The Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) turned into a gaming-geek haven as kids got a chance to learn secrets of every type of block in Minecraft. Alex Wiltshire, author of The Minecraft Blockopedia, and a computer games expert, took his audience on a block by block journey of the game yesterday (Thursday) at the fair on at the Expo Centre until November 14.Wiltshire started by explaining each type of blocks and their characteristics to help you build better and safe blocks. He said: “You have to beware of fire as it can jump to wooden blocks that are as far as four blocks away. If you look closely at the paintings, which you hang in your world, you’ll see they have other gaming characters, like street fighter. Here is a secret, you can copy these images and edit them and put your pictures into Minecraft.”In Blockopedia Wiltshire also explains how to grow grass in caves where sunlight does not reach by using torches after every five blocks, it just needs light so, “Keep it nice and bright,” he told the young audience, who had some complicated questions that surprised him.
Wiltshire was amused when a lot of hands flew in the air when he asked who in the audience knew about beacon in Minecraft. “It takes 1476 gold ore blocks, one of the 32 blocks for the pyramid that holds the beacon in the game, I am surprised you people have reached that level, it shows you have played Minecraft extensively,” he said.He also explained how to use Redstone Lamp block and Redstone block, that can go in the floor or ceiling for lighting rooms and locking doors.Wiltshire gave his 10 best tips to be a better player of Minecraft, however, only the experts like him and the children would understand most of them. To share few; falling with a bucket of water can save your life in the game, the best way to build in Minecraft is to build downwards and the gamer can escape a monster in the game if he just hides behind the sugarcane and there’s more but you’ll need Wiltshire’s book Minecraft Blockopedia to find out what.
Speaking about his participation in SIBF Alex said: “It has been a great privilege to be a part of the book fair here. Especially seeing that people are so engaged and the children really knew what I am talking about. It was really exciting to see they are interested in books.”In his book you will find detailed information about types of blocks, what they’re used for, how much light it gives off, whether it's flammable, how many blasts it can withstand and a bunch of other interesting statistics and trivia.Currently the Head of Communications at Sensible Object, an indie hardware game studio, Alex writes extensively for the media on videogames, design and technology matters. His work has appeared in the New Statesman, PC Gamer, Official Xbox Magazine and he now writes about technology for Dezeen. He has also co-curated a videogame exhibition for the V&A Museum in London.