FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Voxelgarden (previously called Nodetest) is a subgame for Minetest (the engine) and aims to be compatible with most mods*. It's focus is on a basic gameplay with more survival features.

*Voxelgarden is incompatible with: moreblocks

This game is a rolling release and is always based on the latest git version of the Minetest engine. The "stable" releases are just snapshots of the state when the corresponding engine version was released.

Mapgen: v6 is recommended. Mapgens that use biomes (v5, v7, valleys, fractal) are supported too, but are not as polished.

Latest version (requires the latest Minetest engine)
git: https://github.com/CasimirKaPazi/Voxelgarden
download .zip
download .tar.gz

Release
0.4.13
download .zip
download .tar.gz


Older Versions


Screenshots

Videos
Review of 0.4.10 by myswiat
Review of 0.4.9 by Meldrian (german)

What is this game about?
It is nothing special, it is just a basic voxel game done different.
Don't expect to many fancy features, as I only add what really works (sorry, no mobs until now). Instead with modularity, polished mods and stairsplus it offers the freedom to be creative (creative like create not decorate). There are many mods for minetest you don't need because you can build the same using only a few nodes and your fantasy.

Features

• Good textures by default, forming an overall consisted style.
• Self planting saplings. No need to collect them. Forests will spread naturally.
• Progressive gameplay, while still offering different ways to achieve your goals.
• Not only stairs and slaps, but a wide range of sub-nodes, enable detailed buildings.
• Must-see mapgen. Getting the best out of mapgen v6.
• Runs very good on old hardware.
• A well-thought-out hunger system. Is not annoying as long as you have enough to eat, but it can become dangerous very fast.
• All the mods are tweaked to work good together.
• Game mechanics different form minetest_game and Minecraft. Giving the game it's one feeling.
• With modular doors you can build more than just doors. e.g. window frames, hatches, street lamps...
• Good locking and big conifers.
• Stranded like gameplay. You start with nothing and it takes hard work to obtain your small bit of luxury.
• Thought of biomes for mapgen v5 and v7. Including snow biomes.
• Cactus has spices (but does not hurt).
• Doors can be used as hatches.
• Nyancats in the sky. (In Minetest Game they only spawn underground.)
• Details, details, details. Don't miss them.

Mods

Recipes to know

Recommended
Above sea level pools [highlandpools]
BlockMens beds [beds]
Circular saw
Will be added in the future: mobapi

Participate
Bug reports or fixes are always welcome. Also I would like to read more suggestions and ideas on how to improve the game. I might not add everything, but it is always good to have some outside opinions.

Donate
I know nobody will donate anyway. But if someone does it might improve my motivation.
Bitcoin: 1C9D2kApMdCBX133C8gvXfpGUAoScvGcz6

Information for modders
To check if the player is running this game you can use the following. The mod named nodetest contains most of the nodes and functions that are not in minetest_game. For other mods it it better to check those mods directly.


Licence
for every mod applies the original licence
for other code LGPL 2.1 or later
for other textures CC BY-SA
for other sounds CC BY-SA

super

One response is more than I expected. Thank you.
But some more opinions would be helpful. So if anyone else tested it, feel free to be honest. Where are problems? What is good? What could be better? Keep the hand the way it is? Should I add coppertools?

I tested it a bit.

Things I like:
- Panels & vertical slabs,
- Look of the Dirt-with-Grass side,
- Look and behavior of Papyrus,
- Sticks recipe,
- Planks texture looks less broken on slabs/stairs.

Things I'd change:
- Make papyrus more common,
- Recipe to make default planks out of jungle tree.
- Maybe add the stoneage mod?

I would not add coppertools.

All in all it's a nice alternative to minetest_game.

Mossmanikin wrote:- Make papyrus more common,

OK.

Mossmanikin wrote:- Recipe to make default planks out of jungle tree.

Not sure about this. On the one hand I don't want a new colored wood for every type of tree (there are more to come, someday, maybe) because that would mean to also have all the stairsplus-nodes too. But getting the same type of wood out of different trees is ugly too.

Mossmanikin wrote:- Maybe add the stoneage mod?

I thought about adding it too. Together with your prehistoric-modpack. But stoneage still has some features that harm the gameplay. (e.g. you light a cave with dozens of torches, and when you come back all is dark and you have to light them again, or place new ones - that is very annoying.)

Mossmanikin wrote:I would not add coppertools.

I already made the textures. I can't stop now!1
Um, the main reason for copper tools is that the step from stone to steel is a very big one, and I like my copperore texture...

Mossmanikin wrote:All in all it's a nice alternative to minetest_game.

