Sculk Infection is a Minecraft Java mod which aims to increase the presence of sculk in the world beyond the Deep Dark biome. The mod features complex new mobs, items, blocks, and an infection mechanic where normal hostile mobs can become “Sculked” into variants which have unique abilities.
The mod has accumulated over 1 million downloads on CurseForge, and 425,000+ views on my YouTube channel. When asking players what they love about the mod, the standout feature is always the new mobs, which I put a lot of work into to make them feel alien, unpredictable, and totally unique.
Here are some gameplay trailers I made showcasing the mod:
The mod originally featured only one mob: the Arbiter, or “Sculk Worm”. This mob is a multi-part serpentine entity that can burrow through solid blocks. It is blind, but can detect vibrations across its entire body. It is a relentless pursuer and will try to grab and separate players from each other.
The Arbiter uses a combination of custom pathfinding when burrowing and Vanilla mob pathing when slithering on the ground.
Creating an integrated serpent body that persists through chunk unloads, communicates damage taken, and updates position organically was a great technical challenge.
The Watcher is a stationary entity which acts like a spotlight. The Watcher will attempt to infect any mobs it finds and is capable of teleporting to new positions if it senses enough vibrations.
The Watcher is unique because it is integrated with a block entity. The block entity and Watcher move together, and are always synced.
Upon nearing death, the Watcher will encase itself within a new body, becoming an Arbiter!
Crulk can be found in a dormant state in caves, or can be summoned by watchers to hunt down players. Once alerted, Crulk will notify nearby Watchers or Arbiters of the player’s location.
The Crulk is a block that acts like an entity. It moves around using custom pathfinding, and will receive vibrations like sculk sensors.
Sculked mobs are empowered versions of existing mobs which have unique abilities. Skeletons, Zombies, Spiders, Creepers, Bats, and Endermen can become sculked.
The Pocket Watcher and Sculk Crown are unique rewards for defeating the new mobs. The Sculk Crown allows players to sense vibrations of nearby hostile mobs, and the Pocket Watcher allows players to unleash a radius of sculk tendrils to attack mobs.