I got a couple of bug reports about butterfly movement recently. Some were stuck floating in the sky, others wouldn’t animate properly when moving. So I took some time this week to clean up the movement and landing code to make it more robust.
Modding
Creating a non-official addon for a released game.
Butterflies in Mud Puddles
I recently learned about mud-puddling, a behaviour where butterflies and other insects will gather nutrients from puddles, soil, and decaying organic matter. I immediately thought, “That would make a great feature for Bok’s Banging Butterflies.” So I set out to implement it.
The Automation of Releases
Every time I make a new release of Bok’s Banging Butterflies, I have to manually upload it to multiple sites. While this doesn’t take too long to do, it is tedious and repetitive, especially now I’m updating the mod more frequently.
Better Butterfly Landings
One feature that’s bugged me (pun intended) for a while in Bok’s Banging Butterflies is how butterflies only ever land on the tops of blocks. In real life, butterflies and moths land wherever they please. They’ll land on walls or ceilings, completely ignoring gravity like tiny winged rebels.
Immutable Butterfly Scrolls
The butterfly mod is full of bugs, and not always the good kind. This week another bug was reported about Butterfly Scrolls changing after an update. This was a weird one to solve, and unfortunately the fix will only work for scrolls placed in future versions of the mod.
200 Files and Nothing New
This week I merged a change consisting of over 200 files. It’s probably the largest change I’ve made since the project began, and yet it doesn’t actually introduce anything new. Instead, it fixes a mistake I made when I first created the mod.
Small Eggs and Better Buckeyes
I’ve talked about how details matter before. So this week I’ve focused on a couple of things that have been bugging me for a while now. These aren’t major features, but they do help to make the mod feel like it’s been crafted by someone who cares.
It’s All About the Little Things
It’s always worth taking some time to focus on the details. Small things can make a huge difference to a mod. I spent some time this week working on small features and little improvements. In the long run, these things will make a huge difference.
Chrysalis: Completing the Cycle
We finally implement the chrysalis and complete the life cycle of the butterfly. Butterflies lay eggs. Eggs hatch into caterpillars. Caterpillars create a chrysalis. Butterflies hatch out of a chrysalis. The circle of life is complete.
Modelling and Animating Caterpillars
Everyone knows that butterflies come from caterpillars. The next stage in the life cycle is for butterfly eggs to hatch into caterpillars. So we will add caterpillars to our mod that will hatch from the eggs we created last time.