Minecraft was developed by one person building an indie game into a powerhouse giant it is today. I remember when the game was just in alpha many years ago. there were so many bugs, almost no items, and the graphics were definitely not to the par it is now. There were barely any types of items and blocks in the game so when I was buildings huge houses and castles they were almost always basic. There wasn't a ton of different blocks to provide an abundance of color and surfaces to allow the user to develop a wide variety of objects. They have made so many colors that a lot of people today even develop real life buildings like the Taj Mahal for fun. Even through all of this the game has had one essential function needed to enjoy various aspects of the game itself. This function is Crafting. It allows the player to take certain items and blocks they find (for example Wood from a Tree) and then try various combinations of inserting this ingredient into a Crafting Table(also known as a workbench) to try and create a newer item. The Crafting Table itself must be created by moving 4 wooden planks from the users inventory into the inventory grid which is a 2x2 square. Once you create the table it can be placed on the ground from your invetnroy to be used as a 3x3 grid allowing up to 9 items placed in numerous orders to try and provide another item. Now the inventory grid can still be used at all times because it does not need to be carried and placed on the ground to use, the only problem is that it only has 4 slots so any item that requires more slots then that of the inventory grid is only able to be made from the crafting table. This would be for any item that requires 3 items being aligned, to just needing 5 slots in general of the grid. These items produced are essential though because they range from weapons, armors, food, transportation, tools to much more! There are over 300 recipes currently in the world of minecraft. Some items(usually just the 1x combination items) do not require a specific order to placed in the table. Most the rest of them need to be in exact spots. If you are now wondering where you could see a list of all these items, it is simple.
Crafting