FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

by **shaneroach** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 20:55

I recently bit the bullet and bought a reasonably good desktop computer because it will be useful for my blueprinting class and the free download of Inventor Autodesk allows students.

I've been off my high graphics video game addiction for some years now, and am happy to report that there is relatively little temptation to return to it. Even Skyrim and such games are nothing but glossy repeats of rpg's and 1st person fighters or shooters I was playing in the mid 90's. I'm not saying they aren't much prettier and so forth. I'm just saying they don't offer the experience Minetest and Minecraft do of interacting with the environment.

I wonder if anyone is aware of any games besides Minetest and Minecraft that actually Do include that interactive environment aspect? I don't know if it is wise for me to open that Pandora's Box, but I would so very love to see a high end graphics game that also allowed me to go dig holes, mine minerals, build houses from wood I chopped down, etc...

Some sort of sim perhaps?

Sorry, hope this is not terribly off topic for the community. But I thought at the least there are probably a few kindred spirits floating around here who might have a suggestion.

Not really talking about Roblox... something that looks realistic.

by **Topywo** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 22:12

I didn't check if there are mentioned realistic games you're looking for, but I remembered this link:

https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=4461

by **shaneroach** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 22:23

Thanks!

So far Mythurna looks promising, and it brings up the question of what exactly could be done about the look and feel of the world. Apparently this concept of block engine world generation (I guess we're calling it voxels now) is key to making the environment random and interactive, but the novelty has completely work out for me now. I want the world to look like Skyrim but play like Minecraft. Possibly going to be some years before amybody gets there.

There are some pretty hot Minecraft mods that make Minecraft look better, but nothing so far makes it even begin to approach photorealism.

Mythurna is not Open Source, and the originator seems intent on eventually making it a standard pay to play business model. Not necessarily a game killer for me, but I would prefer to somehow tie the ideas there into Minetest and have an open source version with someone (ideally me) taking donations for managing marketing, creating the specific version of it and using profits to sort of drive development in economically viable directions by paying developers to develop that which the customer base seemed most interested in seeing implemented.

by **rubenwardy** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 23:07

Buildaworld is a voxel game with nice graphics.

by **Pitriss** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 23:10

try wurm online if you don't need voxel game.. It is also sandbox game, but with much more posibilities

by **shaneroach** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 23:41

Anyone else interested in this thread, I found Cube 2 and Tesseract to be promising for those with an eye towards graphics and less concerned about keeping the game playable on old hardware. (Thanks Topywo for that thread. Very much what I was looking for.)

I now get why Minetest tends to veer away from the very thing I am interested in. Makes sense... Making the game available to the light computer user who doesn't want to spend money constantly upgrading to keep abreast of graphics is a legit software engineering goal.

by **shaneroach** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 23:47

Pitriss wrote:try wurm online if you don't need voxel game.. It is also sandbox game, but with much more posibilities

Do like, but appears to be a pay or play handicapped sort of business model. Not horrible, but not what I want.

Damned tempting though...

P.S. Was downloading the client and while I was willing to play slightly handicapped, not being able to build with stone at all sort of nudged me off the cliff. I dunno how much 7 Euros a month is, but likely close to the $10/month range, which I'd just as soon not.

P.P.S. After watching some videos, Minecraft PVP is more interesting than wurm pvp.... Voxel graphics are more inspiring than the graphics on Wurm... Too flat.

It is definitely in the vein of what I wish I could find, but has a different set of problems.

by **Enke** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 00:25

Two Words: Dwarf Fortress.

P.S.: You might wanna nix the graphics requirement...

by **shaneroach** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 00:29

Enke wrote:Two Words: Dwarf Fortress.

P.S.: You might wanna nix the graphics requirement...

I LOVED Dwarf Fortress but... alas, really am not amenable to their continuous beta status and, well... the clunky interface that results from the aforementioned lack of graphics.

And... an indie game, in interminable beta... with relatively low support for linux.... not open source...?

Just wore me down.

by **shaneroach** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 00:37

Another golden treasure from the earlier thread.

http://procworld.blogspot.co.uk/

Voxelfarm... not sure where it is headed, but it is pretty.

