Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Custom Unicorn Code and Looking Forward

In the latest update, 1.5.7, I put in a feature that I've been wanting to include for a while: New custom unicorns are downloaded by the mod automatically when they are created, instead of requiring a new release. This feature lets people get their custom unicorns quicker, and makes it so I don't need to put out a release every time I get a new order.

Looking forward, I definitely want to include new horse breeds, and at some point I will likely put up another poll to see what people want (although I already have an idea what the favorite(s) will be). 

I'm also thinking in other directions. Of course, a boss would be cool. A new dimension would also be cool. There are two ideas that really grab me, though, but both are a lot of work:

Idea 1: Multiplayer Games
Multiplayer games could be really fun.  You can already see some of my efforts in this direction with the lance items, and how you can use them to joust.  I'd like to create a mini-game in which players are positioned in the jousting lane and points are awarded for unhorsing your opponent.  Such a thing (as well as other types of mini-games) could lead to some fun competition on a dedicated server.

Idea 2: Quests
I like games with stories, and I like to tell stories.  Adding in a series of quests would be a great way for me to do this.  Some of the basics are already in place, including the Oracle, and some underlying code that will let you talk to magical horses and other non-player characters.

Anyway, just throwing some ideas out there.  The last few months I've been pretty busy with other parts of my life, but I'd like to get some new and interesting features into the mod now that things are returning to normal.

17 comments:

  1. Glad to see things are calming down a bit for you! I like both of the ideas you put forth here.

    I created a "game" to amuse myself... I set up two "teams" of Unicorns, one normal and one with Nightmare skins, in a large fenced in and covered rectangular area.

    I then spawn in zombies, one at a time, and watch the ensuing soccer game(football to the rest of the world) :D

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    1. Thanks!

      Haha, that sounds like a fun game. I also enjoy seeing unicorns attack evil mobs. There might be a seed for some kind of actual multiplayer game there, too....

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  2. Curious if you're still planning to add the Hippogriff (or a Gryphon to the game as the gryphon could be used to breed the hippogriff) I personally would love to see more types of creatures to be tamed!

    I also like the idea of quests, adding a bit of a story element to the game.

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    1. More creature types are still in the future, and I want to see hippogriffs and gryphons, too.

      I may put up another "choose the new breed" poll soon, but I'm trying to figure out if I want to try something new first.

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  3. I added W,H&H to the Direwolf20 1.10.2 pack and am noticing a small issue... From a distance everything renders correctly but as soon as I get close to any of the mobs added by this pack they lose their skins.

    I see the proper shapes and behaviors but rendered in white. If I tame one and put a saddle on it the saddle also becomes white until it is removed.

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    1. That's weird behavior. I'll look into it. What version of the mod and Minecraft? Running on Windows or Mac?

      Is this with any magical horses, or just custom horses?

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    3. I did some further testing, by creating a new "pack" that only contains W,H&H. Everything works perfectly in this configuration.

      My next test will be to create a new instance of Direwolf20 1.10.2, add W,H&H and then disable the other packs one or two at a time until I find the conflict.

      If you wish, I can post my results here for your information.

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    4. It looks like the issue is between W, H&H and Journeymap. It may be a config thing... They changed a few things for the 1.10.2 version.

      I have more playing to do tomorrow night :D

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    5. The problem is with the on-screen minimap and it's display of animals. I can try changing the animal display from Icons to dots, but for now there is peace in my world by not displaying animals at all in the minimap :D

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    6. Great investigative work! I will have to check that mod out and see if there's anything I can do to help alleviate the conflict.

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  5. Are you planning on adding a 1.11 version soon? I'm really interested in trying this out but we've already updated our game version so just curious. Thanks! :)

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    1. I do plan to update to 1.11 soon. Fingers crossed that it is an easy update. :)

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  6. Hey Joel,
    Are you able to make something were you can make a custom gene code using a calculator maybe? If so that would amazing for people who want unusual horses in the mod.
    Thank You
    P.S. I love your mod!

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    1. This might be worth checking out. Not sure if it's what you're looking for but it looks like it will let you summon some unusual combinations. :)

      http://www.proudrooster.com/unicorn/

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    2. Thanks! I'm glad you like it! :)

      The tool Carol linked should be useful to you. I did write up some info for using a calculator ... but I can't find it at the moment.

      There's some info at http://www.hackshop.com/p/breeding.html , but it doesn't tell the different bit lengths of each gene. I'll try to put together a page that has in-depth info about the gene format and how that all works.

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