/existential

Minecraft Modpack for Players with Little Time

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Existential

Minecraft Modpack for Players with Little Time

I am creating Existential to be the pack I want to play, but can't find. Before creating Existential I played a few packs that heavily influenced my decision-making process. Two of them are key:

  1. Bliss by Vazkii
  2. Project Architect by ChosenArchitect

Bliss focused on adding content true to the spirit of Minecraft while making the game more accessible, removing standard iron farms and exploitative villager trading and replacing it with more balanced alternatives.

Project Architect focused on an accelerated start and easier item management thanks to ProjectE and many building and tech mods for longevity.

The balance I want to strike is a very lightweight pack that feels similar to vanilla Minecraft, adding some quality of life and convenience so you can get to what you want to do quicker; preferably without quickly hitting a point where there is nothing left to do except chase some artificially far off goal like fight the Chaos Dragon.

In essence:

  • Bliss,
  • without the peaceful stuff,
  • with ProjectE
  • and some balance tweaks to rein in ProjectE

Goals of the Pack

  • Stay pretty close to Vanilla
  • Add quality of life enhancements
  • Remove some of the tedium to facilitate building
  • Try not to short circuit mechanics
  • Limit world generation manipulation
  • No keybind conflicts

Examples of how the goals drive decisions:

No JEI

The game has a recipe book and a useful mechanic to unlock recipes when they become relevant. I'd like to use that to guide the player, rather than a list of every item in the game. Any additional guidance can be offered through Patchouli.

No always-on map or minimap

Minecraft has a mapping mechanic, it's just a little cumbersome. Map Atlases takes care of helping you not get lost at the cost of some preparation. Of course, getting lost is sometimes the point...

Show Saturation

I feel a person would have some concept of their saturation, and so I feel its fine to show the player that information.

Debug menu

Players use the debug menu as if it were a heads up display. I hold that you are not meant to see the debug menu unless you are debugging the game. If possible, I want to disable it unless cheats are activated.

Typical Progression

Presently, you start with a Philosopher's Stone, but not a Transmutation Table. This makes Diamond obtainable, by mining surface ores and alchemical fuels obtainable by only mining Coal. In other words you can substitute quality with quantity if you find that more enjoyable.

Outside regular Minecraft progression (Wood / Leather -> Netherite) functional content is gated behind other resources; mainly Redstone, Glowstone, Lapis, Blaze Rods, Nether Wart, etc. These can be obtained in a number of ways other than mining, e.g. trading.

Core to the experience is that there should be a defined progression goal, but not a defined progression path. If you want diamond tools so you can terraform to build your starter house, you can do it without going into a cave.

  • Wood Pickaxe
    • Stone / Coal
    • Low Covalence
  • Stone Pickaxe
    • Iron
    • Redstone
    • Medium Covalence
  • Backpack (Iron / Leather)
  • Iron Band (Iron)
  • Iron Pickaxe
    • Diamond
    • High Covalence
  • Diamond Pickaxe
    • Obsidian
  • Pickarang
  • Repair Talisman (All Covalences)
  • Enchanting Table (Diamond & Obsidian)
  • Nether Portal (Obsidian)
    • Glowstone
  • Philosopher's Stone (Glowstone / Redstone / Diamond)
    • Alchemical Fuels
    • Dark Matter
    • Red Matter
  • Klein Star (Diamond / Alchemical Fuel)
  • Transmutation Table (Philosopher's Stone / Obsidian)
  • Swiftwolf's Rending Gale (Iron Band / Dark Matter)
  • Black Hole Band (Iron Band / Dark Matter)
  • Gem of Eternal Density (Diamond / Obsidian / Dark Matter)
  • Archangel's Smite (Iron Band / Dark Matter)
  • Dark Matter Gear
  • Red Matter Gear
  • Gem Gear