Hytale mod / Game mode
Unstable Rifts
Top-5 Hytale x CurseForge mod jam roguelike shooter experience with custom enemies, weapons, armor, party systems, and balancing.
- Role
- Gameplay programmer / team coordinator
- Team
- 7-9 people
- When
- Mar 2026 — May 2026
- Status
- released
- 5th
- Contest category placement
- $1,000
- Prize
- close to 400
- Approved contest entries
- ~200
- Experience entries
- 1.0K+
- CurseForge downloads
Unstable Rifts was built for the Hytale x CurseForge New Worlds Modding Contest. The mod creates a full gameplay experience inside Hytale: top-down camera combat, generated dungeon runs, custom enemies, ranged/melee weapons, armor sets, bosses, party mechanics, shops, crates, missions, Rift Coins, and longer-term progression.
See it in motion
Unstable Rifts trailer — trailer coming soon
The bosses — actual in-game models
These are the real Blockbench models that ship with the mod, loaded straight from Hytale's format and animated in your browser. Drag to rotate; pick an attack.
The Excavator
Smashes, spins and throws dirt.
Forkcliff
A forklift with a grudge.
CEO Tank
Final-floor artillery nightmare.
The bestiary
I implemented every enemy in the mod — meet a few of them.
Industrial Drone
Hazmat Trooper
DeadWood Kweebec
Radioactive Wolf
The armory
Custom guns and melee weapons with elemental variants — switch the blunderbuss skins below, then browse the full arsenal.
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Assault rifle -
Blunderbuss -
Fire musket -
Ice musket -
Lightning musket -
Void musket -
Crystal sword -
Void lance -
Corrupted shotgun -
Kweebec launcher -
Blitzer crystal -
Taser -
Pistol -
Rifle
Armor builds
Into the rift
Features
- Top-down roguelike shooter gameplay
- Custom enemies
- Custom weapons
- Armor system
- Party creation
- Co-op-oriented combat
- Contest-ready release
What I did
- Implemented all enemies and core combat behaviors.
- Implemented custom weapons, armor systems, party creation, and gameplay systems.
- Handled balance adjustments across enemies, weapons, progression, and encounter pacing.
- Recruited and coordinated a team of roughly 7–9 people including builders, artists, and developers.
- Helped ship the mod under contest deadlines and release constraints.
Project timeline
Contest project timeline: ideation and recruitment, core gameplay systems, first playable version, weekly level updates, and final Top-5 placement.
-
Mar 2026 Planning / Research
Mod jam started
Started Unstable Rifts at the launch of the Hytale x CurseForge New Worlds Modding Contest.
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Mar 2026 → Mar 2026 Planning / Research
Ideation and recruitment week
Spent the first week defining the concept, recruiting artists/builders/developers, organizing the team, and assigning production directions.
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Mar 2026 Development
Core systems development
Started implementing core gameplay systems and distributing tasks to the team for enemies, weapons, armor, level design, and art assets.
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Apr 2026 ~ Release / Delivery
First version released
Released the first playable version about one month after the beginning of the jam.
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Apr 2026 ~ Release / Delivery
Weekly update: second level
Updated the mod with a new level as part of the weekly release rhythm.
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Apr 2026 ~ Development
Balancing and polish
Iterated on enemy behavior, custom weapons, armor systems, party creation, and balance adjustments before the contest result.
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Apr 2026 ~ Release / Delivery
Weekly update: third level
Updated the mod with the third level, bringing the experience to three levels in total.
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May 2026 Impact / Result
Top-5 contest placement
Placed 5th in the Experience category of the Hytale x CurseForge New Worlds contest and won a $1,000 prize.
- Weekly content updates during the contest · weekly, since Apr 2026
After the first release, the mod was updated every week until the end with additional levels and balancing improvements.
Built with
- Java
- Hytale modding
- Gameplay programming
- Combat systems
- Game balancing
- Team management