Terminus Industries Projects: Pentamorph, A Transformers Mod For Minecraft (Part 1)

So as some of you are undoubtedly aware, I dabble in a lot of things; Music, writing, CAD, art, coding, etc.

Well, today, I'm going to focus a bit on one of my side-projects, which emphasizes that coding side of things! Since I was much younger, I've always enjoyed playing Minecraft, a sandbox survival game with a distinct voxel aesthetic. However, in recent years, I've started to more heavily lean into playing with mods. Engineering mods like Create, which allow for wild physics-based contraptions, and dangerous survival mods like The Abyss, which introduce creatures that I admittedly can't hold my own against. However, I've wanted to take a stab at trying on my own to make some, so now I have two big ones I'm working on periodically.

For my tools:

• I'm utilizing MCreator for the rough outline, than adapting the auto-generated code to suit my actual goals. Numerous plugins help a lot with this, like the new-and-improved Geckolib which supports animating these creatures and items.

• In terms of modelling, I use Blockbench to create the objects/entities, the textures, and the corresponding animations. It's a lot quicker than it sounds.

• For music, I use Bandlab to compose, and then convert that into the compatible .ogg files. Same goes for sound effects.

As for the mods themselves? I co-host a server with my friend that's gone through several seasons, alternating between vanilla gameplay and heavily modded. The first one is Variant Eternal, which is specifically meant for the lore of that server, and features quite a few unorthodox creatures and mechanics. The second one, though, is what I'm focused on currently, as I've hit a wall with one of the features of Variant Eternal. Pentamorph is planned as a Transformers mod for relatively up-to-date versions of the game with features from numerous parts of the brand.

Pentamorph

Pentamorph focuses on combining a few different ideas for mechanics to create a largely unique gameplay experience. Players would be able to utilize a Cyberforming Detonator with CNA recovered from structures around the world to become a character of their choice, with their own unique attributes and capabilities. These characters span several continuities, including G1, Eugenesis, Earthspark, Lost Light and more. Some characters can be ridden by other players, while others can combine, allowing for the central component to assume control of the resulting form. Likewise, NPC versions of Cybertronians also exist, including Vehicons and Autotroopers, but that's not all.

Unbeknownst to these new Cybertronians, there is an emerging threat. The Quintesson population has emerged and is quickly taking hold, infesting the world. ~~~~

So first of all, my goal is to do the easier part of the mod. You'd think that'd be the regular Cybertronian element, but you'd be wrong! Overriding the player model and attributes is quite the pain to pull off coding-wise, and only a handful of mods have successfully done it. So instead, I'm focusing on possibly the scarier element of this mod!

Quintesson Invasion!

The Quintesson system is similar to Scape & Run's Parasite system with both evolutionary shifts, and spreading blocks. However, there are major twists in store.

The most basic unit in this is the Quintesson Larva. The Larva's normally slow, kinda' cute, and harmless to players. However, keep it far away from passive mobs, like cows and chickens. Otherwise, it'll consume enough mass to have a 10% chance of evolving into a Quintesson Juror.

The Juror has a similar silhouette to the Larva, but is decidedly more creepy, and those cute little stubby legs, are now very arachnid-like in movement. At this point, it's now developed a rudimentary face. Yikes. This thing is, in fact, hostile to players, and much, *much* faster. If a Juror kills an Alicon, which is comparable behavior-wise to a zombie killing a skeleton, then there is a 50% chance the Juror adopts an infested form based upon the Alicon, the Quintesson Bailiff. The Bailiff, unlike the Juror, but like the Alicon, can transform, and used ranged attacks.

If a Juror kills a Sharkticon, then likewise, there's a 50% chance the Juror becomes a Quintesson Investigator, which is like a ground-based version of the Judge with 3 heads. The Investigators are normally fast, and there tenticles have an array of "interrogation devices," which they have a 15% chance of dropping on death. I'll probably establish loot for each of the tiers in this hierarchy later on.

Now if a Juror kills anything else, that's added to its kill counter, which once it reaches a higher level, that Juror will evolve into a Quintesson Barrister. Barristers have arachnid-like movement, swept-back tenticles, and similarly to the Investigators, 3 faces, though some only have 2. The 2-faced Barristers have a 25% chance of upon killing evolving into a stationary Quintesson Physician. They still will melee you if you get to close, but they also provide a regenerative buff to all Quintessons and Aquatronians in the area. Good luck, I suppose, if you opted for a Sharkticon as your form! However, the Barrister also has a 25% chance of evolving into a Quintesson Lawyer which inflicts a poison effect on non-Quintessons, and can occassionally generate new Larvae.

The 3-faced Barristers continue the evolutionary path, though! Now if a Barrister kills a humanoid entity, such as a zombie, skeleton, player, or well, Lithonian, they have a 10% chance of evolving once more, this time into a Quintesson Prosecutor. Not much clarification needed here. They can reach far. If the Barrister doesn't evolve into a Prosecutor by the time its kill count is high enough, it will evolve into a Quintesson Attorney, which is loosely based upon the concept art Quints, albeit modified to have 4 faces.

An Investigator can evolve into a larger form, that commands other Investigators, as a Quintesson Sheriff. The Sheriff has guns. And mandibles. You're pretty much dead if you encounter one.

Now here's where the hierarchy starts to get really confusing. The Attorney has a chance of evolving into the mini-boss mob, with comparable health points to the game's Warden mob. This Quintesson Judge is decidedly lethal, now having five faces, airborne capabilities, an electrified field, and a long reach. I recommended that whatever base form you choose have a lot of defense capabilities. Speed definitely is useless against this thing since it can thoroughly track your movement. The Judge, in turn can evolve into an Alpha Quintesson, a boss mob that is surprisingly passive unless provoked. The Alpha is distinctly faster than its previously sluggish form, and can utilize weapons and tools from its inventory.

The Judge can also evolve into another boss mob, being the Quintesson Justice, which more closely resembles the Cyberverse appearance of Quintessons. The Justice can summon Quintesson Hunters which also are an evolutionary step from Investigators, and Quintesson Executioners which are a step up from Bailiffs.

Both the Justice and the Alpha can in turn evolve into the 'ultra-boss'-type mob, the Quintesson Supreme Justice. Large, and incredibly hard to take down.

Here's where things get decidedly more confusing. There's one other mob, that can't be summoned or spawned from an egg. This mob is not hostile, and remains relatively stationary. Only 1 can generate per world, and it settles itself in a deep ocean. Aquatron the Titan. Aquatron's jellyfish-like appearance is reminiscient of some of its population, but Aquatron serves both as an entity, and as a portal to another, far more notable feature: A Quintesson dimension. Here, the Quintessons run rampant in numerous structures, while others will contain other Cyber-fauna like Sharkticons, Alicons, and more. At the center of this world lies a fortress, where one can find one other significant boss, being Quintessa. The world itself is very much semi-aquatic in nature, with many of the blocks comprising the terrain being Quintiform Blocks, which can spread in the Overworld from spores that some of the evolutionary paths emit. These Quintiform Blocks are relatively passive in the Quintesson's world, but in the Overworld? They can generate Quintesson Nests, which spawn Larvae. Be careful to mine away any you see, or you could quickly have an infestation on your hands!

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I look forward to being able to show progress for this in the coming months, as I adapt my workspace to suit the 1.19.2 modding environment, and maybe I'll have some easter eggs worth sharing as well!