September 16**, 2022**

ℹ️ Preface

Before I begin, let me introduce myself and make a few things clear. I’m Vazkii, the creator of multiple Minecraft mods and modpacks. For this blog post, I will be specifically talking about my design methodology for my latest vanilla+ style packs: Crucial 2, and Bliss.

This post will show how I design modpacks. I’ve been requested to write something to this effect multiple times so that fledgling modpack creators can have some insight into my process. This is not a full tutorial on how to create your own pack, nor is it a general answer on how to design any pack - it’s simply my process. If you’re new to designing packs, I think there’s a decent amount of information to be gathered from my thoughts, but I recommend you take anything I say with a pinch of salt of size directly proportional to how different your intended style of pack is to mine.

The remainder of the post will pull many examples from my packs, and as such, I recommend at least an introductory bit of knowledge to how the packs function so you’re not left without context. If you haven’t played either of them, I recommend checking out Mischief of Mice’s showcase on Crucial 2 or Bliss before you continue.

Anyway, with that said, let’s start designing.

💡 Idea

An idea is a seed from which a project blooms. Seeds come in all varieties, but the most important thing when it comes to picking one is to pick one that offers something unique - something you can’t find in others.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants. The giants we stand on, they stand on the shoulders of increasingly larger giants, all the way down. Find a giant you like, and stand on it.

This poetic jargon essentially just means that if you wish to make a modpack, it should be to make something new. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, it just has to have something others don’t have, be it a small twist on gameplay, a different mod choice, a different thought to balance, or anything of the sort.

Let’s look at Crucial 2 and Bliss as examples:

• Crucial 2 is essentially a straightforward vanilla+ pack, but the twist it brings is its unique system of documentation with JEI entries and gossip. The key here being discovery. Without this new system to create a different type of experience to a “standard” vanilla+ pack, the pack would still be competent and enjoyable, but it wouldn’t be something you’d see me make.
• Taking Crucial 2 as a base, Bliss uses the concepts already built there, and adds in the peaceful-like element. Likewise, without the peaceful-like element, Bliss is still a reasonably competent modpack, but it’s one that I wouldn’t make.

You can think of ideas as “this, but…”, or even a “this, and that, but…” - everything is derivative, so to figure out what it is you want, figure out what it is you like, and then put your twist on it.

A fun way to do this is to take something away. Bliss is just that, really. When you take something away from the game, you’re left with a hole you can then figure out ways to patch up, and many times, if done right, you’ll end up with a completely different experience.

Here’s a free prompt that just came to my head as I was writing this:

• Classical Tech Modpack, but any options for storing power are disabled. This forces you to scale up power generation as you progress and create signaling systems.

It’s important to understand what changes in the gameplay your derivation creates, and how you can take advantage of those changes to produce something new. From here on out, I’ll be using quote blocks to show examples of instances in modpacks I created that showcase the point I’m making, as such:

In Bliss, monsters do not attack you unless provoked. This allowed me to add Creeper Spawners to the world. Normally these don’t exist, as the mobs they spawn can blow up the spawner.