As a person who enjoys a good piece of instrumental music every now and then, I was disappointed when I failed to find a 1.6 or 1.7 mod that added any sort of musical instruments to Minecraft. I then tried to create my own, but failed miserably- object oriented programming is more difficult than it looks. So, I ask those who are more well versed in the Java programming language to succeed where I have failed.
I apologize in advance if any of the following features are a bit difficult to understand; I am not the greatest at explaining my thoughts. The mod should add several "tiers" of instruments, one crude, another basic, one refined, and a Master level. The crude instruments are, well, crude. These you could make within seconds of spawning in a new world with a few sticks, string, and some leather. The basic tier includes just an ordinary violin, drum, horn, and other instruments that do not have a magical nature (yet). The refined level is where things begin to take on an arcane feeling, with the basic instruments being "upgraded" with rare and mystical materials which allow the music played on them to go beyond being sound waves. These instruments can shape the world around them by playing specific notes in a specific order, similar to OOT. Depending on the strength of the materials used to create them, the instruments can either affect a small area around the player, or they can have a far greater area of effect, spanning dozens of blocks. There is only one Instrument in the Master class, the Detragan. The Detragan is a massive machine that can play music as rich as any orchestra*. Due to the large amount of resources used to create it, the machine has far greater capabilities than any of the other instruments; Instead of causing simple weather disturbances or melting obsidian into lava, the Detragan is capable of bending the fabric of reality, changing the land around it, and several other "events" that have yet to be identified.
The songs that I currently have thought of are as follows:
- Crude
- Catseye- The exact reason that this high-pitched screeching repels the common creeper is unknown
- Regular
- Tears of the Open Sky- Playing this sad melody causes the clouds to open their floodgates, if only for a short time
- Flowing Rock- The fast and intense rhythm of this song reinvigorates any nearby obsidian, causing it to revert into molten lava
- Golden Light- When played, the warm and joyous tune almost makes the place seem a little brighter
- Refined
- Gentle Auram- [REQUIRES THAUMCRAFT 4] This light, gentle, and almost floating melody resonates with the magical properties in the Refined instrument to cause nearby Aura Nodes to recharge faster
- Master
- Overture to Destruction- This chaotic collection of notes and rests causes the Detragan to lay waste to the surrounding area, leaving absolutely nothing but desolation and destruction in its place. This should probably go without saying, but DO NOT PLAY THIS IN YOUR HOUSE!!!
- Biome Medley- Depending on the Detragan's surrounding environment, the Medley will slowly convert the close area to a different biome. This process takes a long time, and as such the Medley is best described as an opera, not a song
**NOTE**: This is nowhere near a complete list. Feel free to suggest your own!
The Detragan may be the only Master class instrument, but the selection of songs played on it can have an effect on the Detragan's appearance and "power". In layman's terms, the more times a song is played on the Detragan, the strength of it increases exponentially. For example, if the song Flowing Rock were to be played over and over on a Detragan, the number of Obsidian blocks that could be melted would increase slowly at first, and increase at faster rate later. The Detragan would also take on more of a reddish appearance, allong with several parts of it to have more of a fire-like structure to it.