I love the nether however sometimes I feel like its an empty and neglected world. It has no plant life except for nether wart and still thats pretty rare. What do Ghasts, Z-Pigmen, Blazes, and Magma Cubes eat?
Heres what I suggest:
Plants in the Nether
Briar Thorn Plants - Basically a viney and thorny plant. It should be able to damage the player and NPCs alike. It should grow kinda like a watermelon patch without the fruit part.. just the vine. It should grow on netherrack or soul sand. I also think it should slow the player down. Now imagine falling into a pit of this plant.. Not only you are slowed from this (and possibly sinking into soulsand) but taking damage as well, and oh is that a ghast over there? Why is this so brutal? Because its the nether and the nether should not be a place that is safe. ever.
Bio-luminescent Mushrooms - Yes, mushrooms already emit light, although not that much. These suckers are the freaking sun compared to them. Perhaps they emit a redish hue or green or whatever. Glowing mushrooms in the nether. (Huge Glowing Mushrooms?)
Man-Eating Plants - Kinda like the Pirahna Plant from Mario, Half NPC, Half Plant. They attack anything that gets in their range and do a lot of damage or have some sort of poison present on them which sedates their prey.
Giant Hogweed (Scarweed) - A real life plant might as well put in the game. Basically a poisonous plant however the poison only reacts until it is exposed to sunlight. http://en.wikipedia...._mantegazzianum
Firetree - Trees that constantly burn. They are black and produce black planks. They have no leaves or "evil" looking leaves or whatever. I imagine they grow kinda like a Saguaro cactus but more.. Tree like.
Horrortree - Normal tree. Is whitish or greyish sort of like the birch tree of the nether. Here's the twist: It has faces on it like soul sand. Oh and it screams when you chop it down. For once the hippies might be right. Perhaps it drops fruit but it better have a creeper face on it.
A reason to Dig in the Nether
This is MINEcraft all. There are no ores, valuable stones (other than glowstone), or ANY reason to open up a quarry in the nether and start digging. Some of these have been mentioned.
Black Diamonds - Like regular diamonds they are very strong. However unlike regular diamonds they are common due to the heat and pressure in the nether. Here's the twist: they are found in small clusters underneath the lava seas. Lava will not drip through this block so you have no warning when your about to eat magma.
Dark Iron - Iron with a different skin basically. Dark gray block. Something something something. It doesn't have to have a specific function other than its dark iron.
Rubies - Rubies. Worth 5 Emeralds at the village bank. Which I'll get to later. Also Ruby blocks.
Nether Portals and thier Effects
Nether Portal Spawns - I think nether portals should be able to spawn. However they only spawn in certain areas on the overworld, such as mushroom biomes or swamp biomes or within dungeons.
Nether Portal Effects - I feel like a nether portal should twist the world around it seeing as anything can go in and out of it. I feel it should warp all dirt around it (say one chunk each direction) into Mycelium, All sand should be turned into soulsand. Stone will remain stone. Also whenever a nether portal remains open the chance of a thunderstorm will increase significantly within a specific radius if exposed to sky if thats possible. A portal to hell typically should be bad thing and something you don't want to leave in the middle of your base. Also fauna from the nether can spawn in the surrounding area.
Odds n Ends
Village Bank/Market - One to Four villages will be present here during the daytime and have alternating goods. One of them will exchange rubies for emeralds the others will have rotating goods on sale for a cheaper price than what the other villagers have to offer.
Telescope - 6 Gold Ignots and two glass pieces on either side. Allows you to zoom in and see far away.
Heres what I suggest:
Plants in the Nether
Briar Thorn Plants - Basically a viney and thorny plant. It should be able to damage the player and NPCs alike. It should grow kinda like a watermelon patch without the fruit part.. just the vine. It should grow on netherrack or soul sand. I also think it should slow the player down. Now imagine falling into a pit of this plant.. Not only you are slowed from this (and possibly sinking into soulsand) but taking damage as well, and oh is that a ghast over there? Why is this so brutal? Because its the nether and the nether should not be a place that is safe. ever.
Bio-luminescent Mushrooms - Yes, mushrooms already emit light, although not that much. These suckers are the freaking sun compared to them. Perhaps they emit a redish hue or green or whatever. Glowing mushrooms in the nether. (Huge Glowing Mushrooms?)
Man-Eating Plants - Kinda like the Pirahna Plant from Mario, Half NPC, Half Plant. They attack anything that gets in their range and do a lot of damage or have some sort of poison present on them which sedates their prey.
Giant Hogweed (Scarweed) - A real life plant might as well put in the game. Basically a poisonous plant however the poison only reacts until it is exposed to sunlight.
http://en.wikipedia...._mantegazzianum
Firetree - Trees that constantly burn. They are black and produce black planks. They have no leaves or "evil" looking leaves or whatever. I imagine they grow kinda like a Saguaro cactus but more.. Tree like.
Horrortree - Normal tree. Is whitish or greyish sort of like the birch tree of the nether. Here's the twist: It has faces on it like soul sand. Oh and it screams when you chop it down. For once the hippies might be right. Perhaps it drops fruit but it better have a creeper face on it.
A reason to Dig in the Nether
This is MINEcraft all. There are no ores, valuable stones (other than glowstone), or ANY reason to open up a quarry in the nether and start digging. Some of these have been mentioned.
Black Diamonds - Like regular diamonds they are very strong. However unlike regular diamonds they are common due to the heat and pressure in the nether. Here's the twist: they are found in small clusters underneath the lava seas. Lava will not drip through this block so you have no warning when your about to eat magma.
Dark Iron - Iron with a different skin basically. Dark gray block. Something something something. It doesn't have to have a specific function other than its dark iron.
Rubies - Rubies. Worth 5 Emeralds at the village bank. Which I'll get to later. Also Ruby blocks.
Nether Portals and thier Effects
Nether Portal Spawns - I think nether portals should be able to spawn. However they only spawn in certain areas on the overworld, such as mushroom biomes or swamp biomes or within dungeons.
Nether Portal Effects - I feel like a nether portal should twist the world around it seeing as anything can go in and out of it. I feel it should warp all dirt around it (say one chunk each direction) into Mycelium, All sand should be turned into soulsand. Stone will remain stone. Also whenever a nether portal remains open the chance of a thunderstorm will increase significantly within a specific radius if exposed to sky if thats possible. A portal to hell typically should be bad thing and something you don't want to leave in the middle of your base. Also fauna from the nether can spawn in the surrounding area.
Odds n Ends
Village Bank/Market - One to Four villages will be present here during the daytime and have alternating goods. One of them will exchange rubies for emeralds the others will have rotating goods on sale for a cheaper price than what the other villagers have to offer.
Telescope - 6 Gold Ignots and two glass pieces on either side. Allows you to zoom in and see far away.
you did very well presenting your idea as a begginer, and i like your idea. good job!