Wondrous Wilds

Once upon a time, during Minecraft Live 2021, the Minecraft community was shown a glorious update to the Overworld; "The Wild Update". This update was said to be an update that would greatly enhance the Overworld's biomes, atmosphere, and more, which was extremely exciting and would be a perfect update to finish off what Caves & Cliffs started; a rich, beautiful and immersive Overworld.

And yet, greatly to myself and most of the community's dismay, what we ended up getting was in no way even close to that. Instead, we received what many call The Mild Update; an incoherent and unfinished mess posing as "The Wild Update", which was completely unrecognizable from what was displayed, promised, and most importantly, incredibly important and needed for the game.

Although most of the additions that this update brought were decent overall, albeit underdeveloped and lacking polish, the true "Wild Update" was, for whatever reason, shamelessly thrown away and ruined, and it is unknown when or if it may ever return.

And after this disaster, which was preceded by an announcement full of absurd and nonsensical excuses, ridiculous attempts at gaslighting, and more, I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands.

This mod aims to be what "The Wild Update" should and could have been by adding things that were meant to be in it, improving on existing aspects of it, and massively improving and expanding on the Overworld in general; all with a heavy focus on quality over quantity in every aspect. And although this mod is still in an early stage, an immense amount of things are already planned for this mod in the future, particularly including more biome reworks, new biomes entirely, and tons of new features associated with both!

🌳 Reworked Birch Forest

This biome now come with...

• Fancy Birch trees, which now populate the biome, and can also sometimes be grown from saplings just like Fancy Oaks!
• Polypores, a new decorative fungus that comes in both small and big variants, and can be found growing on Fancy Birches. Small polypores can have up to three placed in a single block clustered together, and big polypores can be stood on!
• Violets, a beautiful new flower that comes in four different color variants! They can be found in abundance throughout the biome, growing in very large and beautiful clusters, often mixing together to make even prettier clusters! Up to four of them can be placed within a single block for tons of variation!
• Hollow Logs, a new type of log that, unsurprisingly, has a hole through the middle making it hollow. It comes in ALL log variants (even Nether ones!), can be crafted, and naturally generated birch ones can be found throughout the biome! On top of being great for building and decoration, they also have many fun quirks and uses to them, such as having accurate collision that allows you to squeeze inside and move through them, the ability to be waterlogged, and more!
• An Autumn-themed variant, which the "Old Growth" variant from vanilla is turned into. It has a higher density of trees, with the inclusion of yellow, orange and red leaves, instead of only green. It also has a different grass color, fitting with its new theme

🦟 Firefly

• Can navigate by both flying and walking, with the ability to swap between the two
• Has complex, data-driven spawning mechanics. In warm and humid biomes (Swamps, Mangrove Swamps, Jungles, Rivers, etc.) they can spawn on the surface at night time, and in others they can do this only during rain (Plains, Forests, etc.). In addition, you may even sometimes find them spawning in Lush Caves underground. These three methods of spawning are controlled using biome tags, and therefore can be customized using datapacks!
• Will occasionally fly to mobs and players to land and sit on top of them
• When exposed to daylight, they will try to hide in grass to avoid it

🐦 Woodpecker

• Hops around on the ground, and flies quickly in the air
• Does a cute chirping sound and animation
• Can be found in the revamped Birch Forests
• Lives in Tree Hollows or Nest Boxes somewhat similarly to Bees, and will return to rest inside them during night or rain
• Will avoid wandering too far away from their home
• Can cling onto the side of any block it wants to as long as it has a flat solid surface and an empty space next to it
• Will sometimes drum on logs as long as it has a home, which can be heard from very far away
• When homeless, it can begin drilling and building one for itself by pecking at a log many times
• Will defend their homes against intruders such as other Woodpeckers, or players breaking their home
• Wild ones are afraid of players unless attacking
• Likes to play with countless different blocks by interacting with them. They will play by moving up to the block, clinging to it when possible, and proceeding to peck at it randomly
• When playing with a block, each peck simulates an interaction, the same as if a player were to right click on it
• The selection of blocks they play with is controlled by a block tag, which datapacks and other mods can add to for effortless customization and compatibility, due to their 100% dynamic interaction functionality
• Can hold items in their beaks, either by being given an item once tamed, or by sometimes spawning with one from a random selection
• Their held item is taken into account when they interact with a block, meaning they can use their item and change the outcome of an interaction, the same way that players can
• Can be tamed by giving them blocks that they will enjoy playing with
• For the taming to progress, they must perform a successful interaction on a block, without being interrupted in any way during the playing process
• Can automatically grab items out of a Nest Box when tamed, enabling flexible and organized full automation of their interaction feature