Thanks for the feedback.

That's a really nice game.

What I like:

• Most of the textures, especially the grass
• The hand.
• The companion cube :D
• Crafting recipes, and the wood pickaxe seems to be less powerful.
• Dirt falls, and sapling autoplant

What I dislike:

• I prefer the new cobble texture from minetest_game.
• The hand is a bit buggy, maybe try attaching it to the player's entity ?
• The mese textures (sorry, but IMHO minetest's are better)
• I can't get wood from jungle trees.
• stairsplus floods my crafting guide :P

Casimir wrote:http://www.screenshot.ru/...

*giggle*

Mito551 wrote:*giggle*

*questionmarkabovehead*

Zeg9 wrote:

• stairsplus floods my crafting guide :P

You could check for a group "not_in_craftguide". Then I would disable it and just keep one material as example.

Zeg9 wrote:

• I prefer the new cobble texture from minetest_game.

I dislike both of them. If someone has a good one, feel free to make a pullrequeset.

New: added recipe to turn jungletree into wood; added the flowers mod.

Casimir wrote:

Zeg9 wrote:

• stairsplus floods my crafting guide :P

You could check for a group "not_in_craftguide". Then I would disable it and just keep one material as example.

Probably, but I think I'll add sorting by mods instead.

Casimir wrote:New: added recipe to turn jungletree into wood; added the flowers mod.

Nice, thanks !

Casimir wrote:

Mito551 wrote:*giggle*

*questionmarkabovehead*

are you russian?

Mito551 wrote:are you russian?

No.

New: Flowerpots and farming added.

Casimir wrote:

Mito551 wrote:are you russian?

No.

New: Flowerpots and farming added.

that's why I giggle. few russian websites are used by very few non-russians.

What about, disable falling in creative?

Craft guide added.
(Just to let you know that this game is still under development.)

Perhaps you could add support for MGv7 ?

Is on the to-do list. But I have problems understanding the use of biomes. It seems to me that the order they are registered effects how they appear.
I would be glad if someone is willing to help with this game (be aware, I have high standards).

The current plan is to use all the range between snow and desert, with big variety but wide spreading (just like I tried with the v6 settings) and also make them depend on the hight. And adding one or two new kinds of trees.

Casimir wrote:Is on the to-do list. But I have problems understanding the use of biomes. It seems to me that the order they are registered effects how they appear.
I would be glad if someone is willing to help with this game (be aware, I have high standards).

The current plan is to use all the range between snow and desert, with big variety but wide spreading (just like I tried with the v6 settings) and also make them depend on the hight. And adding one or two new kinds of trees.

How do you make MGV7 biomes?

I know nothing more than that: https://github.com/PilzAdam/pilztest/blob/master/mods/base/mapgen.lua#L18

Could someone please help me with a problem.
All the default plants (papyrus, cactus, grass, dry scrub) don't get generated anymore and I have no idea why.
This is the code:
https://github.com/CasimirKaPazi/nodetest/blob/master/mods/default/mapgen.lua#L330

Line 357 is "papyrus_roots" and line 252 is papyrus.
I might be wrong but I am pretty sure I am right

Thats the way it should be (see here the green nodes on the left).
Some testing revealed: everything works fine. The only thing that does not work is set_node/add_node. Even with place_node the server says default:grass_3 placed, but there is nothing there.
In minetest_game it works. Using the code of /minetest_game/default/mapgen.lua leads to the old problem.

Very confusing.

Fixed.
It was caused by the LuaVM. It read the data from the map, then the mapgen made the plants, then the LuaVM overwrote the plants with the old map data.
For other modders, this is what I've done. Not sure if it is the best solution.
https://github.com/CasimirKaPazi/nodetest/commit/f5f8a19c0e2477957ad14ece24c7d1e2c61c4bc8

2 things...can i use the mods from minetest...does it work better than minetest

You can use the mods for minetest_game (aka minetest). The only problem that might occur is some recipes not working because they require items that are not in nodetest e.g. diamonds.
If it works better than minetest depends on what you mean by saying "better".
faster - no (in fact the mapgen is slower)
less bugs - probably
more mature gameplay - IMO yes

what do you mean by mature gameplay

I will stop working on this for a while because of time reasons. About every week I will check for pull requests, just in case someone is interested in maintaining this.

I looked at the GitHub repo, and you changed the player's range. Do you happen to know the normal value?

I added a small and experimental hunger mod. Please tell me what you think about it.

@ general
The commit you refer to is just copied to be up to date with minetest_game.

Now with stable 0.4.8 version.

Casimir wrote:minetest is trash

Why do you use it then?