Adventures in Minecraft Second Edition

Offers aspiring Minecraft programmers step-by-step instructions on extending the game experience through programming projects that include building intelligent objects, creating alien invasions, and writing interactive games.-- Source other than Library of Congress Introduction 1What Is Minecraft? 1The Virtual World 1How Did Minecraft Come About? 2What Is Minecraft Programming? 2Who Should Read This Book? 3What You Will Learn 4What We Assume You Already Know 5What You Will Need for the Projects 5A Note for Parents and Teachers 6Changes Made to the Second Edition 7How This Book Is Organised 7The Companion Website 9Other Sources of Help 9Conventions 10Reaching Out 12Adventure 1 Hello Minecraft World 13Setting Up Your Raspberry Pi to Program Minecraft 15Downloading the Starter Kit 16Starting Minecraft on Your Raspberry Pi 17Setting Up Your PC or Apple Mac to Program Minecraft 18Installing the Starter Kit and Python on Your Windows PC 19Installing the Starter Kit and Python on Your Apple Mac 21Starting Minecraft on Your Windows PC or Apple Mac 23Stopping the Minecraft Server 27Creating a Program 27Running a Program 30Stopping a Program 33Adventure 2 Tracking Your Players as They Move 35Sensing Your Player's Position 36Getting Started 37Showing Your Player's Position 39Tidying Up Your Position Display 41Using postToChat to Change Where Your Position Displays 43Introducing a Game Loop 43Building the Welcome Home Game 46Using if Statements to Make a Magic Doormat 46Checking if Your Player Is at a Particular Location 47Building a Magic Doormat 49Writing the Welcome Home Game 49Using Geo?Fencing to Charge Rent 53Working Out the Corner Coordinates of the Field 54Writing the Geo?Fence Program 56Moving Your Player 59Further Adventures in Tracking Your Player 62Adventure 3 Building Anything Automatically 65Creating Blocks 66Building More Than One Block 68Using for Loops 69Building Multiple Blocks with a for Loop 70Building a Huge Tower with a for Loop 71Clearing Some Space 73Using setBlocks to Build Even Faster 73Reading Input from the Keyboard 74Building a House 76Building More Than One House 82Using Python Functions 82Building a Street of Houses with a for Loop 86Adding Random Carpets 87Generating Random Numbers 88Laying the Carpets 89Further Adventures in Building Anything 92Adventure 4 Interacting with Blocks 95Finding Out What You Are Standing On 96Finding Out if Your Feet Are on the Ground 96Building Magic Bridges 99Using Python Lists as Magic Memory 102Experimenting with Lists 102Building Vanishing Bridges with a Python List 105Sensing That a Block Has Been Hit 109Writing a Treasure Hunt Game 112Writing the Functions and the Main Game Loop 113Placing Treasure in the Sky 114Collecting Treasure When It Is Hit 115Adding a Homing Beacon 116Adding Your Bridge Builder 117Further Adventures in Interacting with Blocks 119Adventure 5 Using Data Files 121Reading Data from a File 121Interesting Things You Can Do with Data Files 122Making a Hint?Giver 122Building Mazes from a Data File 126Understanding CSV Files 127Building a Maze 128Building a 3D Block Printer 134Hand?Crafting a Small Test Object to 3D Print 134Writing the 3D Printer 137Building a 3D Block Scanner 140Building a Duplicating Machine 144Writing the Framework of the Duplicating Machine Program 144Displaying the Menu 148Building the Duplicator Room 149Demolishing the Duplicator Room 149Scanning from the Duplicator Room 151Cleaning the Duplicator Room 152Printing from the Duplicator Room 153Listing Files 154Further Adventures in Data Files 157Adventure 6 Building 2D and 3D Structures 159The minecraftstuff Module 160Creating Lines, Circles and Spheres 161Drawing Lines 162Drawing Circles 164Drawing Spheres 165Creating a Minecraft Clock 166Drawing Polygons 172Pyramids 175Further Adventures with 2D and 3D Shapes 179Adventure 7 Giving Blocks a Mind of Their Own 181Your Block Friend 181Using Random Numbers to Make Your Block Friend More Interesting 188Bigger Shapes 191Alien Invasion 194Further Adventures in Simulation 200Adventure 8 Building a Game Controller with a BBC micro:bit 203What You Need for This Adventure 204What Is a BBC micro:bit? 204Understanding Inputs and Outputs 205Using Your BBC micro:bit as a Game Controller 206Setting Up Your Computer to Connect to Your BBC micro:bit 207Plugging In Your BBC micro:bit 207Loading the Game Controller Code onto Your BBC micro:bit 208Hello BBC micro:bit 209Sensing Button Presses 210Using Your BBC micro:bit Display 211The Magic Doormat Revisited 212Developing the Magic Doormat Program 212Designing Your Own Icon for the Display 213Making a Detonator 215Attaching a Banana to Your BBC micro:bit 215Sensing Touch Inputs 216Writing the Detonator Program 217Writing a Ball?Rolling Game 220Building the Structure of the Program 221Adding a Button and a Countdown 224Building the Game 225Sensing Tilt Movements with Your BBC micro:bit 227Moving the Ball When You Tilt Your BBC micro:bit 230Collecting Items from the Table 232Finishing the Game Play 233Adding a Time Penalty for Falling into a Hole 234Further Adventures with Your BBC micro:bit Game Controller 236Adventure 9 The Big Adventure: Crafty Crossing 239A Game within a Game 239Part 1: Building the Arena 241Part 2: Creating the Obstacles 245The Wall 245Building the River 251Creating the Holes 254Part 3: Game Play 258Starting the Game 259Collecting Diamonds 261Out of Time 263Tracking the Player 265Setting the Level as Complete and Calculating Points 266Adding the Game Over Message 267Part 4: Adding a Button and Display 268Set Up the BBC micro:bit 268Countdown Clock 269Diamonds to Collect 270Further Adventures in Your Continuing Journey with Minecraft 271Appendix A Where to Go from Here 273Websites 273Minecraft 273Python 275Others 276Other Ways to Make Things Happen Automatically 276Projects and Tutorials 277Videos 278Books 279Appendix BQuick Reference 281Glossary 291Index 295

