Introducing Content Building Tools for Minecraft
The journey into Minecraft content building is a journey of learning; one with many surprising twists, turns, exciting discoveries, and opportunities!
It's also one of banging your head up against a wall for three days as you struggle to get something to function you're trying for the first time! YouTube videos are typically hit and miss... many you watch may spend more time asking you to sub and pumping their own channel than providing actual content; they leave some critical component out of the procedure, or the best you can find is a poor choppy walkthrough recorded by a 7 year old Minecraft genius who spends most of the video arguing with his sister over where the Uno cards are.
That last example was a video I came across while researching some redstone stuff. I'd spent days reviewing videos and his was the only one that nailed the content perfectly, however I am left wondering: "Where are the Uno cards!?" But I digress.
Every content builder has been down both these paths, so you are not alone on your journey (and many of use will happily answer questions in the various Minecraft Education groups on Facebook or Discord!)
There are four basic discovery stages in the Minecraft content building journey:
Stage 1: I've mastered slate, poster, board and NPC use as well as border, deny and allow blocks in Minecraft! I can leverage the code builder to quickly make parts of structures! I can integrate my own lessons into Minecraft! I'm a content builder!
Oh wait, my students just showed me command blocks and redstone. I know nothing!!!
Stage 2: I've begun integrating command blocks and redstone into my builds! I'm a content builder!
Oh wait, I saw some videos online with people building their own resource and behaviour packs and importing their own entities and custom blocks. I know nothing!!!
Stage 3: I've successfully built my own addon packs, changed some entities and altered some NPC skins. I'm a content builder!!!
Nope. Just saw flyable dragons, cut scenes and a bunch of other crazy interactive stuff. Going to hide under my bed for awhile.
Stage 4: Realizing that you have been a content builder at every stage. Not every build need have flying dragons and other elements that re-invent the game! Remember, when you see worlds with tons of draw dropping custom content... typically a whole team of specialized people have produced it... and it's hard to compete with that on your own!
There are many tools, techniques and approaches involved in content building, and you should follow a path that suits your needs and purposes. Also, every content builder specializes in something... focus and become good at what you have the most fun doing... the students will notice your efforts and appreciate it (and at the end of the day, this is what is most important).
The learning journey never ends.
Important Notes
- These tools are not officially supported by Minecraft Education in any way and are not responsible for any issues or damage that they may cause. That said, these tools are used by Minecraft content builders, and it would be very difficult to achieve the stunning results we do without them.
- Before proceeding to use any of them, my main word of advice would be: BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP! Export your worlds, and backup your content regularly from Minecraft! If you do not know how to export and import worlds, please visit my YouTube channel where you can find video instructions for Windows PC, Chrome OS and iPad.
- There are four versions of Minecraft: Java Edition, Bedrock Edition, Pocket Edition and Education. Minecraft Education is based on Bedrock edition. Why is this important to know? Well, it means that most tools and content that work with Bedrock will work with Education and vice-versa (but no always). Additionally, Bedrock is usually running at least one full version ahead, so be mindful when importing Java or Bedrock worlds into Education as some content will be missing in Education.
- Most of these tools only work on Windows OS, or to a lesser extent Mac OS. If you're on an iPad, a Chromebook or an Android device and really want to go down the content building path, you'll need to invest in a PC.
- Did I mention they're all free to download and use?! (with the exception of Java and Bedrock editions, but as video games go, they're pretty affordable).
- Finally, many of these applications should not be used while Minecraft is running as it may cause world corruptions!
Classroom Notes
If you are looking into exploring these tools in a classroom setting, some general caveats:
- All of these tools are compatible with Windows 10 and 11. Some are compatible with Mac OS. Only some are web based tools that might run on Chrome OS, iOS or Android, but realistically you'll need Windows devices to introduce any of these tools to students in a meaningful way.
- Before using in a classroom setting, I recommend clearing the use of these applications with your school districts IT department and privacy officers. Most districts will have protections in place either preventing the installation of software, or preventing user access to various file system locations that you will need to navigate to while using these tools.
