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Behind the Scenes

Why the Mod Started

SWEM started because of a stubborn, green, beautiful horse named Lucy. When family troubles meant I couldn't afford to be with her anymore, all of my love had to go somewhere. I started pouring it into work and games with horses. After crying to my roommate a few too many times about needing to reset the backups because 'Lucy' was blown up by a creeper for the 10th time, I decided to make a mod to make destriers out of Minecraft horses. I wanted to upgrade their model, animations, and enchant their armor. I did some research to see if other people have made a horse mod or if others would even want the mod I wanted to make. Turns out that there were thousands of people begging for a full-fledged, updated horse mod. After the initial additions - I started adding little things to the list like saddles, saddle/bridle racks, feeders, separators, stall doors, plans for expansions, a dimension, and a clean community on top of all that, etc. Soon the mod turned into a crusade. Here we are now, 2.5 years later with a release date and name to live up to. Star Worm Equestrian Mod.

For horses. For equestrians. For Lucy. image-1640926596125.png

                                                                                                                                              ~ AlaharranHonor (Hannah)


Our Pillars for Design

We have pillars for our goals as well as some themes for keeping the mod within one version.

Pillars are known isin design as the three MAIN ideals for an addition to the project. If something doesn't have all three pillars supporting it, it won't get added in. 

SWEM Phase 1 (V1)
// With love for the equine
// For all ages and all disciplines
// Necessary and core function for future

Other mantras we have for develop are used throughout, from devving to building to texture art.
// Everything must be made with love. If you're not doing it with love, come back later when you can or let someone else do it.
// Always care for details. You never know when something might break and the users see something they shouldn't.
// Everything must make sense, even details the player might not see or even think of. We must train ourselves to think critically. Every brain comes prepacked with information. Not making sense = uncanny valley = brain unhappy = unhappy player. The player doesn't even notice it, but their brains do, especially when you show them something better. Be better.


Our Belief on "Magic" in the Mod

We use "magic" as the sense of wonder to the mod, fill in the little gaps of logic, and to open up an entire world of development for us to make. Our magic does have rules, however.

Cloth - Like bandages and wraps, the magic of healing. 
Iron - The magic of magicMagic protection. Resilient and protecting our warriors from evil magicks.
Gold - Gold holds water magic. Given that its weak and malleable, its not very good for defense but just a little goes a long way!
Diamond - Fire Magic! Or more so, protection from it.
Amethyst - The power of flight. How does it feel to float? What is it like to fly?
Netherite - No magic power yet.
Emerald - No magic power yet.
Copper - No magic power yet.


Trivia

  • SWE/M started as a lighting mod (SWLM 1.12.2) because I was sick of ruining my castle aesthetic with 1000 torches everywhere.torches.
  • SWEM is technically SWLM continued.
  • SWEM started in 1.15.2 and didn't release till 1.19 was already out. That's a long time to develop!
  • SWEM had amethyst in it long before we knew vanilla was adding it. It looks like we skipped netherite and users are confused, but when I planned it all out, neither existed yet.
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