Bluberry-Kat
commented
4 years ago An Addendum: In 1.13 and above, waterlogging could potentially throw a wrench into how gelatin crafting is implemented. Well, it wouldn't change how it's implemented much. It makes the mechanic more inconsistent, though, as there's no reasonable way to allow waterlogged blocks to craft gelatin. The crafting process will be mostly the same. The player will still drop 4 correct ingredients and wait until the gelatin is done crafting. This time it will be done in a cauldron, though. I have a decent idea of how to implement it (a cauldron block registered in Gumobtainium that'll replace the vanilla one while it's crafting) and this should make the mechanic feel more clean.
Gelatin, Conceptually: Gelatin is the prerequisite crafting material for any material in Gumobtainium thus far. Currently, Gelatin's crafting chain has functioned as follows. Any given Gum Ingot takes 48 Raw Meat to craft, but you have to soak it in water 4-at-a-time. After a certain amount of time, the water will turn into "Gelatin Fluid" which needs to be picked up in a bucket and smelted to solidify the Gelatin inside. The "Solidified Gelatin Bucket" is then placed in a crafting table to remove 3 gelatin nuggets from it manually. (Or automatically, if a mod adds a crafting table.)
The Problem Therein: I'm mostly satisfied with this crafting chain; however it could be improved. The one key step I'm frustrated with is the last one: getting the solidified gelatin out of the bucket. Before that point every part of the Gelatin crafting process could be automated solely within vanilla means. However, vanilla does not have an autocrafter, and it doesn't look like it's getting one, either.
The Gelatin Rework: To rectify this, I'll be changing this step a little bit. Instead of removing gelatin from the bucket with a crafting recipe, the player will be able to "place" the solidified gelatin as a "sheet" of gelatin. Functionally this Gelatin Sheet block will slow down entities that travel in it, hopefully stacking with soul sand to make more powerful traps in situations where the player cannot obtain cobweb. Breaking the Gelatin Sheet will produce 3 gelatin nuggets, which can be crafted back into a Gelatin Sheet if desired. The Gelatin Sheet can be placed by "using" a Solidified Gelatin Bucket in a dispenser, and Gelatin Sheets will be washed away by flowing water, allowing the player to completely automate Gelatin crafting within vanilla means. For backwards compatibility, the player can still empty the Solidified Gelatin Bucket in a crafting table, as to not break old automated setups. Normally I would be against this, but Gelatin is already a pretty complicated setup, even in modded.
This is more of a side note, but I'd also like to add storage blocks for Gelatin, Gumobtainium, Gumbium, and any other gum-type blocks that may come in the future. Gelatin blocks will probably act similarly to Slime Blocks, in every way including redstone, but they will not connect to slime blocks (or honey blocks in 1.15) for the sake of Even More Ridiculous Piston Stuff. (Or alternatively, have it connect to both, if "Connect To Neither" doesn't prove useful.)