Butterflies aren’t smart. At least in the Butterfly mod they aren’t. Minecraft has an AI system that I haven’t taken advantage of so far. However, I’m planning on introducing some new behaviour to the butterflies, so it’s time to evolve.
Bok’s Banging Butterflies
My first real mod for Minecraft that adds butterflies to the world.
Removing Boiler Plate Code
Currently adding a new butterfly to the Butterfly Mod requires writing too much boiler plate code. This week I looked into simplifying things to the point where we can generate a java file and have the rest of the code automatically register any new butterflies.
Generating Butterfly Advancements
I’m still on a mission to reduce the amount of work needed to add new butterflies to the mod. This week I looked at advancements, with the goal of being able to generate their requirements without having to manually edit each one.
Generating More Butterfly Data
This week I focused on improving data generation for the mod. This doesn’t add any new features to the mod, however it does mean that adding new features to the mod will be much easier in the future. And being able to iterate new features faster is always a bonus.
Adding the Peacock Butterfly
I plan to add more butterflies in the future, so I wanted to gauge how much work that would be. This can also serve as a step-by-step to adding new butterfly species to the mod. So I’m adding a 17th variant: the Peacock Butterfly.
Butterfly Eggs Done Right
Early on in the mod’s development I made a couple of missteps. I was less experienced and didn’t fully understand how Minecraft works, so I made some design choices that have proven to be problematic.
Keeping Their Numbers Down
Butterflies have been taking over. There have been reports that thousands have been spawning, overwhelming servers and lagging out game worlds. So I have spent a large portion of this week working to reduce the butterfly population and ensure that Minecraft servers remain safe.
Let’s Bottle Caterpillars!
I’ve been focusing a lot on caterpillars these last few weeks, and a thought occurred to me. Wouldn’t it be cool to have bottles with caterpillars in as well.
Naturally Spawning Caterpillars
Originally the butterfly mod was supposed to be a simple mod that adds butterflies to the world. It’s growing a little beyond that, with the butterflies actually having a complete life cycle. Unfortunately it’s actually pretty rare that a player will stumble upon a caterpillar right now.
Improving Caterpillar Interaction
This week I’ve been focusing on improving caterpillars. Right now they are very hard for players to come across. However, with a few extra features and tweaks, caterpillars will be just a little bit more interesting.