Minecraft Modding For Kids For Dummies

Project 10

Building Your Own Game

Throughout this book, I describe lots of coding concepts and game design strategies. In this project, however, I guide you through the steps to create your own Minecraft mod. It’s time to put your new skills to use in a new and creative project that you come up with on your own.

Coming up with new mod ideas can be a fun process all on its own. Get together with friends and ask them what they wish they could do in Minecraft, or watch YouTube videos for inspiration.

Sketch Out Your Mod

The first thing to do when designing a new mod is to sketch out the result you want. Keep these guidelines in mind when you’re sketching out your mod:

• Use graph paper. You can sketch out your mod more accurately on graph paper than on blank paper. Figure 10-1 shows what graph paper looks like. You can look at each box on the graph paper as a single block in Minecraft.
• Math blocks can be even more useful than graph paper. You can create the 3D effect, where you almost feel like you’re walking around in the mod you’re designing.
• Using blank paper has its place, too. Sometimes you just want to get a general idea of what your mod will look like or what it will do, so you don’t need to add lots of detail.
• Build it in Minecraft first. If you’re designing a mod in which you build a structure such as a roller coaster, build the structure by hand in Minecraft first, to ...