FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 17:08**

Please post here any comments about Minetest you would like to share.

How did you find Minetest?
What was your first opinion?
What do you think now?
What do you think about its experience and gameplay?
What do you think about the modding capabilities?
What do you think about the community?
Where do you see Minetest going?

You don't have to answer them all, and you can ask other questions to yourself.

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 17:14**

I found Minetest like I think a few others did I had discovered Minecraft and I also discovered minecrafts terrible lag that for me made it impossible to play so I googled "Games like minecraft" I found a list with games and I bet you can guess what was at the top

EDIT:The game is good overall but not as good as it could be and I am glad it is still being worked on so that one day minetest will reach its full potential.

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 17:21**

+1000 Nice topic!

I was bored a night at home, and tried to give a try at this "Minecraft" thing that everyone was talking about. Since MC is not free, I tried to play the Classic version; I had several problems. To start, I had to download the JVM, then I had to painfully wait for it to load in my cr*ppy connection. After all the time it took to download everything, I was greeted with a black screen (supposedly for lack of support for my gfx card).

So I just decided to look for "Free alternative to minecraft", and saw Minetest.

I downloaded the version in the Ubuntu Software Center, and played for a couple of days. I fell in love.

Later I discovered that it was a really outdated version, but that is a story for another day ;)

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 17:22**

How did you find Minetest?

Linux Format

What was your first opinion?

Good idea, but the controls are crap.

What do you think know?

Much better, the mod system is a winner!

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 18:01**

i found it also by looking for a game like minecraft.
when i found it i thought: is this supposed to be funny?
a year or so later i gave it another try and saw the awesome community so i kept playing it fro then

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2013 18:46**

I wanted to play a sand box game. My mom didn't want me to have MC cause I needed to have an account on another site.
I loved it.
It has more potential than MC.
The experience is awesome and modding easy.

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 17:59**

Well, I wanted to check out anything that was rather like minecraft (Having not played it) but for free. When I came across minetest in the Ubuntu Software Centre I was more than pleased.

My first opinion was that it was a bit sketchy, because the first version that I downloaded was 0.3.1 because I never knew that more versions had been released as I had never visited the site before.

I think that minetest is an amazing game, which is really fun to play. And also, that the community is amazing and strong.

I think some improvements could be made to game-play to make minetest a bit more player friendly, because people used to HD graphics will just go pffhhh.. This is awful.

In minetest, I believe that anyone can mod. All you need is Google images (Maybe different), GIMP, and the knowledge to write lua scipts. And that, in itself, is rather simple and so it should be!

Keep up the good work!

Posted: **Wed Jan 23, 2013 19:54**

Someone posted it on my forum, but it was 0.4.3 so I was thinking ok is this dead, since the version, never change until I looked Up Minetest Forums and I found this place!! And, I got the least version as well.

And I say this game should be listed on, E3 anyone think we can, get it to be shown on E3 or E3 don't do Homebrew Games? if not then we make ours own E3 called hmm. beats me It up, to the Owner of Minetest to allow anything happen.

I Am making though a Banner so we can post more about, Minetest to others, any ideas I should try add?

-Mod-
I love Moding it a fun thing to do and, it not that hard to add or make stuff since it all freeware.

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 06:03**

How did you find Minetest?
Searched for minecraft clones, found some games, but failed to get used to them - they were in HUGE lack of features. Even things like mythruna turned out as just a sandbox game for building. That wasn't fun. So I stayed with minecraft. I continued searching from time to time and one day I came to minetest.ru, downloaded June's 0.4 version of minetest.

What was your first opinion?
I got exited AND disappointed:
Minetest was MUCH like what I wanted from minecraft, but there were no mobs, no carts, chests were opening and closed w/o animation... Too boring without some destructive factor. And on top of that there was no nether, armor and redstone. I also wanted to have some kind of IC2 for minetest. But I knew nothing about Lua back then. So I've played at minetest.ru and played minecraft at home with 2-3 of my friends via remobo.

What do you think know?
Time have passed and now I can say that there are potential in minetest. I LOVE this game ;)
But I'm more a tester than a player: I tried to make a couple of mods (and still making my own or helping others with it).
Great progress were made but even greater should be made. But now there are no chances I ever turn my back on the Minetest. It's too good for that.

What do you think about its Experience and Gameplay?
As I've said - too boring right now, 'cause of it's lack of dangers. Great, but boring.
No item loss after death, no mobs, no carts, no electricity...
There are implementations of this features but they aren't in the default game. And that's a shame ;)
But not only features making minetest what it is. A nice texturepack (that's why I started making my own) and a features like sprinting can make MT experience more exiting. "A few homey touches" are needed.

