic mod. In some aspects you are the Col. I know you want everyone to feel included and allowed to be inspired by the writing of others rather than hemmed in by rules and egos so many other groups have. Thank you for throwing all your characters at me when one of mine has some wild scheme. I've said before your writing is cinematic in its expression and it always challenges me to want to (try to) write on a higher level. I'm grateful to have you as a sounding board when I get stuck in the mud of my own self-doubt with writing. Thank you for just being a friend as well and letting me ramble too. It is impossible to sum up this wildest of rides out of all my writing adventures so, much love, as always. xx.                                                                                                             - Cat

[rio-nilo]

Top Best Minecraft House Ideas Secrets

It is possible to create plenty of cities based on distinct designs. You can opt to develop a city or create a farm. You are able to also build the cities dependent on the previous themes. In the Minecraft, as you are constructing your own town, you cannot lose out on the shops.

In order to have some practice, you should begin by building some basic houses in the game. It's not possible that you create a home without tools in Minecraft. There are many things which are very beneficial to include in your home in Minecraft. The Minecraft houses are available in assorted sizes. Then following a few seconds, the house is going to be created next to you. The Mediterranean home is built over the span of 6 videos that are approximately more than 20 minutes each. Finally, it's possible to never fail with a normal modern house that you may literally design however you'd like.

When you've made your banner, you don't need to go through the entire process again. Social networking websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit played a main role in popularising Minecraft. A vast array of user-generated content for Minecraft, like modifications, texture packs and custom maps, are offered for download on the Internet. Imagine when you have unlimited resources to construct the treehouse that you dream about. There are just a few instructions for playing the game that makes it unusual than other games.

The creative mode does not have any monsters in it, and it's free of threats like hunger. It allows the players to build magnificent buildings and structures. The game mode helps players center on building and creating massive projects.

Life After Best Minecraft House Ideas

For the Minecraft houses, you will see thousands of choices out there to pick, yet just a few will offer what you would like. Despite the fact that you have all of the barren land, it's literally possible to earn a house in Minecraft anywhere. The Farm is a wonderful LEGO set that delivers an outstanding 262-pieces environment on which you may build anything you want from house to a large garden that includes a cow, a sheep, and a skeleton. When you have dirt or stone near you, you can dig out two or three blocks there, and put your crafting table and furnace. If you're in a desert with just sand and cacti all around, and don't have another blocks readily available, don't utilize cacti (they'll kill you). Jungle, tall spruce, and big oak trees are advised. Or you might opt to fight creatures and get started building elaborate weapons and traps.

The next thing to do is to create a bed. A bed has many benefits in the game. Then, needless to say, a front door is imperative to craft one by utilizing the wood you've got in your resources. In addition, a grand staircase to a massive front entrance helps. It's possible to make a regenerating wall utilizing water and lava also. Make certain you bring plenty of wood.

The most important concept is exactly the same, an open sandbox world. So you need to have a good deal of ideas which you may use to design and personalize your home. One of the greatest things about Minecraft is the ability to construct something which's truly your own. Do not try if you're quick tempered. You don't need to be concerned about that. There is more you are able to create. It's possible to use both of them.

Some players come up with a few extraordinary architectural designs, and we'd really like to share a number of the things we found incredible with you. While they can move freely across the world, objects can only be placed at fixed locations on the grid. They can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, forests, caves, and various water bodies. In terms of the sound impacts of the game, it is straightforward yet powerful. The game gets quite simple and fun as soon as you learn the fundamentals of the mining, survival, and crafting. It is also feasible to see from the standpoint of some other player or creature. Following that, you have to expand the base so that it's actually beneficial!

You need to have a very good comprehension of the land you've got in your game. You will begin to have endless opportunities and decisions which are only restricted by your own abilities and imagination. The very first job you must do is to discover and punch down a tree to find some wood to create planks to create a crafting table out of it. The guy knows the way to build Minecraft houses! Regardless of what your kid is searching for, it's more than certain he will love a Minecraft house. Any kid will have the ability to craft any house or platform they want efficiently, while also having the capability to better their imagination to the limits. So, any kid can build any kind of fortress you need or a house for this issue.

[oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch]

“Bad Times at the El Royale” Movie Review

Bad Times at the El Royale is the sophomore effort from writer and director by Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) and stars Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Lewis Pullman, and Chris Hemsworth. In this film, a group of total strangers all stay at the same place: the El Royale hotel, which sits split in half by the state border between California and Nevada. As the film progresses, the characters get to know each other in ways that may seem unusual to others, but are truly only the tip of the iceberg. No one is who they say they are, including the hotel manager, Miles; perhaps even the hotel has secrets of its own. With the walls closing in and everyone getting increasingly antsy, can the guests solve this mystery before it’s too late?

This is the first Drew Goddard film I’ve seen; having not personally been privy to The Cabin in the Woods, I had absolutely no threshold or expectation for exactly the kind of film that I was in for in terms of style or script. I was curious as to how the plot would play out with the marketing and trailers having given basically nothing of it away, even accidentally. I’m very happy to say that not only did I thoroughly enjoy this movie, I enjoyed how much it enjoyed itself (to a point). Drew Goddard is an excellent screenwriter, and it is no small thing that he has an immensely talented ensemble cast to help the writing along to reach its full potential. The actual narrative plays itself out as a Hateful Eight-esque set-up a bit more in line with a “what if Clue, but the 70’s” aesthetic wherein the story opens with a mysterious dialogue-free sequence meant to shock and intrigue the audience, and then follows each character around on increasingly elaborate plot threads that one can discern weave together at various points if you’re paying enough attention and eventually piece together most of what’s going on just-too-late for the third act to really kick things into high gear.

This approach to storytelling, while having been done a few times before, is always pretty fun both as an actual exploration and exercise of mystery filmmaking and as a genuine throwback to the earlier days of films that let themselves take their time and allow the audience to relish in the fun of trying to figure it out themselves. And although the actual script (while clever) does get a bit too convoluted and show-offy for its own good on a cinematic level, it continues to work and impress enough on a theatrical level that I found myself struggling to care whether or not the film was as smart as it thinks it is because I was just having too much damn fun with it. That’s the strength of a great script, and one that I would absolutely lump in with the great “theatre films” currently under the umbrella of my cinematic vocabulary (i.e. The Hateful Eight, Thoroughbreds, etc.). It’s strange that thus far, Tarantino is the only director that I know of who continues to make that genre of film with this kind of scale, but this is a welcome surprise entry in a film category which hopefully only grows as the years go by (seriously we need more films that play out like plays with increasingly more elaborate and creative but noticeably exclusive cinematic tricks to help the story along – the genre really is full of untapped potential). The productions design is also gorgeous, with 70’s period detail just packed into every frame, of which there are many great ones (including a shot that follows Hamm down a long corridor that’s bound to be taught in film classes as a showcase for how to make your shot increasingly more interesting the longer it goes on).

The performances, of course, are all top-notch. Every member of the cast is pulling out all the stops they’ve got. Jeff Bridges has always been a reliable actor for playing a broken man who can barely remember how to talk to other people but seems warm enough, and you can tell Jon Hamm is just having all the fun in the world with the dialogue his character is given. Dakota Johnson is also really quite good here; it’s nice to be reminded that she’s a legitimate actress and not just one half of the two members of 50 Shades that have any discernable talent. In fact, the only real surprises among the cast’s swell of talent are Cynthia Erivo (here making her film debut after transitioning over from Broadway and television) and Lewis Pullman, who plays the hotel manager. Erivo is an excellent screen presence, continuing to surprise and delight with each new plot turn until one has no idea what she’ll end up doing next. Unfortunately it ends up being nothing quite as exciting as what most of the other characters are given to finish with, but that’s more the fault of an overloaded (but still clever) script than her as an actress. She holds her own well enough against titans like Jeff Bridges that one might think she’d been acting with legends like him for a while.

Pullman too has his own pretty great turn as the hotel manager. I can’t precisely remember what it is I’ve seen him in, but his acting ability has noticeably grown since then; what he’s asked to deliver in the way of lines is both hilarious and immensely disturbing, and Pullman rides that line with more natural balance than a tightrope walker in Cirque de Solei. I won’t say much about Chris Hemsworth’s character because I believe that knowing as little about him going in as possible increases the joy of watching him outperform everyone else like the second coming of Brando, but suffice it to say, he steals every scene he’s given right out from under them as if he’d just learned the secret to always winning Texas hold ‘em. It truly is an incredible thing to witness.

