Minecraft just made an invisible change that might just be a game-changer for mods: "They made modding like 20x easier"
Minecraft Java Edition 1.20.5 just launched, and while there's some neat new content for everyday players to enjoy, it looks like modders are the ones getting the real benefits of this patch.
"This update is good on the casual side," modder TealSquid says on Twitter, "but INSANE on the technical side. They made modding like 20x easier. I can't wait to get into modding with the new component system." In a follow-up tweet, they explain "Before this update, items' behaviours are hard-coded into each item individually. Now the new component system attaches the behaviours to components. Those components are then attached to the items."
As an example, modders can now simply add the 'food' component to an item to make it edible. Then there are a list of additional effects that can be tweaked through numbers, like the amount of hunger that item restores, how long it takes to consume, and so on.
There are tons of these components - seriously, you'll wear something out scrolling through the patch notes - and while the average player will likely never have a reason to take notice of the change, it looks like modders are going to be able to build more interesting mods more quickly than ever before.
The headline additions for most players are the new armadillos, wolf armor, and wolf variants, all of which are extremely cute. But modding is the heart of Java Edition for many players, and it looks like we've got a special treat on that front.
