How can I create a Survival Game with Minecraft mods?

Let's say you wanted to make a thrilling survival game in Minecraft. Let's go through the steps of how you might do it with Tynker — imagine a game where giant zombies spawn in an arena, and players must fight to survive!

Here's how you might organize your work. Planning your work into stages is a good idea whenever you're programming a new project! Don't be afraid to take notes, or even sketch with pen and paper while you are designing your own original mods or games!

Break your "big problem" down into smaller tasks, step-by-step.

Night of The Mega-Zombies

Modify Zombie Appearance and Size

Tool: Tynker's Mob Editor

a. Open the Mob Editor.

b. Select the zombie. Customize its appearance and play with the 3D model. Maybe you'd even like to add more terrifying features. 😇

Edit Zombie in Tynker

Get inspired by Community-created Zombie models ! And of course you can use any kind of starter mob you like when you code your version of the game. Try skeletons , creepers , or the mob of your choice.

c. When you're happy with your Zombie's appearance, switch to coding mode. It's the big orange button in the upper right. You can change the zombie's code to change its behavior. Make the zombie 300% larger (On Start, Become Bigger). You can make other changes here like adjusting the zombie's health and attack power, too.

d. Save your changes. Download the file and install it in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Activate the Resource Pack and the Behavior Pack in Minecraft.

e. Test it out. If this Resource Pack and Behavior Pack is active in your Minecraft world, these changes will now affect every zombie in that world. You can summon your mob in Minecraft using /summon zombie as a command in Minecraft Chat.

Set Night Time and Prevent Daylight

Tool: Mod Editor

a. Open the Mod Editor.

b. Write code to set the game time to night. Include a loop that keeps the time at night to prevent daylight. This will ensure zombies won't take damage from the sun. Choose the weather, too, if you like. Perhaps it's a dark and stormy night!

c. Test your code and make sure it behaves as you expected.

Create an Arena for the Battle

Tool: Mod Editor

a. Write code to create an arena using building utilities, blocks that use Tynkerbot to build quickly (for example, build walls and floors — or even clear an area by building with air).

b. Add to your arena's layout, adding obstacles or features to make the battle more exciting.

c. You can also include code to spawn specific weapons or power-ups within the arena, too. Or just give the player items directly.

d. Test your code and make sure it behaves as you expected.

Make Zombies Spawn

Tool: Mod Editor

a. Write code to set the interval for how often the mega-zombies spawn.

b. Define where in the arena they will spawn.

c. Include randomness or other conditions (for example, player location, number of existing zombies) to add variation to the game logic.

d. Test your code and make sure it behaves as you expected.

Implement a Simple Scoreboard

Tool: Mod Editor

a. Write code to track and display player scores.

b. Define the scoring criteria, such as zombie defeats, survival time, etc.

c. Include code to update and display the scoreboard during the game.

d. Test your code and make sure it behaves as you expected.

Polishing and Tweaks

Tool: Both Mob and Mod Editor

a. Test the game to make sure all elements work together. Make sure cheats are enabled in your Minecraft world and that your Resource Pack and Behavior Pack is active. Try your game yourself. If you can, get a friend or family member to try your game, too!

b. Adjust the settings, appearance, and code as needed to achieve the desired gameplay experience.

c. Change the difficulty level of your game (for example, give the player better weapons, spawn more enemies, or give the mega-zombies much less health).