Minecraft Forums

I'm Kingbdogz

Hey guys! If anyone wants to come discuss the Aether mod, you can come over to the IRC channel #aethermod on esper.net. _303, Kodaichi and Shockah will also be there.

If you do not have an IRC client here is how to join the channel with your web browser:

1. Go to http://www.esper.net.
2. Click on "Chat now!" in the top right hand corner. This will go to another page with an input box which has "#" inside it.
3. Inside the input box, type in #aethermod and press connect.
4. The mibbit client will then request for your username, type it in.
5. Have fun chatting!

See you there!

New Images: Darts, Keys, Icestone!

Hey guys, I've been pretty busy lately with homework but I've still had enough time to work on the project. Lately I've been focusing less on the Aether mobs and more on the items/blocks. Check them out:

New Blocks



Golden Oak Leaves

Description: Golden Oak Leaves are the "Leaf" blocks of Golden Oaks. These trees are very tall and thick in comparison to Skyroots. They are made up of Skyroot Logs, Gilded Oak and Golden Oak Leaves. Additionally, these leaves have a very rare chance of dropping Saplings, and even Golden Apples.

Gilded Oak

Description: In some rare cases, Golden Oak trees can be found with Golden Orbs embedded into their trunk. These embedded logs are called "Gilded Oaks", and drop Golden Orbs upon breaking. These Golden Orbs are extremely useful for crafting particular items such as a Dart, a Compass, etc.

Located: Gilded Oak logs can be found in the center of Golden Oak trunks.

Icestone

Description: Icestone blocks are cold in nature, and freeze all water around it as soon as it is placed. This is especially useful for quickly making bridges across rivers or oceans. Water source blocks are frozen into ice. Flowing water, on the other hand, simply disappears.

Located: Icestone can be found most commonly on the top of large floating mountains.

Mossy Holystone

Description: Mossy Holystone has no specific use, but they are great building blocks and help to define the location of a Dungeon.

Located: Mossy Holystone can be found on the walls of Dungeons.

Skyroot Sapling

Description: Skyroot Saplings are very common drops from Skyroot Leaves. They allow you to regrow Skyroot trees.

Golden Oak Sapling

Description: Golden Oak Saplings are very rare drops from Golden Oak Leaves. They allow you to regrow Golden Oak trees.

Ambrosium Torch

Description: Ambrosium Torches act exactly the same as regular torches from the overworld. However, regular torches cannot be placed in the Aether because of a lack of oxygen. To rival this, players can craft torches out of Ambrosium to light their way through a house without any glass.

Crafting: Ambrosium Torches are crafted with Ambrosium Shards and Skyroot Sticks.

New Items



Moa Eggs

Description: Moas and their Eggs have been changed a lot since their initial announcement. For one, Moas now come in three different breeds: Orange, Blue (which can both be found naturally in the Aether) and Brown Moas (which can only be obtained by making a Blue and Orange Moa mate together). Moas can be initially tamed by feeding them Aechor Petals from Aechor Plants, which will stop them from despawning. However, in order to ride and fly them you must place a saddle on their back.

Mating works by having two Moas very close together and both feeding them one or more Aechor Petals. After one Minecraft day passes, one of the two Moas will spawn a particular Moa Egg depending on which types of Moas are breeding. Brown Moas have a dominant colour gene, which means if a Brown Moa mates with an Orange or a Blue Moa they will ALWAYS produce a Brown Moa Egg. If you breed two Orange Moas together they will produce an Orange Moa Egg, and visa versa. Moa Eggs no longer "capture" Moas like they initially did, and they are no longer cook-able into Scrambled Eggs. However, this ability will be re-added in a Leash item which can not only Leash Moas, but also Wolves (this means you can take your Wolf into the Nether or up in the Aether).