Where the films finds its flaws though, are in its monstrously clever script. Now, don’t get me wrong, I mean every word I’ve written on it thus far, but still it must be addressed that in order to have a clever script, it also needs to remain clear in transition from scene to scene, and occasionally Drew Goddard’s mystery boner tends to run away with itself and lose the audience in the process. It still remains fun, but that fun sometimes gives way to a bit of confusion as some decisions either in the editing room or in the script itself take the audience out of the current moment to show them the relevance of that moment to the broader story in terms of timeline or character motivation. It’s only in the third act when this stops happening, and upon reflection, it probably could have stood to happen a little earlier (though exactly where I do not know).

Following this train of thought, the second act itself is pretty long and while I certainly enjoyed watching the actors show off that they can act like nobody’s business, some of those scenes placed in the separate rooms could have stood to be a little bit shorter. I was never bored, per se, but I did start to feel those scenes being stretched out a bit too long. Perhaps this was done as a way to increase the character developments or tease further mystery, but to me, it just felt a little overdrawn. As well, there doesn’t seem to be any legitimate relevance to the idea of the hotel being literally split in half by the California/Nevada state line. There are some general rules that get addressed early on about gambling laws and monetary values, but other than that, the idea of the state line division doesn’t actually factor into the plot at all, and ultimately feels like it just Goddard trying to be clever with something he didn’t want to edit out but found no use for. In that vein, there are also one or two plot threads that never get explored or resolved that ultimately feel odd considering every other thread of their type that do get a fair amount of screen time devoted to them, but to say any more would spoil one of the larger surprises of the film, so I’ll just leave it at that.

Still, despite these noticeable (if ultimately irrelevant) flaws, Bad Times at the El Royale is a good time at the movies and gives us a welcome entry in a genre too-often passed up in both in terms of the sheer level of creativity required to play in its sandbox and the ingenuity it takes to explore that labyrinth of creation once brought to life. The performances are excellent and the characters are vibrant among gorgeous period design. It’s weirdly funny, greatly mysterious, bizarrely intriguing, and one of the better pure fun experiences in this cinematic calendar year; definitely recommended, even if only once or twice.

I’m giving “Bad Times at the El Royale” a 7.9/10

[farfromsugafanfic]

glitteringconstellations interview

Before we get started with the interview, do you mind introducing yourself (whatever name you are comfortable with) and telling us a little about yourself?

Hi everyone! I’m glitteringconstellations, Glitter or GC for short. I’ve been writing fanfiction for well over 15 years now, though I only started sharing it around 2005. I minored in Creative Writing in college and I love writing in pretty much any capacity! When I’m not headcanoning one new story or another, though, I’m either adulting (ugh, adulting) or playing video games. These days it’s mostly Skyrim. I’m fluent in Korean and passable in Japanese and Spanish. I drink way too much pop to be healthy and I hate most fruit (though, give me any kind of melon and I’ll be a happy girl). Oh, and I’m a fledgling figure skater! I’m just a hodgepodge of random hobbies haha!

Q1: What kind of fan fiction do you normally write? Have you ever written fan fiction for other fandoms other than your current one?

A1: I tend to gravitate toward angsty fics. It’s long been my outlet of frustration, to put the character I love in harm’s way. The more pain, the better, haha! Though I do love the hurt/comfort aspect of it. Recently (as in, the last year lmao) I’ve been writing for the Voltron fandom almost exclusively (and sometimes YURI!!! On Ice), but before that I was in the k-pop ficdom (Super Junior, for the most part) for a looooong time, nearly 10 years. I won’t be opening that particular can of worms, though--I have Feelings and Opinions lmao. Before that I jumped around from anime to anime.

Q2: I see in addition to fan fiction that you do commissioned fan art! I’m not an artist myself, so I find it really interesting and cool. Do you want to talk a bit about that? And, feel free to plug yourself!

A2: This is actually a common misconception--I can’t draw to save my life!! I took commissions for fan fiction back in late June as a last resort to pay my rent. Typically though I’m horrible on a deadline so I don’t like to do it too often because I feel terrible making my commissioners wait. The art you’re referring to is the comic spread for The Parting Glass, if I’m not mistaken? I actually commissioned another artist by the name of Cota (@ccooooostuff on tumblr, go check her out she’s amazing at what she does and super sweet!) for that comic with the money I got for my birthday this year.

Q3: Do you write anything outside of fan fiction?

A3: I do! I journal a lot, or I try to anyway. This year I’m hoping to tackle an original novel for Nanowrimo, but more than likely, that particular project will start as fanfiction and we’ll see if I turn it into original fiction or not. I spend more time thinking about the things I want to write than… actually… writing them lolsob. My notes will be this gigantic document but when it comes to putting things together in a cohesive manner? Haaaaaa….haha…. The blinking cursor mocks me, I swear.

Q4: I see on your profile that you are 26. I think when most people think of fan fiction writers they think of someone younger, usually a teenager. Do you encounter younger writers a lot? What do you think of this assumption?

A4: I do encounter younger writers a lot! Surprisingly, though, most writers I know are either in their late 20s or late late teens (say, 15~19). Most people tend to think I’m young anyway just because I look a lot younger than 26, but as far as fandom goes, it doesn’t really bother me if people think I’m younger than I am. Usually I’m pretty forward with how old I am on my profile anyway! But yeah, I’ve been around the fanfiction scene a while. The k-pop fandom in particular had a way of reminding me just how long on a pretty frequent basis lol.

Q5: Why did you begin writing fan fiction? If it was for a fandom, why did that particular thing make you begin writing? And, for your current fandoms?

A5: I used to tell myself stories to get to sleep or on long car trips as far back as I can remember, and most of the time they involved characters from my favorite shows of the day. Pokemon and Digimon were two big ones for me before I hit those fun preteen years. As far as what got me started actually putting those stories to paper, it was born of frustration with shows not going the way I wanted them to, so I’d write the ending I wanted to see. For Voltron in particular, it’s just SUCH a fun sandbox to play in, be it by utilizing the incredible world-building or the plethora of interesting characters to play around with. So many possibilities! *3*

Q6: Do you ever want to be published in a professional capacity one day?

A6: Yes and no. I flip flop on this ALL the time. I’d LOVE to see my stories on shelves, but I’m actually very insecure and sometimes the thought of people reading my stories makes me want to die of embarrassment and sink to the center of the earth. That said, if I win Nano this year, I may run it by some publishers, even if only to get feedback. (Although if you want to get TECHNICAL I am officially a published journalist; I was an assistant editor for one of The Big 3 kpop news sites for a while. The one that starts with S. Also another can of worms.)

Q7: Has writing fan fiction taught you anything? About writing? Reading? The fandom? Etc.

A7: Oh absolutely. I definitely would not be the writer I am today without fan fiction. I wouldn’t say I’m super skilled, but the critique I’ve received over the years has helped me more than I have words for, honestly. Not even just in the capacity of writing fiction; my academic and professional writing has improved too. Also, just like reading anything in high volume, reading fanfic has helped me learn to read like a writer, how to pick out things that authors do that I admire and try to emulate that, and conversely what doesn’t work for me so I can avoid those things.

As far as fandom goes, fanfiction can be quite polarizing, as I’m sure you’re well aware. Just in my experience by and large it can be kind of toxic, to be quite honest. The particular issue Voltron faces that I experienced to some extent in other fandoms but not quite to this degree, is fandom policing. I find that certain members of the fandom (which, in my experience, tends to actually be mostly among those younger demographics, though not exclusively so) see certain topics as morally wrong and therefore anyone who writes those topics are 1) romanticizing said topic and 2) automatically a disgusting, horrible person and they have no problems telling you about all about it. The number one thing I try to put out there in my interactions is live and let live, ship and let ship. If it makes you uncomfortable, that’s okay! But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong, and it’s definitely not okay to go around purporting hate in the name of “morality.” Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent there haha...

Q8: What is a piece you’ve written that you’re most proud of?

A8: Just in the Voltron fandom, I’d say the fic I’m most proud of is The Parting Glass, by far. Funny story about that one; I’d never heard the titular song before I came across a cover of it on Facebook one day around St. Patrick’s Day, and let me tell you something. The reaction I had was almost a spiritual experience, it was so visceral. I was in tears when I heard it, and the story came so hard and so fast that I wrote it in 2 days. It stayed with me until I got it down in writing. It was an interesting challenge for me, exploring the grief part of a character death fic while almost entirely omitting the actual dying part. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had such a vivid vision of exactly how a fic is going to go from start to finish and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out. Which is why, when I had the money to do so, I commissioned Cota to illustrate what had to be the hardest and yet my favorite part to write. She brought the scene to life so beautifully too, I’m really happy with how it turned out. Months later I still go back and stare at it!

Q9: Do you notice any stigma surrounding fan fiction or fan fiction writers?

