MarioSMB
commented
4 months ago As requested, I'd like to suggest some alternatives and possible solutions to the situation - some of which may be controversial, but I will encourage you to strongly consider them regardless:
The Problem
Since the beginning of modding in Minecraft it has been a common practice to put a lot of "helpful" items in the player's inventory when starting, as a way to introduce the player to the mod's content. This has always been a problem more than anything since mods are more often than not combined with other mods.
The number of starting items when playing with a larger selection of mods used to fill one's entire inventory, leading to overwhelm and throwing away most of what's given regardless of how useful or necessary it is.
These days, the situation is less severe, as the introduction of Patchouli has allowed modders to provide handy guide books in place of starting items.
Unfortunately the same issue is encountered as before; once several mods are installed the number of guides becomes overwhelming with the amount of information being thrown at the player on their first join.
Challenges
There are several issues that make finding alternatives to providing starting items a challenge:
- There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to explaining what a mod has to offer
- Relying on external information such as wikis can lead to confusion/frustration and players ignoring most of what's included
- Minecraft itself provides no in-game guide
- The modding scene has no established alternative to books (yet)
While these are certainly challenging to work around, they are thankfully not roadblocks, as a rather popular mod known as Create has managed to fully document all of their content without the use of books!
This does not mean Create's approach would work here, but it is a good basis of inspiration to show that there is hope for a future without starting items.
Solutions Preface
I'd like to preface this by saying it's incredible the amount of time and effort you've put into the guide book, that is not something I wish to discredit here.
Solution 1: Intuitivity
Firstly, I would encourage focusing on how your mod blends into the game and how players can encounter each of the elements along their journey.
This is actually one that is for the most part done pretty well already; the legendary weapons are found in random places, blacksmiths and such will have the mod's weapons etc.
That said, there are still some areas that could use improvement, particularly around the recipe book;
- The recipe book should list all the associated weapons when you collect the related ingot - for example, collecting iron should unlock all the iron swords/glaives/etc
- These weapons should be listed in the weapons category rather than misc
- Legendary weapon upgrades should be hidden until the associated legendary weapon has been found
With those improvements to the vanilla recipe book it would take the place of the basic weapons list in the guide book - one section down!
As for the runic tablets; vanilla actually provides a mechanic that would serve this purpose much better:
Smithing Templates.
Not much would change about the runic tablets besides their name and visual, they would just integrate into the game better as smithing templates and it would be intuitive how they are to be used as it's a vanilla mechanic.
Solution 2: Simplicity
Let me be frank; this mod does not live up to its simply swords name anymore. The need for a guide book to begin with is a sign of bloat and overcomplication in a mod that should otherwise be focused on providing a few fun sword-like weapons to play with.
I would argue that the entirety of the runic gem/tablet and weapon socketing systems should be completely scrapped.
Allow the legendary weapons with their unique effects to truly stand out, allow enchantments to exist (not that I particularly like the vanilla enchanting system). There is no need to provide an advanced system to augment already strong weapons.
With a simpler take on the mod's design a guide book would no longer be necessary - at least, not to the extent that it would need to be provided as a starting item.
Solution 3: Pondering (WIP)
I previously mentioned that Create's system would not be a good fit here, but it may yet be; once they make a dedicated mod for it I suspect pondering will become the go-to replacement for guide books.
Something to keep an eye on!
Conclusion
While I recognise that simplifying and making mechanics intuitive is nothing revolutionary (even Minecraft has done so with things like the igloo to teach players how to cure villagers) they are areas that do not receive as much attention as they should.
Providing a cohesive experience is key to escaping the guidebook limbo plaguing modded Minecraft, and I hope this gives you some ideas moving forward. Thank you.
geometryflame111
In-game documentation is important, but spawning with an inventory full of guide books from random mods is an overwhelming first impression.
Therefore, I would like to suggest that you consider disabling giving the book by default and instead provide it in some other manner - for example, as loot in villages or as an easy crafting recipe.
Yes, I am aware it can be turned off, but I would encourage you to find more intuitive ways to teach players how to use your mod than with book items dumped into the inventory on spawn.