ChunkShift.com

In survival Minecraft there’s a shift at some point from surviving to thriving.

The thriving stage is marked by item sorters and castles. In this post I’ll cover the later.

Less is more

As a new content creator (and compulsive castle builder) looking to showcase my castle building skills; I was determined to throw every feature I ever used into one castle.

I started a list, a long, long list.

The list of things to include in my castle quickly outgrew the limitations of a 1 chunk build (*many chunks).

There are two features that exceed the 1 chunk criteria. The motte (raised mound) and the counterweight drawbridge.

The motte was a natural part of the terrain generation and terraforming won’t be subject to 1 Chunk limitations as my other builds. The island itself is the boundary to keep that in check.

The drawbridge you can call cheating. Tell you friends to come complain in the comments. I could use the traffic.

The bridge it connects to is incomplete and won’t be staying cobblestone. If you can’t tell the pathway circles around and comes under the arch. A river will flow under the drawbridge itself.

Making the most of your space

Consider asymmetric layouts for 1 chunk builds. The limited space and even number of blocks within the 16 x 16 chunk make it difficult to build symmetrically.

The above demonstrates the benefit of the asymmetric approach. It allows for a decorated entrance path while minimizing the space lost for the rest of the build.

Angling for a headache

Diagonal builds in Minecraft are difficult. Its difficult in a game of squares to build windows and especially doorways that look good from all directions. So how do you break up the endless straight lines that make things look too Minecrafty?

By pushing walls onto slight angles you can use the building techniques you’ve already built and break up the endless straight lines. Pushing 1 block back every 3-7 blocks will improve your build. You can even keep your interior square if you’re using pillars (see above).

The south wall and the keep are both angled. The angle of the keep is somewhat hidden by the separation of the tallest living section and the lower defensive section.

3 things I didn’t want to cut from the build

I had 3 ideas I was set on including. A round window from my home base in simple, interlacing bricks on the corners (Quoins) and my prized battlements.

The round window in my home base in simple (my last play-through) was one of, if not my favourite, architectural design feature and I wanted to bring it into this world. I assumed that this castle; would provide a wall big enough to fit it.

It may be the case that this is a design feature that can’t make it into a 1 Chunk build. It’s a big feature at 9 blocks wide (including wood trim) and 5 blocks deep. You can see a battlement design I experimented with on the stone tower in the stained glass screenshot.

Dropping the interlocking corner bricks (Quoins) came as a surprise to me. While I knew the towers would be too small to include this feature I didn’t think the keep would be too small.

The angled sides of the build may add the visual noise; however, it’s just too small of a space to do this. The side of the keep facing the ocean is not angled and it looked more like a zipper than a wall.

This was the same reality with my buttressed battlements I have worked hard to refine over the years and many builds.

Texture texture everywhere

The multiple palettes was too much. I thought maybe it’s my style, maybe it’s something I change in the future, maybe it comes into it’s own as the town fills up around the castle.

I had to make the change. It’s the main reason I decided to delay this post to the end of the month rather than posting it on the 15th.

An aside on resource gathering

Manually mining iron from iron veins has comparable rates to a simple iron golem farm and ensures you’re well stocked on tuff. the farm does not. You may also find diamonds. This could be important if you recently shift clicked your diamond supply into an overstock of boots.

Mining quartz in the Nether is one of the best early game xp sources. Eventually you have to go too far from spawn to be worth while. But if you need to hit 30 fast it’s a great option. Especially if you’re low on quartz.

Exterior done interior to follow

With the exterior complete I’ll move on to some other projects while I chip away at the interior and courtyard.

Don’t include all your ideas and successes into a single build. I’m still over doing it with my texturing, details, and features in builds. But by taking out some of my staple build features I was able to produce something that I’m happier with than when they were included.

You might get 1 or 2 major features to communicate your build to its viewers. For my style this means the build is a caricature of a real life object with defining features on display disproportionately and other blocks there in a supporting role.

Subscribe if you don’t want to miss out on a post covering the interior. You can find the post where I write about getting started and share 6 defensive structures for your next castle.

Build stats

Real Life Days: 92

Minecraft Days: 271

Hours: 17.25

This build was a 1 chunk build, if you’d like to see more 1 chunk builds click here.