My Fears...

[Dopium]

Great spot to add my ideas not that they matter but it is an opinion, as my views have changed over time i have to agree not everyone will be happy with changes. As for myself the vanilla game is pretty much there as far as content goes, other content i can add via mods.

Other then that i think optimizing the engine, features like 3d wielded items, entities (mobs-logic), biome atmosphere/temperatures, weather and things like that should be the main focus of additions to the main game. However this is just my opinion and boils down to what PilzAdam was saying, some may not want certain changes to the main game.

Whether we all like it or not the day will come where the vanilla minetest game will have features you do not want. Some sooner then later, it is that far in development now that forks will be the only way to keep the majority happy.

There is a catch with taking the keep everyone happy road though. One problem is there is no set direction/path the game is heading, this could be the achilles heel/ backbone breaker. Close source game developers add what they think is beneficial not always what fans want. Close source games it is a tough titties situation if you do not like a feature, the developers have a direction they are heading to prolong development.

Very controversial topic as some are happy, others want more or less. The question is what road do we take? Keep everyone happy? or best interest in development and not alienating new users with a very basic vanilla game? Personally i am glad it is not my decision.

[RealBadAngel]

Engine's thing is to provide modders EVERYTHING they could need when creating a mod or a game.
Feature doesnt mean it shall or have to be used.
But it can be used. IF A MODDER DECIDE TO DO SO.

For that mod another can vote by downloading and playing it...

[GingerHunter797]

Since c55 left the project,

Did Celeron really leave? :'(

Or, do the smart thing and seperate Minetest-engine and minetest-game more. Updates to the engine should only be done that enable a wider range of possibilities (like LUA-settable player HP, movement speed, jump) and...

We can break the minetest_game project into several projects: mesetint (classic minetest), minetest (barebones), minefest (more of a full-fledged game project).

Minetest is about freedom. Freedom to innovate. Freedom from being pissed off by executive decisions. We can avoid pissing players off by producing more variety, and by providing a versatile engine.

+1, we could have 4 games like this:
- classic (0.3.3-like)
- minetest (just like it is right now)
- minefest (lots of mods shipped by default)
- minecraft_like (tries to be as close as Minecraft as possible).

It's the best of all worlds we could do.

I like this idea!

The problem with developing minetest_game is that its not possible to create a game that everyone is happy with. So we have two options:

1. We do it like we have done it the last few months (since I am here) and dont add any features. We only do some minor tweaks and bugfixes.
   The community will start to make mods that make a real game out of the boring minetest_game. The vanilla game will be unplayable because there are only a very few features and new users will mostly be disappointed and leave.
   
2. We actually start developing and add in features that make the gameplay more fun (like I have tried it the last few days). There will be some features that will not make everyone happy, but they are important for a challenging survival game.
   The problem is that the users have billions of oppinions and suggestion, and we wont be able to add them all in. We have to find a general direction in wich minetest_game should go and add in all the features that suit this direction and leave the rest out.
   The result will be a pretty nice vanilla game that is playable without mods. But if some users dont like the style of it, they can simply go to the forum and install mods or other games that have different goals.

minetest_game simply cant be a game that suits everyones needs, so in my oppinion we just pick a direction (challenging survival gameplay with enough freedom to build) and add features that actually support this goal.
The other way would be the option number one from above, and in the long term this would be Minetests death.

I support option 2! I want a challenging survival game!