Tuesday, December 29, 2015

More Control Over Horse Powers

We are approaching 60 total custom horses in the Ultimate Unicorn Mod, which is pretty awesome.  However, as I add new horses, and as I create new powers for horses (like Rainbow Smash's new Rainbow Beam power), I'm beginning to think that I need to add more options for controlling how your horse's powers work.

Naughty Destriers and Config Options

In the Minecraft Forum for the Ultimate Unicorn mod, I've also seen people asking for ways to keep destriers from breaking stuff.  To help with that issue, I added some new configuration options to allow you to make destriers (and other horses) nicer to the environment when they are not being ridden.  It occurs to me now that I should probably do the same with nightmares!

I don't think configuration options are enough, though.  I think when you're riding your horse, you should have a fine-grained control over how her powers work, and that goes beyond just throwing on some Horseshoes of Gentling.

Flame Auras

In particular, I find myself getting a little concerned whenever I see someone make a custom horse with the "Flame Aura" power.  It's an awesome power, but I often wonder if the person ordering knows what he is getting into, because the flame aura can burn up the player if he is not careful!  Sure, you're protected when you are riding your horse, but if you jump off, that aura is going to burn you, too!  (So put Horseshoes of Gentling on your horse before jumping off to turn that Flame Aura power off!)

The Solution - A Better Inventory Screen

The best idea I've come up with to improve the current situation is to modify the Magical Horse Inventory Screen.  I'm looking into adding checkboxes to the inventory screen so you can turn on and off the various powers your horse has.  Dangerous powers like Flame Aura will be turned off by default, and will deactivate if you jump off your horse.

This will take me a little time to put into the mod, but it's high on my priority list.

No one has complained about the Flame Aura yet, but I want to make sure that I'm giving people the best possible experience with my mod.  For those of you playing, I appreciate your support, and I hope you are enjoying the mod!

Please post a comment if you have anything to say about this issue!