A9: Without a doubt. People hear “fanfiction” and they think one of two things: the pudgy neckbeard who lives in his parents’ basement, or the rabid tween/teenage fangirl. It’s a rather unfortunate stereotype, because some works of fanfiction are truly works of art, more masterfully crafted than some novels I’ve seen published. Yet they get dismissed simply on the basis of being fanworks and not “original” (which, let’s be real, nothing is truly original anymore). One such example that comes to mind of a beautiful fic is those glittering instruments in the EXO fandom, which was based on the real-life destruction of the Library of Alexandria. If you can find a copy of it floating around the interwebs I HIGHLY recommend giving it a chance no matter what fandom you’re in!

Q10: If so, how do you feel about this stigma?

A10: Like I said, it’s really a shame. The thing, too, is that as young girls we’re often shamed for the things we’re passionate about, like boy bands and, well, fan fiction, while boys don’t get that kind of shame to such an intense degree (at least, not about the usual suspects, like sports and girls and such). Not to say that it doesn’t happen, but there’s something terribly sad about seeing more young people afraid to talk about a hobby that makes them happy because they’re afraid of being perceived as weird or gross or something like that. Hell, even to this day I have very few friends from outside the fandom sphere that know I write fanfiction, because they still talk bad and make mean jokes about fic writers. It’s such a silly thing, because a lot of famous works are derivative fiction and people don’t even realize it! So I hope the day comes soon that we can get over this silly stigma and just enjoy what people share (for free!! Seriously!! FULL NOVEL LENGTH WORKS. For FREE.)

Q11: Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to talk about or be asked that no one has asked you about or given you the opportunity to talk about? (And if so, feel free to answer/talk about it).

A11: I really had to think about this one! I couldn’t really pick one topic that I’ve really wanted to talk about that I haven’t already discussed, but no one has ever asked me if I was okay with having fanart of my work. Which I would answer with a resounding YES. I am more than okay with it QuQ

Oh, I guess I do have something!! It’s unrelated to writing (well, I guess it could be related, depending on how you look at it) but since I have your attention, if you’re an American citizen GO OUT AND VOTE. The midterm elections are one week from today in the USA and it’s important you go vote!! I won’t tell you who to vote for (a third can of worms I’m not opening up. WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY WORMS) but I assure you, your vote matters, now more than ever. I believe in you!! Go vote!!!

Q12: What is your prefered site for writing/posting fan fiction?

A12: These days I prefer to use AO3. It’s a work in progress, but it’s far and away the superior fic platform of the time. Back in ye olden days (circa 2010~2012) Livejournal was my platform of choice, and FF.net before that. A surprising number of people prefer to post their fic on tumblr, to which I say, are you out of your flipping MIND?!?! Tumblr is soooo temperamental, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to restart a post or go into the HTML editor because the rich text editor decided to be stupid. Noooooo thank you. I’ll stick to AO3 thanks ahaha!

Check out Glitter’s Tumblr and AO3.

Interviewer Note: Glitter used her free question to encourage everyone to vote and I would just like to stress the importance of this, especially if live in the US. Young people are the demographic that votes the least, despite being the demographic that will have to live the longest with the outcome of the vote. If you are currently not registered, please register as it is important for all of our futures. And, remember the deadline for the upcoming US election is Nov. 6th, so make sure to get to those polls and/or turn/send in your ballot. If you need information on how to do any of these things, do not hesitate to reach out to my page and I will point you to trustworthy resources. 

[aion-rsa]

10 Best Games to Play After Deathloop

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Arkane Studio’s Deathloop is one of the year’s best games as well as one of the studio’s most complete, fascinating, and unmissable titles yet. Of course, it’s also a relatively short game that many will be able to beat after about 15 hours of losing themselves in it.

So if you’ve just beaten Deathloop (or if you haven’t had a chance to play it yet due to the game’s PS5 and PC exclusivity), you may be wondering what comes next. Well, it thankfully turns out that there is an elite selection of games out there which either share quite a bit of design DNA with Deathloop or do a really good job of emphasizing one of the elements that make that game great. In either case, these 10 titles will give you plenty to do while you wait for Arkane’s next immersive simulation project.

Oh, and it should be noted that No One Lives Forever and its sequel absolutely deserve to be on this list due to their Deathloop-esque style, but since those games remain sadly unavailable via digital storefronts, we’ve instead chosen to highlight a few titles you might actually be able to play.

Prey

Arkane Studios’ 2017 reimagining of the Prey series struggled to find an audience despite its widespread critical acclaim, but trust me when I say that time has been very kind to this clever piece of sci-fi gaming.

Prey may suffer from trying to do a little too much, but when this game’s blend of sci-fi horror, immersive simulation gameplay, and Metroidvania design finds the right proportions, the result is one of the most memorable and surprising gaming experiences of the last five years.

Dishonored 2

If Deathloop isn’t Arkane Studios’ masterpiece (and it just might be), then that honor would have to go to Dishonored 2: a game that set a standard for this style of design that even Deathloop was clearly inspired by.

Dishonored 2‘s all-time great level design perfectly complements its smooth assassination/stealth-based gameplay and generally underrated narrative and worldbuilding. This game is so good that it almost makes you forget about its impressive predecessor.

Thief II: The Metal Age

Is Thief II the best stealth game ever? Well, there’s some considerable competition in that category (including some of the games we’ll be talking about throughout this list), but it’s certainly hard to have that conversation without mentioning one of the genre’s greatest technical accomplishments.

Thief II boasts nearly perfect level, sound, and stealth design. The way this game inspires you to find creative solutions to its various obstacles and challenges is something that many games have aspired to replicate but few have ever properly paid homage to.

Hitman 3

If you love the way that Deathloop challenges you to eliminate high-profile targets in creative ways, you’re really going to like the king of that particular concept: Hitman 3.

IO’s final entry into their Hitman trilogy perfectly captures all of the things that the team and these games do so very well. This game is all about exploring the many possibilities that IO crafted and then seeing what else is possible in its various sandbox settings.

Deus Ex

Deus Ex is one of the earlier entries into what is now known as the immersive sim genre, and for my money (and yours, if you choose to buy it) it’s still one of the best.

Despite some considerable competition, few immersive sims have been able to replicate the way that Deus Ex blends world-building, narrative, and gameplay in a way that manages to reward players with an equally compelling experience no matter what path they choose to take. The only wrong way to play Deus Ex is to not play it.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist

It’s between this and Chaos Theory for the honor of “best Splinter Cell game,” but if you find yourself craving more stealth-based kills and espionage after beating Deathloop, you can’t go wrong with Blacklist.

With Blacklist, Ubisoft Toronto managed to expand Splinter Cell‘s traditional gameplay by encouraging you to explore more open environments that expertly test your secret operative abilities. Also, there’s a fairly good chance that we might actually eventually get a sequel to this game if enough people continue to buy it.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was called a future cult classic in 2006, and the 15 years since its release have proven this title’s early advocates right. This is still one of the best medieval fantasy adventure games ever made and an incredible preview of Arkane’s brilliance.

Of course, the best reason to play Dark Messiah of Might and Magic after Deathloop is that this is one of the only games in the world with a dedicated kick button that’s nearly as entertaining as Deathloop‘s use of that mechanic.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Like Deathloop, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is a rough, ambitious, and undeniably creative examination of what is possible when you ask gamers to create their own solutions and then reward them for their efforts.

This is a brilliant game for anyone who loves to emphasize the “role-playing” portion of the RPG genre. You just want to lose yourself in your character and this world as you continue to push the boundaries of what this incredible title will allow you to get away with.

The Sexy Brutale

If Deathloop‘s time loop isn’t the best in video game history, then that honor might just have to go to the criminally overlooked 2017 game, The Sexy Brutale.

This simply brilliant game tasks you with reliving a masked ball over and over again as you try to solve multiple murders. The task initially seems impossible, but a closer look at the few breadcrumbs you start with reveals the path to one of the most intelligent and rewarding gaming experiences ever.

The Outer Wilds

On the surface, The Outer Wilds offers a pretty standard time loop premise. You have 22 minutes to explore a planet before a nearby sun goes supernova and everything is lost. During those first few loops when you’re focused on trying to escape, you may wonder what all the fuss surrounding this game is really all about.

Eventually, though, you’ll realize that The Outer Wilds is less about escaping this world and more about discovering what is about to be lost. This game may seemingly be built around a constrictive premise, but it’s really more about learning to make the most out of 22 mere minutes.

