Hi, my name is Holy Buckets. I am always looking to colloborate with other artists and modders. After developing a couple more mods, I am looking to swing around and develop a vanilla+ modpack. You can view more of my work here.
- What am I working on? – HB's Structures Over Time – structures change and upgrade over the course of the game
- Game Mechanics – Transportation in Modded Minecraft
- Mod Spotlight – Valkyrien Space War
1. Mod Development – Structures Over Time
My next mod will attempt to make Minecraft Mod Structures that grow and change over time. This is a bit more ambitious than mods like Minecolonies because we don't just want to build a new structure according to a schematic and location which are both specified for the player, we want to be generally compatible with all the existing Minecraft modded structures that people already enjoy playing with. This mod will have a few benefits:
- Changing structures over time makes the world feel more dynamic
- Reduce the number of structures that spawn in the overworld because structures can spawn in succession rather than all at the beginning of the game
- Loot can be more appropriately specified for different stages of the game
- Better story telling abilities
There are also some difficult challenges to solve with this mod:
- As you can tell from the video, I don't clear the previous structure yet. That will be critical, but it's also tricky. My solution now is to make an exact replica of the overworld in a different dimension without structures and copy the chunk block by block to "refresh" the land between structures. No one has done this with native mod support yet (modded biomes and structures) so it will take some time.
- Resetting the loot in modded structures when the structure changes
- Ensuring that structures that players are actively using are not overridden which would lose player changes
- Ensuring that mod specific structures don't spawn too early, and avoid spawning when the structure is removed
- Don't harm game performance too much
Mod Progress:
- JSON configuration which allows the player to specify vanilla or modded Minecraft structures to upgrade between
- Code that mixes into Minecraft structure spawning to locate the "target structure", capture the location/chunk and prevent the structure from spawning if it is not yet time
- A system that checks the current "global time stage" and places a new structure in a chunk that has already been loaded if it is time to upgrade.
- A command for setting the global progress stage which triggers structure upgrades
2. Transportation in Minecraft [Modded]
I'm continuing my discussion last week where I talked about the various transportation options in Vanilla Minecraft. These range from simple and effective like Minecarts and the Elytra to more technical feats like flying machines and suspended ender pearls.
On the modded side of Minecraft transportation I want to touch on the "teleportation epidemic", Modded Mobs, Valkrien skies or clockwork vehicles.
Teleportation – The "teleportation epidemic" – teleportation is the ultimate way to travel in Minecraft, you go exactly where you need to go in an instant. It is also the simplest (and therefore the laziest) method of transport to implement technically. Therefore a lot of mods implement a "teleportation pad" or magic mods might have a "teleportation ritual" or armor might include a "teleportation ability" OR all of that is nullified because the world has a "waypoints mod" or players can use "/home" to return to base.
There is a LOT of teleporting in modded Minecraft. This is not inherently bad, there is no sense in wasting time running about from place to place, but it has the unintended consequence of making other forms of transportation obsolete quickly. And this sucks because the other forms of transportation have a more natural game loop, but just are not worth it in against teleportation. Mods are conscious of the power of teleportation, often locking it behind substantial energy or experience costs, but if you ever accidentally let teleportation creep into the early game of modpack, you're going to short circuit your progression loop.
Modded Entities – modded Mobs are a great way to travel. I discussed horses in the vanilla section, which have their flaws but are a nice addition to the game. Dragons are my first thought here which brings a combat component to transportation methods. Modded Entities are great. There are so many unique mechanics to play with considering combat capabilities, transporting other entities, item transportation, and automated transportation. I think mounted mobs could be explored a bit more – especially entities that have the ability to interact with redstone and perform automated resource gathering when not controlled by the player.
Create Trains – massively popular, Create Trains offer transportation and utility in their ability to transport fluids and items. Unlike Minecarts, they can build themselves with a custom "track laying" contraption. They also look really cool and allow for a lot of creativity in the track and visual design of the trains themselves. Unfortunately, they don't have a true purpose yet – I see posts every week asking for a modpack that "makes you use Create Trains" so hopefully they get some more niche use cases soon. I have some ideas here as well…
Valkyrien Skies Vehicles – vehicles that obey rough aerodynamic physics and are capable of a high level of maneuverability and combat mechanics. The technical implementation of these contraptions is impressive, it's a really cool implementation of flight – it's fun to build a plane that roughly tries to obey real physics, it's fun to try and optimize it, and a great way to implement flight in your world. Like trains, it lacks a GREAT niche use case, but the technology is amazing.
Modded Showcase – Valkyrien Space War – overview video
This is one of the most technically complex vehicle mods available in modded Minecraft. The mod simulates physics needed for flight (in a basic sense) like Valkyrien Skies or Clockwork but is a bit more intentional with its pieces (thrusters, stabilizers, wings, weapons) since the author has long term goals of supporting fluid space battles in the future. One of the most thoughtful additions to me is how some of the weapons will chunk load chunks after they are fired to ensure long distance battle is possible.
This is a buggy mod that is still in development. The comments indicate version 2.3 (Forge) is the most recent stable version.
by Jhwelsh