Looks like it is being marketed as a tool used in combination with other game development software, and predictably not open source.

http://voxelfarm.com/vfweb/engine.html

by **GingerHunter797** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 00:57

I heard about a game called Synthetic World, I havent played it but Ill see if I can find a link...

http://www.staudsoft.com/index.php?id=65

That is the official website. I think this has some pretty good graphics. I havent played yet but I plan to soon!

by **shaneroach** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 01:06

GingerHunter797 wrote:I heard about a game called Synthetic World, I havent played it but Ill see if I can find a link...

http://www.staudsoft.com/index.php?id=65

That is the official website. I think this has some pretty good graphics. I havent played yet but I plan to soon!

Mmmm, pretty. But weird license? Use it free, distribute freely, but cannot use for profit and cannot distribute anything after adding to it?

I am not seeing how you would get the source either.... by the exe extension on the download I Am guessing windows only too?

If you play it, maybe drop by and give me an update?

by **LionsDen** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 04:52

If you aren't looking for an open source game, you might like 7 Days to Die. It's still in beta but is looking very good to me. I wouldn't mind getting it myself, just can't afford it at the moment. :)

Here is the link:

http://7daystodie.com/

by **Mcc457** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:06

Does anyone remember Terasology, it's open source, beautiful graphics and has physics.

by **Enke** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 17:40

Try Nethack! It's open source, you can interact with everything, and it has the best graphics engine on the planet: Your imagination! That's about as high-end as you can get!

by **shaneroach** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 20:27

Enke wrote:Try Nethack! It's open source, you can interact with everything, and it has the best graphics engine on the planet: Your imagination! That's about as high-end as you can get!

I still toy with the idea of making myself a Coffeemud. Best more or less open source mud software I know of. I've started two or three times. It gets better and better too. Bo is still hacking away at it. Sooner or later it may do what I am trying to get it to do. Basically, his initial focus was on the standard level based playing system.

Still, the point of this thread, in the title, is "higher end graphics". =)

by **shaneroach** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 20:39

Mcc457 wrote:Does anyone remember Terasology, it's open source, beautiful graphics and has physics.

Yep. Looking at it. It is mentioned in the thread by Topywo. It's not any more graphics focused really than Minecraft. Some of the texture addons for MC in fact look better than Terasology. I do like it being open source. But it is still very blocky.

by **shaneroach** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 20:43

LionsDen wrote:If you aren't looking for an open source game, you might like 7 Days to Die. It's still in beta but is looking very good to me. I wouldn't mind getting it myself, just can't afford it at the moment. :)

Here is the link:

http://7daystodie.com/

Watched a video. the idea of plugging up windows in a house with blocks of amorphous looking wood is not really where I want to go with this.

I just want to take a moment here though and thank folks. Seems like I am just shooting down everything. LOL! I appreciate the info. It's fun looking at all that's being done. I am just a little shocked at the dearth of games that really focus on a sort of live action feel to interacting with the environment, resource gathering, etc. Basically all I am really thinking here is a sim, right? Wonder why it is so difficult to get the world interactive to where you can mine or build?

by **Topywo** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 20:52

Reading this topic I knew there should be a topic about making minetest less blocky and luckily guessed right it was started by MirceaKitsune:

https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=38

Edit: Typo.

by **LionsDen** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 17:29

[spoiler=Previous Quote]

shaneroach wrote:
LionsDen wrote:If you aren't looking for an open source game, you might like 7 Days to Die. It's still in beta but is looking very good to me. I wouldn't mind getting it myself, just can't afford it at the moment. :)

Here is the link:

http://7daystodie.com/

Watched a video. the idea of plugging up windows in a house with blocks of amorphous looking wood is not really where I want to go with this.

I just want to take a moment here though and thank folks. Seems like I am just shooting down everything. LOL! I appreciate the info. It's fun looking at all that's being done. I am just a little shocked at the dearth of games that really focus on a sort of live action feel to interacting with the environment, resource gathering, etc. Basically all I am really thinking here is a sim, right? Wonder why it is so difficult to get the world interactive to where you can mine or build?

