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101 Awesome Builds

Minecraft Secrets from the World's Greatest 'Crafters

Triumph Books

Science Fiction

By: Rossky

This absolutely massive spaceship is meant to be in the vanguard of an attack and bristles with weapons, but what's interesting is that it started out as a small support ship. As Crafter Rossky continued to work on it, it just kept getting bigger, and the end result is the behemoth you see here. This is an excellent example of how a project can evolve organically, and a good reason to just go with whatever creative impulses take you when building! The Asgard Hybrid Battle Carrier is 1,084 blocks long, 253 wide, and 116 tall for a total of 1,145,695 blocks, which took Rossky four weeks to build.

THE CHARITY

By: ImACow

There ain't much that's cooler than a futuristic sky city, and one with a full-on fantasy castle hanging from it? That's just about the coolest it gets. Built for a contest, ImACow and friends initially were going for an Arabic-inspired build, and then added on the idea of the future sky city to make it even cooler. The concept here is that Steve (the main character of Minecraft) decided to rescue the city of Arcadia by attaching a big ole space city to it and carrying it off into the sky (though he had to knock down most of the main tower to do so). The story goes quite a bit farther than that, and in fact you can actually read it in its entirety at the link for The Charity on Planet Minecraft. This extreme attention to detail goes even farther with this build, extending to the creators slaving over every facet of the inside and outside of the build, and they say that players should press every button they see in here, as they almost all perform some kind of cool effect. To give you an idea of how hard these guys worked on The Charity, ImACow says, "[I] even remembered my group and I spending 15 minutes debating between putting a birch or oak sapling on a pot in a secluded area." Now that's commitment!

CONXUNTO DE VENTO – THE HANGING CITY

By: Huggers

A fantastically inventive city from another time, or perhaps another planet, Conxunto features livable pods hung by chains from a large central spire. According to the builder Huggers, the 56 houses and 16 shops were left empty for players to fill up with their own decorations and items, and there is a Wheat farm and 9 parks for people to enjoy. Of particular note here in terms of building is the attention to detail on chains; Huggers even went so far as to include weights at the end of them, which while not needed in Minecraft (as there is no wind to move the blocks), lends a sense of reality to the whole build.

FUTURISTIC CITY

By: MCFRArchitect

Recreating realistic-looking buildings is an impressive feat, but culling forth a new, fresh style of architecture and then implementing it on a huge scale is something else altogether. Throw in a complete concept like Futuristic City's five districts across as many islands, and you've got a build that truly stands out. The sweeping, cutout filled designs of these buildings are quite inventive, and the whole thing has a very organized and thought-through aesthetic that makes it a treat to explore. And with a city center, residential area, stadium, university, and even a spaceport, it'll be a while before you see all of this enormous build!

HYDROS

By: MicroMega

Some builds have such a giant scope and realized architecture that they actually can give you a bit of real-world vertigo. Hydros is one of these, as when you dive into the water from which its many complexes and buildings emerge, you really can get a sense of something huge looming just next to you. The idea of building something under water is nothing new in Minecraft, but rarely has it been completed on this scale or this creatively. Using a style that's part sci-fi, part Gothic-inspired, and even a little fantastical, builder MicroMega has created a lavishly detailed rendering of their idea of what the city of the future could look like, and even has gone so far as to add realistic details like an Opera house and a building dedicated to producing food for the whole city. The vistas on this one are really magnificent, and it even looks stunning at night, with all those buildings glowing in the water.

IRATION THE SUBMARINE CITY

By: loki0841

Initially built on the WoK server in the Beachtown area, Iration the Submarine City is meant to glide through the oceans. "Like a ghost under water, it's travelling silently in the oceans, hiding from the rest of the world." It's even built to be undetectable from both radar and sonar, and it is self-sustaining. Having this kind of a high concept when going into a build is a great idea, as it can really direct where the build goes. In this case, while the outside of Iration is all sleek and utilitarian, the inside is quite pleasing and feels like a cross between a cruise ship, a mall, and a fancy modern home. We think we'd be more than okay with living inside Iration!

SKY INN

By: CyRRaXxHD

Most of our steampunk stuff goes in the fantasy section, since the aesthetic and tech are more of an older design than the other builds here, but the neatly designed Sky Inn goes here primarily because of what (fictionally) powers it to float serenely above the waters that it travels across. Those would be the four quantum reactors that sit at the bottom of the Inn, which most certainly are some high-tech science fiction. Using some mods to get the sun and the waves looking more realistic, this build really does feel like a nice spot for weary travelers to rest on their journeys across the sea, and that the interiors are all done up as well is, as always, a very nice touch that gives the build depth and life. You can see the influence of the game that inspired this build, Bioshock Infinite, but it still manages to be something all its own through the personal touches put on by builder CyRRaXxHD.

