Death Commands

I define Death Effects as "Doing something when an Entity dies". There are a few wrong ways to achieve this that should be avoided, including:

• Detecting death in the entity file, adding a component, and then trying to detect that component in the animation controller. This is wrong because the entity will be removed from the world before the animation controller has a chance to run.
• Detecting the entity death from an outside source, such as a ticking command block. This method isn't strictly wrong, and in some circumstances, it may even be preferred. However it is costly and easy to break.

Using query.is_alive #

The best way to create death effects is by using the is_alive query.

Simply create an animation controller with a transition based on is_alive. The final on_entry will run before the entity is removed from the world, allowing you to run your commands.

Here is a sample animation controller:

{
	"format_version": "1.10.0",
	"animation_controllers": {
		"controller.animation.death": {
			"states": {
				"default": {
					"transitions": [
						{
							"dead": "!query.is_alive"
						}
					]
				},
				"dead": {
					"on_entry": ["/say I am dead!"]
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

Use on player entities #

In the case of player entities, an additional transition must be added to the second animation state in order to ensure the state resets between deaths:

{
	"format_version": "1.10.0",
	"animation_controllers": {
		"controller.animation.death": {
			"states": {
				"default": {
					"transitions": [
						{
							"dead": "!query.is_alive"
						}
					]
				},
				"dead": {
					"on_entry": ["/say I am dead!"],
					"transitions": [
						{
							"default": "query.is_alive"
						}
					]
				}
			}
		}
	}
}