[/spoiler]

I think you can build a house if you want. I don't have the game so I'm not sure but you can mine and build things and I believe that you can build a building if you want to. You just have to constantly watch out for zombies so if you don't want the mobs I think you are out of luck.

by **shaneroach** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 18:33

LionsDen wrote:
I think you can build a house if you want. I don't have the game so I'm not sure but you can mine and build things and I believe that you can build a building if you want to. You just have to constantly watch out for zombies so if you don't want the mobs I think you are out of luck.

I love your use of the spoiler tag....

What I am saying is one way to secure a house, for example,. is to just plaster over the windows with rock segments you are carrying around, which I find to be a poor enough game design flaw that it sort of puts me off spending a lot of time and energy getting into it.

I just recently got Assassins Creed iV basically thrown at me for buying computer parts, and I like the look of it, so I will just say... something like Assassins Creed only with an environment interactive enough to allow for mining, foresting, etc, is more or less what I am looking for. Even if it were pay to play, I imagine I would play it, but ideally it would be open source or some combination of the two. (I would be happy to pay to play, for example, a game with an open source engine where a ton of work had been done to create the actual game.)

I honestly don't think it exists.... I'm shocked that it doesn't, but seeing as Dwarf Fortress, for example, has been around for ages and no one has bothered making a good knockoff of it with decent graphics, I fear that civilization just in general is opposed to the sorts of things I really enjoy.

:-S Cynical? Me?

by **LionsDen** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 22:55

[spoiler=Previous Quote]

shaneroach wrote:
LionsDen wrote:
I think you can build a house if you want. I don't have the game so I'm not sure but you can mine and build things and I believe that you can build a building if you want to. You just have to constantly watch out for zombies so if you don't want the mobs I think you are out of luck.

I love your use of the spoiler tag....

What I am saying is one way to secure a house, for example,. is to just plaster over the windows with rock segments you are carrying around, which I find to be a poor enough game design flaw that it sort of puts me off spending a lot of time and energy getting into it.

I just recently got Assassins Creed iV basically thrown at me for buying computer parts, and I like the look of it, so I will just say... something like Assassins Creed only with an environment interactive enough to allow for mining, foresting, etc, is more or less what I am looking for. Even if it were pay to play, I imagine I would play it, but ideally it would be open source or some combination of the two. (I would be happy to pay to play, for example, a game with an open source engine where a ton of work had been done to create the actual game.)

I honestly don't think it exists.... I'm shocked that it doesn't, but seeing as Dwarf Fortress, for example, has been around for ages and no one has bothered making a good knockoff of it with decent graphics, I fear that civilization just in general is opposed to the sorts of things I really enjoy.

:-S Cynical? Me?

[/spoiler]

Thanks about the spoiler tag. :)

Try looking at Clockwork Empires by Gas Lamp Games. It is said that it will be somewhat based on Dwarf Fortress but I don't think it will quite as in depth as it. They are a smaller studio and I don't think a small studio could pull off a Dwarf Fortress clone that has good graphics. From what I hear there is way too much that can be done in Dwarf Fortress to make it easy to recreate a graphical version. For sake of disclosure, I own the Dungeons of Dredmor game that they put out and have enjoyed it quite a bit even with some of it's quirks. The company does respond to the community and have done a lot that keeps the communities good will going strong.

by **shaneroach** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 23:54

[spoiler=Ongoing Thread with LionsDen]

LionsDen wrote:[spoiler=Previous Quote]
shaneroach wrote:
LionsDen wrote:
I think you can build a house if you want. I don't have the game so I'm not sure but you can mine and build things and I believe that you can build a building if you want to. You just have to constantly watch out for zombies so if you don't want the mobs I think you are out of luck.

I love your use of the spoiler tag....

What I am saying is one way to secure a house, for example,. is to just plaster over the windows with rock segments you are carrying around, which I find to be a poor enough game design flaw that it sort of puts me off spending a lot of time and energy getting into it.

