ChainLightning Sceptre

A magical sceptre for Hytale that fires chain lightning at mobs — right-click a target and the bolt jumps to up to 5 nearby enemies within 8 blocks, dealing decreasing damage with every hop.

⚠️ Proof of concept — and I need help

This is first and foremost a proof of concept I built to learn the Hytale Plugin API while it's still in early access. I'm a Java dev, not a 3D / VFX artist — I don't know how to author proper custom assets (models, particle systems, SFX). Everything visual here reuses builtin Hytale assets:

The wand model is the builtin Items/Weapons/Wand/Wood.blockymodel
The chain-hit particles use the builtin Splash system
Sounds use the builtin ISS_Weapons_Wand set

→ The visuals are placeholder and the plugin is rough around the edges. If you're a 3D artist, VFX artist, sound designer, or Hytale plugin dev and want to make this look great — please reach out. Issues, PRs, or a quick email are all welcome.

What Does It Do?

Right-click a mob: chain lightning resolves, jumping up to 5 targets within 8 blocks of each previous hop.
Damage falls off per hop (configurable in code, tested via JUnit).
Left-click: normal attack (engine fallback — sceptre still works as a basic weapon).
4-second cooldown between casts.

Quick Start

Drop hytale-chain-lightning-<version>.jar into your server's Plugins/ folder.
Boot the server.
Spawn the item with the standard Hytale /item give flow (item id chain_lightning_sceptre).
Equip, face a mob, right-click.

Stack

Java 25 (records, sealed types, modern API).
Gradle 8 + Shadow for the fat jar.
Hytale Plugin API core (Interaction, EntityEffect, ParticleUtil, EffectControllerComponent).
JUnit 5 for the pure chain-resolution algorithm.

How It Works

Player right-clicks mob
        │
        ▼
ChainLightningSceptreInteraction.firstRun(Secondary)
        │
        ├─ Cooldown gate (4s)
        ├─ HytalePlayerRayCaster   ──> primary target ref
        ├─ HytaleEntitySource      ──> nearby entity snapshot
        │
        ▼
ChainResolver.resolve()  (pure Java, JUnit-tested)
        │   BFS over hops, max 5 targets, max 8 blocks/hop
        ▼
ChainHit list
        │
        ├─ ChainDamageApplier.apply()      ──> dégressive damage per hop
        └─ HytaleVfxEmitter.playChainEffects()
                 ├─ ParticleUtil.spawnParticleEffect("Splash", pos)   (direct broadcast — bypasses client-side effect dedup)
                 └─ EffectControllerComponent.addEffect("Chain_Hit_Effect")  (blue tint, 0.05s)

The chain-resolver is decoupled from Hytale via small interfaces (RayCaster, EntitySource, ChainEntity), so the algorithm is unit-tested without a running server. Hytale-bound adapters live in sceptre/.

Known Limitations

Splash particles sometimes silent on client — server logs confirm 5/5 SpawnParticleSystem packets per cast every time, but the early-access Hytale renderer appears to throttle/cull duplicate systemId particles at nearby positions. Likely a client-side issue, can't fix from the plugin.
No custom model — sceptre reuses the builtin wand. A real 3D model would help a lot.
No custom particle system — Splash is functional but not electric. A proper arc/branch particle would sell the fantasy.
No custom SFX — uses the generic wand sound set.

Development

JDK 25, Gradle, Hytale Plugin API (from https://maven.hytale.com/release), local dev server.
Source: src/main/java/com/mythlane/chainlightning/
Tests: src/test/java/ (pure algorithm, no server needed).

Building

./gradlew shadowJar     # fat jar
./gradlew test          # unit tests

Help Wanted

Genuinely open to help. If any of these match you:

3D artist — design and model a proper sceptre (.blockymodel).
VFX artist — author an electric arc / branching lightning particle system that beats Splash.
Sound designer — cast / hit / loop SFX.
Hytale plugin dev — review the API usage, suggest better patterns, or pair on the splash-on-client mystery.

Open an issue, send a PR, or email contact@mythlane.com.

Credits

Made by Mythlane

License

License to be decided. Ping contact@mythlane.com for questions.

Chain Lightning Sceptre