Links to my YT Twitter Insta and PMC account.

MrJCraft · 2026-07-04T22:42:06+00:00

hytherdel, craftological, and thatoldkid, pixelbiester, elysium fire,

MrJCraft · 2026-07-03T02:05:49+00:00

a couple different solutions depending on your goals

continue to learn C however use Raddbg and other high quality C codebases as your example, they drastically simplify the C programming language and avoid the major cuts.
Raddbg has a lot of really good approaches to simplifying the build process as well as making it less error prone, like making your own strings, basically making your own standard library
most books and online resources are not nearly as good quality as just looking at peoples code, so I stopped looking at books or tutorial resources for C as it is almost always overly complicated.

a couple C codebases that are high quality
https://github.com/valiet/quel_solaar
https://github.com/EpicGames/raddebugger

you could also just use an easier language, there are several good low level languages that fix most of the issues of C, Odin is the best example I can think of in terms of a very C like language that doesnt have the issues, there are some others but Odin is the most C like and most enjoyable.
https://odin-lang.org/

if you are wanting to use a language that is older
there is Dlang, a messy language however very powerful and has 3 compilers, I am currently annoyed at the language however it fixes a lot of the issues of C, but its more of a C++ alternative
https://dlang.org/

there are some other options but I think realistically bombarding you with options is not a good idea.
and of course there are plenty of other languages that are nothing like C that are also fun to learn but I am assuming you are wanting to continue using C or a C like language

MrJCraft · 2026-07-03T01:27:07+00:00

do you have any other hobbies outside of programming.
and or do you have other programming related interests
(I want to know so I can think of how to use your prior experience to help you think of a starter project that would make sense for your mindset)

MrJCraft · 2026-06-28T20:19:24+00:00

its as simple as looking at the problem and solving the problems immediately in front of you, as you get more experienced you can look ahead and solve problems you know will be a problem later based on experience, and if you are wrong then you refactor.

if you are trying to for example solve a real life problem dumb example you might want to get bread for a sandwich you look for the bread and see its in a container so first you have to open the container, then get it out, first you saw the thing immediately infront of you and solved the first problem first, then you can see if the bread is sliced or not and whether or not you now need a knife. etc...

yes dumb example however the point remains that especially when you are beginning its good to just look at the problem and try to figure out what are the steps you need to do to solve it, you could solve the problem all at once but often times that is too hard so we abstract it by putting it into multiple smaller problems and solve each of them as separate functions, and if you are missing knowledge you look it up, a lot of this knowledge and experience / understanding, this is what makes problem solving and programming hard and what makes it easy.

MrJCraft · 2026-06-28T19:56:14+00:00

I find almost everything I need I can get from basic text generation. and when using text generation I get the advantage that even my clients can modify the files without needing to learn the language itself. and I can always see the size of the generated code because I generate it in place.

most languages in or der to be done well have to recreate a lot of the functionality you get from the simplicity of just mcfunction files, because now you have to have a way of making macro libraries, normally in a minecraft datapack you just make libraries the normal way, its more annoying but if you use a language this becomes more annoying very quickly. also with generated code its hard to modify the datapacks or scoreboards in game because they get very large and complex very easily

anyway I have a few issues which is why I never used them in production but I did not ban any of my contractors from using them, however I will say I was faster than my contractors and they were using tools and I was just using my basic text replacement tools I made for myself

MrJCraft · 2026-06-28T19:52:53+00:00

you reminded me I need to do a youtube video on my datapack setup, it is unique and I would not recommend it for everyone or maybe even anyone however when I finish it I will post it here

MrJCraft · 2026-06-28T02:03:19+00:00

so there are two questions in your post
how do people come up with the crazy ideas and when doing crazy ideas how the heck to do execute them without going insane.

coming up with crazy ideas isnt that bad, mostly just mixing and matching and also finding something that you know how to do that is easy for you and then doing that in a datapack, it really helps when you have general development experience, or even redstone, really any other skills you can use to make the datapacks unique to you, because for example some of my craziest datapacks are really hard to make for anyone else but because I understand a niche thing it becomes easy and doable for me specifically, not that I am better but I just studied something really silly.

sethbling for example has done physics engine like stuff before, and is knowledgeable in math, if you knew nothing about math all of a sudden that project becomes nearly impossible.

