Ancient CreatureData-driven species

Add a prehistoric creature with a datapack and a resource pack. No Java, no mod build, no restart.

One entity, any creature

Every species — shipped or added by a pack — runs on a single generic entity. Size, attributes, AI, sounds and growth all come from JSON.

Blockbench in, creature out

Export a Bedrock model and animation straight from Blockbench. Geometry and animations load from the resource pack and reload with F3+T.

Safe by construction

JSON can only pick from a fixed set of behaviour components. A broken file is reported with the reason and skipped; it never takes the world down.

Reloadable

Edit a species, run /reload, and loaded creatures pick up new attributes, size and AI in place.

What this covers

The species system replaces the old approach where every creature needed its own Java enum constant, EntityType, entity class, renderer, model class and animation class. All three shipped creatures — Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Megalodon — now run on it, and a datapack can add more.

data/<namespace>/ancientcreature/species/<name>.json                     gameplay
assets/<namespace>/ancientcreature/species/<name>.json                   appearance
assets/<namespace>/ancientcreature/geo/<name>.geo.json                   model
assets/<namespace>/ancientcreature/animations/<name>.animation.json      animations
assets/<namespace>/ancientcreature/animation_controllers/<name>.controller.json   when to play what

Five files. That is a creature.

Beta

Ancient Creature is in early beta. format_version is validated on load, so a future format change will tell you rather than silently misreading your files — but expect changes.