The future of BetterStorage

What's going to happen to BetterStorage when I'm not around anymore? That and other things have lead me to think about its future. I've got some (in my opinion) good ideas, a few that are already in the current version of my mod. But some of the features in it are either not what I want them to be, or they're not implemented well enough. BetterStorage has become a kind of "gimmicky" mod, which I don't want it to be. I want to make mods that feel like solid experiences, ones that do what they're supposed to, as good as they can. The code definitely isn't, especially considering it needs to be future-proof.

So here's what I'll do. I'm going to drop BetterStorage. I want to get a fresh start and work on the ideas I really want to work on, as seperate projects. One by one, in a way that makes sense, is fun and has a good chance to survive a long time.

Other than keeping my ideas alive (backpacks, drinking helmets, friendly endermen) and bringing new ones to life, I want to make some inter-mod compatibility things. So far this is what I'm thinking:

• copycore - A core mod for code used by all of my mods, and API bits.

• Wearable Backpacks - Will also contain ender backpacks and the Thaumaturge's backpack.

  In the future, I want to make backpacks that carry liquids, and items that'll use them directly from the backpack (firefighters, anyone?) and move specific amounts of liquids around easily to and from containers, as well as take and place blocks of liquids in the world.

  Also something I wanted to do is have backpack-specific enchantments, to get some of the features mods have already. Stuff like auto-supply, auto-pickup, and I'd also like an enchantment that will capture your inventory on death.

• PowerPaint - Paint buckets, paint brushes, liquid paint, paint/dye API.

  I want to achieve 2 goals with this:

  • A solid API for mods to use for painting things. It'll support both the default 16 colors and the whole range of ALL the colors as well as different paint types. In theory someone could add "ghost" paint that will make blocks appear transparent, if supported by the mod.
  • The content part of the mod will have paint buckets and paint brushes much like RedPower 2 did, as well as liquid paint. Paint buckets should be placeable in the world.

  And then I probably want to add a paint gun which will work with the liquid backpack, and I might also have a special backpack that can contain multiple paints and mix them on the fly, because why not?

• Liquid Potions - Drinking Helmets will probably be in here.

  I haven't 100% figured out how the in-world liquids would work. The effects shouldn't be free just from standing in the liquid, and definitely less powerful / long-lasting than the bottled version for drinking.

  With backpacks, there will definitely be a way to use these potions from the liquid backpacks directly. You may be able to target a player and heal them with liquid health potions, like the Medic from Team Fortress 2. Or you can do silly stuff like slow enemy players down with slowness potions!

• Storage Crates

  I still think they are an awesome thing and perfectly represent what I would like to see more in other mods in terms of balance. They have their strengths and weaknesses, at least in a Vanilla environment. As a related side-project I will probably try to make a proper interface for non-traditional inventories.

• Cardboard Boxes, Tools and Armor

  Not sure if these will make a come-back. I had an awesome idea where I could utilize the crafting station to automatically pack up items and unpack them again. But that'd mean I'd have to bring back the crafting station as well, and in its current state I'm not sure about that. Tools and armor were a cool idea, but they're very gimmicky.

• Reinforced Chests, Lockers, Locks and Keys

  While I found reinforced chests useful - finally something to use all that excess metal on - the only thing that really made them worth it was the locks and keys. I liked those too, but it felt like nobody really used them, myself included. Yet another gimmicky thing in my opinion.

• Armor Stand

  I liked armor stands, they fit well into the idea of BetterStorage. Maybe they'll return as a micro-mod? Perhaps along with reinforced chests and cardboard boxes? "BetterStorage Reduxed"?

But yeah, splitting up BetterStorage into multiple mods as well as creating some new ones will make it easier to update the mods seperately and keep it interesting with new, neat, fun, balanced and interesting features.

Regarding inter-mod compatibility, I would also like to try and get some useful things into Forge itself. We definitely need an interface for mods to work with non-traditional inventories. Something else that's useful would be an interface for items that are able to store other items, like cardboard boxes and other backpack mods did, along with for example strongboxes. We shouldn't allow these to be put inside each other for infinite storage. That's something, but there's quite a bit more stuff I currently can't think of that I'd like to try and help solve, to improve modded Minecraft in any of its many forms as a whole.

That's the current state of things. I hope you at least had a slightly interesting read and maybe it even made you excited for what I have planned. Just like I am. Wheee!