Survival that throws wishful thinking out of the window
A long overdue positive review from me.
I was typing one before joining the dev team, but accidentally closed my browser tab lol.
The Good
Rich natural world with many biomes and plants
Plants are not just decorations, they're resources, food, medicines and toxins
Challenging survival - the game doesn't parrot cliché features of games like Minecraft. It takes some knowledge and work to merely survive.
Dynamic nature (this is more apparent on our beta v0.4.0 branch). Seasons change and with them nature and weather, water moves through the ground.
Realism - no punching trees, you need to make proper tools, eating raw meat comes with parasites, low temperature and restlessness lead to exhaustion and death.
Mobs - there are mobs by default and they're not just a punching bag in your fantasy story. They live their lives and do their best to survive.
The game encourages sustainability and cooperation over mindless looting and destruction. Depleting natural resources can quickly turn the once flourishing land into a desert. Players have to mind their choices and respect nature, or get crushed by it like a bug.
Hidden plot - there's something to explore under the surface.
The Ugly
UI/UX - we still need to improve user interface and controls. They tend to be inconsistent.
Many elements of the game are still underbaked and need improvement, mainly the undercity, mobs.
Discoverability issues - because of unique features of the game, inconsistent UI/UX players often find things confusing and hard to get right. The most common problems are related to building kilns and iron smelters (which is also related to our imperfect heat/temperature code). The v0.4.0 release is going to include a tutorial, hopefully fixing most of these problems.
The codebase is quite chaotic in certain places, we still lack good and stable APIs for modders.
Summary
A cool game with unique features and feel, but still needs improvements.
The game is playable, but is otherwise pretty simple and lacks enough content to keep me playing for longer.
(as is the game keeps me busy for 1 minute)
Good things about this game:
it has music
it implements a simple runner game in minetest
models are nice
there's GUI
Things where it could be improved:
more stuff generally
some surrounding trees/buildings instead of the empty void
Played this game for a while, enjoyed it overall.
This game is about getting knowledge through experimenting and employing that knowledge to make stuff, pretty much the scientific method.
Some puzzles are easier than other, for example I had no problems with fire, glass or the metal stuff, but I still haven't figured out leaching water through soil.
The natural world is far from exciting so the game could get some improvements there, the only exploring I did was basically finding pumwater.
Nevertheless the world is calm and soothing which is nice.
That's not your typical Minecraft clone - you will need patience and a brain for this one.
This game is pretty much about walking and going from one level to another.
What makes it unique is that the author changed the default scale of the player model so the eye level is about 2.5 nodes high instead of the usual Minecraftish 2 nodes. This makes everything look more realistic, for example doors are 3 nodes high and 2 nodes wide.
Another cool aspect of the game are the textures that are less repetitive that usual Minetest/Minecraft textures.
Node design is simple and consistent - things like lamps, pipes, fences.
Levels are not boring because each represents another liminal space, for example theres a basement, a parking, a tunnel, a hotel and there are other more surrealistic spaces like for example the infinite swimming pool or the level with water and houses.
Exploring the spaces is driven mostly entirely by curiosity and a desire to find the way "out" - doors to another level.
Each level gives a strange discomfort that is the core of liminal space aesthetic.
Fun to "play" even though there's nothing "to do" other than exploring.
This game is a platformer featuring good music, stylish levels and a simple story that makes it feel like something fresh.
Jumping, gliding, climbing, this game has it. It also features a nice HUD and an in-game tutorial that makes it user friendly and discoverable.
Each level comes with custom nodes, music, different obstacles, puzzles and new abilities to unlock so it's never boring.
There are also simple NPCs you can chat with that make the game feel more alive.
A cool example of what you can do with the Minetest engine with some creativity.
This package is hardly a game because there's almost nothing to do in it.
The world is static, quiet and emtpy. There are no mobs and structures that spawn are boring "dungeons" that are basically small rooms from mossy cobble with chests and that's all.
In the caves there are only minerals that bring no value because there's nothing intresting to build from them.
The caves go as far as -31 000 nodes but barely anything changes as you go down.
The only thing you can do in this "game" without installing mods is building cities with nothing inside.
This package is a bad advertisment for Minetest and made me drop it for 4 years because I simply thought it's not finished after playing. "I'll wait for them to add some mobs" I thought.
The only good part about this package is that some biomes look nice, but that's about it.
This empty husk of a game is a bad attempt at reproducing Minecraft that ultimately fails. The only innovation is that apples grow on trees.
As far as the "modding base" fairy tale goes, this game has no gameplay on its own so why use it as a base?
A base like this has no philosophy on its own which makes it essentially a dumpster for mods, perfect for creating mod soups and Frankenstein games.
If you want a Minecraft clone, play MineClone2. Want something original? We have NodeCore, Exile, Glitch, Hades.
There are so many better options than this.
Survival that throws wishful thinking out of the window
A long overdue positive review from me.
