The first new addition that I would like to discuss are item frames. These handy tools are pretty much paintings – but with an actual function. To craft item frames, simply use 8 Wooden Sticks to create a border around some Leather. To older players, Items Frames look like Paintings at first, but upon right clicking the item frame with an object, the object will remain inside the item frame. Once within the item frame, the object can have its orientation changed however the player would like. Upon being destroyed, the item frame will drop its self, as well as the item (if any) that was originally placed within it. So now your storage area can be upgraded – instead of having signs representing an object, you can now place item frames which drastically improve your ability to search through your storage area, since they are more visual. In conclusion, item frames are a great new addition to Minecraft and will be very handy throughout many projects Minecrafters may have.

Quick Facts

• In some older Snapshots, item frames despawned when the player was more than 20 blocks away (this has since been fixed)
• Upon placing an enchanted item in the item frame, the object will appear unenchanted
• Clocks can be placed within item frames, and at the same time, update themselves
• item frames first appeared in Snapshot 12w34a
• Although the item frames appear flat, the objects within it seems to “pop out” of the frame

Beacons

Ever want to have the effects of a Potion, without wasting time crafting one? I have a solution for you. Beacons are one of the newest items in the game, and boy, are they hard to get. To craft one, you firstly have to obtain a Nether Star, and this can only be done through slaying the almost-impossible Wither boss (previously discussed in this series). After that, place 5 glass blocks around the top of the Nether Start in a Crafting Table, then place 3 Obsidian blocks as a base. Here comes another difficult part. You have to obtain (at the minimum) 9 full blocks of either Diamond, Gold, Emerald, or Iron, then place them in a pyramid shape around the Nether Star. There are four possible arrangements, which can be achieved through increasing the number of blocks in the base of the pyramid. The larger the pyramid, the more effects can be applied. After this, you must right click on the Beacon block, and put either an iron ingot, a gold ingot, an emerald or a diamond into the interface.  Now, the Beacon will emit a large beam of light into the sky, and you can choose what effect you would like to have. Yeah, that’s all you get. The Beacon only allows you to have its effect is you are very close by to it, and apart from that, it doesn’t really have any other function. The verdict on this one? I’m going to have to go ahead and say that this isn’t currently worthwhile trying out (unless you are in Creative mode) because of the huge amount of resources it requires. It could be helpful – if it didn’t require a Nether Star and other costly blocks.

Quick Facts

• The Beacon’s texture was changed in Snapshot 12w38a so that edges appeared to be the same color as Diamonds, even though they are not required when crafting a Beacon
• Although Diamond, Gold, Emerald, or Iron can be used when creating a pyramid for the Beacon, Lapis Lazuli blocks cannot
• If you destroy a Beacon while a resource was being used, the resource currently won’t be dropped
• The beacon block does not despawn until the chunk that it is in is unloaded
• Multiple pyramids can share their blocks as well, which can reduce the strain on resources when building these structures

Conclusion

In the next article in this series, I am going to be discussing the newly added Command Blocks, and more mechanics, as well. The question I have for you this time is: Beacons are obviously too expensive to craft, but, what materials should it cost instead? As always, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next article in this Series tomorrow.