What do you think about the modding capabilities?MT is much more playable than 1/2 a year earlier.
But it still lacks some features: huge and small.
Small ones are:
- weather,
- HUD,
- animations of a player (head) and blocks (chest),
- client-side particles for smoking things,
etc.

Huge ones are:
- nether/heaven/celestia/parralel worlds/ability to skip onto different map/anything with different mapgen,
- dungeons,
- support for user-defined biomes via Lua (not only above the ground),
- 3d armor,
- Lua callbacks for on_close_formspec, on_clear_objects,
- Lua ability to draw and to text_out on screen,
- complete Unicode support for windows,
- adequate compiling/cross-compiling tutorial for windows with step-by step explanations and not only "if smth is not working then smth is wrong",
- water must "push" everything with it's flow
- settings for controlling mapgen & Lua callbacks to do that
- C++ mob framework
etc.

There's more about it, but (considering Minetest is in the active development stage) it would be wise to wait and/or help to make MT better with all we can.

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:14**

4aiman wrote:- client-side particles for smoking things

with the current build we have client side particle

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 15:02**

4aiman wrote:Huge ones are:
- nether/heaven/celestia/parralel worlds/ability to skip onto different map/anything with different mapgen,
- dungeons,
- support for user-defined biomes via Lua (not only above the ground),
- 3d armor,
- Lua callbacks for on_close_formspec, on_clear_objects,
- Lua ability to draw and to text_out on screen,
- complete Unicode support for windows,
- adequate compiling/cross-compiling tutorial for windows with step-by step explanations and not only "if smth is not working then smth is wrong",
- water must "push" everything with it's flow
- settings for controlling mapgen & Lua callbacks to do that
- C++ mob framework
etc.

There's more about it, but (considering Minetest is in the active development stage) it would be wise to wait and/or help to make MT better with all we can.

- Nether: done (albeit buggy)
- Dungeons: part of MOBF (?)
- Biomes in Lua: done in the new Mapgen v7
- 3D armor: somewhat done
- callbacks for on_close_formspec: nice idea, on_clear_objects: what for?
- Arbitrary drawing on-screen: +1
- Unicode support: +1 (also for other platforms)
- Adequate (cross)compiling info: what more info do you need (apart from crosscompiling, which is a +1)?
- Water pushes things: +1
- Controlling mapgen from Lua: minetest.register_on_generate()
- C++ MOB framework: this topic has been discussed to death, and the core devs say it's a no.
- etc: ?

EDIT: Removed irrelevant content from the quote.

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 15:18**

Yeah I have one thing to ask, will this run on Windows 8?

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 16:54**

Likwid H-Craft wrote:Yeah I have one thing to ask, will this run on Windows 8?

Yes, Minetest runs on Windows 8 fine, I haven't tested through (pay 40€ for a downgrade? no thanks :P).

Posted: **Thu Jan 24, 2013 20:47**

How did you find Minetest?

Well first

http://alternativeto.net/software/minecraft/?platform=linux in 0.3.0

But a couple months later

http://gameblaster64.xandorus.com/list-of-minecraft-clones in 0.3.1

What was your first opinion?

This game is a pile of shit (in 0.3.0)

What do you think know?

It's very nice for a minecraft clone

What do you think about its Experience and Gameplay?

Could be improved, need some form of breathing or air for underwater, and also a player being on fire, and a hunger type thing

What do you think about the modding capabilities?

They're pretty good, but could be tapped into deeper, a lot deeper

Posted: **Fri Jan 25, 2013 14:31**

kaeza wrote:- Nether: done (albeit buggy)

That's not nether. That is small hell, which produce major lag. And that is not developer's problem, but Lua slowlyness for that kind of things

kaeza wrote: on_clear_objects: what for?

To be prepared. Do you even realize the number of mods with entities which developers need to know when all entities are being erased?

kaeza wrote:- Adequate (cross)compiling info: what more info do you need ?

If you was able to compile Minetest under win 32 then post a tutorial.

kaeza wrote: - Controlling mapgen from Lua: minetest.register_on_generate()

This function depends on Lua too much. I do not want to rewrite/fix the worldgen with lua, I want to be able to set sizes of the biomes and caves and amount of different ores. If this is possible by setting some variable, then how-to would be nice.

kaeza wrote:- C++ MOB framework: this topic has been discussed to death, and the core devs say it's a no.

I know that it's a no, but looking at current mobs implementations I want this to be done in c++. At least generic behavior tweaked by setting variables from Lua. The existing features can still exist without doubt.

kaeza wrote:-- etc: ?

There are more, but the above ones have priority.

Posted: **Mon Jan 28, 2013 14:53**

rubenwardy wrote:How did you find Minetest?