Learn valuable programming skills while building your own Minecraft adventure!

If you love playing Minecraft and want to learn how to code and create your own mods, this book was designed just for you. Working within the game itself, you'll learn to set up and run your own local Minecraft server, interact with the game on PC, Mac and Raspberry Pi, and develop Python programming skills that apply way beyond Minecraft. You'll learn how to use coordinates, how to change the player’s position, how to create and delete blocks and how to check when a block has been hit.

The adventures aren't limited to the virtual - you'll also learn how to connect Minecraft to a BBC micro:bit so your Minecraft world can sense and control objects in the real world! The companion website gives you access to tutorial videos to make sure you understand the book, starter kits to make setup simple, completed code files, and badges to collect for your accomplishments. Written specifically for young people by professional Minecraft geeks, this fun, easy-to-follow guide helps you expand Minecraft for more exciting adventures, and put your personal stamp on the world you create. Your own Minecraft world will be unlike anyone else's on the planet, and you'll pick up programming skills that will serve you for years to come on other devices and projects. Among other things, you will:

• Write Minecraft programs in Python® on your Mac®, PC or Raspberry Pi®
• Build houses, structures, and make a 3D duplicating machine
• Build intelligent objects and program an alien invasion
• Build huge 2D and 3D structures like spheres and pyramids
• Build a custom game controller using a BBC micro:bit™
• Plan and write a complete interactive arena game

Adventures in Minecraft teaches you how to make your favourite game even better, while you learn to program by customizing your Minecraft journey.