The post 10 Best Games to Play After Deathloop appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3nG0m1s

[tech-news-today-worldwide]

Best Puzzle VR Games Available For Oculus Quest 2

Looking for some mind-bending puzzle games to play through on Quest 2? Here are our picks. The Oculus Quest library is only growing larger and stronger by the day with a few options available in most genres. For puzzle fans, we’ve put together this list of some of the best in the genre available on Quest. Some are inventive and creative, some are mind-bending and challenging, but there should be something for everyone. Here are our picks for the best puzzle games available on Oculus Quest. A Fisherman’s Tale Before its more recent game Maskmaker, Innerspace released the acclaimed A Fisherman’s Tale on Quest in 2019. It’s a short yet incredibly charming puzzle game, with ingenious puzzles will make you rack your brain until you finally reach that critical ‘a-ha’ moment that feels so satisfying. A Fisherman’s Tale was nominated in our Best of VR 2019 Awards for the Best PSVR Game/Experience, Best Quest Game/Experience, Best PC VR Game/Experience, and overall Overall Best VR Of 2019. You can read more in our review. Cubism Cubism is a deceptively simple game. Each level features a 3D wireframe shape into which you have to fit different Tetris-like block pieces. The puzzles get harder and the pieces more complex – it’s a slow and measured puzzle experience. Even better, the game’s recent updates include 120Hz and hand tracking support. The latter in particular is a near-perfect fit for Cubism – all you’re doing is picking up pieces and placing them into the wireframe, but it’s enough to create a sublime hand tracking experience. This isn’t a ranked list, but if it were, Cubism would be my personal #1. You can read our review of Cubism here (written before hand tracking support was added) and read our impressions of the hand tracking update here. Floor Plan 2 Floor Plan 2 feels like a VR episode of The Muppet Show, not just in the hilarious absurdity of its world but also in the constant, invigorating ingenuity of its puzzles. It is a logic-based puzzle game in a completely illogical world and one of the best recent releases on the Quest platform. Read more in our Floor Plan 2 review. The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets presents you with several short little puzzles set in a diorama-scale worlds, which you can manipulate and interact with to solve the level and progress onwards. It’s short, charming and features worlds that are expertly crafted. The puzzles can be a little one-note, but the short length of the game somewhat compensates for that. Even better, Curious Tale added support for hand tracking as well. If you’re keen on playing a puzzle game without controllers, this is a great option. Read more in our Curious Tale review. Tetris Effect If you’re a fan of Tetris, then Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Tetris Effect is an absolute must-play. It launched first on PSVR and PC VR before finally making its way over the Quest platform in 2020. It is exactly what it sounds like – it’s Tetris in VR. However, it’s matched with a spectacular, powerful and at times hypnotic amount of visual and audio flair. While these visuals have had to be pared down slightly for the Quest release, we still deemed it the definitive version of the game across all platforms – the lack of tethered wires on Quest remains priceless. You can read more in our Tetris Effect Quest review. I Expect You To Die With a sequel just around the corner, now is the perfect time to dive into the original game on Quest. I Expect You To Die is a James Bond spoof puzzle game that first launched on other VR platforms and was then brought over to the Quest in 2019. As is often the case, we feel it’s best played on Quest too. The name says it all – you’ll be dying a lot in this game, and learning from those deaths so you can do better next time. You can read more in our I Expect You To Die Quest review. The Room VR: A Dark Matter The latest installment in The Room series is also its first installment in VR. This isn’t a mobile or PC port either – The Room VR: A Dark Matter is made entirely for VR from the ground up. Developer Fireproof hasn’t lost its penchant for incredibly clever and creative puzzles in the transition. Read more in our review. Gadgeteer Gadgeteer has been around on VR platforms for many years, but new updates ensure it only keeps getting better and better. One of the most recent additions is online level sharing, ensuring that you’ll never run out of puzzles to play through. It’s the ultimate Rube Goldberg machine playground, with both a campaign and a sandbox mode so you can create amazing creations of your own. Myst This seminal PC game made its way over to the Oculus Quest late last year. It’s an upgraded and all-around solid port of the original PC title that will have you reaching for a notebook or a friend to help work your way through the tough puzzles. It’s a game everyone should play once and the Quest 2 port provides you with a modern but faithful way to do so. You can read more in our review. Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs While the Angry Birds franchise started on mobile, its first foray into VR is a completely natural transition and results in an extremely fun VR puzzle game. It’s an intuitive VR title that’s perfect for VR beginners and veterans alike. The campaign levels do veer slightly to the easy end of the spectrum, but it’s also a game primarily targeted at kids. This isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable for all ages though, and the custom level builder and online sharing functions mean that you’ll be able to create and play more levels long after you’ve finished the campaign. You can read more in our review. What are your favorite puzzle games on Quest? Let us know in the comments. Read the full article

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Earlier this year, Nvidia, Mojang and Microsoft released the Minecraft with RTX Windows 10 beta, a special Insider standalone client that introduced stunning path-traced ray tracing to the world’s most popular game. Now, ray tracing and DLSS are available to all, having become part of the official Minecraft Windows 10 client! To celebrate, we are releasing 2 new worlds, bringing the total number of official RTX worlds for Minecraft to 15.

To experience incredible sights, accelerated by Nvidia DLSS, simply download and install the latest version of Minecraft for Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store, head to the Minecraft Marketplace, download a free showcase world and load into it.

You can play all ray tracing worlds and maps on Realms and servers with other gamers using cross-platform Minecraft Bedrock game clients (e.g. Minecraft on Nintendo Switch), and everyone can collaborate, build and explore together. Minecraft with RTX players will by default see everything enhanced with a special Physically Based Rendering texture pack, which interplays with the ray-traced effects to further enhance your experience. Players on other platforms will see Minecraft’s standard visuals.

Using the power of ray tracing and Physically Based Rendering, you can build incredible scenes with lighting, shadows and effects running at previously-unseen levels of detail and accuracy, helping you craft wondrous worlds that'll make jaws drop.

To demonstrate the possibilities of Minecraft’s ray tracing, we’ve collaborated with creators to craft free ray-traced worlds, each with their own unique textures, designs and gameplay mechanics.

You can download these from the Minecraft Marketplace in-game. For further details check out our previous articles, here, here, and here. And we’re releasing a further two worlds, taking the total number of free, spectacular worlds to 15.

World: Colosseum RTX

Creator: BANV

Type: Creative

Download From: Minecraft Marketplace

Visit the historical Colosseum in its glory days during the Roman Empire, powered and enhanced by RTX. Explore the beautiful views and marvel at the scale and engineering genius.

Find more than 20 pieces of historical trivia, discover hidden locations, take a photo tour of the Colosseum with all its amazing ray-traced detail, and fight in the arena with up to 3 friends against waves of mobs.

Accelerate Performance With Nvidia DLSS

Path-traced ray tracing offers the very best visuals possible, ensuring each block, each scene, and each world looks incredible. This incredible level of fidelity makes greater demands on your GPU, however, so Nvidia has worked with Microsoft and Mojang to add our critically acclaimed Nvidia DLSS technology for GeForce RTX gamers (other gamers can use Microsoft’s upscaling technology). You can find this option in the Video settings, labeled as Upscaling.

With DLSS, we utilize deep learning, AI and the Tensor Cores found exclusively on GeForce RTX GPUs to accelerate performance in Minecraft with RTX by more than double, giving every GeForce RTX player at least 60 FPS at 1920x1080, with unprecedented image quality. And at higher detail levels, GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 players can marvel at ray-traced Minecraft at 4K at well over 60FPS.

Already Playing The Beta? Follow These Steps

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If you’ve been playing and testing the Minecraft with RTX for Windows 10 beta, thank you! Your participation has helped find bugs, optimize performance, and introduce new features that have made the experience even more enjoyable. To get back onto the mainline branch of Minecraft, you’ll need to follow a few steps:

Back up your existing worlds, saves and profiles, just in case

Open the Xbox Insider Hub application

Navigate to Insider Content and click on Minecraft

Click Manage, select “Unenroll”, and then Done

Wait a few minutes, then check for Minecraft updates in the Windows Store app

If you haven’t been updated, uninstall Minecraft completely, and install a fresh copy from the Windows Store

And if you’re still having issues, uninstall Minecraft, log out from the Insider Hub, Xbox Companion App, and Windows Store. Restart your PC, then log back into the Windows Store and download Minecraft anew

Convert Java Worlds To RTX, and Make Your Own PBR Textures

Now that ray tracing’s out of beta, anyone can begin and craft a ray-traced world. But if you want to make unique PBR textures, you’ll need to learn new tools and workflows. But rather than let you stumble through the dark depths alone, we’ve written an extensive step-by-step guide, now updated for the official release of Minecraft with RTX.

