It Waits Below

It waits below...

FYI: This mod is very much in ALPHA so there may be placeholder models, textures, and features. For the time being, both devs will be in school so updates will be slow.

This mod adds an ambush predator into the overworld’s caves. It has a complex AI that’s supposed to track you down based on the information it gathers. It’s like in a horror movie where you hide in a closet from the monster and they run past it instead of automatically knowing where you are. Everything that happens is supposed to happen for a reason; if it left a scratch mark on your house, it’s because it physically went there and left it.

What this is NOT supposed to be:

• Dweller slop
• Cheap pathetic “jumpscares”
• PNG-model gutter garbage
• Insta-kills you out of nowhere with no chance to fight back
• Ear-rupturing screams
• Etc.

The Lurker: Behaviors

• Doesn’t like to be seen
• Prioritizes stealth and sneak-attacks
• Kills with brute strength
• Eats humans, villagers, and livestock
• Lives in the caves
• Builds nests out of the remains of his victims like a paper wasp
• Prioritizes spawning in the player’s frequented areas
• Can tunnel and burrow
• Stores prey in brambles to eat later
• Gathers information about you, and can eventually pinpoint where your house is

Features:

• Tips to survive: play with friends, stay vigilant, stay quiet, always stay moving.
• The lurker checks on areas you recently visited: a cave beneath your house? It will spawn there more often.
• Sets ambushes to catch you off guard and kidnap you.
• Boldness meter: Your first encounters with the lurker may be harmless. Initially it will run away from you to avoid being seen. But when it works up the courage, it won’t hesitate to kill you on sight. There is a “boldness” meter for this ranging from 0-6. A high amount of boldness can lead to it grabbing you and snapping your neck if you don’t have a friend to free you from his grasp.
• Profiling: It reacts to how often you see it, how many torches you place, how quiet you are/how many blocks you break, etc. It may change its behavior to match with you to exploit your vulnerabilities. 
• Nests: Everybody needs a home. The lurker just prefers to insulate theirs with flesh, and decorate it with your skull… or maybe decorate it with YOU, while you're still alive, and then come back to eat you later. Maybe you should tell a friend to save you before that happens. 
• Consider not venturing into the caves solo, in case a friend may need to help you escape.
• Vigilance is key: The lurker prefers to be quiet and stealthy to get the jump on you and catch you off guard. If you slip up or make a sound, keep your eyes peeled or it might just sneak up on you and snap your neck like a twig before you even realize you’re dead.
• Doesn’t dwell underground exclusively: Sometimes it’ll come up to the surface to grab a farm animal or two to bring to their nest and drink their blood like a Capri-Sun.
• His intelligence knows no bounds: It can strategically flank you, wait behind corners to ambush you, and drag you to their nest to snack on later. It lurks around the areas you frequent. It can hear you mine and place blocks, run, walk, crouch, etc.

Another FYI:

I do not have much experience with coding, so the majority of the code was written by Claude Fable 5/AI. HOWEVER: the concept, descriptions, artwork, models, animations, and sound effects were all created by real humans. I have insane respect for all of the extremely talented developers that were able to code/create mods like this by hand, I just don’t have the technical skills to do so myself yet. Maybe sometime in the future I'll recreate this mod when I learn enough.