- I have provided classroom workshops to demonstrate how these tools are used to students. Most of them I would not introduce to classes below Grade 5 or 6, as they require an understanding of .json files, rudimentary script writing in JSON, learning how to build and import Minecraft resource and behavior packs and accessing and navigating Windows file system structures. Typically, workshops with these tools last about 1-2 hours. ImageMap however is relatively easy to use and could be introduced to younger ages.
Now that we've got all that out of the way and without further ado, here are the tools I use the most for content building in Minecraft, where you can find them, and a little about what they do, as well as some important definitions, and resources:
Tools and Resources
- Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition: Some things are better done in Java or Bedrock edition before being exported to Education, or can only be done in these editions (and converted after). They're pretty affordable, so I'd pick up both if you're really serious about content building.
- Amulet: Amulet is world editing software which allows significant control over creating or editing worlds quickly and efficiently. You can fill or delete large areas quickly, copy and paste structures in the world or between different worlds. It’s also useful for converting worlds from different editions.
- Blockbench: Blockbench is a modeling tool for creating Minecraft entities, skins and blocks. You can use it to open existing models from Minecraft Resource packs, or build you own. Be sure to add the Minecraft Entity Wizard and the Minecraft Block Wizard from File>Plugins.
- Chunker: This
is a little known online tool which was recently purchased by Minecraft for
converting worlds between Java, Bedrock and Education edition. Quick and easy
to use.
- Digminecraft.com: This site is a absolute necessity for those beginning to explore Minecraft commands. It lists an provides basic detail in how each command is used, and is a great jumping off point for further research.
- GeoBoxers.com: This website lets you download real world locations as a topographical Minecraft Map!
- ImageMap: This tool allows you to import .jpg or .png image files into Minecraft, by turning
them into map items. When you open up the world, you’ll be provided with a
chest of maps which you can then attach to item frames in numerical order to
construct the image.
- Minecraft World Save Locations: Many of these tools need to be pointed to where your
Minecraft world files are stored (Windows locations, Minecraft Education Desktop version installation). In the image below are the files paths to each versions World Save location, as well as the file paths for the resource, behaviour and development folders. Note that "USER" in the path is a placeholder for your own user account.
Also to note, typically I recommend opening the world you want to work on in Minecraft Education, then closing it before you open the file in an editor. This will move the world file to the top of the list inside the Windows file (when you arrange by most recent). Make sure you close the file in Minecraft, as keeping it open while you’re working on it in an editor could cause corruptions.
- .mcworld: This is the file extension associated with Minecraft world files when exported or downloaded. They will open in either Education or Bedrock editions.
- .mcpack: When you compress resource and behaviour folders into .zip files, you can change the extensions to .mcpack, and then double-click to import them in Minecraft Education or Bedrock.
- .mcaddon: Packs can be combined into .mcaddons.
- Paint.net: A
quick easy editing tool for creating or editing images. It has more
capabilities than MS Paint, but is lightweight compared to Gimp or Photoshop.
- UUID Generator: If
you’re creating your own resource/behaviour packs, you will need to generate
your own unique IDs at some point. This is an easy website to use.
- Resource & Behaviour Packs: The basic vanilla packs can be found and downloaded from the Mojang GitHub repository. These contain all the content (such as blocks and entitites) already in Minecraft, so useful for grabbing existing models and textures to modify or play around with.
- Spritecraft: This
is an amazing tool for importing images into Minecraft, but having them
constructed as blocks. Essentially, it creates a .schematic file from the image, which you
can import using Amulet. The online web tool is useful, but I find the old
downloadable version more effective. You can download it from the same site. You’ll
need to have Java installed (the Oracle app, not the Minecraft Java edition) to run the program.
- Visual Studio: If you're editing .json files for your resource and behaviour packs, Visual Studio is the best way to go.
- Voxel Sniper: A powerful tool for creating and editing you own Minecraft maps. Only works with Java edition.
- WorldPainter: Another powerful world editing tool for creating and editing your own unique Minecraft maps. Only exports to Java edition, but you can convert the world into Bedrock after the fact.
- YouTube Channels to watch for Educators:
That about sums it up for now, but coming across new tools is pretty much a given. I will append this article in future if I learn of any other exciting tools or resources.
If you have suggestions for tools or resources that you use and would like to share, please leave them in the comments!
If you have suggestions for tools or resources that you use and would like to share, please leave them in the comments!
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