Coding for Kids
Table of Contents
How to Create Minecraft Add-Ons in Tynker
With Tynker’s new Minecraft Editor, anyone can make an Add-On in minutes. To make things really simple, we’ve come up with a new drag-and-drop visual language just for changing mob behaviors! Check out our 10 Add-On Tutorials for some great starting points and get creative!
What is an Add-On?
Minecraft Add-Ons, like Minecraft mods, allow you to customize your Minecraft mobs by changing their behaviors and properties. Do you want a 100-foot chicken that spits fireballs at creepers? You can create it. Need a balloon bouquet of rainbow colored pigs? You can do that, too!
Once you decide which mob to change, start by using Tynker’s Minecraft Editor to customize how it looks. Save and download your Add-On file – it may look something like “butterfly.mcaddon.” Then, in Minecraft, install the Add-On you built under “Resource Packs” and “Behavior Packs,” and enjoy! You can have as many Add-Ons as you like in each of your worlds. Here are the steps in detail:
Easy Steps to Create Add-Ons Using Tynker
Step 1. Design the Model
Every mob is made up of a set of rectangular blocks called a model. Use Tynker’s new model tool 
lets you change the model however you’d like! Select any rectangular block and make a copy – to make a 3-headed chicken, for example, simply copy the head twice by dragging it around. You can even rotate or enlarge blocks. Using this method, you can transform a cow to a dinosaur, or turn a wither into your own special alien robot.
Step 2. Design the Skin
When you are done changing the model, use the pencil and brush tools in the palette to color your mob. Select a size for your brush and use Colorize, Gradient, or Scatter options to create different effects. For example, we’ve used the gradient and scatter effects to paint the skin of this 3-headed chicken. Use Freehand mode to paint invisible pixels and even color outside the model. Remember to save often so that you don’t lose your work!
Step 3. Define the Behavior
Change the way your 3-headed chicken behaves! You can train your chicken to fire dragon fireballs at creepers, for example, using Tynker’s visual blocks. Select the 
button to switch to the behavior editor, then drag and drop code blocks that define the mob’s behavior. In this code, we’ve trained the mob to attack creepers when damaged:
Step 4. Use Your Add-On in Minecraft Pocket Edition
There are two ways to get your Add-On onto your phone or tablet. Method 1 is great if you’d like to access all your Add-Ons once you sign into Minecraft Pocket Edition on your mobile device, whereas Method 2 is great for quickly sharing a single Add-On.
Method 1: Sign into your Tynker account from your phone
- On your phone, sign in to your Tynker account
- Find your Add-On under Minecraft → My Projects → Add-Ons
- “Download” the Add-On
- Click on the “Open in Minecraft” link – this launches Minecraft and imports your Add-On
Method 2: Use the 5-digit code
- On your phone, go to https://www.tynker.com/get/
- Enter the code of the item. It will look something like “cq4l2”
- “Download” the Add-On
- Click on the “Open in Minecraft” link – this launches Minecraft and imports your Add-On
Installing your Add-On in Minecraft
In all newer versions of Minecraft (Windows 10, Pocket Edition), find the Add-On section under “Settings” in each of your worlds.
- Open “Settings” for the world that you want to install the resource
- Enable cheats in your world
- Under “Resource Packs,” install the Add-On Resource Pack for this Add-On
- Under “Behavior Packs,” install the Add-On Behavior Pack for this Add-On
- Use “/summon chicken” to spawn your 3 headed chicken
Explore the Community
Publish and share your Add-Ons to the Tynker Community! There are thousands of fun Add-Ons already created by players like you. You can remix or download any of these public Add-Ons in your Minecraft. Start creating your own!