Bucket of Poison

Description: Buckets of Poison can be obtained by right clicking an Aechor Plant with an empty Skyroot Bucket. Aechor Plants are neutral unless you either attack them or steal their poison. If you provoke them, they will spit poisonous needles at your character. These needles are too weak to actually inflict any real damage, but they do distort the screen and make your character move in random directions, potentially throwing you off dangerous heights. Buckets of Poison can be used to enhance your Golden Darts in combat. Additionally, you can enchant Buckets of Poison into Buckets of Remedy, which make you temporarily immune to any poisonous projectiles.

Dart Shooter

Description: Dart Shooters are the "Aether" equivalents of Bows. However, unlike Arrows, Darts shoot in a straight direction and never fall down due to gravity. If a Dart hits the sky barrier or render barrier, it will simply disappear. This is extremely useful for making accurate shots on far-away mobs.

Crafting: Dart Shooters can be crafted with Skyroot logs and Zanite Gems.

Golden Dart

Description: Golden Darts are the common projectiles used in Dart Shooters. They do slightly less damage than Arrows, but shoot in a straight line (thus, they do not get affected by gravity).

Crafting: Golden Darts can be crafted with Golden Orbs, Skyroot Sticks and Feathers.

Poison Dart

Description: Poison Darts do the exact same damage as Golden Darts on impact, but they also make the targeted enemy move in random directions while doing small bursts of damage, which is especially useful for combating Aether mobs.

Crafting: Poison Darts can be made by mixing a Bucket of Poison with Golden Darts.

Golden Orb

Description: Golden Orbs are very useful crafting materials for particular items such as Darts and a Portal Compass.

Located: Golden Orbs can be found embedded into some logs of Golden Oak trees.

Aechor Petal

Description: Aechor Petals are used primarily for taming and breeding Moas.

Located: Aechor Petals can be obtained by killing Aechor Plants.

Keys

Description: Bronze, Silver and Gold Keys can be used on Locked Chests found within dungeons. You will either get a common or rare unique item, depending on which key you use on the Chest.

Crafting: Keys can be obtained by killing dungeon bosses. You will either gain a Bronze, Silver or Gold Key depending on the difficulty of the boss.

New Enchanted Items



Enchanted Darts

New Effect: Enchanted Darts deal more damage than Golden Darts.

Enchanting: One Ambrosium Shard can enchant two Golden Darts.

Blue Music Disk

New Effect: If you enchant a Music Disk (either green or gold), you end up with a blue Music Disk. This will have a special soundtrack dedicated to the Aether.

Enchanting: Five Ambrosium Shards can enchant one Music Disk.

Bucket of Remedy

New Effect: Enchanting a Bucket of Poison will reverse the effect and create a "remedy". Upon use, this remedy will make the player temporarily immune to all poison attacks.

Enchanting: Two Ambrosium Shards can enchant one Bucket of Poison.

Tasks Left:

Here are all the blocks and items I have to finish.

Blocks

- Galestone -
- Flowvein -
- Floatsand -
- Aerwhale Nest -
- Locked Chest -


Items

- Portal Compass -
- Aerwhale Bladder -
- Swet Drops -
- Leash -
- Gravitite Armour -

Enjoy and stay tuned!

One of the biggest projects in Minecraft Modding history is near completion. Three well-known and talented modders (Kingbdogz, Kodaichi and Shockah) have joined forces to develop the Aether, a celestial realm found in outer limits of the atmosphere. The Aether is what you could call the "antipole" of the Nether. The Nether is a network of desolate, fiery caverns filled with bloodstained Cobblestone and sticky Soulsand; it lies beneath the very soil of our Minecraft world. The Aether, on the other hand, is a collection of floating plains and islands, all connected together to create a breathtaking dimension of the skies. Even during the night, the Aether is still very brightly lit, and a normal day in the Aether is the equivalent of three days on the surface.


Aerwhales, the gentle giants of the Aether, can be found floating in the horizon, munching on golden trees and strips of blue clouds as the sun climbs higher in the sky. When the sun falls, Cockatrices crawl away from their well-hidden nests, ready to attack. Deadly as they may be, these giant birds can be tamed with much practice. They are one of the few hostile mobs in the Aether, but they usually don't attack the player unless provoked.