My kids (4 and 6) and I have been minecrafting just about every available
moment for a few months now. They're pretty keen to start playing with
mods, but I'm reluctant to take on a whole lot of fiddling to make that work
(on Ubuntu Linux, especially). So I'm looking around for alternatives that
more mod-friendly.

rubenwardy wrote:What was your first opinion?

I installed this for the kids and sent them in "cold" pretty much saying - go try this and see what you think. Some of the things they especially like surprise me - like seeing the apples in the trees.

My first impression is that graphics performance is solid (Minecraft graphics sometimes glitches on my Mac) and as an open-ended engine/platform has great potential. I was also pleased to see a solid heart-beat on github.

rubenwardy wrote:What do you think know?

It's early days for us, I can see a mixture of Minecraft and Minetest in our house going forward - I intend to start playing with Lua to add new Minetest items, my kids want an apple basket (for some reason).

rubenwardy wrote:What do you think about its Experience and Gameplay?

Technically, my first thought was that the UI elements ought to be done in SVG. I think the low-def thing (yay for pixel art!) is great for the 3D world, but on a high-def TV at least the icons and fonts ought to be smooth and crispy. (That's the graphics programmer perspective)

My kids took straight to it, started their own server without any fuss and didn't complain about any significant glitches or crashes - so WELL DONE! All the new items, blocks and mods will keep them busy and amused for hours, I'm sure.

rubenwardy wrote:What do you think about the modding capabilities?

That's a big attraction - Lua makes a lot of sense for that, it could well be the first programming language for my kids.

- Nigel

Posted: **Mon Jan 28, 2013 16:08**

nigels.com wrote:-snip-

Now this is the first time I expected a spambot, and found a legitimate response.

Posted: **Mon Jan 28, 2013 21:23**

Jordach wrote:
nigels.com wrote:-snip-
Now this is the first time I expected a spambot, and found a legitimate response.

I must say, this helps see Minetest's strengths and weaknesses/

Posted: **Sun Apr 07, 2013 05:57**

I first found Minetest in the Ubuntu Software center. I hated it. I couldn't figure-out how to craft stuff and didn't understand what a sandbox game was. Then my pre-teen daughter started begging to play Minecraft. I couldn't figure-out how to run the demo version of Minecraft because of Java issues with Ubuntu at the time so I showed her Minetest. The she showed ME how to play the durn game... I started to enjoy it but the limitations of the Minetest version on the Ubuntu repos. really annoyed me. Eventually, I discovered that there was a newer version available and really started enjoying the game from that point onwards. It's a game that I and both of my daughters can play together and the mods here have added tremendous value to the game for all three of us.

I don't know how to write a mod but I have monkeyed-around with the config files while trying to make things work (will someone please tell me why most of the mods have "-master" on them when the mods won't work with that?) and little I've learned has been facinating so far.

Posted: **Sun Apr 07, 2013 06:06**

Those mods have "-master" in their directory names because of a deficiency of Github, where such mods tend to be stored - that service doesn't allow code authors to specify the name of the directory that is created when the mod is extracted, just the name that is used to store it there on github (which as you saw, is usually part of the extracted directory name).

The only real way around it is to rename the mod after you download and extract it. Or, most of the time, if you 'clone' the mod, you'll get the code in a directory name that will work right away, because in this case you're getting the "real" directory name that the original author gave it. To do that:

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all: sudo apt-get install git git clone http://github.com/foo/bar.git

Fill in the appropriate URL for that second command, then copy the mod over to your usual mods directory.

Posted: **Sun Apr 07, 2013 06:17**

VanessaE wrote:Those mods have "-master" in their directory names because of a deficiency of Github, where such mods tend to be stored - that service doesn't allow code authors to specify the name of the directory that is created when the mod is extracted, just the name that is used to store it there on github (which as you saw, is usually part of the extracted directory name).

The only real way around it is to rename the mod after you download and extract it. Or, most of the time, if you 'clone' the mod, you'll get the code in a directory name that will work right away, because in this case you're getting the "real" directory name that the original author gave it. To do that:
Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.
Code: Select all
sudo apt-get install git git clone http://github.com/foo/bar.git

Fill in the appropriate URL for that second command, then copy the mod over to your usual mods directory.

Wow! FAST reply. Thanks Vanessa. I suppose I could write a script to do that but it's easier to just delete the "-master" after I download the .zip. Still, it would be nice if the mods just 'worked' with the directory names that come from Github.

Posted: **Sun Apr 07, 2013 17:22**

How did you find Minetest?
Random DuckDuckGo search.

What was your first opinion?
Awesome. (Cool, a 3D sandbox game.)

