Draconis 1.1 is here, with some massive improvements to movement, behavior, and visuals.
Starting with visuals, slightly revamped models are paired with new, pixel perfect textures. These are the highest res textures ever for my mods, at 768px. The biggest visual improvement comes with something never seen before in a Minetest mod: Dynamic Animation across the Head, Neck, and Tail, making movements look incredibly lifelike and increasing immersion.
Behavior was redone from the ground up. No more fly forward, pause, breath fire, repeat. Dragons switch between ground based melee attacks and strafing breath attacks from the sky, making combat extremely difficult. They can now attack while ordered to follow, and will remember to follow you between world restarts and unloading.
Aiding in this new behavior is the new A* pathfinder from Mob Core, making it harder to escape when you inevitably flee your first Dragon encounter.
Spawning has seen an overhaul as well. Simple Spawning now works far better, and allows you to get Dragon Eggs. Mapgen Spawning has been split in two: Ice and Fire Spawning is inspired by Minecrafts Ice and Fire mod, with above ground roosts and underground caverns, both of which have seen improved generation. The second mapgen option is Nest Spawning. Nests will spawn at high altitudes with a Dragon and loot inside.
Flying a Dragon is now far smoother with pitch based altitude control and the new visuals from Dynamic Animation.
I feel fully confident in saying these are the most advanced minetest mobs to date, with Dynamic Animation, the best lua-side A* pathfnder, and amazing behavior. I hope you all enjoy this update, it's been a long time in the making but I believe it was worth every second.
But that's not the last announcement for today, I'm on Patreon now!
Join at
https://www.patreon.com/ElCeejo. I hear there's already a teaser for those who join ;)