DESCRIPTION:

ByteBuddies is a mod made for Future ModJam 2025.

The future is now — and it’s not cold and lonely anymore!
Meet the ByteBuddies, your loyal mechanical helpers built to make life easier and more fun. Whether you’re farming, mining, hauling loot, or need a defense detail, there’s a Buddy for every job.

Each Buddy can be customized and upgraded using unique augments and floppy disks, granting them new abilities and enhanced efficiency. You can even personalize their appearance with different screen colors, chassis materials, and faces to match your style.

ROLES:

Farmer - Give your Buddy Wheat to assign them the Farmer role. They will harvest and plant crops around their Docking Station, give them a Hoe, and they will also till any viable soil in the area.
Miner - Give your Buddy Cobblestone to assign them the Miner role. Give them a Pickaxe, and they will automatically dig nearby resources within range of their Docking Station. However, with a Clipboard assigned in the Docking Station, they will mine in a specific area.
Hauler - Give your Buddy a Chest to assign them the Hauler role. Give them a Clipboard and they will transfer items from one inventory to another!
Fighter - Give your Buddy a Shield to assign them the Fighter role. Give them a Sword, and they will follow you and protect you, depending on what combat aggression you set them to by right-clicking them with a Sword.

DOCKING STATION:

The Docking Station is the central hub for your ByteBuddies — a dispatcher and storage system all-in-one! It must be powered to function properly. Use a Wrench to connect your Buddies by right-clicking the Docking Station with a Wrench to start linking mode. Then, right-click any Buddy you want to connect.

Connected Buddies will automatically synchronize with their Docking Station, coordinating tasks so that no two Buddies compete for jobs. Both the Farmer and Miner roles require a linked Docking Station to operate, so ensure they stay connected.

DISKS:

Floppy Disks are upgrade modules that enhance your ByteBuddy’s abilities. They come in 8 color variants, each with a unique effect, and every color has 3 tiers — Copper, Iron, and Gold — with higher tiers providing stronger enhancements. Install disks into your Buddy to boost their performance or grant them special traits. Below you’ll find what each color variant does and how it affects your Buddy:

Black - Reduces tool wear and increases ByteBuddy durability (Health)
Blue - Expands sensing and action radius around the ByteBuddy's Docking Station.
Cyan - On a successful action, there’s a chance to spawn a short-lived hologram that performs parallel tasks.
Green - Reduces battery drain and consumable use where applicable.
Pink - Supportive aura that buffs nearby allies and tasks.
Purple - Improves yield from actions the ByteBuddy performs.
Red - Overclock for increased power and speed, but at a higher energy cost.
Yellow - When a task succeeds, roll for a byproduct tied to that task’s context.

BATTERIES:

Batteries are the main power source for your ByteBuddies and Docking Stations. They come in five tiers — Simple, Advanced, Biocell, Reinforced, and Super-Charged — with each tier storing more energy than the last. Batteries can be crafted from different materials and recharged using a Generator or Solar Panel. Keep your batteries charged to ensure your Buddies never run out of energy while they work!

AUGMENTS:

Augments are special upgrades that improve your ByteBuddy’s abilities and performance.
They can boost storage, durability, movement, and even grant entirely new features like flight, underwater operation, or even let your Buddy recharge itself through creative means.

Reinforced Plating
Plating augments change your Buddy’s chassis color and increase its armor at the cost of movement speed.

Iron Plating — +6 Armor, −5% Speed
Steel Plating — +12 Armor, −15% Speed
Netherite Plating — +20 Armor, −25% Speed
Charged Steel Plating — +16 Armor, +5% Speed

Storage Cells

Cells increase your Buddy’s inventory size, letting it carry more items.

Basic Storage Cell: +9 slots
Advanced Storage Cell: +18 slots
Enderlink Storage Cell: +18 slots, syncs with Docking Station for remote storage access

Mobility & Utility Augments

These standalone augments grant unique abilities and passive effects:

Propeller Unit: Enables low-altitude flight. Increases energy usage but avoids ground pathing.
Aqua Motor: Allows swimming and floating; functions fully underwater.
Solar Array: Recharges the ByteBuddy’s battery from daylight.
Gyroscopic Stabilizer: Reduces knockback, improves projectile aim, and slightly reduces fall damage.
Arc Welder: Gradually repairs and heals the Buddy while idle, consuming energy.
Geothermal Regulator: Slowly recharges energy when near heat sources, such as furnaces, lava, or campfires.
Dynamo Coil: Converts movement and work actions into charge; grants a short speed boost after tasks.
Magnetic Crescent: Automatically picks up nearby items within 5 blocks.