Additionally, we’ve detailed how you can bring a Java world over to Minecraft with RTX, enabling it to be enhanced with ray tracing and PBR textures. Check out guide here.

Go Forth and Craft!

The official release of ray tracing and DLSS for Minecraft is the culmination of thousands of hours of work from dozens of engineers at Mojang, Microsoft and NVIDIA. We’re beyond excited to bring ray tracing in the world’s most popular game to millions of GeForce RTX gamers, and cannot wait to see players’ creations.

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Be sure to share your best Minecraft moments, Realms, worlds and projects with us on social media using #Minecraft and #RTXON.

If you have any questions about the new update, head on over to the Mojang Studios FAQ.

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The best Minecraft mods

What are the best Minecraft mods? It's an inquiry that has been posed for ages – since a youthful Plato endeavored to change his game at the knee of Socrates. Or on the other hand something. As new Minecraft mods have been consistently streaming out since the game's first open delivery, there are an entire pile to browse.

Minecraft is a blocky wonder. It's the simply game to actually exist that permits you to build a manor the tallness of Jack's renowned beanstalk and fall through an inexorably testing pit forever – yet it could do with some Minecraft mods to improve things. From interface changes to apparatuses to help your long stretches of investigation, you have the alternative to make Mojang's exemplary surprisingly better on PC.

The accompanying rundown orders probably the best Minecraft mods out there this moment. All are separated into areas, contingent upon what you need to do with the game – from straightforward changes to profound, many-sided Minecraft mods you can lose all sense of direction in for quite a long time.

These are the best Minecraft mods:

Optifine

Journeymap

Not Enough Items

WAILA

Stock Tweaks

Playable Minecraft in a Chest

Controlling

Etch 2

Woodworker's Blocks

Decocraft

Bibliocraft

Pig Manure

Microscopic organisms Mod

Pam's Harvestcraft

Biomes O'Plenty

LotsOMobs

CandyCraft

The Twilight Forest

Galacticraft

BetterPortals

Quiverbow

Rope Bridge Mod

Caterpillar

Reformist Automation

Applied Energistics 2

Enormous Reactors

ComputerCraft and RFTools

Draconic Evolution

Thaumcraft

Basically Jetpacks

Blood Magic

Minefactory Reloaded

BuildCraft

Caps

PneumaticCraft

HOW DO I INSTALL MINECRAFT MODS?

Each Minecraft mod on this rundown accompanies its own establishment directions that you ought to follow intently, and you'll probably additionally need to minimize your Minecraft variant for a large number of them – as a rule, rendition 1.7.10 works best. To assist with that, you can attempt MultiMC–a valuable piece of programming that allows you to deal with different Minecraft mod introduces.

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On the other hand, in the event that faffing around in dark envelopes isn't some tea, at that point get a modpack all things being equal – which accompanies everything preinstalled and preconfigured. We suggest either Feed The Beast's Direwolf20 1.7.10 pack (which accompanies a YouTube arrangement that will show you how to utilize a considerable lot of the included mods), the Tekkit Pack, or making your own modpack with Curse Voice. In the event that you experience difficulty with any of them Google is likely a decent wagered.

Will we dive into our rundown of the best Minecraft mods?

YouTube Thumbnail

MINECRAFT INTERFACE MODS

At the point when you have bunches of Minecraft mods introduced you'll likely find that Minecraft's default UI doesn't cut it any more. The accompanying downloads make playing modded Minecraft a more lovely encounter.

Minecraft mods - Optifine

OPTIFINE/FASTCRAFT

Got a meaty PC? Make Minecraft look staggering with Optifine, which adds uphold for HD surfaces and more authority over graphical choices. Then again, in case you're playing on a potato, snatch Fastcraft–it essentially improves execution on lower-end machines, especially with bunches of Minecraft mods introduced.

Minecraft mods - Journeymap

JOURNEYMAP

Everybody likes to realize where they're going. Journeymap maps your reality as you investigate, lets you mark waypoints of premium, and can even caution you when hordes are sneaking up behind you. View the subsequent guide in-game as a minimap, or in fullscreen, or even in an outside internet browser.

Minecraft mods - Not Enough Items

NOT ENOUGH ITEMS

In the event that you need a counteractant to the torment of alt-selecting to a wiki while playing Minecraft at that point go to Not Enough Items (or NEI). It allows you to look into the formula for any thing from any introduced Minecraft mod through a clever interface on Minecraft's stock screen.

WAILA

WAILA means "What Am I Looking At," and it's a gift from heaven when you have heaps of mods introduced. Essentially point your crosshair at a square, and it'll mention to you what it is, and which mod it comes from. With more up to date mods, it can likewise enlighten you concerning the condition of that block – how full a tank of water is, for instance, or the charge level on a battery. You'll require NEI to run it.

Stock TWEAKS

Introduce Inventory Tweaks and you'll before long can't help thinking about how you lived without it. Instruments that run out of strength are consequently supplanted in your hotbar, piles of squares are naturally topped off, and a basic center snap will sort your chests and stock. It's additionally unendingly customisable.

Minecraft playable minecraft chest mod

PLAYABLE MINECRAFT IN A CHEST

Smaller than normal Minecraft, a playable variant of Minecraft contracted down to the size of a chest. Client SethBling posted a video of the mod in real life on YouTube with a connection to download it in the depiction. This mod has in no way different highlights as the first game, aside from it's you can handle the entire thing through the interface of a Minecraft chest. At the point when you leave the chest you'll see your activities spread out before you as though you'd been working in 2D the entire time.

CONTROLLING

This is a wonderfully straightforward mod that will make overseeing controls when you have other Minecraft mods introduced a lot simpler. With this interface mod you can essentially pull up an inquiry bar and type in the control you're searching for to perceive what the keybinding is. You can even channel it so it just banners up covering keybindings so you can fix them in a jiffy.

MINECRAFT CREATIVE MODS

For some, individuals, making spectacular structures is what is the issue here. The accompanying mods will drastically extend your innovative alternatives, from new sorts of wood to appropriate furnishings.

Etch 2

Minecraft just has one cobblestone surface. Etch 2 has 24. Indeed, it adds elective surfaces to countless the game's default obstructs just as squares that accompany different mods in this rundown – allowing you to make any stylistic layout you want in your in-game developments.

Minecraft mods - Carpenter's Blocks

CARPENTER'S BLOCKS

3D squares are incredible and all, yet incidentally you need an incline, right?Carpenter's Blocks conveys those slants, close by beds, catches, entryways, vases, lights, and the sky is the limit from there, which can all be tweaked with the surface of some other square. Ever needed a netherrack stepping stool? This is the mod that will do it.

DECOCRAFT

On the off chance that you'd like a touch more assortment with regards to improving your reality, Decocraft is the mod for you. It adds craftable seats, tables, bowls, bottles, lights, stuffed toys, brew barrels, and even a kitchen sink. The full rundown is practically interminable, so jump into the Wiki to see the full scope of alternatives.

BIBLIOCRAFT

Bibliocraft additionally offers a lot of tastefully satisfying squares, yet these ones accompany their own usefulness. Show cases and retires let you flaunt your prizes, while a print machine allows you to duplicate in-game books. It even adds a monocle for the recognized honorable men among you.

PIG MANURE

On the off chance that Minecraft can be blamed for lacking a certain something, it's crap. This humble Minecraft mod takes care of that issue easily, not simply making it so your pigs drop a steaming heap of the notorious occasionally, yet rather giving you another asset to dominate in Minecraft. Gather the droppings and you can utilize them rather than bone supper to prepare your harvests. On the other hand, you can fire them in a heater and produce blocks that you can use to assemble a house – simply don't utilize them with white fleece.

Microscopic organisms MOD

Microscopic organisms essentially never leaves style, so it's about time Mincraft modders carried it into the imaginative sandbox. This mod allows you to develop a scope of various microscopic organisms, every one of which will perform various errands – ruinous or imaginative – and set them free on the world. Simply make certain to contain it appropriately, particularly in case you're testing in your own base.

PAM'S HARVESTCRAFT

Carry some genuine variety to your Minecraft diet with this produce-loaded mod that adds more than 1,100 new nourishments and things, including 60 harvests, 17 sorts of fish, tofu for veggie lover and vegetarian dishes, and 36 natural product or thing bearing trees. The final product is a Minecraft diet that is equivalent amounts of sumptuous and adjusted. In the event that you need to make this a need instead of simply a great augmentation to vanilla Minecraft, use it close by Hunger Overhaul and The Spice of Life, which both rebuff your helpless dietary patterns.

