Category Archives: Survival

Colourful Parrots on GumbyCraft

“Parrots on GumbyCraft,” animatedGIF by @GumbyBlockhead

Colourful Parrots and all the other spectacular goodness of the Minecraft 1.12 update have arrived on the GumbyCraft server. A few parrots have moved into the Gumby Chalet at the site of the 2017 Sign of the Times get-together. Further exploration in the wild should result in more being located.

In the meantime, Gumby is out searching for some new building materials in the far reaches of the Survival world, with plans on building a giant concrete structure of some kind!

Explore far and wide, Minecrafters!

Mojang Releases New Official Minecraft Books!

Minecraft: Guide to Exploration (May 30), Creative (May 30), The Nether and The End (Sept 5) and Redstone (Oct 10)

Yesterday, just after school ended, I checked my email and discovered that Minecraft creator Mojang AB had released some new official Minecraft books! Although the email came from another online reseller, I checked the Chapters.Indigo.ca website and discovered that the May 30th releases were already available in my local store, just a short drive away! It took only a few minutes to stop by and snag a couple of copies of the first two hardcover titles, Minecraft: Guide to Exploration and Minecraft: Guide to Creative.

Last night, I checked again online and was surprised to see two other titles listed under the “Purchasers also bought” section of the Amazon.ca website. As it turns out, Mojang is also preparing to release two additional titles, Minecraft: Guide to The Nether and The End and Minecraft: Guide to RedstoneAlthough they are only available now as pre-order, they have release dates of September 5th, 2017 and October 10th, 2017 respectively.

As with the previous The Complete Minecraft Handbook Collection (updated edition, 2015), the books are published by Egmont. In checking their website, there is additional news that the four books will be available as a box set, The Minecraft Guide Collection, around the release of the fourth in the series,  listed at October 5th.

The Minecraft Guide Collection (available October 5th, 2017)

Also listed as coming this fall are the following:

Minecraft Survival Tin (Oct 5th), Minecraft Mobestiary (Oct 5th), and Minecraft Annual 2018 (Nov 16th).

  • Minecraft Survival Tin (October 5th), containing the Survivor’s Book of Secrets (2016), a doodle book, a hostile mob identification poster, and stickers;
  • The Minecraft Mobestiary, (October 5th), described as “the definitive guide to every mob in the game;
  • Minecraft Annual 2017, (November 16th)

Read on, Minecrafters! Read on!

  • Minecraft: Guide to Exploration (ISBN 978-0399182013)
  • Minecraft: Guide to Creative (ISBN 978-0399182020)
  • Minecraft: Guide to The Nether and The End (ISBN 978-1524797232)
  • Minecraft: Guide to Redstone (ISBN 978-1524797225)
  • The Minecraft Guide Collection (ISBN 978-1405288576)
  • Minecraft Survival Tin (ISBN 978-1405288200)
  • Minecraft Mobestiary (ISBN 978-1524797164)
  • Minecraft Annual 2018 (ISBN 978-1405287586)

Ocean Monument Garden

I was looking for a nice Minecraft challenge today, and I decided to return and tackle an Ocean Monument that Joop, Phisagram, and I found a few months back. I’d started an approach to the monument via an underground tunnel back then, and and so I had considerable success today avoiding the bulk of the Guardians by continuing the tunnel and then working my way upwards from below.

Ocean Monument Garden, looking toward the Arch-Greenhouse," animated GIF by @GumbyBlockhead

Ocean Monument Garden, looking toward the monument-arch Greenhouse,” animated GIF by @GumbyBlockhead

Although my traditional approach makes use of gravel for removing the water from the rooms, I was fortunate enough to run into a chamber of sponges early on, and that made things all the easier. Although I had started mining the Sea Lanterns to begin with, once I found the sponges it was a lot easier to move more quickly and leave the lanterns in place and so a good number of them remain where they were originally located.

"Ocean Monument Garden Dedication," animated GIF by @GumbyBlockhead

“Ocean Monument Garden Dedication,” animated GIF by @GumbyBlockhead

Once the main cavity was cleared of water and the chamber walls were broken down, I tackled the arch area, thinking that the existing structure would make for a nice greenhouse. The first crop planted was the wheat in the greenhouse under the arch.

"Greenhouse under the Arch," animated GIF by @GumbyBlockhead

“Greenhouse under the Arch,” animated GIF by @GumbyBlockhead

The main section of the garden features a large fields of each of watermelons, pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, and beets. To ensure good plant growth, I installed a lot of torches within the monument and also opened up the ceiling to sunlight by enclosing the top portion of the monument in glass.  Once the gardens were planted, I took some time to light up the exterior as well with some sea lanterns from a previous monument.

The end result looks beautiful from the nearby tower.

“Ocean Monument Garden, At Night,” capture by @GumbyBlockhead.

Here is a shot from another angle, showing the Ocean Monument, and the Gumby Tower located on the nearby isle. Joop’s Bountiful Tree is visible beside the tower.