I just recently got Assassins Creed iV basically thrown at me for buying computer parts, and I like the look of it, so I will just say... something like Assassins Creed only with an environment interactive enough to allow for mining, foresting, etc, is more or less what I am looking for. Even if it were pay to play, I imagine I would play it, but ideally it would be open source or some combination of the two. (I would be happy to pay to play, for example, a game with an open source engine where a ton of work had been done to create the actual game.)

I honestly don't think it exists.... I'm shocked that it doesn't, but seeing as Dwarf Fortress, for example, has been around for ages and no one has bothered making a good knockoff of it with decent graphics, I fear that civilization just in general is opposed to the sorts of things I really enjoy.

:-S Cynical? Me?

[/spoiler]

Thanks about the spoiler tag. :)

Try looking at Clockwork Empires by Gas Lamp Games. It is said that it will be somewhat based on Dwarf Fortress but I don't think it will quite as in depth as it. They are a smaller studio and I don't think a small studio could pull off a Dwarf Fortress clone that has good graphics. From what I hear there is way too much that can be done in Dwarf Fortress to make it easy to recreate a graphical version. For sake of disclosure, I own the Dungeons of Dredmor game that they put out and have enjoyed it quite a bit even with some of it's quirks. The company does respond to the community and have done a lot that keeps the communities good will going strong.

[/spoiler]

I looked at Clockwork Empires and it does indeed look quite interesting. I could definitely stand to play that game. I'll look more in depth over time and see if its mining and building apparatus push my buttons!

Thanks for that link!

by **Enke** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 01:19

I recall a top-down shooter called voxatron. Might wanna look that up.

by **Novacain** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 01:27

You may be interested in Zero-K. it is a RTS with the ability to modify the landscape and the graphics were powerful enough to not work on my older computer. It sounds like the type of game you might be looking for, although the specifics for a single unit perspective don't really exist. I am not 100% sure it's virus free though, so be warned.

by **hoodedice** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 01:44

Novacain wrote:You may be interested in Zero-K. it is a RTS with the ability to modify the landscape and the graphics were powerful enough to not work on my older computer. It sounds like the type of game you might be looking for, although the specifics for a single unit perspective don't really exist. I am not 100% sure it's virus free though, so be warned.

It's F-ing open-source.

Game Website wrote:Terraforming - change the terrain: walls, ditches, ramps and more, to provide yourself with an extra tactical advantage.

-.-

by **shaneroach** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 02:14

[spoiler=Damned by faint praise]

Novacain wrote:You may be interested in Zero-K. it is a RTS with the ability to modify the landscape and the graphics were powerful enough to not work on my older computer. It sounds like the type of game you might be looking for, although the specifics for a single unit perspective don't really exist. I am not 100% sure it's virus free though, so be warned.

[/spoiler]

"I'm not entirely sure it's virus free." LOL!

I'll look at it, but I aint downloadin' it!

Edited to add: Damn... I may download it after all.... Not what I was asking for, per se, but looks keen.

by **Novacain** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 04:22

I just didn't like how cluttered the website was. Although, if I had gotten it functioning on my computer, you guys probably wouldn't see me very much.

by **prestidigitator** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 10:50

It's a little less of a game (but in a way many Minetest folks could probably appreciate), but Second Life (or OpenSim with a Second Life viewer if you want a non-public server) is a great interactive build environment. You can create very detailed content and write scripts to control behavior of objects in the world and attached to characters ("avatars").

by **shaneroach** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 14:56

[spoiler=Second Life]

prestidigitator wrote:It's a little less of a game (but in a way many Minetest folks could probably appreciate), but Second Life (or OpenSim with a Second Life viewer if you want a non-public server) is a great interactive build environment. You can create very detailed content and write scripts to control behavior of objects in the world and attached to characters ("avatars").

[/spoiler]

Is that place still around? When I played it the interface was quite clunky. Stores turned into places with flat pictures of the wares available, etc...

I couldn't get into it...

FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Games with interactive world and higher end graphics?

Games with interactive world and higher end graphics?

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