The Upfall

An endgame sky dimension for Minecraft 1.21.1 (NeoForge) where gravity is a place, not a rule.

Info: This project started as a school project over a year ago. A few weeks ago, seeing how far along it already was, I decided to update it and finish it, and I have plenty of other ideas to add to this mod!

Upfall

Most sky dimensions are islands floating over nothing. Upfall starts from a different question: what if falling did not always mean down?

The Upfall is a world stuck in the last golden hour of the day. Archipelagos drift above a sea of condensed clouds, whole islands hang upside down with their forests pointing at the abyss, and waterfalls pour upward into the rock. Gravity changes from one place to the next, and learning where it bends is how you get around: ride updrafts, walk on the underside of islands, sink through rising cascades, double jump between floating ruins.

It is built as an endgame destination. You reach it after the Wither and the End, arrive in netherite, and leave with two new gear tiers, new enchantments and a few stories about the time you fell up.

At a glance

A dimension above the clouds

Four biomes share the sky: the Drifting Archipelago with its Skyreach forests and Skywater lakes, the open Mistsea, the Hanging Roots where islands grow upside down, and the rare gold-veined Gilded Ridge, the only source of Levitite.

Below the islands lies the cloud sea: Dense Cloud you can walk on, Mist you can wade through (it blinds and slows you), pearled clouds to mine and, deeper down, the abyss and its glowing stone needles. Falling out of the world is not death: the sky lets you go and you land back in the Overworld under Slow Falling.

Gravity that bends

Weightless: under an inverted island, gravity flips and you walk on its underside.	Levitite set: double jump, glide and no fall damage.

Updraft Vents lift you through columns of rising mist toward higher islands, and Upfall Cascades are waterfalls flowing upward, slow enough to swim through.

Structures

Chronospire: a floating clock tower that changes shape with the time of day, with moving platforms and two puzzles guarding its vault.	Cloud Hamlet: platforms tethered to balloons above the cloud sea, joined by rope bridges and ziplines, home of the Loftkin who barter sky goods.

The Crystal Grotto is a geode hanging under the cloud sea, lit by luminescent crystals. Drifting Ruins and Inverted Observatories hold the smithing templates.

Creatures

Duskwing, a raptor that dives at its prey; Cragmaw, a leaping island predator; Mistjelly, drifting in the cloud sea and stinging when provoked; Skygrazer, a herd animal you can breed. The Skyray, a manta ray gliding between the islands, completes the sky.

Getting there

1. Craft Halo Frames (Netherite Ingot, Purpur Blocks, Light Blue Stained Glass; makes 8).
2. Craft a Skyward Key (Nether Star, Elytra, Feathers).
3. Climb above Y 200 in the Overworld: the key only resonates high in the sky.
4. Build a frame like a Nether portal (4x5 up to 23x23) and use the key on it.

The return portal is always built on an island, never above the void. Portals link like Nether portals, at a 1:1 scale.

Progression

Tier 1: Nimbusite

• Nimbusite Ore is common in islands between Y 90 and 200 and needs a netherite pickaxe.
• The Nimbusite Upgrade Smithing Template is found in the Sky Caches of the Drifting Ruins.
• Smithing: template + netherite piece + Nimbusite Ingot.
• Full set bonus: fall damage reduced by 75%.

Tier 2: Levitite

• Levitite Ore only exists in the Gilded Ridge and needs a Nimbusite pickaxe. It drops Levitite Shards.
• Levitite Ingot = 4 Levitite Shards + 4 Nimbusite Ingots.
• The Levitite Upgrade Smithing Template is guaranteed in the Inverted Observatories and can also be found in the Chronospire vault.
• Smithing: template + Nimbusite piece + Levitite Ingot.
• Full set bonus: no fall damage, double jump (press jump in mid-air) and glide (hold jump while falling).

Set bonuses are listed in each armor piece's tooltip. The Upfall advancement tab follows the whole path.

Enchantments

Notable items and crafts

All recipes are in the recipe book. A few worth knowing:

Building blocks: Pearlstone, Duskslate and Lumen families, Skyreach and Gildroot wood sets, crystals in three colors, Dense Cloud, Cloud Lamps and more.

Built with

• NeoForge 21.1 and ModDevGradle
• Parchment mappings
• Java 21 and Gradle
• NeoForge data generators for every model, loot table, recipe, tag, advancement and the whole worldgen (dimension, density functions, biomes, features, structures, enchantments)
• Minecraft's GameTest framework for the gameplay tests
• Paint.NET for all the (visuals) assets (if you're good at pixel art, i'd love to work you you! My textures are a bit ... rough)

License

Upfall is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 (see also COPYING for the GNU GPL v3.0 it builds upon).