Ideas for future work
Here are some ideas that I currently consider implementing. Let me know what you think and feel free to give suggestions!
More tree species
Pine
Poplar
Grows near rivers
Cyprus
Willow?
Bark beetles
Can help to keep the spruce population under control (Akin to birch forest fires)
Occasional outbreaks add visual interest of starving trees
Bunnies and Wolves ecosystem
Seasons
Combined with local weather
Optional Resource Pack for bird sounds?
Simulates birds moving trough tree canopies
A way for players to optionally "freeze" patches of nature?
Nutrient system for soil?
Decaying leaves/logs enrich soil over time
Different vegetation affect soil differently
Fungi/mycorrhizae could help trees share nutrients (advanced but cool)
Dynamic erosion and natural forming river streams?
Erosion might expose rocks or carry nutrients downstream
Floodplains could be the most fertile areas, especially for trees like poplars
Comments (3)
I've been enjoying https://modrinth.com/mod/ambientsounds in my minecraft worlds - it can be a bit overwhelming occasionally when I have the volume too loud, but it's pretty great! (In response to your resourcepack idea) Oops, didn't read Fjerns' post before commenting, they have great ideas :D
+1 for all !! (& other cool forests like giant sequoias, coastal redwoods, & exploring other climates like poles & tropics) & would LOVE to see the data pack move more towards survival integration one day. For instance replacing the vanilla gen as a whole, it'd feel less like a super cool tech demo you play around with in creative & turn into something where you slow down & take part in a more widely playable living breathing world..? I.e. in survival worlds with mah friends :) Also for bird sounds & other systems, could also explore the possibility of building in compatibility with mods like AmbientSounds or Farmers Delight (for nutrient soil). It seems pretty likely that, as the mod grows, the user base will be the folks more likely to already be playing with & combining popular mods like those. That way you're playing into & allowing for integration with already similar popular systems rather than reinventing the wheel & potentially making people have to choose between them? Thanks for your hard work & the super awesome datapack!!
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this! There are a lot of things in here that I like. I'll come back to this once in a while when I need inspiration. It's a good point that we don't have to reinvent the wheel. There where a lot of people on YouTube and Reddit that where asking for seasons, but after reading your comment I realize it might be okay to not worry too much about it and instead just suggest mods like Serene Seasons? And making sure the datapack is very compatible with those kinds of mods. But then again it might actually be really cool to have the vegetation behave differently trough different seasons.