Obviously, in the event that you have supplies of food, at that point you'll need to ensure your concocting is to scratch. The Cooking for Blockheads mod adds five new squares that structure a multiblock kitchen structure. Engaged with that are a cooking table, stove, sink, instrument rack, and ice chest – consider it like Minecraft as a cooking game. The mod was made in view of Pam's Harvestcraft, so the two go very well together we figure – the cooking prospects are near perpetual.

MINECRAFT EXPLORATION MODS

A few people favor the life of a migrant to that of a developer. The accompanying mods either flavor up world age, add new universes to investigate, or give you the apparatuses you'll have to investigate them. To the Far Lands, and past!

BIOMES O'PLENTY

We should begin with the Overworld. Biomes O'Plenty adds an absurd 80 new biomes and 12 sub-biomes to Minecraft – from Alps to Wasteland. It likewise changes up instruments, protection, food, shading, and adds a couple of additional squares to work with.

Minecraft mods - LotsOMobs

LOTSOMOBS

Working similarly as Biomes O Plenty, LotsOMobs adds a stunning 25 new hordes to additionally enhance your Minecraft world and make your biomes that bit mor

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Minecraft Pocket Edition is an android version of the most famous video game of the world. Minecraft is a game played by a wide range of people worldwide as it gives players opportunities to design and showcase their abilities on a widely popular platform.

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The way of playing, the sounds, the textures, and much more are very similar or almost identical to the Minecraft Java Edition. Within a three-dimensional world, the player can break down and place blocks, fight against opponents, and much more. The Minecraft Pocket Edition offers three instead of five game modes: Survival, Creative, and the Adventure mode. Not available are the hardcore and observer mode. Furthermore, several game elements of the Java Edition are not available in the Minecraft Pocket Edition, including the drive lore and the cooldown. Also, the Pocket Edition family contains a few game elements that are not available in the Minecraft Java Edition or other game editions.

The Pocket Edition was created and developed by Mojang AB. The version for Windows phone devices was developed by Microsoft in 2014. After Mojang was sold to Microsoft at the end of 2014, Microsoft developed a Windows 10 Edition based on the Pocket Edition. Both editions contain the same code.

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What is Minecraft Pocket Edition

The Standard Pocket Edition was created by Mojang AB and is being further developed by them. It was first shown at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) on a Sony Xperia PLAY and was released on August 16, 2011. A few weeks later, versions for other Android and iOS devices followed. In 2014 versions for Fire TV and Windows Phone were added.

Minecraft apk is an android version of a very famous video game Minecraft that is recognized worldwide. You can install Minecraft apk on any android device.

The provided APK above is the pocket edition, which is actually not free, but when downloading the apk file from us, you get it for free.

The Android app „Minecraft Pocket Edition“ (Minecraft PE) brings the well-known computer game to your Android device.

The game classic Minecraft is now available as „Minecraft Pocket Edition“ for your Android smartphone.

Like the PC version, the mobile Minecraft world also features monsters, animal villages, and caves. You can explore the landscapes together with friends via WLAN.

Minecraft Pocket Edition: Popular computer game also on Android

The infinite worlds of the Minecraft Pocket Edition can be explored in different ways. You can choose between Creative Mode with unlimited resources and Survival Mode. In the latter, you start with nothing and build your empire piece by piece. You will have to produce essential weapons and tools to be armed against various dangers and creatures.

What is Minecraft?

You Have The World In Your Hand Prepare yourself for an adventure with countless possibilities as you build, work in the mine, fight mobs, and explore the ever-changing Minecraft landscape.

Whatever you dream of, you can build it in Minecraft. Let your imagination and unlimited resources run wild in Creative Mode.

Minecraft is a phenomenon of recent game history. It was released in 2009 and has sold over 100 million copies. When Swedish programmer Markus „Notch“ Persson published the game in a small forum, he hardly suspected it would make him a billionaire five years later.

In 2014, his company Mojang was bought by Microsoft for an incredible 2.5 billion dollars. Minecraft exists for desktop computers, consoles, and handheld devices and has over 40 million players per month. Most of them are children and teenagers.

Minecraft, initially developed by Mojang and later purchased by Microsoft. You can explore endless scenarios, experience all kinds of adventures, and build as you please with the available blocks and resources.

Minecraft Bedrock

Bedrock Edition refers to the officially „Minecraft“ versions of the game, enabling cross-platform play between mobile devices, consoles, and PCs.

Technically, it has its origin in the Pocket Edition on mobile devices and/or its offshoots for Windows 10 (Windows 10 Edition), Gear VR (Gear VR Edition), and Fire TV (Fire TV Edition) and represents a merger of these.

What Is Bedrock Minecraft

Starting with the Xbox One! The Bedrock Edition was ported to consoles, where it replaces the original console edition for each console (Xbox One Edition, Nintendo Switch Edition, and PlayStation 4 Edition).

The Pi Edition, the Apple TV Edition, and the New Nintendo 3DS Edition are also offshoots of the Bedrock Edition. But the development of these offshoots has been discontinued, so there has been no unification with other versions.

Minecraft Ps4 Bedrock

On December 10, 2019, the Bedrock Edition was ported to the PlayStation 4. It is the only Minecraft Edition, besides the Java Edition, that is actively developed further.

On July 8, 2020, the discontinuation of the Bedrock Edition for devices with Windows 10 Mobile, the Gear VR, and weaker Android devices was announced. In October 2020, the Bedrock Edition discontinuation for iPhones / iPads with iOS 10 or older was announced.

The Bedrock Edition offshoots for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are also backward compatible with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Still, they are not separate offshoots adapted to the new consoles. The new hardware is not fully utilized, and some features may not be available.

What to build in Minecraft?

It is what is usually called a sandbox game. There is no other concrete goal than to survive while wandering through an endless world and building and destroying objects with the available blocks (stone, grass, iron, granite, etc.).

The worlds of this game are generated randomly. Every world is unique. There are no equal worlds which guarantee a completely new adventure. Every team starts a new game.

The pixel graphics is one of the most distinctive aspects of this game, to such an extent that every game that is started afterward with the same retro graphics is often defined as a Minecraft-inspired game. And there are many of them because due to the massive success after the launch in 2011. Dozens of clones seemed to try to gain so much popularity.

What is Minecraft About?

Minecraft plays in an open world and resembles a virtual Lego game. Blocks of different materials can be mined and placed in other places. The landscape consists of different zones – from jungle to ice landscape. Alien beings – friendly and enemies populate the world.

The spectrum ranges from humans and spiders to skeletons and other monsters. Monsters can be found at night or in dark places like caves. All figures also consist of block-like structures.

Besides the main world, there are two fantasy worlds: The Nether and The End. The Nether is a hell-like dimension. The End is the end level, where you have to defeat a mighty dragon. Both worlds are accessible through portals in the main world.

How is Minecraft played?

There are four game modes in Minecraft: Survival, Creative, Adventure, and Spectator.

Survival mode is the „classic“ way to play the game. You have a health bar and a hunger bar, which go back if you are attacked or don’t eat anything. You can create things and trade with mined resources. From armor to tools – the possibilities are enormous. The game is played on different difficulty levels, whereby no monsters appear on the lowest one, and the player never goes hungry.

In Creative Mode, you have inexhaustible resources, and you can fly through the world. This mode is comparable to a gigantic Lego playground. There are no limits to creativity. Millions of elaborate works on the Internet are proof of this.

The Adventure Mode was invented to experience the maps created by users. In adventure mode, you are exposed to the restrictions of the respective map creator.

If you are more passive, choose the Spectator Mode. Here you can observe the whole world and the events as a spectator without having any influence. For example, you can also take the perspective of monsters.

You control the game with the mouse or the joypad – just like in most role-playing or strategy games. The key assignment can be modified.

How Many People Play Minecraft?

The majority of the mentioned millions of players are between 15 and 21 years old. About 80 percent of the players are male.

The reasonably broad mix of the players is probably what makes the game so appealing. Almost generations come together to build and experience gigantic fantasy worlds together at Minecraft. The multiplayer mode works online and also in the local network.

Is Minecraft for kids?

Minecraft age rating

The official age rating is Pegi 7. For some story versions Pegi 12. The game is very harmless, not least because of the very rudimentary graphics. Apart from the almost cute monsters, there are few scary moments. Minecraft is even used in schools (as part of the MinecraftEdu edition), which was developed especially for school environments).

Multiplayer on Minecraft

Multiplayer mode is the server-based version of Minecraft, which, as the name suggests, allows multiple players to play together on one world. Players can build buildings or fight with other players, for example.

A server provides a Minecraft world that players connect over the www with their clients. There are large servers that are designed for several hundred players.

As an alternative, Mojang offers the Minecraft Realms servers. Or you can download the official Minecraft server from Mojang and start it to play with your friends.