I was typing one before joining the dev team, but accidentally closed my browser tab lol.
The Good
Rich natural world with many biomes and plants
Plants are not just decorations, they're resources, food, medicines and toxins
Challenging survival - the game doesn't parrot cliché features of games like Minecraft. It takes some knowledge and work to merely survive.
Dynamic nature (this is more apparent on our beta v0.4.0 branch). Seasons change and with them nature and weather, water moves through the ground.
Realism - no punching trees, you need to make proper tools, eating raw meat comes with parasites, low temperature and restlessness lead to exhaustion and death.
Mobs - there are mobs by default and they're not just a punching bag in your fantasy story. They live their lives and do their best to survive.
The game encourages sustainability and cooperation over mindless looting and destruction. Depleting natural resources can quickly turn the once flourishing land into a desert. Players have to mind their choices and respect nature, or get crushed by it like a bug.
Hidden plot - there's something to explore under the surface.
The Ugly
UI/UX - we still need to improve user interface and controls. They tend to be inconsistent.
Many elements of the game are still underbaked and need improvement, mainly the undercity, mobs.
Discoverability issues - because of unique features of the game, inconsistent UI/UX players often find things confusing and hard to get right. The most common problems are related to building kilns and iron smelters (which is also related to our imperfect heat/temperature code). The v0.4.0 release is going to include a tutorial, hopefully fixing most of these problems.
The codebase is quite chaotic in certain places, we still lack good and stable APIs for modders.
Summary
A cool game with unique features and feel, but still needs improvements.
basic proof of concept
The game is playable, but is otherwise pretty simple and lacks enough content to keep me playing for longer. (as is the game keeps me busy for 1 minute)
Good things about this game:
it has music
it implements a simple runner game in minetest
models are nice
there's GUI
Things where it could be improved:
more stuff generally
some surrounding trees/buildings instead of the empty void
more music
maybe a shop to spend the coins?
more train stuff like in the original game
movement sometimes feels odd
science
Played this game for a while, enjoyed it overall. This game is about getting knowledge through experimenting and employing that knowledge to make stuff, pretty much the scientific method. Some puzzles are easier than other, for example I had no problems with fire, glass or the metal stuff, but I still haven't figured out leaching water through soil. The natural world is far from exciting so the game could get some improvements there, the only exploring I did was basically finding pumwater. Nevertheless the world is calm and soothing which is nice. That's not your typical Minecraft clone - you will need patience and a brain for this one.
a good looking maze
This game is pretty much about walking and going from one level to another. What makes it unique is that the author changed the default scale of the player model so the eye level is about 2.5 nodes high instead of the usual Minecraftish 2 nodes. This makes everything look more realistic, for example doors are 3 nodes high and 2 nodes wide. Another cool aspect of the game are the textures that are less repetitive that usual Minetest/Minecraft textures. Node design is simple and consistent - things like lamps, pipes, fences. Levels are not boring because each represents another liminal space, for example theres a basement, a parking, a tunnel, a hotel and there are other more surrealistic spaces like for example the infinite swimming pool or the level with water and houses. Exploring the spaces is driven mostly entirely by curiosity and a desire to find the way "out" - doors to another level. Each level gives a strange discomfort that is the core of liminal space aesthetic.
Fun to "play" even though there's nothing "to do" other than exploring.
Fun, polished, immersive
This game is a platformer featuring good music, stylish levels and a simple story that makes it feel like something fresh. Jumping, gliding, climbing, this game has it. It also features a nice HUD and an in-game tutorial that makes it user friendly and discoverable. Each level comes with custom nodes, music, different obstacles, puzzles and new abilities to unlock so it's never boring. There are also simple NPCs you can chat with that make the game feel more alive. A cool example of what you can do with the Minetest engine with some creativity.
Simply excellent!
boring, no mobs, not original
This package is hardly a game because there's almost nothing to do in it. The world is static, quiet and emtpy. There are no mobs and structures that spawn are boring "dungeons" that are basically small rooms from mossy cobble with chests and that's all. In the caves there are only minerals that bring no value because there's nothing intresting to build from them. The caves go as far as -31 000 nodes but barely anything changes as you go down. The only thing you can do in this "game" without installing mods is building cities with nothing inside.
This package is a bad advertisment for Minetest and made me drop it for 4 years because I simply thought it's not finished after playing. "I'll wait for them to add some mobs" I thought. The only good part about this package is that some biomes look nice, but that's about it. This empty husk of a game is a bad attempt at reproducing Minecraft that ultimately fails. The only innovation is that apples grow on trees.
As far as the "modding base" fairy tale goes, this game has no gameplay on its own so why use it as a base? A base like this has no philosophy on its own which makes it essentially a dumpster for mods, perfect for creating mod soups and Frankenstein games.
If you want a Minecraft clone, play MineClone2. Want something original? We have NodeCore, Exile, Glitch, Hades. There are so many better options than this.