The Simple Art of "Useless" Machines

Not much to put here.
Music: Wait, by C418; Indigo Quarry Relaxed, by Harry Mack
Texture Pack Details:
Vanilla Tweaks(This affects mainly everything involved with 3D-ifying components and see through scaffolding and the Dark Mode GUI), Ph1lza’s Diamond Netherite Highlights Pack, some random netherite elytra pack you can probably find by googling.
Shader Details: I use Complimentary Reimagined, on the mod Iris Shaders. Complimentary Shaders is similar and also great.
Mod Details: [1.20.1] (MODPACK: Fabulously Optimized), Isometric Renders, owo-lib, MaLiLib, Litematica, Tweakaroo, TweakerMore, World Edit, WorldEditCUI, MiniHUD, Carpet, Pistorder.

[@tronche2cake]

Useless machines really are my thing, I've been useless all my life

[@mehdithezer0_985]

no u haven't

[@tronche2cake]

@@mehdithezer0_985 you have no idea who I am or how useless I can be

[@qwfp]

Machines taking our jobs as always smh

[@stickthick3155]

I have been called

[@loudenmalachy9067]

honestly this talk of "useless" machines sorta reminds me of basic or pure research. Its not quite the same thing but in both you're not looking for solutions for specific practical problems (although "useless" machines do have goals, just not useful ones), which leads to new discoveries. The redstone tech that you discover through "useless" research isn't necessarily also useless after all. This is really honestly some of the purest redstone development you can do at this point, it's super cool.

[@eingmata2410]

Right, It's like pure math versus applied math.

[@firytwig]

This perfectly explains why I love the absolute nightmare that is palaeontology research

[@livefromhollywood194]

"Worth keeping without being useful," is the best technical Minecraft definition of art ever.

[@CelestinWIDMER]

It's the best definition of art even outside oh the Minecraft context

[@pirateluffy01]

F*ck i ain't even playing Minecraft nowadays because of academics. Thanks for reminding

[@Ailtir]

The viewing angle problem on your fence display is a real thing with actual displays, it actually works very similarly to a real display.

[@wirezd4279]

Another thing to note is that a huge part of Redstone is filled by these 'useless' creations Think combo locks, hidden staircases, hidden crafting tables, and of course, Piston doors are mostly there purely to look really cool

[@opal9583]

"if you've made something useful, that's already worth keeping, if you make something useless, but it's still worth keeping, you've made art." Beautiful quote. Adore this channel it's like the redstoner's joe hills

[@soosspasstenberger8625]

Video Idea: Build a display that uses Creepers to carve messages into stone. Stone generators could reset the display.

[@404findnotnamed]

And make the message a string of randomly generated characters.

[@eggoego]

Arguably, my favorite part of the Giant 7 segment display is that in a manner of speaking, you polarized the light. It reminds me of other 7 segment displays that were difficult to see when you put them at an angle for the very same reason as the display you have. They required back lighting or ambient light so you could see what was being displayed. When viewed at an angle, it made it nearly impossible to tell which segments were active and which ones weren't.

[@mayonnaiseeee]

Your approach to “useless” is exactly why I love your videos. Never change, it makes for some of the most interesting Minecraft/redstone content around.

[@Vulporium]

This reminds me of my first few years with the game, knowing almost nothing about redstone and trying everything I could think of. My favorite build was probably a daylight detector that used grass submerged underwater at night, when the light level drops the grass dies and triggers a block update detector, picking up the water and letting the grass grow once the sun comes back up. I didn't come up with the idea on my own but I made it incredibly small and optimized. Minecraft is such a great game for that. Letting you find your own challenges and overcome them. Something I'll have fond memories over when I'm old.

[@the_witchdoctor]

As an avid builder of useless machines, I love this video. Working on a very cool (and very useless) Halloween-themed machine right now actually! hopefully I or my friend @klay will be able to make a video for it sometime

[@kylebowles9820]

I like the ideas you have presented here, it's one of the things I miss with just playful exploration, setting goals for yourself, and surprising yourself in the process. Optimization is the most fun part for me both in Minecraft and programming

[@makerofmoon]

love your vids, keep it up

[@2000kosi]

Squibble, I can't believe I found you so early on in your channel's development. I tried making videos for a while, their quality got somewhere, not the worst possible, but yours are just amazing. It's like I'm watching Sethbling again. Please keep on making them for as long as you enjoy it!

[@squibble111]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I guess its all just a learning process, so I encourage you to continue making videos, its a lot of fun and you never know when youll make something that really kicks off

[@myrmatta1]

I love making useless Redstone contraptions. Doing so taught me just about everything I know about redstone! My favorite useless machine is one which spawns a cow, lights it on fire, and fires it into the sky.

[@nikkeique3967]

Man this was so great to watch! Thank you for making this my friend!

[@nodrance]

Useless machines do have a use, in fact they have the ultimate use: they're fun. That's all there really is to it. Any other machine that does anything else, you either made it because designing it is fun, or it creates fun. "Useless" machines are no different.

[@diabIok]

Your content is painfully underrated, I love your videos

[@thevalarauka101]

"if you're making something useful you've already made something worth keeping, but if you hit the worth keeping box without actually making it useful then you've created art" please someone put that on a T-shirt

[@jacksales9342]

That lcd display is so cool! It's got all the cool stuff and all the weird drawbacks of real lcd's, the incomplete blocking of light, and the tight viewing angles really stood out to me. Not bad, just really cool.

