Being aware of the time of day in Minecraft often proves useful, so one fan manages to build a simple yet functional sundial to accurately display the in-game time. Though the existing clock item already serves this purpose well enough, this clever Minecraft build offers a valid alternative that uses only wooden pieces, though it's reliance on third-party shader packs means that the design won't work in the vanilla game.
Daylight in Minecraft is a vital resource, particularly in the early game where players often lack the tools and resources needed to effectively protect themselves from the many monsters that come out at night. It's easy to lose track of time when stuck into a mining expedition or construction project, so keeping an eye on the daylight cycle is paramount to avoid getting caught off-guard by hostile mobs on the way home. To that end, the in-game clock item allows players to check the time of day at a glance, though the crafting recipe's demand for gold and redstone means that many players won't be able to craft the item during the first few days.
While checking on the sun's position in the sky gets the job done well enough in the early game too, one fan designs a far more fun method of displaying the time of day, which can be seen here. An easily-constructed sundial, designed by the user known as Reimanen on Reddit who shared their creation via a post on the site, is made up of nothing more than eight fence posts and a trapdoor. Though this design is a little easier on the eyes thanks to it saving players from looking directly at the sun every now and then, the design's fundamental reliance on shadows means that Minecraft players will need a shader pack installed, and thus a fairly high-end machine to run the game on.
Shaders for Minecraft have been increasingly popular among the community for many years now due to the huge improvements to lighting quality that they offer. Not to be confused with Minecraft's official ray tracing support, there is a wide variety of these fanmade shader packs to choose from, any of which can be downloaded from trustworthy sites and installed as mods. Though it's technically possible to download shaders on several different platforms, they are most popular on PC versions of the game and are generally easiest to install on the Java edition of Minecraft.
Though many fans of the game have long been hoping for easier access to Minecraft mods on platforms other than PC, shaders in particular can prove particularly taxing for the game's performance on older hardware. Even so, it doesn't seem like mods will be as accessible on console or mobile versions of Minecraft as they are on PC any time soon.
Minecraft is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and most legacy devices.