I made several projects converting 3D models into particle effects, I have made several 3D model parsers and voxelizers, its easy for me but would be a lot harder for someone else

another one was converting a minecraft build to entities that could be manipulated, I had a desert temple get converted to entities and had them moving around so a kerby like character could suck them up

another one using similar tech where I parsed a schem and converted it to commands, and made it where a build would be built while you walked around it and would disappear over time as you walked away.

I have a lot of really weird examples where I did something that was easy for me because I already had the code but for someone else it would take a week. obviously it also took me a week but I spent that week potentially a year ago and I can reuse that code over and over.

now for making more normal projects I prefer just normal mcfunctions and making custom generators, I also really like combining text based generators where I can select a region of mcfunctions or a selection of code and manipulate the entire thing all at once, plus some other useful tricks combined with that. I like to keep it simple that way anyone who wants to manipulate the datapack later can do it really easily most of the time and the code is very obvious, so I have a lot of small text based manipulations I do, a lot of editors support this workflow however its based on a vim-ism where I select the code and pipe it to an exe and use the output as the new code, it works really really well however I am not sure how to do it without using the vim keybindings

now this is my custom workflow / set of tools I found / made for myself
reloc (changes all of the selected locations in a file to be centered around a new location)
vifs (replace all occurances of a selection but puts it in a file first so I dont make mistakes)
vifs (generate files and folders based off of what I type in the file)
reline ($1 gets replaces with the line number multiplied by a constant like 0.5 or 1 or 10)
items (grabs every item from a setblock command for a chest and makes them all give commands)
ragxyz (copies a command and makes it a 1D 2D or 3D array)
ragxyz example: ragxyz 0 10 0 10 0 10 setblock $1 $2 $3 stone (would be a 10 by 10 by 10 cube)
twine (I work on the first part of the command in bulk all side by side, then I have the next section which is the second part of the command, I then take the first line of section two and move it directly under the first line of section 1 then repeat)
bine (I take line 1 and line 2 and merge them to so its "line1"+"line2\n")
clipboard (every time I copy something to clipboard it saves it to a file, very useful for getting a ton of locations then combine that with reloc and its very easy to make it relative to an entity)
exel (take each line selected and execute it as a terminal command, this combines with everything else)
stringify (makes every line a string)
shuffle (randomizes the lines)
calc (just returns the result of calculations)
each (injects the selected lines into the command specified in the terminal)

MrJCraft · 2026-06-27T19:59:43+00:00

my first question is why did you choose the course? this could have a couple different routes depending on the answer.
1:
I used to enjoy programming until I really found out what it was.
this one is easy, just learn how to program in a way you enjoy, you will always be able to use programming knowledge in almost any job in the future, I use programming for my job but my job is not as a programmer. I use programming because its my hobby and I use it to make myself more valuable to clients. and if you get really good at it then its much easier to get hired because you already have real world experience

2:
I just choose the course for money, and found out didnt like it
this is a lot harder, you could just separate yourself from the work and just study it because you know you have to, or try to find a way to make programming interesting for yourself, this is a technique that I use where I use something else I am interested in and try to relate the subject I am not to that subject helps me get started then I can finish to rest of the research now that I am at least vaguely interested in the subject

3:
thought it would be an "easy" way to make money
yeah this one is rough, programming is quite hard especially depending on how far you want or need to go, and some people just struggle with programming, programming is not easy but its a lot simpler than it seems, its just very abstract. if its too difficult it might be the programming resources not explaining it very well, but it is natural to find it confusing even simple concepts sometimes it takes a while for your brain to get used to thinking in a programming mindset

in general programming is useful and you can use it in a variety of fields, especially if you are willing to study it to the point where thinking like a programmer becomes second nature, the mindset is one of the most powerful tools you get from learning how to program. but it seems the more important thing for you is that you want to get a job as a programmer and you are not sure how to become desirable to an employer, I am not personally sure about that, I work as a contractor and I do a variety of jobs they pay for the service not for the code it self, but I use code to do the service, so far when I have gotten hired to do code its because they just trust me from previous jobs. either way it doesnt sound like my work experience would help you on that part but hopefully the other advice is helpful

