skinandbones13: I tried to get into this game but all that happens is I manage to dig a big hole in some dirt, then it gets dark and I get attacked by a bunch of creatures or zombies. Is there something I'm missing? Any good beginner's guides people can recommend?
I never used any beginners guide when I first started in 1.0.3 which was way back in 2011. But I can tell you a few practical tips if that helps.
1. first thing to do is chop down alot of trees and collect the wood that drops and kills any slimes that come near use your axe or pick to attack, the sword you start with is useless.
2. find a nice even patch of ground and start building a basic house, nothing too fancy just four outer walls using the wood you harvested make sure you leave a space about 3 tiles big for a door. Now click esc and scroll through the little list to the far left this is your crafting window, scroll through it till you find "work bench" craft that and place it on the ground and move in front of it.
3. now with your remaining wood make the following and if you run out and have time left before night fall get some more wood : A door, at least two torches(slime gel+wood) a chair, wood walls. Place the door in the opening you made and place the chair where ever, now fill in the background of your house with the wood wall this prevents mobs from spawning inside of it and place the torches inside.
If you have any wood left over make a wooden broadsword(or is it just a wood sword?) as again the sword you start with is useless as it has shit range and some wood armor so you have some defense cactus from the desert(pending if you have one close enough to you to get too) can also be used to make armor and a sword, not much but some. if you don't have enough and it's getting dark just hold off till the day time or make some torches and start going underground for a bit to kill time.
Anyway if your house is set up right you will be notified that someone has moved in. This is you first NPC the guide, he can tell you what you can make with any item you show him by clicking on him and then his crafting option and placing the object in the space provided. He can also give you some minor tips and the occasional nudge in the right direction. You can attract other NPC's each with their own serivces once you meet ceratin requirements like finding a certain item, killing a boss or finding and rescuing them and having a place for them to live, like the one I told you to make.
Now when exploring underground make sure you have 1. a good amount of torches, 2. some rope, cobwebs, chain or even wooden platforms to help you get out of deep pits or deep pools of water. The rope, chain and items that can be turned into a rope like item like cobwebs and vines can be placed to create something you can climb on to get out, wooden platforms work much like you think they are platforms you can place to jump on to or be placed beneath you to keep you from falling down deep holes if you don't have any of these(ropes are found in pots and chests, cobwebs are found underground and in spider caves and can be harvested and chains must be fashioned from iron or lead) then take the dirt, stone, clay or mud you probley have in your inventory from digging and "dirt pole" your way out a dirt pole is when you place a block of dirt, clay, mud or whatever below you as you jump and you keep doing this till you created a pole long enough that it propelled you out. Another trick is when trapped in water you can try and dig out a air pocket just quickly head to any part to the left of the right and dig as fast as you can going ever upwards till you make a air pocket and just jump up into it to keep from drowning.
Also save any gems you find, if you gather 15 of the same gems they can be fashioned into a grappling hook, alternatively you can also fashion one from iron chain and a hook which drops from skeletons this helps getting around the caves easier.
3. save some stone as you need this to make a furnace(furnace is fashioned with stone and wood) this is used to smelt any ores you find into bars, once you have enough iron or lead bars you can use them to make a anvil which will allow you to take any and all bars you fashion and turn them into weapons, armor and the like. Also when underground if you find a large stone heart smash it, it will drop a smaller heart which when used increases you max health up to a total of 400, you can max that out even more later on.
4. Don't be afraid to do a little exploring of the surface but until you get some decent armor and also a grappling hook turn back if you run into a area that is purple or red, this place will kill you easily if your not properly prepared with at least Iron/Lead armor and a good grappling hook.
5. when you have a good stock of cobwebs and some iron to fashion into a chain craft a sawmill and then a loom, at the loom turn the cobwebs to silk you need about 5 or 10 and then head to the sawmill with the silk and wood and craft a bed, place it inside your base and then click on it, this will set your base as your new spawn point.
This hopefully should cover some of the basics and help you get through the early part of the game enough so you can do it on your own.
