Minecraft: Island in the Sky
In my previous post about my first experiences in Minecraft, I mentioned I saw a floating island in the sky and I wanted to go there. Folks offered some ideas on how to reach it, and I decided it was my next goal!
I set about learning how ladders worked in this game. This is something I’m familiar with since I have done a whole lot of mining and building in 7D2D, and it has a similar ladder system. If you build a nice enclosed 1-block chute upwards or downwards, you’re pretty safe to stay on a ladder no matter how long you make it. So, I set about doing just that.
Of course, this didn’t come without a few casualties….
First, I built a little base in a hollowed cave area in the hillside up under the island. I moved my spawn spot there (since baddies seem to like to creep up on me while I was working), and this helped a whole lot.
I made a path up to the top of that hill and cleaned it up, lighting it as well as I could (thanks for the tips, everyone). Then, I built a little safe station from which my ladder-tower would extend. Surprisingly, I got it right where it needed to be up under the island, which I didn’t expect.
Block by block, I started to build upwards, making a safe chute with a ladder within. From time to time, I stuck a torch in the wall to keep it lit.
It wasn’t the prettiest construct, but it progressed slowly day by day.
It was neat to look upwards and try to judge how much closer I was inching to the bottom of the island.
…And watching the land grow smaller and further away…
….as the tower got taller…
I tell you, even in games I’m afraid of heights. I ended up putting away all the stuff in my bags except for building materials out of fear of falling and dying. I know nothing that terrible would happen, but man, this made me nervous.
Shakey hands. Sweaty palms.
I knew I was getting up there when I started seeing clouds going through my tower!
And then, suddenly… there it was! My tower had reached a connection to the bottom of the island! As I said, I couldn’t have planned it better — just a little more in any direction would have required me to build a platform to reach the island. This was the perfect spot to tunnel up at the very edge of one side.
But, when I pulled myself up on the ledge, I realized I was only on the bottom area of the island. I had a long way to go to reach the top, still.
Whelp. More ladders!
When I finally reached to top, it was night, so I lit the area up as much as I could and waited for the sun to rise.
The top of the island is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. But that’s okay. I can expand and build on it anyhow.
The tower I built is quite impressive from a distance… and most importantly, it’s safe.
The first thing I experimented with was creating a waterfall from the island, of course! XD
It even looks pretty awesome where it meets the ground.
I haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to build on top of the island yet, as this is as far as I’ve gotten. But reaching the island was a success, and I never even fell once! 🙂