Cave Buddy: Miner’s Canary

Whats up guys racing raftaar here. I am back again with another brand new project for Minecraft Java Edition.

If you spend a lot of time mining, you know how quickly a normal cave can turn dangerous. A creeper can walk up behind you, lava can be hiding behind one block, your air can run out underwater, or your best pickaxe can break when you are not paying attention. I wanted to create a companion that makes cave exploration feel safer and more alive without revealing ores or making survival too easy.

So I made Cave Buddy: Miner’s Canary. It adds a rare canary that becomes your loyal non-combat mining companion.

Meet Your Cave Buddy

Miner’s Canaries can naturally appear in selected Overworld biomes including plains, meadows and forest variants. They are intentionally uncommon, so finding one feels special. You can also use the Canary Spawn Egg while testing in Creative Mode.

Tame a wild canary using normal vanilla seeds. Once tamed, it can follow you, sit when commanded and ride on your shoulder.

This is a safety companion, not a combat pet. It will not attack enemies or replace your weapons.

Smart Cave Danger Warnings

When your tamed canary is close to you, it checks for important dangers and warns you with clear action-bar messages, particles and different chirps.

It can warn you about:

– Creepers getting dangerously close

– Other nearby hostile mobs

– Hidden or exposed lava nearby

– Low air while underwater

– A pickaxe with critically low durability

– Dangerous darkness while underground

Warnings use a priority system and a global cooldown, so the canary does not spam messages every tick. All scans are server-side and deliberately bounded for better performance. 

Five Persistent Bond Ranks

Your relationship grows while you and your canary spend time together underground. Bond progress is stored permanently with the companion.

The five ranks are:

– New Hatchling

– Cave Scout

– Danger Singer

– Veteran Canary

– Miner’s Guardian

Higher ranks represent the time you have survived and explored together. Rank-ups include feedback so you know when your companion has reached a new level.

Last Chirp Emergency Rescue

At a high bond rank, your canary unlocks “Last Chirp”.

If normal incoming damage would kill you while your bonded canary is close, Last Chirp can prevent that death, restore a small amount of health and provide short emergency protection. The ability has a long configurable cooldown, and the canary must rest after saving you.

Last Chirp cannot rescue Creative or Spectator players, and it does not bypass intentional `/kill` or void deaths. This keeps the feature useful without turning it into unlimited immortality.

A Companion You Do Not Permanently Lose

A tamed Miner’s Canary does not die like a normal disposable pet. When it receives lethal damage, it enters a safe resting and recovery state instead of being permanently deleted.

The recovery system also protects against common cave problems such as block suffocation and falling into the void. After the configured recovery time, the canary returns with full health.

Wild untamed canaries still behave like ordinary living creatures. Permanent protection begins after taming.

Canary Whistle and Cave Buddy Badge

Taming your canary gives you two custom bound items.

The “Canary Whistle” recalls your companion. It also works when the canary is sitting on your shoulder, and optional cross-dimension recall can be enabled in the config for a loaded companion.

The “Cave Buddy Badge” opens the companion panel, where you can check bond progress, safety records and use Recall or Follow/Sit controls.

Commands

Players can use:

– `/cavebuddy status`

– `/cavebuddy recall`

– `/cavebuddy panel`

Server operators can also use:

– `/cavebuddy setbond <minutes>`

– `/cavebuddy resetbond`

The operator commands are useful for administration and testing.

Requirements and Setup

You need exactly Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.1.

Use the NeoForge mod loader, specifically version 21.1.252 or a compatible newer 21.1.x build. Java 21 is required.

For multiplayer, install the mod on both the client and the server. It has zero third-party mod dependencies, so you only need to place the JAR in the `mods` folder and launch the game.

Created by RACINGRAFTAAR.

AI Disclaimer

Only the project icon was created using AI. all gallery screenshots are original.