Different game modes can be distributed on a server, which allows some players to be in a different game mode than others. Players can also be appointed as operators, which gives them access to some commands, such as setting the time or teleporting players.

Minecraft Server

Minecraft how to play with friends in LAN

If you want to play within a local area network (LAN) with friends or siblings in the same house – you can do so without an internet connection because you can publish a single player world in a LAN.

You set up a „Dedicated Server“ that runs day and night and where you and your friends can join at any time. To do this, download the Minecraft Server .jar file and start it first. You accept the EULA by setting the value at the bottom of the Euler file created by the server from „false“ to „true.“ Restart the server he should run properly.

If you want to play Minecraft with someone else in the same network, start Minecraft as usual. Create a new world or load a score. Now press Escape and then twice on „Open to Lan.“ The game now gets a port, which is shown in the chat window. It is now accessible in the local network.

Another possibility is to use an external Minecraft public server. There may be costs for the server, which you can share with your friends. Depending on the provider, these costs vary, but you will receive support if there are problems with the server.

What is smite in Minecraft?

Smite is a Minecraft enchantment. Smite-Enchantment is one of many that players can use to their advantage in Minecraft. Of course, like many Enchantments in Minecraft, it’s not clear precisely what it does.

What does smite do in Minecraft?

Smite is an enchantment that can be placed on any sword or ax. Once this is the case, the damage inflicted on undead mobs increases. With each level you increase the Smiting Enchantment, you add 2.5 damage to undead mobs with each hit. The highest enchantment level of Smite is level 5.

Minecraft Enchanting

As always, with an enchantment, it’s all about a little RNG luck. You must set up your enchantment table and place the sword or ax you wish to enchant and a lapizlazuli on top of it. If you already have a book with the Smite-enchantment, you can easily enchant your weapon with it.

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Five of the Best: Beaches • Eurogamer.net

Five of the Best is a weekly series about the bits of games we overlook. I’m talking about hands, maps, cats, startup screens – things we ignore at the time but can recall years later because, it turns out, they’re integral to our memory of the game. Now is the time to celebrate them!

It works like this. Various Eurogamer writers will share their memories in the article and then you – probably outraged we didn’t include the thing you’re thinking of – can share the thing you’re thinking of in the comments below. We’ve had some great discussions in our other Five of the Best pieces. So come on, what are you waiting for? On we go!

When I gaze out of the big windows beside me I see building works and grey skies. Oh February. Oh England. What I wouldn’t give to be padding through the warm sands of a beach somewhere else, somewhere hot – somewhere I can splosh in and out of the water all day, drying lazily in the sun.

Thank goodness for games that can whisk us away. They can take us to untouched beaches with pearly white sands and turquoise seas. Or they can take us farther, to different worlds and the impossible beaches of fantasy. So dry off, sit back, and let’s get away for a moment or two. Let’s explore the best beaches in games.

Sega’s sandbox game

Sega’s renowned for its big, beautiful blue skies, and of course those things are often paired with equally magnificent beaches. There’s a roll-call of them throughout Sega’s most iconic games, whether it’s Jeffry’s stage in Virtua Fighter 3, the azure coast of the first OutRun or Sonic Adventure’s opening level. Which is all well and good, but what about the time that Sega made a game out of an actual beach.

First revealed in 2014 and still available to play in a handful of Japanese locations, this thing looks amazing, even if I’ll admit I’ve yet to track one down to play. Will it be as good as its premise suggests, as projections mingle with soft sand that’s begging to be sculpted? Maybe, maybe not, but I’m just so, so glad that it exists. It just goes to prove that, no matter what you say about modern Sega, they’re still the masters of blue sky thinking.

-Martin Robinson

Sea of Thieves

There’s no purer tropical fantasy than sailing a big wooden pirate boat and exploring barely charted islands for treasure, and Sea of Thieves nails it. You can even dress in ridiculous clothes and sing songs!

But what I really like about the tropics in Sea of Thieves is the contrasting weather. One moment it’s idyllic, the sun blazing and sparkling on the calm sea, and the next, it’s raging, rain pouring and thunder crashing, water rising like mountains around you.

Sea of Thieves knows what it is to make you feel humble in nature’s presence, and nature’s presence instils in me a deep sense of calm. I could bob up and down on those seas for days.

This video is amazing! I stumbled onto it in the Sea of Thieves forum.

Halo

“We’re approaching the LZ! It’s gonna be hot!” I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it! As the UNSC dropship plopped Master Chief down on the beach at the beginning of The Silent Cartographer – which to this day remains the greatest Halo campaign level of all time – and thrust me into a skirmish on the shore, I found myself dumbfounded a video game could immerse me in such a heart-pumping, epic shooter battle. Amid the blast of grenades, assault rifle fire and grunt squeals, I looked up. That’s a huge ring in the distance, shooting up into the sky, wrapping overhead and coursing down the opposite horizon. We’re on an island on a ring in space. And there’s a jeep with a minigun on it!

What’s remarkable about The Silent Cartographer is that no matter what the player does or where the player goes, it doesn’t break stride. As you make your way into the island’s mysterious alien installation, going deeper and deeper underground, you start to realise that everything is connected in a way that at least creates the illusion of coherence. By the time you’ve fought your way topside and grabbed a pickup from Echo 419, Halo has taught you it’s a game that takes sense of place incredibly seriously. You really did land on the beach, jump in a warthog, explore an underground base and emerge victorious without a loading screen, without the video game itself getting in the way. The island feels real, even as the wizards at Bungie pull levers this way and that behind the virtual curtain. Back in 2001, Halo’s beach blew me away. Looking back at old gameplay of The Silent Cartographer now, nearly 20 years later, it still does.

-Wesley Yin-Poole

Crash Bandicoot

It’s not a real video game if there isn’t at least one clich in there, is it? Crash Bandicoot is a little wonky by modern standards, the jumping a bit finickity and clichs abound, and that little starter beach is no different. You wake up, face down, waves lapping at your feet, knowing this is a reference to something but not what, exactly, that reference is – one of those iconic scenes that seems to have transcended its actual origins to just be a recurring, ironic nod, like cartoons with baddies tripping on banana skins and clumsy characters trying not to smash a Ming vase.

But anyway, for some reason Crash, of all games, seems to nail the archetypal wake-up-on-a-tropical-beach clich more than anything else I can currently imagine. It actually is iconic, an enormously well-remembered opening, what with the jorts and the title music and that little eyebrow wiggle to the camera before you go flipping off into the jungle. There’s a single, long path ahead, and you’ve arrived at the beginning of it. Clich or not, it’s as good a way to start a video game as any.

-Chris Tapsell

Rime

Rime is drenched in the Mediterranean. The whole game is inspired by it, by a childhood spent playing on its beaches and swimming in its sea. In fact, the deeper meaning of the game grew out of a near-death experience Tequila Works’ creative director Raul Rubio had in the Mediterranean. He was trying to impress a girl by swimming out to a buoy when, all of a sudden, fatigue set in. Unwisely, he panicked, and the last of his energy left him. Then he began to sink…

It’s a story Rubio shared with me when we talked for a long time about the many meanings of Rime. That’s a longer piece published a while ago on Eurogamer. Don’t read it if you haven’t played Rime because it’ll spoil the surprise, but do play Rime and then read it. Or else. (Just pretend you’re terrified.)

The opening of Rime shows the island at its loveliest.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/five-of-the-best-beaches-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=five-of-the-best-beaches-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[mediacalling]

Your Go-To Small Business Marketing Guide for 2019 (New Tips and Ideas)

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, an incredible two-thirds of small business owners and entrepreneurs (66%) are personally responsible for three or more areas of their business, including marketing.

From email and social media campaigns to pricing, branding, and strategy, it can be a challenge for many small business owners to excel at marketing while also focusing on growing their business.

That’s where we hope to help!

That’s why we teamed up with Mailchimp, Square, and WooCommerce to bring you a brand-new small business marketing playbook. In this five-part email series, you’ll receive specific and actionable marketing strategies that you can use in the remainder of 2018 and throughout 2019 to grow your business in meaningful ways.

We’ve also put together a special Buffer Podcast episode as a bonus to our the new email series. Whether you’re looking for a fresh approach to your marketing strategy or just a few new ideas to try, this episode will help you get where you want to go in 2019.

Let’s dive in!

Your go-to small business marketing guide for 2019 (Podcast)

What follows is a lightly-edited transcript of the Buffer Podcast for your reading pleasure.

Table of Contents

Part I: High-level small business marketing strategies

Part II: Social media strategies for small businesses

Part III: Email marketing strategies for small businesses

Part IV: Final thoughts for small businesses owners and marketers

Hailley: Hi everyone! I’m Hailley Griffis and this is The Science of Social Media, a podcast by Buffer. Your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and learning.

Brian: Welcome to episode #120, I’m Brian Peters and this week we have a very special episode lined up for you. 2019 is almost here which can only mean one thing… It’s time for small businesses to shine. Whether you’re looking for a fresh approach to your marketing strategy or just a few new ideas to try, today’s guide should help you get where you want to go.

Hailley: We’ve heard from so many folks how challenging it can be to keep up with the latest small business marketing strategies and tactics. So this episode is for you all. Hopefully it’ll bring you a ton of success in the new year.

Brian: We are incredibly excited to launch this new campaign.

Working with Mailchimp and Square has been really insightful because they work with small businesses every single day and so everything we talk about in that email series is brand new and highly relevant.

Part I: High-level small business marketing strategies

Hailley: Let’s start high-level and then dive into some more specific marketing strategies.

We’ve dwindled down small business marketing to three essential, high-level strategies. By practicing these 3 things, you’re setting yourself up for long-term success rather than aimlessly trying new tactics for short-term gains.

Make a commitment to marketing

One of the biggest hurdles for small businesses looking to improve their marketing efforts is simply making a commitment to good marketing. Without that commitment, it’s bound to not meet your expectations.

Brian: In order to make a commitment, we suggest doing the following.

One is to set time aside. Brands like AJ&Smart, for example, that we talked about episode 113, set several hours aside each week to plan out their social media and email schedule for the week. Then, they carve out 3-5 hours for pure content creation so that they can get back to running their business.

Two is to set clear goals. Research shows that you’re 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis. Write down specific marketing goals that you would like to achieve over the coming month(s) and year.

Hailley: Three, of course, is to stay patient: All good things take time. Try not to fall into the trap of thinking good marketing happens overnight.

Small businesses that play the long game by creating consistently great content are the ones that eventually reap the rewards.

Brian: The next high-level strategy is to:

Focus your efforts on a few core channels

If you try to do everything with your marketing strategy you end up doing next to nothing. Focus is key when developing new marketing ideas, and exploring opportunities.

Hailley: This goes back to setting time aside, right? If you only have a few hours each week for marketing, you have to be super focused on doing things that will have a big impact.

The key is to experiment often until you find one or two channels that show really good traction and double down on those small business marketing channels until they become ineffective.

Brian: Finally, as a small business, it’s important to:

Share your authentic story

Creating great marketing content for your small business isn’t only about showing the value of your product or your services to customers. It’s also an incredible way to help people get to know you and your business.

Hailley: Many top brands today thrive by creating and cultivating a personality. They each have an opinion, they stand for something, they’re relatable. In other words, they’re human.

Brian: One of my favorite brands is an outdoor clothing and gear retailer called Huckberry and from the very first welcome email, they use a sort of brand storytelling approach that’s woven into even the smallest of details.

Every word perfectly placed to give their readers a sense of what they stand for.

Hailley: We’re good to go on high-level thinking.

Now we’re ready to get into some specific tactics.

Part II: Social media strategies for small businesses

Embrace Video

First up with social media is to embrace video. Video is absolutely the most effective way to engage with your audience across all social media channels.

Brian: There are stats to prove it, too. Did you know that 4x as many people would prefer to watch a video about a product rather than read about it or that, when making a purchase decision, 4 in 5 millennials look for video content as a form of research?

Whether it’s time or resources, small businesses just aren’t creating a lot of video for social media and other small business marketing channels.

That being said, we’ve got some quick how-tos for easily creating great videos.

Hailley: First, start with what works. Sort your blog or website content in order of most traffic and create videos around those topics using a video creation product like Animoto.

Or, try following your peers and/or competitors with Facebook Pages to Watch and create content based on popular topics.

Or, you might embrace exciting trends such as the emergence of Instagram Stories by creating fun, relatable Stories content that’s easy to put together.

Brian: As for what makes for a great video. Believe it or not there are some scientific factors that people are more likely to interact with.

Keep your videos between 20-90 seconds for highest engagement.

Get right to the point. The first 3-5 seconds of a video is key in keeping people watching.

That’s it.

Boost your top performing content

Hailley: The next takeaway for social media is that we highly recommend jumping on the advertising trend and boost your top performing content.

What’s great about social media for small businesses is that you don’t have to spend a ton of time creating variations of ads to see success with advertising. Your audience is already telling you what they like in the form of organic engagement numbers.

Brian: The way we like to think about it is that organic social media posting (traditional posting) is the perfect testing ground for effective Facebook and Instagram ads. In other words, you’re using organic reach to determine what posts you should put money behind.

Hailley: At Buffer, we’ve seen incredible results with video ads on Instagram Stories, for example. One ad, in particular, has driven more than 5,000 clicks to our website for less than $0.10 per click.

All we did was look at our top performing posts, identify that this post was performing abnormally well, and put some ad dollars behind it.

Understand the science behind great content

Brian: Lastly, when it comes to social media, it all comes down to your content.

At the end of the day, a majority of social media success comes down to your content.

You can have the best product in the world as a small business, but if no one sees or cares about your content, it’s going to be difficult to generate engagement and results on social media.

Hailley: We like to think that quality content is at the intersection of entertaining and educational.

Think about how people use and consume content on social media today. Many times they are on social media to connect with friends and family and watch the occasional brand video. But there’s more content on social platforms than people can consume, so if a post doesn’t look interesting or useful, people simply scroll past it.

Listen to your customers. Keep a close eye on the trends in your industry. Invest in the creative aspect of content such as video and visuals.

Part III: Email marketing strategies for small businesses

Brian: Moving onto something we don’t talk about too much on this show and that’s email marketing.

However, as a small business, email is one of the few remaining marketing channels that you actually own as a small business (meaning you’re not relying on a third party like Facebook to show your content to your audience), making it a critical piece of any marketing strategy.

Hailley: An engaged email list will allow you to share your story, promote your business, and showcase your products, all while turning subscribers into paying customers.

Grow your email list

With that, we’ll start with growing your email list.

In order to turn visitors to your website into paying customers, you first must have subscribers. To do so, we recommend using branded pop-ups and email signup forms on your website.

Brian: According to research, Mailchimp users have seen their list growth rate increase by an average of 50.8% after adding a pop-up form to their site.

Pop-up pro tip: Set the form to appear immediately – or with a 5-second delay. That’ll help capture the attention of your audiences immediately.

Pop-ups were one of the main reasons we were able to double our email list size in just 30 days.

Automate your email flows

Hailley: Next, you gotta’ automate those email flows.

As many small businesses owners have experienced first-hand, automating important marketing tasks (such as email and social media) can save several hours per week – and lots of headaches in the process.

Brian: When it comes to automation, we highly recommend focusing on four key email flows:

Welcome new subscribers

Abandoned cart emails (ecommerce)

First-time customers

Re-engagement emails

First is to welcome new customers.

This one is key for welcoming folks to your family. Welcome emails are a great way to share fun resources, discounts, top-selling products and more.

Then you have your abandoned cart emails for all of the ecommerce businesses out there.

These are important for people who might have left your website early for a variety of reasons.

Hailley: Then, of course, you have your special first-time customers.

You can send them a special thank you and even offer them future discounts or deals on your other line of products.

And finally, customer re-engagement emails.

If it’s been a while since they’ve opened an email or taken a specific action, you can send them one last goodbye to try and re-engage them with your business.

Part IV: Final thoughts for small business owners and marketers

Brian: There you have it. A small business social media and email combination that we are sure will help boost your marketing results.

But before we go, we wanted to leave you with a final thought.

Hailley: We know how hard it can be to run a small business. There’s a never-ending list of things to do and marketing, understandably, tends to get put off for more important tasks.

You’re not alone.

The team here at Buffer is cheering you on this holiday season and into 2019. Remember, focusing on one or two channels like email, Instagram, Facebook, or Google will allow you to see much better results than trying everything at one.

Brian: If I had to choose two marketing channels right now, I’d bet on email and Instagram.

And we’re a social media company so that’s saying a lot!

Email is such an important part of the customer journey and Instagram (including Instagram Stories) is the fastest growing social media channel on the planet.

There really is an incredible amount of potential in both channels.

Hailley: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Science of Social Media today. The show notes for this episode are now available on the Buffer Blog at blog.buffer.com with a complete transcript.

And don’t forget, if you want to signup for our brand new, five-part email series. You’re going to love it!

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

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About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 18,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

Your Go-To Small Business Marketing Guide for 2019 (New Tips and Ideas) posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com