The January update, marking the first release of the new year, introduces several new features and brings Happy Ghast: Upgrade Snowballs to a new level of quality. This update adds an in-game handbook that explains the mod and provides all essential information, introduces three new upgrades, and includes a number of bug fixes.

Feedback (Visual Effects & Firework Kill Bug)

A large amount of feedback was received regarding the previous update, especially concerning the visual effects and the fired firework rockets. Unfortunately, these features were not tested thoroughly enough, which resulted in the Happy Ghast being able to take damage and even die from them. An apology is owed for this issue.

Based on this feedback, the following conclusions were drawn:

1. From now on, only visual effects will be used that are guaranteed to deal no damage under any circumstances.
2. If visual effects are used again in future events, they will be configurable and can be disabled in the mod’s configuration, ensuring that they are never forced on players.

Even though direct replies in the feedback channel are not always possible, all messages are read and taken seriously. Thank you to everyone who regularly shares feedback and suggestions for improvement.

As an apology, a Legendary Firework Upgrade will be available throughout the remainder of January, with a small chance to drop when crafting firework rockets.

Upgrade Snowball Handbook

The new Upgrade Snowball Handbook provides detailed information about the mod’s features. It is divided into multiple categories, explaining topics such as the available upgrades and the upgrade screen. The handbook covers mechanics, crafting recipes, and other relevant details, all presented in a clear and visually polished way.

Upgrade Snowball Handbook

!Handbook_1 !Handbook_2 !Handbook_3 !Handbook_4 !Handbook_5

In the near future, the handbook will receive additional features, such as trophies and more. How these features will work and how they will be implemented will be explained in upcoming updates. As a result, the handbook serves as a foundational system for future development and is far from finished. Feedback and ideas are always welcome and can be shared through the link provided in the mod description.

Upgrade Snowballs

This update also introduces several new Upgrade Snowballs.

Firework Siege Upgrade

The Firework Siege Upgrade allows the player to fire firework rockets at enemies. Its mechanics work the same way as the TNT and Fire Charge Upgrades. What makes this upgrade special is that the strength of the rockets depends on their tier. !Firework Upgrade

Legendary Firework Siege Upgrade

For the first time, a Siege Upgrade receives a legendary variant: the Legendary Firework Siege Upgrade. This upgrade is special in that it fires two full firework rockets at once with a slight delay, allowing it to deal significantly more impact than the standard version.

The upgrade can be obtained throughout the entire month of January, with a 0.1% chance to drop when crafting firework rockets.

!Legendary Firework Upgrade

Invisibility Potion Upgrade

The Invisibility Potion Upgrade makes both the Happy Ghast and the player fully invisible as long as at least one player is riding it. Notably, the harness also becomes invisible, ensuring complete concealment. When the vanilla Invisibility effect is applied to the Happy Ghast instead, it remains visible. In addition, no particles are rendered, making the upgrade’s effect entirely invisible.

!Invisibility Upgrade

TNT & Fire Charge Upgrade

The crafting recipes for the TNT and Fire Charge Upgrades were slightly mixed up. This has been fixed with this update. Further details can be found in the crafting recipe graphics.

End of Support for Versions 1.21.6–1.21.8

With this update, support for versions 1.21.6–1.21.8 has officially ended. This and all future updates will no longer be available for these versions. The main reason for this decision is the increased development effort required by the new handbook system, which makes maintaining compatibility significantly more complex. Additionally, demand for these versions has noticeably declined over time.

All newer versions remain fully supported and are not affected by this change.

Crafting recipes

All updated and newly added crafting recipes are listed below:

Crafting Recipes

!Upgrade Snowball Handbook !Firework !Invisibility !TNT !Fire Charge

Future

This update marks a strong start to the new year. A significant amount of new content is already planned, ranging from fundamental improvements to the upgrade system to entirely new types of upgrades. A completely new upgrade category was originally planned for this update as well, but had to be postponed at very short notice for specific reasons.

The next update will further expand the handbook and, as usual, introduce new upgrades. Whether this will involve a broader rework of existing systems, the introduction of a new upgrade type, or something entirely different will be revealed later.

Once again, feedback and ideas are highly encouraged. Do not hesitate to share suggestions or concepts.