These mods illustrate some of the basics of modding using Forge. They are listed in approximate order of increased complexity.
You are free to use this code for any purpose, but it comes with no guarantees of any kind. It works for me and makes sense to me, but may not for you.
EmptyMod
This is pretty much the bare minimum mod. Equivalent to the example mod that now ships with Forge.
SmeltingMod
Illustrates how to add new smelting recipes, by adding several to recycle iron from various blocks and items that are crafted from iron. (requires NewItemMod)
CraftingMod
Illustrates how to add a new shaped crafting recipe.
NewBlockMod
Illustrates how to add a new block, give it a name and texture, and change what it drops when broken.
NewItemMod
Illustrates how to add a new item: iron nuggets.
FoodMod
Adds Beef Stew.
LightningAspectMod
Shows how to add a new sword enchantment. The enchantment causes any mob or player you attack to be struck by lightning. If used in survival mode, you will also be harmed by the lightning bolt. Forge currently lacks a system for getting an unused enchantment ID, so we do our best to find one, but things still might conflict with other enchantment mods.
OreMod
Incomplete
Introduces a low-grade iron ore that smelts down to iron nuggets rather than a full ingot.
IronDaggerMod
Incomplete
Adds an iron dagger that has lower damage than a sword but higher enchantability and a powerful sneaking backstab attack.