The Spawn Chunks 256: Resisting Perfection
Joel, and Jonny stick their noses into the idea of a spell book in Minecraft, answer listener email about the challenges of translating urban architecture into blocks, and discuss the pleasures, and pitfalls of perfectionism in Minecraft.
Joel Duggan
Pixlriffs
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Joel
- The Citadel – Westhill
- Added more texture, and details to the cooper shop in the east part of town, near the Westhill River.
- The Citadel – Fixing Cooper Details (Twitch.tv/joelduggan)
- Started adding texture, and details to the exterior walls of the Westhill keep.
- The Citadel – Westhill Keep Details – Part 1 (Twitch.tv/joelduggan)
- The Citadel – Westhill Keep Details – Part 2 (Twitch.tv/joelduggan)
- Added more texture, and details to the cooper shop in the east part of town, near the Westhill River.
Jonny
- The Minecraft Survival Guide, Season 3
- With the main gaming, and editing PC still out for repairs, there hasn’t been any progress on The Minecraft Survival Guide.
- First thing on the agenda when things are back up and running will be gathering up some horses, and potentially a camel before those modes of transportation become obsolete through progress.
- A blacksmith’s house will need to be built around the super smelter build.
- A search for sniffer eggs might be in order to breed, and raise sniffers while still in the early stages of the game.
Chunk Mail
FROM: Kija
DISCORD MEMBER: Landscape Artist Member
SUBJECT: Building The Real World
Howdy Pix and Joel,
On your newest episode (Ep. 255) Pix presented a question about block picking from the real world. I moved to a brand new city at the beginning of the year for university and it has been refreshing to see new buildings around where I now live. During the spring when I cycled to my university on the waterfront, I started paying more attention to the architecture, how something was built, and I started getting inspired.
There are a couple of older factories built in the 1900s that have inspired me to incorporate more bricks into my builds. I look for alleyways, how they look, and how I could maybe incorporate something like that into Minecraft. I’m also constantly on the lookout for nice colour palettes wherever I am. Looking at the real buildings, and the surrounding area where I live has definitely given me numerous ideas for future builds.
Kija was impaled by drowned while trying to figure out how to build curves in the middle of an ocean.
- City Beautiful (YouTube Channel)
- An Urban Planner Reviews Minecraft Cities (YouTube/CityBeautiful)
- City Beautiful is a YouTube channel dedicated to educating everyone about cities and city planning. Cities are amazing! I cover topics such as transportation, land use planning, and urban design.
- City Planner Plays (YouTube Channel)
- Join me and see how my planning experience has influenced the way I play City Builders!
FROM: JayDBuilds
SUBJECT: Spell Books
Hello Jonny, and Joel,
I was listening to your discussion about potion brewing in Episode 255, particularly about how there really aren’t many in-game clues for recipes of potions, and it made me think of this potential solution: What if in witch huts, a player could find a chiseled bookshelf, with a Witch’s Spell Book on the shelf?
In a Witch’s Spell Book, a player would find picture recipes for a specific potion, or perhaps a partial potion with a “?” or missing ingredient for the player to experiment with to complete the recipe. A witch hut could spawn with one or maybe two spell books with a different potion recipe in each book. I think this would fit in with the 1.20 exploration factor, giving the witch hut an update in the process. For players who never remember potion recipes it would be helpful, and maybe there could be an achievement for collecting all the spell books.
I know I would love to display a collection of spell books in my apothecary! Would love to hear your thoughts on this idea!
JayDBuilds first ever survival mode death years ago was to a witch, but even though they still scare him he’d go witch hut raiding for spell books!
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Perfectionism In Minecraft
Joel, and Jonny discuss the pleasures, and pitfalls of perfectionism when playing Minecraft, when to lean into it, and when to step away. Sparked by an email from listener Joseph J., Joel, and Jonny confess to their perfectionist tendencies, how they embrace them, and what reasoning they use when it’s time to move on.
FROM: Joseph J.
SUBJECT: Perfectionism When Playing Minecraft
Greetings, Joel & Pix! Hope you are both having an amazing day!
I’ve been playing Minecraft for over five years now but recently I’ve developed the need to be a perfectionist when playing. I am in no way a perfectionist in real life.
For instance, I feel the need to make one side of a branch mine identical to the other so that it will be aesthetically pleasing, or when a creeper blows up I feel the need to patch the hole in returning the terrain to how it was when it was first generated or my world feels tainted, and has lost its natural beauty.
The main thing I’m a perfectionist about is building. When I’m designing a build, I never know when to stop designing it because I want the build to be perfect. Because I want my builds – and my worlds in general – to be perfect, I can never settle for “good enough”. If I feel like my world isn’t perfect, even if I’ve spent endless hours working on it, I end up starting a new world. I know these thoughts, and actions are irrational, and that there is no such thing as a “Perfect Minecraft World.” I’ve been trying to change my mindset, but I figured why not ask you guys?
So, how do you both deal with perfectionism when playing Minecraft? How does one overcome the need to be a “perfect Minecraft player,” and when is a build good enough?
I’ve been listening to your guy’s podcast since the beginning of 2023 and I’m LOVING it so far! Thank you both so much, and keep up the amazing work!
Joseph was blown up by a creeper while trying to perfectly patch an old creeper hole.