Here's your ticket to a world of adventures with Minecraft and programming. Learn how to extend Minecraft and create a new gaming experience, by exploring the magical world of Minecraft programming. Adventures in Minecraft, like other books in the highly successful Adventures series, is written especially for 11- to 15-year-olds. With this book you will learn new programming skills while having fun with Minecraft! Minecraft programming experts David Whale and Martin O'Hanlon walk you step-by-step through everything you need to know to: Get started writing Minecraft programs in Python on your PC, Mac, or Raspberry Pi Build houses and other structures in the blink of an eye, and make a 3D duplicating machine Write interactive games like a field that charges you rent, and a treasure hunt using magic vanishing bridges Build custom game control panels using simple electronic circuits Easily build huge 2D and 3D structures such as spheres and pyramids Build intelligent objects like a massive Minecraft clock, and program an alien invasion Plan and write a complete interactive arena game Using the programming skills you learn from this book, writing Minecraft programs offers endless possibilities to create anything you can imagine. To make your journey that much easier, the Adventures in Minecraft companion website supplies you with a video for each adventure in the book, downloadable code files, helpful programming reference tables, a bonus adventure, and badges to collect for your Minecraft accomplishments. By day, David Whale and Martin O'Hanlon are software engineers who design computer products. By night, they play Minecraft and develop exciting new programs that interact with the Minecraft world. They both work regularly with young people in schools, computing clubs and at community events, giving talks about Minecraft programming and running programming workshops.--Amazon.com Learn valuable programming skills while building your own Minecraft adventure! If you love playing Minecraft and want to learn how to code and create your own mods, this book was designed just for you. Working within the game itself, you'll learn to set up and run your own local Minecraft server, interact with the game on PC, Mac and Raspberry Pi, and develop Python programming skills that apply way beyond Minecraft. You'll learn how to use coordinates, how to change the player's position, how to create and delete blocks and how to check when a block has been hit. The adventures aren't limited to the virtual – you'll also learn how to connect Minecraft to a BBC micro:bit so your Minecraft world can sense and control objects in the real world! The companion website gives you access to tutorial videos to make sure you understand the book, starter kits to make setup simple, completed code files, and badges to collect for your accomplishments. Written specifically for young people by professional Minecraft geeks, this fun, easy-to-follow guide helps you expand Minecraft for more exciting adventures, and put your personal stamp on the world you create. Your own Minecraft world will be unlike anyone else's on the planet, and you'll pick up programming skills that will serve you for years to come on other devices and projects. Among other things, you will: Write Minecraft programs in Python® on your Mac®, PC or Raspberry Pi® Build houses, structures, and make a 3D duplicating machine Build intelligent objects and program an alien invasion Build huge 2D and 3D structures like spheres and pyramids Build a custom game controller using a BBC micro:bitTM Plan and write a complete interactive arena game Adventures in Minecraft teaches you how to make your favourite game even better, while you learn to program by customizing your Minecraft journey. Annotation Arduino programming for the absolute beginner, with project-based learning"Adventures in Arduino" is the beginner's guide to Arduino programming, designed specifically for 11-to 15-year olds who want to learn about Arduino, but don't know where to begin. Starting with the most basic concepts, this book coaches you through nine great projects that gradually build your skills as you experiment with electronics. The easy-to-follow design and clear, plain-English instructions make this book the ideal guide for the absolute beginner, geared toward those with no computing experience. Each chapter includes a video illuminating the material, giving you plenty of support on your journey to electronics programming.Arduino is a cheap, readily available hardware development platform based around an open source, programmable circuit board. Combining these chips with sensors and servos allows you to gain experience with prototyping as you build interactive electronic crafts to bring together data and even eTextiles. "Adventures in Arduino" gets you started on the path of scientists, programmers, and engineers, showing you the fun way to learn electronic programming and interaction design. Discover how and where to begin Arduino programming Develop the skills and confidence to tackle other projects Make the most of Arduino with basic programming concepts Work with hardware and software to create interactive electronic devicesThere's nothing like watching your design come to life and interact with the real world, and Arduino gives you the capability to do that time and again. The right knowledge combined with the right tools can create an unstoppable force of innovation, and your curiosity is the spark that ignites the flame. "Adventures in Arduino" gets you started on the right foot, but the path is totally up to you. Arduino programming for the absolute beginner, with project-based learning Adventures in Arduino is the beginner's guide to Arduino programming, designed specifically for 11-to 15-year olds who want to learn about Arduino, but don't know where to begin. Starting with the most basic concepts, this book coaches you through nine great projects that gradually build your skills as you experiment with electronics. The easy-to-follow design and clear, plain-English instructions make this book the ideal guide for the absolute beginner, geared toward those with no computing experience. Each chapter includes a video illuminating the material, giving you plenty of support on your journey to electronics programming. Arduino is a cheap, readily available hardware development platform based around an open source, programmable circuit board. Combining these chips with sensors and servos allows you to gain experience with prototyping as you build interactive electronic crafts to bring together data and even eTextiles. Adventures in Arduino gets you started on the path of scientists, programmers, and engineers, showing you the fun way to learn electronic programming and interaction design. Discover how and where to begin Arduino programming Develop the skills and confidence to tackle other projects Make the most of Arduino with basic programming concepts Work with hardware and software to create interactive electronic devices There's nothing like watching your design come to life and interact with the real world, and Arduino gives you the capability to do that time and again. The right knowledge combined with the right tools can create an unstoppable force of innovation, and your curiosity is the spark that ignites the flame. Adventures in Arduino gets you started on the right foot, but the path is totally up to you. Dive deep into Minecraft and see where adventure leads... Adventures in Minecraft, 2nd Edition is your ticket to discovery in the world of Minecraft! Written specifically for 11-15 year-olds who want to learn how to code, this book teaches you what you need to know to get started. Beginning with the simplest, most basic tasks involved with setting up Minecraft, each of the nine projects will build skill upon skill until you're planning and writing your own interactive games! It doesn't feel like learning when you're having so much fun, but you'll be developing skills that will be with you for life. No experience? No problem! These projects are designed to teach you the basics before moving into more complicated tasks. It's about more than just playing Minecraft; it's about understanding the basic concepts that apply to any programming project. You'll learn some Python programming, but more importantly, you'll understand how programming works , and you'll...