[@mArmelade_69]

I really like your videos, they're super interesting! keep it up

[@matthewenriquez1629]

Quiet insightful and I did gain value from your perspective. Yet dont forget the good old adage of "Simplicity is the sister to innovation." Although if you want to add a bit more flare do look into ruth goldberg machines!

[@AwesomeTurtle70]

i rlly like the vibe of this vid you should totally do more like this!!!

[@fr_z_n3727]

Challenge: Loop that anvil destroyer back into itself creating a continuous 'waterfall' of anvils akin to a chocolate fondue fountain. Make it an aesthetic object :)

[@thecaptain_mc2094]

This is one of the most beautiful videos on this platform ❤

[@Eraqon]

7:03-7:14 Dude. I'm printing that quote and hanging it above my bed. Great video! :)

[@CasMcAss]

this is great! thanks squibble

[@nl_morrison]

yeah very nice insights on why we play minecraft and how the game has changed in complexity, i think i'd really like to hear your thoughts on personal motivations to play the game (fun survival game, redstone learning, getting into sub communities like speed running and glitch hunting) or whatever your path was with minecraft

[@mystik_owl]

this is mesmerizing

[@ProfWisecrack]

Great video!

[@YohanGever]

I love your content man

[@hkayakh]

4:06 that alone is a really good build design. I’d love to see some sort of lighting made with that!

[@arogus]

Very noice vid!

[@vibaj16]

I like how the aurora borealis is blocky to make it fit minecraft

[@oranh]

I like the idea of making a smelting without using hoppers. It's definitely possible on bedrock, but probably not on Java

[@fisch37]

This is actually astoundingly similar to why I develop with datapacks. Sure I could go ahead and write a mod for it with Java/Kotlin, but that's trivial. The interesting part for me is working within the frankly stupid restrictions of Minecraft commands. When you can't work with the most basic programming principles you're bound to get creative.

[@Deatzi]

good message... applies to all sorts of fields in life, not just minecraft 👍

[@vibaj16]

This reminds me of a stupid idea that I once tried to make a while ago: a sugarcane farm, but when a sugarcane grows, every piston except the the one for that sugarcane pushes. It ended up super bulky. I recently came back to it and compacted it, but it still seems like it should be possible to make it smaller. You should have a go at it.

[@EugeneHaroldKrabs1]

Still nice very nice machines no matter the meaning

[@MacroAggressor]

Interesting perspective. I find that I learn the most when I'm chasing down meaningless rabbits like this. Btw, I've been looking around for the Northern Lights resource pack you use in your testing world (it looks very cool). Where can I find it?

[@tippedwithhoney]

I think it's the Complementary or Complementary Reimagined shader (Edit: The full list of texture and shader packs he is using can be found in the description)

[@CreativelyJake]

i once made an incredibly impractical elevator that makes a shulker shoot a creeper, then once it has levitated, gives it line of sight with you to explode, and so you just hold shield after pressing the button (or heck, sculk could detect the shield now reasonably) and the creeper will explode with levitation, creating a cloud of levitation through the wall. i just thought it was pretty neat to use the fact that creepers explode into potion effects if they have them it only brings you up 6 blocks and then needs a new creeper stocked, but it has a creeper stocking mechanism! it was... very janky and awkward to make the creeper go in somewhere where it can then prepare to be levitated, and... id love to remake it with a bit more of an idea on what to do with it :p

[@squibble111]

Thats a really cool mechanic actually. I never considered that creepers could be used in such a way

[@CreativelyJake]

@@squibble111 ehe, yeah.. the impracticality comes in when you realize how short the effects end up being. i could go up 6 blocks from one levitation cloud. however it IS very cool and only damages a shield, not you. (ohv gotta have the creepers in water lol) wish we could ignite creepers with dispensers tho

[@guargest3613]

These machines look so interesting, especially the creeper farm one, could you please give us world download to play with?

[@fondbeebboop9705]

i'm surprised to see those types of useless machines/ that you didn't show the classic button breaking ones

[@hello-xm5il]

yay, squibble upload :)

[@blooscrean]

Hey! There's this one mod i reaaaaaaaally want you to at least consider checking out - Red Bits. It's a redstone enchancement mod, adding 4 new unique pressure plates, new lamps, new "redstone gates" (somewhat of a comparator), and my favourite - the sight sensor. The sight sensor, as it's name suggests detects when a player is looking at it. Im really curious as to what you could come up with using these blocks, so i would appreciate if you'd consider checking it out.

[@oRightclick]

Squibble upload :D

[@Tearr]

Inhumane sheep sorter when???

[@lordforce5546]

I thought of Sahara when watching this video

[@hkayakh]

0:26 tip: if you’re in creative mode, just rename one and then duplicate it.

[@sebastiangrau8409]

I have designed the worlds fastest flying machine to transport enderpearls. It was not heavily contested.

[@HaloBalla]

How about a mob farm that sorts the mobs

[@matteocarassale1770]

Ehi why u don’t use the auto clicker as timer in the flying machine. U setup the auto clicker and have a dirt + hoe or something to power the flying machine. And use a piston to reset dirt

[@Kafj302]

I am like number 229