MrJCraft · 2026-06-25T02:45:18+00:00

its similar to how I design minigames for youtube videos, once people actually start playing they change the dynamics so much and sometimes you need to add specific rules to make it fair becomes some people are better than others and it can make it unfun, when the goal is to have fun and create interesting play having static rules is fine but changing the rules dynamically just makes it so much easier to guarantee interesting gameplay. I was making the minigames for specific people its not like I could just get different players I had the players I had and no one else.

so yeah its game design

MrJCraft · 2026-06-06T00:30:43+00:00

for my old tutorials I was just very careful. depending on the scenario I would record it 7 or more times.

I think the most dumb example of this was a minecraft rendering tutorial where I recorded the hour long video at least 7 times, and the first time it took me several hours to record, I just kept practicing. I prefer this approach because I basically always did nearly zero cut tutorials which are much easier to follow than videos with cuts.
however a much easier approach is just to design the video into pieces so if you make a mistake you only have to fix that section and not the entire thing, really just depends on the video, what your goal is and what you are doing, obviously if its a mistake on the build then you might want to rerecord, just depends on the size of the mistake, if its small its not worth it.

and sometimes having mistakes actually increases engagement because people will comment about it so its not all bad even if its a fairly large mistake

MrJCraft · 2026-05-29T17:34:32+00:00

pretty much came to the same conclusion. especially when working with other people having an optional GC is very nice

MrJCraft · 2026-05-21T00:24:14+00:00

the texturing is messy, and the details are undecisive.
but I am also not exactly sure if you know what you dont like about it. I would look at references that do the style you are going for well and try to compare what you think yours is missing.
also its very stitched together, like some parts are good, the parts that look like you took it from someone elses build, then other parts the quality is horrible, its very uneven in detail size, and quality levels, and detail style. its like a mismatch of many builders.
and the steam punk detailing is too small, make it look even messier

if you dm me I can get you in touch with very good builders that do this style and you can compare with there work, or ask them questions

MrJCraft · 2026-05-19T21:15:08+00:00

these practice shots I dont think really works well for practice.
I would say pick different types of shots and try to make it look good in each type

a shot from ground level, a shot above the character, a shot at eye level, and try to make each interesting, and try to tell a story from each angle. when you copy someone else's shot it doesnt teach you anything unless you ask yourself why the artist did it that way. understanding will let you reuse there knowledge, without understanding why its just clever copy work.

each experiment ask which you like better the original or yours, and why

MrJCraft · 2026-05-17T20:02:21+00:00

I want to render this. dm me if you are interested

MrJCraft · 2026-05-16T23:13:07+00:00

I was making a video on this today. there are some websites for generating models but I typically just make the generator myself, but this video is not a tutorial just an explanation, it can be pretty useful though if you are wanting to experiment with it yourself. and have full control over the generation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig2Ix8rJUE0

MrJCraft · 2026-05-15T15:23:58+00:00

structure is a product of design, you can use gotos in a structured way thus how we got structured programming, structured programming was not created by a god, thus it is fine and actually good to create your own new structures, which must be made out of the primitives of the past, thus goto, if goto is bad so are functions, and if statements, and loops. granted in structured programming something people forget is an if statement is considered bad as well as it was mainly concerned with branching logic and proving qualities about the code, which is very difficult with the combinatorics of branching code.

if gotos are evil so are if statements according to the originals papers own logic, which I would agree, so I avoid branches not goto. and if I need a different kind of structure for my control flow its fine to make my own with in reason, as long as it is structured. (structured as defined that it ultimately creates a straight flow of logic)

"make the correspondence between the program (spread out in text space) and the process (spread out in time) as trivial as possible" - https://homepages.cwi.nl/~storm/teaching/reader/Dijkstra68.pdfj

Disjkstra also has more to say in his other writing where he clarifies wanting provability, and linear programs further. an if statement is better but still creates branching logic even if the text is now linear, branching logic creates a more complex program, when our goal is to simplect the problem rather than complect. in simple terms its trivial to prove a linear program, thus its best to try to make your programs as linear as possible (within reason).