OCEAN FUTURE OF MANKIND

By: Waterijsje

Inspired by highly futuristic concepts of self-sustaining underwater/space cities, the Future of Mankind is a giant underwater hall filled with structures that represent resource collectors and water purifiers. It kind of has a Dune water collector/Halo ring city/Arthur C. Clake space capsule city thing going on, but with a very contemporary and bright design, using many beiges and warm colors on big, clean spaces to create a build that looks stunning when you use shaders to give it shadows and better lightning. Though there's not much to actually do in this build, it is very big (1,000 blocks long) and quite beautiful, and the construction is a bit more abstract than many of the other sci-fi builds in this book in a way that really works for it.

P.I.E. PLANT INVESTIGATION EXPERIMENTS

By: CrashCraftPro (VigourBuilds)

P.I.E. isn't a building, it's a machine, and one with a story and a purpose. The P.I.E. is designed to travel the world and reside temporarily where there are rare plants, on which its massive frame does experiments in order to try and find a way to save the world. Alternatively, its crew of six technicians and scientists is trying to find a plant that can produce more oxygen to use in a space station, so that the people of Earth can leave their doomed planet. With the apocalypse still decades away, P.I.E. spends 10 years in each location before moving on to the next, and in the interim its precious cargo and expensive frame is protected by 15 mini helicopters from would-be raiders. Perhaps even more impressive than the thoroughly rich and unique concept for this build is that it was created by one single builder using no outside software, something rare for a build of this size and detail.

TEWERAN SURVIVAL GAMES 3

By: Rubikapulla, Mickare, LueckeFelix, Scorchy91, Kellerbier, Kime8, DJpaulii, RRMonty, Carp_13, Assikuh, _Tenku_, WizardBlockHD

Teweran is a map found on the Hive server, one of the more popular Minecraft servers online, and it's probably both the best Survival Games-style map and the best future city we've ever seen in the game. For those unfamiliar, the Survival Games is a mode of play that essentially recreates the rules from The Hunger Games movies and books in Minecraft, with a group of players starting in the city with no items or weapons and having to then battle each other until just one is left. Teweran is insanely detailed, full of secret Chests and all manner of buildings and decorations. Unlike most city builds, it even goes so far as to realistically include a small "countryside" of plains and landscapes, giving it a very complete and believable feel.

Fantasy and Ancient

By: Whisper974

Maybe this is from a mythical eastern-inspired world, or maybe it's an ancient temple in Thailand itself, but either way there's something quite magical about this build that sits serenely in the deep jungle. Builder Whisper974 says that this creation was inspired by eating in a Thai restaurant, which just tells you that inspiration for something great is everywhere! The curves on the roof here are particularly nice, as is the fact that a nice stone base was created for the whole thing to sit on. We also love the trees, under which you can find all sorts of nice details like little extra huts. For being such a calm, peaceful looking place, it might surprise you that this map was actually made to be used for PvP, but on second look we can totally see a battle ragin' across this beautiful structure and the land it sits on.

AANDOVALE GROVE

By: Aandolaf

Nature in a giant valley with a large structure was the thought behind Aandovale Grove, which features magnificent columned structures covered in greenery commanding said valley, which is lush itself. There are some really lovely architectural elements in this, which sorta take Greek architectural elements from the ancient past and amplify them into something fantastical with a bit of a Rivendell/Minas Tirith Lord of the Rings thing goin' on, too. The hanging homes and lanterns in the towering trees are nice touches, and they, along with the rest of the build, are a must-see at night as well.

AQUOSIA TEMPLE OF THE WATER GOD

By: mkisner328

The full beauty of this already gorgeous floating temple build is only revealed if you know the secret, but don't worry, we'll let you in on it. All you gotta do is hang out between the angels at the top of the Temple and wait for night to fall, and then Water will flow from the angels and through the air in a beautiful spiral, something that would seem impossible even in Minecraft. The trick to this impressive build is that there are "invisible blocks" that hold up the Water, something that not many builds incorporate because they take a lot of work. The Water is activated with Daylight Sensors that release it when the sun goes down. Crazy as that is, the angel part of the Temple is just part of this build that soars into the sky, so if you check it out, make sure to peep below the angels as well so you get the full effect.