The Aether isn't always fun and games though; elaborate dungeons are protected by powerful Guardians and sleeping Sentries which await watchfully. They can be found in the sides of massive floating orbs, containing locked loot chests with otherwise unobtainable singular items and blocks worth the effort of slaying their key bearing protectors.


I hope you enjoyed this small preview of the Aether. These images were taken within one week of solid development, so things are definitely subject to change. The project will also feature huge changes to the Nether so that players aren't just tempted to go to the Aether.







Dungeons will have three levels of difficulty. Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze Dungeons will contain very weak Sentries and a mediocre Boss. This means that the Dungeon will be easier to handle, but the Boss will only drop a Bronze key, giving you a rare material or weapon upon opening a chest. However, the loot from Bronze keys can be obtained other ways, and all of the items are not unique. Silver Dungeons are slightly harder, and reward you with one Unique Item. Gold Dungeons are extremely hard, but you will be rewarded with one Unique Item and one Unique Block. These Unique rewards CANNOT be obtained any other way.

What you can see below is a Bronze Dungeon, guarded by very weak and small Sentries.


Bronze-Level Sentries are not directly hostile. Instead of literally damaging their enemies, the Sentries fire blue beams of light towards the player, pushing them back far away from the treasure the Sentries are protecting. These beams will "phase out" blocks that they hit, making them disappear for a short period of time. For the Sentries appearance we wanted them to feel like "Living Blocks of Ancient Stone". We are going to further improve the model though, adding several other details.



After much feedback, we've decided to change the Moa's visuals so that they more accurately represent the Aether's "blue" and "cloudy" theme. To do this, we have adjusted its texture, and this is what it has resulted in. Tell me what you think! (I've also added two extra screenshots of the Aether).




Hey guys, just a little update on progress. While I was flying around on my Moa last night, I noticed one thing about the environment: it didn't feel "alive", it felt like it was artificial and dead. To fix this, I have made several alterations which has resulted in a more lush, vibrant atmosphere. Here is what I've come up with so far:


These are the changes I have made:

- I changed the grass colour so that it was more saturated.
- The grass colour has also been tweaked so that it is more blue than green.
- I've completely redone the Tree's leaf block textures. They have a new pattern and a dark, rich green colour.

I think it looks a TON better, and the green really adds a more "lively" feeling to the Aether. The common trees in the Aether shown above are called Skyroots. The golden trees will still generate in the Aether, but they will be less common than the Skyroots. These rare trees are called Golden Oaks.



Hey guys, just a little update on progress. After heavy feedback from the community, we have changed the texture for the Skyroots leaves to something more appropriate. We've also finished the Swets (blue water slimes found in the Aether which absorb mobs). Check them out:




Fun fact, Swets HATE Slimes!


Stay tuned.








Characteristics: Aetherdirt, in many ways, works very similarly to Dirt on the Surface. When enough light is provided, it will grow Aethergrass on the top layer.

Located: Aetherdirt is found very commonly in the Aether dimension. It's usually populated on the tops of floating islands or mountains.

Uses: Aetherdirt and Aethergrass are the only blocks which can provide enough sustenance to grow the vegetation found in the Aether.



Characteristics: Holystone blocks can be found with various minerals or gems embedded into them.

Located: Holystone is a common block found in the Aether which is made up of rock material. They usually generate themselves on the bottoms of floating islands and mountains.

Uses: Holystone can be used to create Holystone tools.



Characteristics: Ambrosium Ore drops Ambrosium Shards upon mining.

Located: Ambrosium Ore is a very common mineral found in the Aether. They usually generate near large formations of Holystone.

Uses: Ambrosium Ore can be used to obtain Ambrosium Shards, which are very important fuel-material for Encanters.



Characteristics: Zanite Ore drops Zanite Gemstones upon mining.

Located: Zanite Ore is a medium-rarity mineral which can be found in the Aether. They usually generate near large formations of Holystone, or in the caves of floating mountains.

