FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Polaris is a game about navigation. It puts you in a randomly generated world, guides you to a handful of randomly selected locations ("waypoints"), then requires you to find your way back to them unaided within a time limit. If you like running through forests and leaping across hills at breakneck speeds while trying not to get lost, Polaris is for you!

See the README for more details and screenshots.

License: LGPL ≥2.1

Dependencies: wool

Repository: https://github.com/Kodiologist/Polaris

Download precompiled version: http://arfer.net/x/polaris.tar.gz

I don't see many people trying this if they are required to compile the moon script, no matter how easy it is, it's just another step. I would include the moon script and the compiled lua file.

Very interesting concept, but I side with BrandonReese. I'll give this a shot if you provide a compiled version.

Oh my goodness, you people are embarrassingly lazy.

It's a very novel concept for a mod! Great job!

Kodiologist wrote:Oh my goodness, you people are embarrassingly lazy.

Nope, you are trolling with that moonscript.. If you want, develop your mod in moonscript, but provide it in standard way. Otherwise you are only lazy person here..:)

I just pushed a lot of changes. Most notably, you now switch between finding old and new waypoints over the course of the game, which prevents a long and boring prologue of finding each unique waypoint with guidance. Also, every 5 waypoints, you get a random prize, like a time extension or a tool.

Just tried to run the compiled version (as I too don't have any interest in installing and learning how to compile in moonscript (whatever that is) to lua. Good luck with back-tracking errors too, but here goes:-
Fatal error when trying to play the game:-
14:57:57: ACTION[main]: World at [/home/david/.minetest/worlds/polaris]
14:57:57: ACTION[main]: Server for gameid="minetest" listening on 0.0.0.0:64690.
14:57:59: ERROR[ConnectionSend]: con(14/2)RunTimeouts(): Peer 1 has timed out. (source=peer->timeout_counter)
14:57:59: ERROR[main]: ServerError: /home/david/.minetest/mods/polaris/init.lua:129: attempt to index upvalue 'sp' (a nil value)
14:57:59: ERROR[main]: stack traceback:
14:57:59: ERROR[main]: /home/david/.minetest/mods/polaris/init.lua:129: in function 'func'
14:57:59: ERROR[main]: /usr/share/minetest/builtin/misc.lua:17: in function </usr/share/minetest/builtin/misc.lua:9>
14:57:59: ERROR[main]: /usr/share/minetest/builtin/misc_register.lua:348: in function </usr/share/minetest/builtin/misc_register.lua:336>
14:57:59: ERROR[ConnectionSend]: con(11/1)RunTimeouts(): Peer 2 has timed out. (source=peer->timeout_counter)

Thanks for the report. That should be fixed now.

Cool game, really good fun!
A couple of thoughts
What would be really cool is if you could leave invisible breadcrumbs left where you went which were made visible (perhaps use nyan cat rainbow) when the game ended. These markers would mean you could see where you went (and probably laugh) (and at this point enable fly mode).
A form to control levels of difficulty might be nice rather than editing mod. Other thoughts for difficulty levels: rainbows don't turn off, or markers leave just a single indestructible rainbow block (but no rainbow above), direction or distance hints (possibly intermittent) thoughout, or a tool to give hints, which perhaps cost time (or maybe not) to use. more or less fog (and block ability to turn if off for really tricky mode), limited numbers of signs (or was it just unlimited because I was in creative mode), indestructible markers (it took me a little while to realise you have to fill in the hole from the first time to redig it when you find the marker again - guess who didn't read the readme).
Since each game will often cover a small area, would it be feasible to just start the player in a different location each time, rather than having to create a new world each time.
Since speed is critical, it would be great if you could automatically turn off all the minetest display enhancements directly from the mod so that you could play other minetest games with normal settings (I suspect this is impossible, but would be nice)
Also final stats (eg distance covered, % time on target (or average angle from target), number of markers and prizes, etc
Cheers

I'm glad you like it!

limited numbers of signs (or was it just unlimited because I was in creative mode)

Yeah, the default is 15, and it'll deplete normally if you have creative turned off.

indestructible markers (it took me a little while to realise you have to fill in the hole from the first time to redig it when you find the marker again - guess who didn't read the readme)

You don't actually have to dig out the node in order to register the waypoint as found. You just have to punch it long enough. It's easier if you use the hand (or something other than the appropriate digging tool for that node type). I admit I still tend to accidentally dig a few nodes when I play Polaris myself.

Since each game will often cover a small area, would it be feasible to just start the player in a different location each time, rather than having to create a new world each time.

Probably. The thing I'd need to do to make this possible is to allow waypoints to be generated in map chunks that have themselves already been generated. As a bonus, you could then play Polaris in worlds you've already built up.

Also final stats (eg distance covered, % time on target (or average angle from target), number of markers and prizes, etc

The number of waypoints found is shown on screen, at least.