When you first create a world, you may spawn in any biome. This one is plains.

Your first task is to gather wood from trees. Find a nearby tree and left click to punch the trunk until it breaks. You will get one log for each block you break.

Logs are used as fuel for ovens and for making planks (shown). Each single log produces 4 planks. Place the logs anywhere on the craft grid to make planks.

Now that you have planks, you'll need a crafting table to increase the craft grid size. This allows you to make things that have more complicated recipes, such as tools.

Another thing you'll need is sticks. Put 2 planks, one above the other, and for each set of 2 planks you receive 4 sticks.

Now you have the most basic supplies. Some planks, sticks, and a craft bench.

Now you need to make a shelter. This doesn't need to be a huge elaborate fortress, it only needs to get you through the night. I started mine in the side of a cliff.

In order to mine out the stone faster, as well as get any useable resources from it, you need a pick. A wood pick made from sticks and planks will work for now.

When you mine stone with your wood pick, you'll notice it now drops cobblestone. When mining, cobblestone is highly abundant, so its a great candidate for expanding your shelter.

Cobblestone is also used to make stone tools. Each different material (wood,stone,iron,gold,diamond) has an upgrade in durability and effectiveness.

With your stone pick, you can clear out a room much faster.

Now that the room for your shelter is done, you'll need a door to stop hostiles from getting in at night. Use 6 planks.

By now, you probably noticed that your hunger(stamina) bar has started depleting. This affects health regeneration speed. To refill it, you need to get some food.

Chickens are fairly common, so if you find them, kill them and grab the meat they drop. Save that for later.

Now you'll need a source of light for when night falls. In order to make torches, you need coal. Coal ore is usually found close to the surface in generally easy-accessible areas.

Mining coal(you need a wood pick or better) produces coal chunks like these.

Go back to your craft bench (personal 2x2 grid works too) and make a few torches. Each set of one coal and one stick makes four torches.

Make sure your shelter is well lit so hostile mobs won't spawn inside.

Placing torches outside helps to see hostiles from the safety of your shelter.

Now you'll probably notice your stamina is getting pretty low. You can either eat the raw chicken (from earlier) or cook it. Cooked meat always yields more stamina.

Furnaces act just like any other block.

Right click on the furnace and insert what you wish to cook in the top slot, and fuel in the bottom slot. Logs and planks work if you're out of coal, but coal burns much longer.

After a few seconds, your chicken will be cooked. Eating cooked meat will refill your stamina by about double that of raw meat.

The infamous creeper. These little *******s >will< get you at least once. They sneak up behind you and explode, leaving a crater in anything susceptible to explosion damage.

Zombies aren't as dangerous if you only have one chasing you. They're easily outrun and can't hurt you unless they get close enough to touch you. However, keep an eye out if you see a pack of them.

Skeletons carry bows and will shoot at you when in their sight. They can be very dangerous because of their long range. Skeletons (as well as zombies) will catch fire and burn when in direct sunlight.

Spiders are fast. When under chase, they move about the same speed as the player can sprint, and they can crawl under 1-block high openings. They can also climb walls.

To combat these guys, you need a sword. The same 'material principle' applies for swords. To swing, left click. To block, right click.

Shovels are highly effective for clearing dirt, gravel, and sand, even underwater.

Axes are highly effective on wood. Using an axe to harvest trees can save you a lot of time.