Uses: Zanite Ore can be used to obtain Zanite Gemstones, which can in turn be used to craft powerful tools.



Characteristics: Gravitite Ore (the first block) has the same effect as Sand blocks. However, instead of falling down, Gravitite Ore floats up. If it hits the sky ceiling the block will break. Enchanted Gravitite (the second block) only floats up when a Redstone current is provided.

Located: Gravitite Ore is the rarest mineral which can be found in the Aether. They usually generate underneath very large floating islands. Enchanted Gravitite can only be obtained by enchanting Gravitite Ore with an Enchanter block.

Uses: Gravitite Ore can be enchanted into Enchanted Gravitite, which in turn can be used to create powerful Gravitite Tools.



Functionality: Enchanters gives you the ability to both repair damaged items and give additional powers to existing items.

Crafting: Enchanters are made with eight Holystone blocks surrounding one Zanite Gemstone.



Characteristics: Skyroot Leaves will despawn when their logs are mined up. They occasionally drop Skyroot Saplings and Skyroot Sticks.

Located: Skyroot Leaves can be found growing on the tops of Skyroot logs. The combined formation results in a Skyroot tree.

Uses: Skyroot Leaves can be mined to obtain Skyroot Saplings, which in turn can be used to repopulate the Aether with new Skyroot trees.



Characteristics: None.

Located: Skyroot Logs can be found in formations which result in "Skyroot" trees. They are fairly common in the Aether.

Uses: Skyroot Logs can be refined into Skyroot Planks, which in turn can be used to craft Skyroot Sticks and tools.



Characteristics: Cold Clouds are slightly slippery (like Ice). These blocks absorb all fall damage from creatures. Can only be picked up with a Bucket. Slightly transparent.

Located: Cold Clouds can be found in-between various floating islands, kind of like bridges. They are fairly common in the Aether.

Uses: Cold Clouds allow the player's character to jump from very high heights and still survive. They can also be used as easy bridges from one island to another.



Characteristics: Blue Clouds have the exact same characteristics as Cold Clouds. However, unlike Cold Clouds, Blue Clouds are extremely bouncy.

Located: Blue Clouds can be found in-between various floating islands, kind of like bridges. They are slightly rarer than Cold Clouds.

Uses: Blue Clouds allow the player's character to jump from cloud to cloud with relative ease.



Characteristics: When stood on, Quicksoil gives the player increasingly faster movement speed. The longer the player moves on the Quicksoil, the more they speed up. However, if the player begins to move too quickly, an oxygen bar will pop up, and damage you if you continue to move without oxygen. Quicksoil can also be used for crops and trees as very fertile soil-alternatives (basically, trees and crops grow faster on Quicksoil).

Located: This is currently not decided, but we are thinking on the edges of large islands.








Functionality: If you right click an Ambrosium Shard while holding it in your hand, it will glow and sizzle, cleansing your character of minor wounds.

Located: Ambrosium Shards are not crafted. Instead, you can obtain them by mining Ambrosium Ore found embedded into various Holystone blocks.

Uses: Ambrosium Shards are the only item which can be used to fuel Enchanters. Enchanters can be used to either repair damaged tools or enhance existing items into more powerful variants. They can also be used to heal your character.



Functionality: Undecided.

Located: Zanite Gemstones are not crafted. Instead, you can obtain them by mining Zanite Ore found embedded into various Holystone blocks.

Uses: Zanite Gemstones can be used to make powerful Zanite tools, which increase in strength as they are used.





















Functionality: If you are holding a Moa Egg and you right click it onto a Moa (tamed or untamed), you will capture it inside your egg. To release it, you just right-click once more.

Located: Moa Eggs are not crafted. Instead, on rare occasions you can find a Moa bird laying one on the ground.

Uses: Moa Eggs can be used to created Scrambled Eggs, which heal a fair amount of Hearts. They can also be used transport Moas from one point to another (by capturing it into your egg). Cannot be used on the Surface.