(005) The brew between the blocks

🔎 Single Bean - Pale Bloom

Another gem from SirSquid1y caught my eye this week. We previously highlighted their Mining Forks mod in an earlier issue, and this one shows the same attention to detail. Currently sitting around 20k downloads.

Pale Bloom backports, expands, and adds depth to the Pale Garden biome. Despite its magic feeling according to the author it's more of a diet lite tech mod - practical systems with a nature theme. Become a Pale Druid of the Night. The Garden must grow.

The mod brings all of the Pale Garden back with full functionality - that means Pale Oak woods, the Creaking, Resin, Pale Moss, Eyeblossoms, and more. On top of that, you get seven new decorative plants like Pale Pumpkins and Peeping Birch, plus seven functional plants including Resin Bulbs and Pollenheads that power an entire Resin system. Equipment-wise, you can craft Gardengrafted Tools and a customizable Pale Moss Cloak. Three new mobs join the mix, from the Pale Creeper to customizable Mannequins. Through Sap, you can bring Blooming Pale Oak Trees into the world or cross-pollinate vanilla plants into entirely new strains.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FpYH-K-48cg?rel=0

Links:

GitHub (source and issue tracker)

CurseForge (Download)

Tl;dr: If your modpack needs a light tech progression path wrapped in a cohesive aesthetic, Pale Bloom fits snugly without overwhelming. The Resin power system offers automation potential while leaving space for botanical experimentation.

📝 Roaster's Notes: Meet @xkforce.bsky.social

To keep the conversation brewing this week, I invited Penteractgaming to trade stories over a digital cup of coffee. We talked about world building, challenges faced with when making a modpack and the progress on his current project.

Morning Brew

Enderman: As always, we kick things off with the essential question: What is your favorite kind of coffee?

Penteractgaming: Mocha iced coffee.

Origin Story

Enderman: From caffeine to creation - what got you into modpack making in the first place?

Penteractgaming: I know it started with an item recipe change back when 1.12 first came out. Then I got the idea to start adding new content and the original incarnation of the pack was born.

The Chemist's Return

Enderman: In one of our past conversations you mentioned that you're primarily a chemist, but switched fields a few times, which led you to nearly possessing 3 degrees. What was the reason for returning to chemistry?

Penteractgaming: Sort of. I started as a chemistry physics double major, switched to biochem then back to finish my chemistry degree. As for why I ended up going back to chemistry in the end, the short answer is that I ended up liking my work as a chemist in my undergraduate research work more than I wanted to go into medicine.

The Alchemy System

Enderman: Time to get to your main project - The Road Not Taken modpack. On January 1st, 2020, you uploaded a short clip showcasing what seems like the first iteration of the custom alchemy system in your pack. What was the inspiration for it?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/QN7UCMbg1WQ?rel=0

Penteractgaming: Dust alchemy was based on an old bug that used to be in the vanilla game until 1.8 that converted Redstone dust into obsidian when lava flowed on it when it was adjacent to water.1 I thought it was a neat accidental mechanic that fit in with one of the pack's themes of making the world work in a way that made sense. i.e for the most part, you should be able to "recreate the world" around you through various mechanics. Bonemealing grass makes flowers, lava and water interacting with each other, crystals and dusts makes different stone blocks found in the world etc. The way the world is in the pack should make sense just like it does in real life.

Worldbuilding Update

Enderman: Roughly two months ago, you looked for help fleshing out your pulp sci-fi-inspired world, especially when it comes to planets like Jupiter. Did you come to a conclusion yet?

Struggling with fleshing out a pulp scifi inspired world for a minecraft pack

Penteractgaming: While I haven't fleshed out every world added by the pack, progress is being made. Mostly I rely on each world having one or more design themes and just extend them based on those theme(s). An example being the overworld sky islands which contain plants that are logical extensions of plants found in the overworld that do not exist naturally in real life. All I really need to do is work out what those design themes are for the worlds that aren't yet fleshed out. That said, I playtest ideas like this relentlessly before finalizing them and that process is going to take a while.

Perspective Check

Enderman: During my preparations for this interview, I found a quote from roughly 10 years ago on how to cope with the feeling of being behind in life.2

I work on one thing at a time. You can't fix everything in a day but you can make today better than yesterday.

Is today still better than yesterday?

Penteractgaming: I think so. The pack is further along than it was in a lot of ways which is one of the reasons I keep working on it. Things are progressing slowly but they are progressing.

What else?

Enderman: Anything else you want to mention or plug? And for readers who want to follow the progress of your projects, where can they find you?

Penteractgaming: The pack in its current state was based on an old RPG I played with friends back in college in the 2000s. The premise of that campaign was that the entire solar system was breathable and vacuum as we know it wasn't what filled the space between worlds. You could move from world to world via a hot air balloon. So I did the equivalent in Minecraft with the teleportation loops which were my workaround for a technical limitation that existed when I first implemented the mechanic with Elytra flight.

The mirror dimensions were my answer to limited server worlds causing resource shortages and limited exploration and that was inspired by a mobile game called Last Day on Earth that used locations that reset their maps every time you entered them. Eventually at least some of these dimensions in the pack are going to not just serve that purpose but be part of a narrative framework involving Mars' past. i.e the mystery of the collapse of Mars, why different worlds have structures on them of apparent martian origin and possibly maybe links to other solar systems if that ever happens.

Finally, you can follow the pack's development at my discord . I would also like to thank you for your extensive assistance with TRNT's development without which the pack would be dead in the water by this point.

💬 Counter Talk

This week's brew was a bit quieter than usual - nothing spilled, nothing stirred on the community counter. Sometimes the quiet moments between servings are when you can catch your breath and let the beans settle.

But that doesn't mean we're slowing down. I'm still actively scouting for creators, modders, and enthusiasts to feature in upcoming issues. If you know someone crafting something special in the 1.12 space - or if that's you - drop me a note. Whether it's a small mod, a massive pack, or just ideas worth sharing, I want to hear about it. So let's have a talk.

🧽 Cleaning the Tables

Alright folks, that's the brew for this week. Thanks for sipping along. ☕️

Got a mod you think should get the Single Bean spotlight?
Hit reply or DM me on the Atmosphere.

Stay caffeinated,

~ Enderman

https://mojira.dev/MC-4239

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