I feel like some sort of mad scientist. Tiny little unassuming hut above ground, massive tunnel complex below.

Now if only I could find more iron...

You might be looking too deep. Try those sea level caves. That's where you'll find most of it.

Thanks! Good idea! Not quite prepared for any big sea voyages yet, though :D

(I'd like some sort of beacon so I can find my way home first, or at least a compass)

I meant sea level as in of the same height as the sea. Unless you mean your hut is on a little island or something.

Well, I'm not entirely sure where I am. It should be quite near my spawn point. I built a sand tower about 40 blocks high to look around, and I seem to be on a goodsized continent. The problem is everything I've built is tunnels underground, my tree isn't really underway yet in its new incarnation so I can't see it from a distance.

You mean all the underground stuff you've mined out yourself? If so that's the problem. You need to explore around a bit more. Find some natural caves. Surface-scratching ones will get your in some coal and iron. Deeper ones will get you the more interesting blocks. Just remember to pack a lot of wood as you'll be needing it.

Notch live in mumble streaming here.

Thank you! Excellent tips! I have about twenty or thirty iron now, so I'm making myself some armor, flint, compass, a couple of swords, and a lot of torches. I'm also bringing along lots of wood for emergency ladders, tools, replacement boats, and so forth. I built a dock near my main fortress, which it turns out is only a few bricks from my spawn point! The compass is actually incredibly useful! (later I'm going to build a root with a tunnel in it out to my spawn point so I can safely re-enter my fortress).

this is awesome, many interesting news coming in :)

for example, weather is coming back and we should have world generation settings available in the future.
They are also thinking of introducing an agressive water mob... :)

I just wish you could change your spawn point in single player (you can in multiplayer).. Personally I keep creating new worlds until my spawn point is in a place worth developing. Being able to move it would speed up the process no end.

So it turns out you can put a squid in a mine cart by dropping it into it from an adjacent higher block, and then use rails to safely take it up levels and such without punching it. I've now transplanted one into a floor aquarium which has better visibility than my earlier wall attempt, although for now it's a meagre 3x3 so I will have to make it bigger (ideally with more squid).

I wish squid were able to swim upwards--then I would make the entire room glass and water all around and put a ton of squid in there and let them swim wherever they want. As it is I can only make a shallow pool for them to flounder around in.

My primary goal when generating my current world was to live in a desert, so once I got a suitable desert I searched around for a good place to build, not caring about the spawn point location so much. My chosen spot is a reasonable distance away (maybe 80 blocks) so I have a mine cart track leading from the spawn point to my base. With boosters you can travel very fast and get there in no time.

If you only want to move the spawn point a short distance it is actually possible to force the spawn point to relocate by building an obstruction on it--most of the time this will move the point rather than putting you on top of the obstruction or inside it (if it has a cavity). Results aren't always reliable, but at least it works. :)

My road is finished, so now I can get from my docks/spawn point to my residence pretty safely any time of day.

My pixel art is also starting to take form, I just need a crapton or two more of black wool. Anyone recognize who it is yet? ^^

By the way, anyone know of a good (free) program that can be used for testing out/blueprinting Minecraft constructions? I kinda want to 3D-ify Bowser's head from the Super Mario World map, but doing it in Minecraft would take too long, as I would surely mess it up a bunch of times before getting it any good.

what this game needs is an extensive in-game tutorial: even after looking at some guides I couldn't do much more than build a cave home and do some very basic recipes. I mean what's the point of the game? I see some zombies walking around at night, but besides that, where's the challenge? I don't 'get' this game at all...

Ahhh, so glad you could join our teeming masses. Alright, let's get you settled.

The Minecraft Wiki is here. This is your best friend, refer to it constantly. I'd suggest checking out the 'Crafting Recipes' page first of all, you may get a lot of ideas on how to survive and what you'd like to do just from that.

This page is also extremely important: Minecraft Official Help Page. It is actually helpful for a change. It has what you just asked for, a nicely done series of tutorials. I watched most of one of the videos so I would be able to endorse them if people asked, instead of pointing them to useless crap. It's really quite helpful.

Minecraft is a sandbox building game first and foremost. Survival mode is the closest it gets to a 'real game'. And now, with spiders being able to climb walls, and the already deadly creepers and skeletons lurking, you'll need defenses at night.

Minecraft will eventually (according to Notch) have more modes. So you might not always just be seeing what we have now. Chiefly, Minecraft requires some imagination. It's very unique in that respect. If you don't have any thoughts as to what you'd like to do, then Minecraft probably isn't the game for you. If, however, you've always thought 'Gee, I'd like to create a castle built around a mountain and defend it from attackers', then you can do that. Replicate your hometown? Sure. Build a transcontinental railway? Why not! And no, this isn't ad copy. If you can't come up with stuff to do, though, I'm sorry - you quite frankly won't like Minecraft at this point. It's all about coming up with outrageous or awesome stuff, doing it, and then enjoying it or showing it off via youtube or pictures.
Nice road! And it may sound silly, but why not build a prototype with lego bricks? Or do you not have any lying around?

So, while I was out hunting squid I found this amazing looking cave-thing. After thinking for a few minutes I came to the conclusion that installing a magma fall would make it even more awesome. So I did.