Tutorial Difficulty: 9/10
Here's how I play Minecraft: start new world, build cute tiny house, build bigger house, build really big house, get really invested in farms and Redstone, and then... well, that's usually the point where I get bored and start a new world again.
But this tutorial is designed for people like me, who need something colossal to keep them occupied, and although you probably could do it in survival mode, you probably shouldn't. It'll take you decades. You do you, though!
A "Mega Base", as tutorial maker and red sweater lover Grian describes it, is not defined by how complicated it is. It's just really, really, really, really big, and with the scale comes a lot of extra challenges. You see, you have to build things differently when they're gigantic, and it's quite the learning process — but luckily, Grian's two-part tutorial teaches us all you need to know.
This isn't your typical tutorial. Grian (and helped by Pearlescent Moon) won't teach you how to make it block-by-block; it's more about providing you with the tools and knowledge to create your own style of mega base.
Mega bases begin with planning, which involves looking for inspiration pictures of real-world pictures (something that all the best Minecrafters do!) and "sketching" out the outline with coloured wool. Unless you have a lot of sheep — and I mean an entire kingdom of sheep — this is why I said it's best done in creative mode!
Then, it's down to terraforming, which Grian does with tools like World Edit — note that these are only available in Java and creative mode — but you can definitely do a similar thing in survival by making a hollow shell. Making a 3D skeleton of the "sketch" will form the shape of your gigantic future home. Grian then picks the colour palette, making sure to vary the colours and draw the eye upwards by using simple shapes and light colours at the bottom, and more exciting colours at the top.
Now, we're on to Part Two of the tutorial, which is about adding detail on the outside — similar to the fiddly bits known as "greeble" that make the outside of spaceships look really intricate — which is "by far the most lengthy bit," according to Grian. But even if you're not making a mega base, the detailing tips are really good to know for any size of house!
Detailing can mean adding trims to the roof, balconies, windows, chimneys, pillars, arches, indents and breaking up big shapes with friezes and strips of colour. There's a lot to learn! It's almost like architecture is something you have to study for seven years to be able to do it professionally!
There is one part missing, of course, and that's... the interior. You'll have to add that part yourself. This mega base took Grian and Pearlescent Moon five weeks to build, and that's just the outside! Hmmm... I'll give them a pass on this one. For now.
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