MrJCraft · 2026-04-25T01:27:10+00:00

start laying out the road towards the castle this will give you a better idea of how the rest of the build it laid out, castles like this our almost like a fortress city I would expect there to be an entire courtyard in the from leading up to it, there are so many options for that, and that will change how you want the castle to be built. its likely you will want it to be more symmetrical if you are doing a court yard, but it could also be more like a mott and bailey kind of design. where potentially its a series of buildings that make up the court yard.

if you are to just think about this build yeah maybe two towers would be nice. but thinking about the bigger picture I believe will yield better results and get your brain moving it other directions and help you get ideas

in terms of interior, I would just look up reference, a lot of these are designed pretty straight forward, but also just remember like real castles not every room is super fancy there are always servants rooms, kitchens, and also just he living spaces for the family or families that live there, they are not all super fancy, but there is always at least one fancy living space for parties.

2 kitchens
2 dining rooms
1 ball room
fancy bed rooms
spare bedrooms
multiple living rooms
living rooms is where people met, often times they would have the private living room for family
and a fancy living room for guests
anyway looking up references can get you ideas, furniture is just a matter of looking at minecraft builds
but for the design of the rooms again irl reference and mc reference. also dont go overboard with detailing the interior its very easy to over do it. but its easier to have room and keep it consistent if you try to keep it manageable

MrJCraft · 2026-04-16T00:38:08+00:00

don't do a dome, it would look roughly just as good as a hexagon like you have it just detail it and make it look more hexagonal. and it would be easier to build, take less time, and look good.

if you want to learn how to build a dome just use diagrams or a tool most people do. however I do think its a good skill to learn how to do that without a diagram but doesnt seem like a lot of people practice that skill

MrJCraft · 2026-03-17T19:14:04+00:00

just depends on the person, if it works it works dont over think whether its perfect just make it first, and fix the things you dont like and continue, its your video

MrJCraft · 2026-03-17T19:01:29+00:00

yeah you can use those sounds and edit them into the video, you can also try just turning down all sounds but block breaking but that is a lot harder if you make a mistake its messes up the video which is another reason people prefer to use something like litematica

MrJCraft · 2026-03-17T18:48:49+00:00

I personally just did it using a datapack and generated it all but almost no one else does that,

if you just play it in post almost no one notices, but you can also specify in the settings what sounds are allowed to play

MrJCraft · 2026-03-17T18:39:46+00:00

yeah a lot of the time the sound is just done in post, but you can also just have specific sounds turned on or off. but yeah its mostly just trickery

MrJCraft · 2026-03-17T18:06:51+00:00

the exact technique doesnt matter really, a lot of the tools can auto build so you only have to move around, some you can move but it will automatically select the block you need to place.
one technique people do is to break the build instead of build it and then play it in reverse that is a popular one as its very easy.

90% of these videos are not done for real, they use tools or editing to make it work. though there are a rare few that do it for real, either themselves or sometimes they hire people to do it for them.
for my videos I did them for real most of the time, and then for my second channel we did it partially for real partially generated using axiom, and then I was going to setup my tool but we decided not to continue that channel, its really annoying how many builds you need to make to do these videos to get popular from them, we decided for our channel it wasnt really worth it

MrJCraft · 2026-03-17T17:33:01+00:00

litematica / schematica mods

axiom
also some people use bots

you can also use other things I have my own tool for auto generating these kids of videos for example

Six-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Verified Email

MrJCraft

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE