The first thing you'll do right after spawning is collecting wood.
If your spawnpoint is filled with small trees, it's recommended to collect 70-100 wood atleast.
If your spawnpoint is filled with larger trees, the lowest recommended amount will be 200 wood.

As you're done chopping wood, the next thing you should do is barricade the starter NPC.
[It's not necessary, but barricading him will give full chances that he doesn't die.]
Later, the next thing to do is as you could guess; make a house. Well, that's very wrong. The next thing you do is discover atleast half of your world. It might take some time depending on the size of your world, but you'll need it. If you have any problems, I'll explain some simplifications later in this section.



If you have problems with discovering the world because of enemies in a green biome (Jungle)/enemies in the purple biome (Corruption)/enemies in the red biome (Crimson), then the best way to make it past these is simply digging into the ground. [Keep in mind; Corruption has worms that luckily rarely spawn, but if one does the only way is to get out of your hole and run.] If you're on Corruption/Crimson, and hit the purple/red rocks, then you can dig up (using dirt to make walls) or using bombs/dynamites (if you have any, but it's not really recommended because you might kill yourself on accident.)



The main rule of making a house is making sure the house isn't in the spawn, or too close to it.
The cause of that is the fact that you'll be encountering "Events" later in your game, and the Event-related enemies will be difficult to defeat.

If you did what I recommended earlier and discovered atleast half of your world, you then can pick a place where you can make a house, and a place that isn't too close to your spawn.
After you decided where to make your house, the next recommendation will be to make your house having several floors (with the first floor having crafting stations and the entry doors).
While making the house, remember to make walls (craftable if next to a crafting table) and some torches. Later on you can make some chairs and tables (also craftable if standing next to a crafting table) to let some NPC's move in.
And in this way you should be finished with making a house.

A starter house with rooms ready for 2 NPC's.

Later on in your game, the next thing that is recommended is to finally go underground, and get some ores. Make sure not to dig straightly down, but to find a cave naturally made in your world, this has larger chances of encountering abandoned houses which contain great loot for your adventure. In the beginning your world can have the following ores:

• Copper or Tin.
  
• Iron or Lead.
  
• Silver or Tungsten.
  
• Gold or Platinum.

After upgrading your stuff, the next thing you should do is prepare for fighting the bosses. What you should do is make alot of platforms and make 2 arenas. The first one in the Corruption/Crimson biome and the second somewhere else in your world. [Keep in mind that in the future you'll need a 3rd arena in the sky for further bosses.] After that, you can challenge some bosses. (You can also wait and make some potions to make you even stronger for the fights. To make potions you'll need a glass bottle placed on a workbench.)

Would you like to simplify your game? I think yes... If so, here's some tips for you to use!

You really want to move faster, but you don't have any boots. What to do then?
The thing you need is a grappling hook. (Easily obtainable by farming piranhas [There should be alot in the Jungle.] or by collecting 15 of a random jewel type [Emerald, etc.])
You have to jump, and launch your hook when you're mid-air.
This will pull you to the ground, but the trick for that is to press space right before your character collides with the surface. It'll result in the character being boosted forward.

Things you should know:

• This trick isn't easy, and might require some practise to time it properly.
  
• Will work the best if the surface isn't filled with hills hugging eachother.
  
• It's also useful when jumping over enemies (For eg. when fighting a boss or during night.)

You might be building an arena, or a house, but you're too tired to count the blocks everytime?
Here's the easiest solution for it:
You turn on Camera Mode, press your LMB (LeftMouseButton) in the place you want to start, and then drag your mouse while holding RMB (RightMouseButton) and counting on blocks. When you're done, you release it and then you simply check on the Camera Mode if you're doing it properly.
Keep in mind; Use a shortcut for turning on the Camera Mode. This is even faster than keep entering the inventory.

As you probably noticed while playing, some weapons have different "damage type".
Some have "magic damage", some have "melee damage" and so on.
They're related to classes. At this moment, Terraria has 7 original classes, and 1 class made by the community.


Original Classes:
The melee class focuses in swords, spears and few other types of weapons. It's defense is very strong, and every weapon has different purpose.


The ranged class focuses in bows, crossbows and other types of weapons. It's weak in defense, but it's fire rate is outstanding for some of it's weapons.



The magic class focuses in staffs, gauntlets and other types of weapons. It's defense is weak and early-game weapons might be decent, but in the late-game this class can deal a load of damage.



The summoning class focuses in minions, but it also needs to "steal" weapons from other classes in order to defend itself while the minions are too far from it. It's defense is pretty decent, and a proper usage of accesories can turn it's minion(s) into pure killing machines.



The throwing class only focuses in throwable weapons like knives or shurikens. It's defense is good, but the early-game throwables are weak.



The yoyo class is almost like the melee class, but it only uses yoyos. It uses the same armor as the melee class, what means it'll be close of having the same defense. The yoyos it uses are good, and can be used to clear rooms before entering them.



The defender class uses staffs that summon turrets, and it usually needs to "steal" weapons from other classes. It's defense is pretty good, and the turrets are very strong if the character has proper armor.





Community Class:
The mechanic class is considered to be a challenge class. (See the Entertainment section for other challenges) It's like that because it can only use pickaxes, axes, hammers and machines.

Coming Soon

So you finished the game and have nothing else to do, right?
This section will give you few out of many ideas on what to do when it goes boring.


Take your friends, and do some minigames!
One of the most popular minigames is Capture the Gem. But there are also many other types of these. (I'm also privately trying of hosting minigames/thinking of minigames, you can ask me if you want.)


There are loads of challenges, and they could for sure spice up the gameplay.
Here's a list of some challenges:


Drow Elf Challenge:

Rules:
You must dig underground right when you spawn.
You can't collect resources from the surface.
You may only take 1 torch [Hard] A stack of torches [Medium] A mining helmet [Easy].
You have to make a bed as soon as possible.
You may not return to the surface until Wall of flesh is defeated.



The Merfolk Challenge:
Items needed:
Neptune's Shell
Fishbowl

Rules:
You must wear both the shell and the fish bowl. [This will result in suffocation when not in water.]
You are allowed to craft gills potions to help your out of water adventuring.
You can start in the ocean or a large pool of water underground.



100 Health Challenge:
Rules:

You may only have 100Hp.
You can't use Life Crystals/Life Fruits.



Total Tool Challenge:
Rules:
You are only allowed to use Pickaxes, Axes, Hammers and so on.

So you're seeking the secrets of the game and you can't find them?
Well. There's some of these!

If standing in a large group of ducks, there's a chance of hearing a human quacking.

Bored of the normal Prism's color?
If you have a specific name, the color will change.

Names:
W1K = Purple/Pink color
Nike Leon =Yellow/Red color
Aeroblop = Yellow/Green color
Arkhalis = Purple/Pink color
Darkhalis Pink/Blue color
Devalaous = Cyan/Pink color
Dovlee = Red color
Ghostar = Green/Light Green color
Grox the Great = Dark Green/Light Green color
Leinfors = Violet/Pink color
Nike Leon = Yellow/Red color
Yoraiz0r = Pink color

Bored while waiting for the world to be made?
Click on the sun, and let it fly across the whole screen.

If you have a guide named "Andrew" and let him die, he'll drop a green cap as a vanity hat for you.