What do you think know?
Awesome. (Its developing real fast.)

What do you think about its Experience and Gameplay?
Awesome. (Fun, default has plenty to do.)

What do you think about the modding capabilities?
Do I need to say it? (Lua and server-side mod make it so easy. Made a few mods, but they are really shoddy.)

Posted: **Mon Apr 08, 2013 03:08**

My freinds were all playing minecraft and i wanted to "be in with the crowd" so i got alpha, it was OK until i found out my version was outdated. So i was googling "latest minecraft download" left right and centre. Then one day i stumbled upon a video "Let's play minetest multiplayer" i said to myself: "Minetest?" so i googled it and found out it was a free alternative to minecraft! so i downloaded 0.3.1 immediatly, and i was really excited i was saying: "oh my god minetest is the latest craze it's gonna be great!!!!"
So i installed it and i fell in love with it and i couldn't stop playing it! that's when i said: "who needs minecraft? this is great!"
and i never bothered an never will bother with MC again. Minetest now is 10x better then MC and it progressed very fast since 0.3x

Posted: **Wed Apr 02, 2014 18:08**

bump!

Posted: **Wed Apr 02, 2014 18:37**

I heard of Minecraft. I played it with a friend on Xbox, but I didn't want to pay for it. So I Google Minecraft clone or something like that. Minetest wasn't the only thing that came up but it was the first one I came across that actually seemed playable. I didn't like the 2d sprites but the game play was comparable to Minecraft. Then I discovered mods and modding. Modding is by far my favorite part of minetest. Even if I get burnt out on mining and building I can write or download mods and change the game play so it has a fresh new feel.

Posted: **Wed Apr 02, 2014 18:39**

Okay, shady site style responses for now, will give my own when feel_like = true.

"This is indeed a wonderful game that has the extreme quality that a expensive MineCraft clone would have. Trust me, I have played it for hours and hours a day, and I never get tired of it! Its kid friendly and great for any age."

"You can customize every aspect of your game; a not so common feature on MineCraft clones. From the time of day to the way you walk; even control over the weather and clouds, as well as the ability to toggle the inventory on the bottom–you can do it all! I’m very impressed with the interface overall. "

"Innovative ...gives you exactly what you want: over 40 nodes, full world terrain, lots of options, and a load of fun. Time Spent: 100 or More Hours."

"When you are mining, dealing with the darkness, hostile creatures, and solitude while compensating for a lack of nutrition, you feel the magic of really being all alone in an open world game. After you build your house and become rich and fulfil your dreams, you'll find yourself wanting to go down again and try to do dig deeper. "

"Up until this point, the average PC Minecraft clone had not taken advantage of this burgeoning free online gaming explosion. That’s all changed for the better though, with the release of Minetest the online gaming world takes another giant leap forward."

"We went into this Minetest review somewhat sceptical of the high praise it has received from others, but walked away happily converted. The game looks, sounds, and plays better than any other Minecraft clone on the market, and has more carts, locations, and options available to boot. It will keep even the most devoted gamer busy for months, exploring the beautiful planet we call home."

"We walked away from our Minetest review incredibly impressed by the package on offer. This open world voxel based sandbox game dwarfs even the mainstream offerings from major companies like Mojang, and stands as the most fully featured and rewarding Minecraft clone currently on the market. "

[spoiler]Stolen from here: http://flightprosim.com/[/spoiler]

Posted: **Wed Apr 02, 2014 18:42**

Lol. MC is still way better but I play both of them. I play minetest because my siblings and friends who don't have accounts can play with me and because I like doing graphics and coding(I'm not to good at coding - just revising the code on every mod I get to make it more like MC) I am using minitest and have revised the whole game so as to get pretty close to MC.

Posted: **Wed Apr 02, 2014 18:43**

mcfan wrote:Lol. MC is still way better but I play both of them. I play minetest because my siblings and friends who don't have accounts can play with me and because I like doing graphics and coding(I'm not to good at coding - just revising the code on every mod I get to make it more like MC) I am using minitest and have revised the whole game so as to get pretty close to MC.

Why do you not want originality, and instead try to make MT more like MC?

Posted: **Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:31**

Why do you not want originality, and instead try to make MT more like MC?

Because my friends who don't have MC can play with me on it. And I like MC better and so do they.

Posted: **Fri Apr 04, 2014 08:00**

mcfan wrote:Because my friends who don't have MC can play with me on it. And I like MC better and so do they.

Then - and I don't intend to be rude - play Minecraft. It's not extremely expensive, and will probably be a much better "Minecraft-clone" than Minetest - or any other project - will ever be.

Minetest has other strengths, especially freedom to explore things Minecraft couldn't.

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