"Ocean Monument Garden with Joop's Tree and the Gumby Tower," capture by @GumbyBlockhead

“Ocean Monument Garden with Joop’s Tree and the Gumby Tower,” capture by @GumbyBlockhead

I once spent the better part of a week clearing out an ocean monument with the intent of building a Guardian Grinder. Sadly the project was on a server that is no longer online, and so I only have screen captures of the progression. I’ll have to return and attempt that project on GumbyCraft, knowing that the world won’t be suddenly up and disappearing on me.

5th Annual Sign of the Times 2017 New Year’s Party

Please drop by on New Year’s Eve for the 5th Annual Sign of the Times event. The 2017 sign has been built, and plans are underway to celebrate the coming year with friends, fun, and fireworks! The event will begin at 7pm and run to 9pm. This year the event will be hosted on the Gumbycraft server, which now also hosts the  Creative and Survival worlds from the GamingEDUs Professional Play Server. If you were whitelisted on the Professional Play server, you should be able to easily join us! Login and simply take the portal from the Gumbycraft spawn direct to the Sign of the Times 2017 site.

End City Loot

End-City-Loot_Titled

With the arrival of the March Break, I have had a bit of time to explore the newly revised End that exists in the Minecraft 1.9 update.

After hopping and bridging my way from island of End stone to island of End Stone, I finally came upon an End City. I read up a bit on the new mob, the Shulker, and then engaged with the tower’s defenders. It took a while to sort out where they like to hide, but when all was said and done, they were history and I had a nice collection of End City loot. You can check out the receipts in the GIF above.

Since finding that first End City on Saturday evening, I’ve continued to explore and have since found three more towers. No sign of an End Ship yet, but the update is young.

Our Very Best Wishes to You as you Explore and Create in 2016

GamingEDUs_BestWishes2016_1200

Hey! It’s Phisagrim, Emily606, Technascribe, Jack1225, GumbyBlockhead, Terragrim, PraxisMaxis, and Liragrim!

We had a great get-together on the GamingEDUs Professional Play server to celebrate 2015 and welcome in 2016. Full details, with pictures and even some video to follow after a few hours of sleep to recuperate!

2016 Sign of the Times Party

2016-Sign-of-the-Times-INVITE

The 2016 Sign has been installed, and preparations are underway for the 2016 Sign of the Times celebration, scheduled for New Year’s Eve. This year, members of our community will be meeting in the Northeastern Reaches of the GamingEDUs Professional Play Server (in Survival) at Gumby’s newest build, The Red Castle.  You can join us by logging on and using /warp 2016Sign to get straight to the party. Things will be well underway by 8 PM Eastern Time.

Jack and Emma and CosmicDragon and Joop have all been lending a hand with getting things ready. Jack’s Snack Shack is back again, with the menu already posted. Emily has opened Emily’s Art Gallery right next door. We have a wonderful Viewing Area set up again this year, and Cosmic has started work laying out the wiring for the fireworks. Our Selfie-Station is in place in front of the sign, and we will be taking a group photo just before 8 pm, so be sure to be online a bit early!

New arrivals to The Red Castle may also be interested in undertaking a self-guided tour of the structure, which features a prototype sorting facility in the basement and an XP/ZombieDrop Farm just across the front yard. The recently-installed Pyramid Chickenatorium is housed beneath a nearby Desert Temple a short walk away.

As with our previous New Year’s celebrations in 2013, 2014, and 2015, the Sign of the Times: 2016 get-together promises to be a great event! Be sure to drop by! Party hats provided!

SPECIAL NOTE:  In addition to the Sign of the Times party at 8 pm, we are also hosting the first annual Great Wall of Gumby Marathon Run Event, commencing at 7 PM Eastern Time, one hour before the New Year’s event. To join the run, meet at the Circle Garden at Gumby’s HorsieField Castle. You can get their directly by joining us at /warp GumbyMarathon — arrive shortly before 7 pm so that you have time to get fed and hydrated before we head out. We’ll be running the complete perimeter of the Gumbian Empire atop The Great Wall. We’ll conclude by travelling back by boats from the far end of the wall via the ocean portion as demarked by The Sea Towers.

#BIT15 Minecraft LAN Party at bringITtogether.ca

BIT15_MinecraftLANparty

Conference attendees at the annual ECOO conference, Bring IT, Together! are in for a treat on the evening of Thursday, November 5th, 2015, as Gumby and other members of the GamingEDUs community will host their third annual Minecraft LAN Party in Niagara Falls.

The event get started at 8:30 pm and runs until midnight! Stop by Peller Estates Ballroom B at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls on November 5th, 2015 for some crazy Minecraft fun! Details in Lanyrd.com

Some More Sounds from April Fool’s Day

Well! I was going through my boom blocks recordings and I found this great tune! It is the “Mice on Venus” original piano song, with a wonderful sung accompaniment from April 1st, 2014.

Next up, I identified the epic tune that I enjoyed so much on April 1st. It is, of course, the theme song from the hit show, “Game of Thrones.”  What a wonderful complement to MineCraft. I’ll have to watch more than the first episode of season 1 some day!