Introducing: Advanced Health Options

23 Jun 2014

Finally I'm making some proper use of this little "blog" thing I have going on. I should probably set something up that'll make this sort of stuff easier rather than hand-writing all of the pages, and updating every single one whenever I want to change something ... Anyshway!!

I just want to introduce you to a new mod I was / am working on. It's called Advanced Health Options. Story time's first, so feel free to skip ahead if you're more interested in the features and future plans I have for the mod.

Basically the motivation behind the mod is that Minecraft is simply too easy, even on Hardcore. You may die out of stupidity, but it's not difficult to survive. One thing that always bumped up the excitement for me was turning off natural regeneration. One problem with it is every little bit of damage you take gets accumulated and you should really play most carefully until you get access to excess healing. This is not necessarily fun.

One interesting thing to note is that this was not the first time I wrote a mod that changes regeneration. I worked on a mod called Vanilla Adjustments before. (Oh god I forgot about this completely.) It changed a few aspects of Vanilla Minecraft that I thought made sense. It also had an option to change how long dropped items from player deaths stay around for - that'll definitely go into copycore. Either way, the mod kind of dropped into the depths of gimmicky mod hell, where it belongs!!

But what can you actually do with Advanced Health Options (or AHO for short)?

Customize natural health regeneration. This one's pretty obvious, but in detail it means you control exactly how long it takes to heal. You can also adjust at which food levels the regeneration is effective (for example no regeneration at half, and full at a little below full) and how much exhaustion is added when the player does heal.

This one's pretty obvious, but in detail it means you control exactly how long it takes to heal. You can also adjust at which food levels the regeneration is effective (for example no regeneration at half, and full at a little below full) and how much exhaustion is added when the player does heal. Customizable "hurt penalty" system. The whole idea behind this system is to slow down or completely disable regeneration for a variable amount of time when taking damage. The more damage is taken, the more / longer the healing will be crippled. This'll make it so you can't rely on natural regeneration during battle, but once outside you will be able to heal again. Depending on the settings it can take a short or long amount of time.

The whole idea behind this system is to slow down or completely disable regeneration for a variable amount of time when taking damage. The more damage is taken, the more / longer the healing will be crippled. This'll make it so you can't rely on natural regeneration during battle, but once outside you will be able to heal again. Depending on the settings it can take a short or long amount of time. Customize respawn options. Choose how much health and food players respawn with after they die. Useful in cases where they might kill themselves for an easy way to get back their health or food. Also allows setting the "penalty time" and giving the player a shield after respawning.

Choose how much health and food players respawn with after they die. Useful in cases where they might kill themselves for an easy way to get back their health or food. Also allows setting the "penalty time" and giving the player a shield after respawning. Easy to use. The configuration options might be a bit confusing, so the mod comes with 6 presets for people to choose from. Directly in the world creation menu - see image below. They range from peaceful to ultra hardcore, which you should all be familiar with.

The configuration options might be a bit confusing, so the mod comes with 6 presets for people to choose from. Directly in the world creation menu - see image below. They range from peaceful to ultra hardcore, which you should all be familiar with. Per-world config. When choosing a preset in the world creation screen, those settings are saved specifically for that world. You can create additional worlds with different options just fine!

When choosing a preset in the world creation screen, those settings are saved specifically for that world. You can create additional worlds with different options just fine! Modpack madness. If you're a modpack author you probably want your players to use a specific preset or your custom one, so there's an option that'll lock in the options you've chosen for them.

This image is really all I can show of the mod, unless you want to take a look at the config file or perhaps the source code - which is up on GitHub by the way.

Here's a few things I'm either planning to add or thinking about doing so:

Display on the HUD how fast you regenerate, in relation to the maximum speed.

Optional bleeding mechanic as well as bandages to stop bleeding.

Recharging shield, acting as a buffer before taking actual damage.

I also like the way experience levels affect the amount of maximum health you have in TerraFirmaCraft. Definitely a nice mechanic, but not sure how it'd work in Vanilla Minecraft where there's actual use for it.

Either way, in case you're looking for where to download the mod just go to the mod's releases page on GitHub. As always, feel free to leave me feedback on Twitter or IRC.