AVARICIA

By: Schnogot

Good jumpin' jackrabbits this is a pretty build. The cohesiveness and balance of the overall design is astounding to begin with, but it's in the decorative details like the many arches, buttresses, the texturing on the walls, and the use of the green as a secondary color bring this build from great to stupendous. If that weren't enough, the innards of this city are just as painstakingly crafted, as is the "wild beach" and the island-dotted lake that it features. Even cooler, it's set up to be a PvP map with a secret treasure, with the idea being that 24 people take each other on in this map while seeking treasure and weapons. Only one can leave, and as Schnogot asks on Planet Minecraft, "Will it be you?"

BERYL LOCH

By: QuikFox

Most forts and castles in Minecraft are of the epic, sweeping fantasy style, similar to the Disney castle or those of famous TV shows and movies. In real life, there are all manner of forts and castles, and the architecture of each depends on the time period it was built in and the people who built it. Many forts around the dark ages were much smaller and more compact than those we typically see in Minecraft, being built with scant resources and labor and being entirely for defense, not looks. That's the case for Beryl Loch, about which creator QuikFox says, "I wanted to make this fort very simple and square as the lore for it places it very early in the history of the world. It would be one of the very first castles built and as such it wouldn't be too decorative or effective right away." There is a large amount of story to this build, in fact, the whole of which involves a paranoid emperor and can be found at the Planet Minecraft page.

THE CARMINE BODEGA ON THE ALABASTER COAST

By: QuikFox

QuikFox is just so good at building ancient-inspired fantasy structures that there are rich, deeply thought-out backstories for each excellent structure. Here's an excerpt from the Planet Minecraft page on The Carmine Bodega: "The Alabaster Coast is best known for the Carmine Bodega perched upon its seaside cliffs, known far and wide for its beautiful architecture. This specific region has never been officially named as it is, technically, part of the Stonehollow Vale, however it has become known as the Alabaster Coast because of the brilliant white of its seaside cliffs. The Carmine Bodega is, in essence, a huge market with almost no permanent residents. It is, effectively split into three different areas, the Inner Market for specialty and luxury goods, the Outer Market for mid-range goods, and the Lower Outer Market for common goods and supplies. Traders and merchants gather here to sell their wares and goods to each other. The market is so massive in importance that anything a person could desire is either found here or could be contracted to be obtained; nothing is seemingly unavailable."

CASTLE HILL

By: Aandolaf

If QuikFox is all about the more realistic-looking, if still fantastical, builds, Aandolaf has made a name for their giant structures that run closer to the fantasy stereotype, though they're still just as impressively detailed and even beautiful. In fact, Aandolaf says that the inspiration for this castle came partly from the castle that inspired that of Sleeping Beauty, known as the Neuschwanstein Castle. Inspiration was also drawn from the Butrón Castle, a real Spanish castle originally built in the Middle Ages, but restructured in the late 1800s to its now iconic look.

THE CAVERN OF NAKETH

By: Turbo_Cass

Underground cities and structures are quite popular subjects for creations in Minecraft, which makes a lot of sense considering that the game naturally spawns caves into the world that make for great building locations. Some people, however, take things to the extreme by creating some truly epic underground sprawls like The Cavern of NaKeth. The story for this build, and there is a pretty complex one, is that Steve found the Cavern on his explorations and began documenting the "elf-like beings, who call themselves Ateryians" he found there. The massive trees in this cave are worshipped by the Ateryians, and the biggest of all, NaKeth, is their main deity and the namesake of the Cavern itself. Certainly one of the best realized cave builds, and a really fun one to explore.

CASTELLUM ROMANORUM

By: edsinger

Server hubs come in all shapes, sizes, and even time periods, this one being a sort of ancient Roman/fantasy castle-inspired build. It's a very big hub, and one that could house a lot of portals to different parts of a server, and it has a very mature look to it that many hubs don't. The domes and the textured walls are particularly nice, and there's some very cool detailing in the water with some underwater columns.

CLOUDHAVEN

By: lynchyinc

Cityships are another genre of building that you'll see here and there on Minecraft sites, as is steampunk (something you'll see all the time), but CloudHaven is almost definitely the most jam-packed ship we've ever seen that still looks like it was professionally designed. It almost looks like a creature, like some sort of fish robot swimming through the sky, but in the "reality" of the build it's an old mining ship that, after a catastrophe known as the "Void Storm" took away all of the land in the world, CloudHaven was converted to a cityship with other 1,000 "traders, skylords, merchants, smugglers, pirates and proletariat alike" living on it. There is a cool set of challenges associated with this map, mostly based around trying to survive and finding things in the ship like the treasury room, which is a cool twist on the standard steampunk sky map.

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Excerpted from 101 Awesome Builds by Trevor Talley, Barry Macdonald, Jackson Fast, Joe Funk. Copyright © 2015 Triumph Books LLC. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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