environmental_announcement.md

Introduction

You've seen the Endergetic Expansion, an expansion to the End. You've heard of Nether Extension, an expansion to the nether.. but what about an expansion to the whole Overworld and its biomes? Introducing... Environmental!

During the development of our mods, more specifically Swamp Expansion and Bloomful we noticed we had a lot of ideas to create other biome expansions similar to those mods... it eventually started getting quite out of hand. We decided to take a big leap and merge the mods into one Overworld expansion mod, as we felt it was better to have the new biome expansions we created not be individual mods. We are very excited to get it out soon and show everyone what awaits!

Below is an overview of the content being changed and added. The mod is still in development and won't be released for a bit, but will hopefully be soon. Some is still subject to change and be added as the mod is developed so stay tuned for more info!

Content

To start, all content from Swamp Expansion and Bloomful was merged into this mod. The old flowers from Buzzier Bees were also moved here as they fit expanding the biomes better. Hibiscus, Delphiniums, and Dianthus flowers have all received texture updates from Five.

Mud Vases from Swamp Expansion have turned into Slabfish Effigies, a new block to attract Slabfish, and mud now generates as block patches in Swamps and Marshes!

Slabfish have gotten some new variants to account for new biomes including the Nether Update's new biomes. Slabfish variants, backpacks, and sweaters have also gone data-driven, which was announced earlier. Tutorials for adding your own Slabfish, Slabfish backpacks, and Slabfish sweaters will come soon.

Wildlife

There is a nice selection of new wildlife, with plenty more to come! You can find Deer wandering in Forest biomes, and Ducks in Swamp biomes!

They do have some special capabilities and AI at the moment, but we wanted to get some new content out they are still fairly simple, but fear not, as more content and interactions will come in the future for them, as well as plenty of new mobs and animals!

Some more brilliant animals planned to come are Butterflies and Wisterients from Endergy's original Flower Forest expansion suggestion, as well as Koi and Penguin which were originally planned for Upgrade Aquatic but were moved here after further discussion. More planned animals include Fennec Foxes, Seals, Cardinals, Koi, Antelope, Yak, and Axolotls!

Blossom Woods

That's right! A brand new and beautiful biome has appeared. Blossom Forest biomes can now be found, which are filled with lovely pink Cherry Trees that produce falling pink leaf particles and can drop Cherries similar to how apples are dropped. Cherry Wood is a red color, similar to that of the wood pictured on the Smithing Table.

Bamboo is spread out across the biome, alongside the new Lotus Flowers that create floating red particles. Deer and Pandas can be found wandering this forest, with Koi and Cardinals joining them in the future!

Blossom Woods have a Blossom Hills variant, which is identical except for the height of the biome. Blossom Highlands are a mountainous variant that generates separately and has a sub-biome called Blossom Valleys, which are low and flat.

Villagers & Workstations

Mud Bricks have been provided a new use, they are now also used to craft Kilns! Kilns are a new type of cooking station that can smelt everything Blast Furnaces and Smokers cannot cook at double speed. These are also the workstations for the new Ceramist villager, who sells blocks and items related to bricks and building.

After adding all these wood types, we realized crafting recipes for the variants are somewhat inconvenient. Sawmills can now be made, which function similarly to Stonecutters but for wood-related recipes! They are also the workstation for the new Carpenter villager, who sells blocks and items related to wood and trees.

Explorer's Gear

Behold a set unlike any other, with parts that all have special effects, uses, and obtaining methods. The Explorer's Gear is a new set including a hood, wings, belt, boots, and a cleaver.

The Thief's Hood is a new helmet that makes the user's nameplate not render, as well as their name appearing as ??? in chat. In the future, it will also ideally decrease the detection range of mobs to provide some use outside multiplayer. It is a rare drop from Skeletons and Zombies.

The Fool's Wings are a new chest item that allows double-jumping. As a method of balancing, they wings have low durability and damage every time the user double-jumps. They can be found rarely in Dungeons.

The Architect's Belt is a leggings item that increases the placement and breaking range of players by two blocks. It is obtained as a master tier trade from Ceramists, Masons, and Carpenters. In addition to this, a new treasure enchantment, Reaching, can be found. It has three levels and can only be applied to the belt. Each level increases the range by one.

The Wanderer's Boots are a boot item that increases the speed of the player by 20%. They are obtained as a rare trade from Wandering Traders, and have a chance to be dropped by them as well. They also have a special enchantment to go with them, Travelling. Travelling increases the boost of the boots by 5% for each level and can only be used on Wanderer's Boots.

The Executioner's Cleaver is a strong new sword with high damage but low attack speed. As a bonus, it can drop Player heads upon kill. Vindicators have a chance to spawn with them, which gets higher based on the difficulty of the world.

Building & Decoration

Plenty of new decorations and building blocks have been added, including many new brick types to go with the Ceramist and Kiln. New brick types were added such as Terracotta Bricks and Ice Bricks. In addition, chiseled variants of Bricks, Mud Bricks, Terracotta Bricks, and Ice Bricks were added.

To go with Ice Bricks, Ice Lanterns and Ice Chains are new craftable decorations. There are also Podzol and Mycelium paths available to go alongside Grass paths and the Nylium paths from Nether Extension. New foliage can be found around too, such as Mycelium Sprouts, and larger variants of lily pads, all in addition to Giant Tall Grass.

Final Remarks

Developers: do not let this discourage you from creating and developing your own expansions to the overworld and the biomes we plan on expanding! Even if some ideas overlap a bit, it is not a major issue as we are sure both mods will have different plans for that content and the ideas as a whole. Please don't cancel your plans because of us, we love to see your mods and ideas as well! We know from time to time content may overlap but even if it does there are ways to address that and create compatibility for the player-base.

We'd also like to give a shout-out to Cell Membrane, who guessed the theme of the mod:

And another shout-out to Estellairon, who guessed the exact name of the mod:

Finally, we have many big plans after the release, including tons of new mobs, blocks, items, and more. This mod will only grow over time! We hope you all are excited for the release of Environmental which will hopefully be coming very soon! The team has put a lot of effort and love into it and we are hope you are as excited for it as we are!