Description
A puzzle game with a bow and arrow.
Note: It was fun to develop Thinking With Arrows. However, due to Luanti going forth with allowing LLM usage, I can no longer in good faith maintain a Luanti game. See "Archiving Thinking With Arrows" for more information.
Releases
2026-05-18 01:16 UTC
0.5
I can't be bothered to summarize this.
View my recent blog post for rationale.
This will be the final release unless the following happens:
Until that happens, or until/if an anti-LLM Luanti fork is created (unlikely), Thinking With Arrows will remain archived.
Farewell all you kind folks, and screw you LLM-enjoyers.
2025-12-21 02:19 UTC
0.4
- Change glass texture
- Reset anti-gravity when resetting section (#13)
- Fix resetting in Level 21, Section 2 exposing start early
- Difficulties
- Hopefully successful attempt to fix lighting on game start (#14)
- Increase arrow stack limit
- Level tweaks
- Better attempt to fix in-game lighting (#14)
- Add the ability to tweak levels based on difficulty
- Arrow block difficulty tweaks
- Update difficulty setting description
2025-12-08 21:34 UTC
0.3
- The
change_level command no longer crashes when ran on the last level.
- The bow HUD is now updated every time arrows are given to the player.
- Award cleanup (#1, #5).
- Preserve Level 21 self-destruct time across sessions (#8).
- Editor mode (#7).
- Assorted level updates.
- Other assorted cleanup (inc. #4).
2025-11-29 03:34 UTC
0.2.2
Initial upload to ContentDB
All releases
Threads
New thread
Information
Provides
awards
mcl_sprint
player_api
playerphysics
thinkingwitharrows_antigravity
thinkingwitharrows_bows
thinkingwitharrows_buttons
thinkingwitharrows_commands
thinkingwitharrows_dialogue
thinkingwitharrows_healthoverlay
thinkingwitharrows_init
thinkingwitharrows_nodes
thinkingwitharrows_speedruntimer
thinkingwitharrows_transitions
x_bows
Dependencies
- Required
-
No required dependencies
- Optional
-
3d_armor
beds
bones
default
dye
farming
fire
flowers
i3
mesecons
moreblocks
nyancat
player_monoids
pova
sfinv
simple_skins
skinsdb
stairs
u_skins
unified_inventory
vessels
wardrobe
wool
x_enchanting
Information
- Type
- Game
- Technical Name
- thinkingwitharrows
- Languages
-
English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Magyar, Polski, Português, Русский, Slovenčina, Українська
- License
-
AGPL-3.0-or-later
for code,
CC-BY-SA-4.0
for media.
- Maintenance State
- As-Is
- Added
- 2025-11-29 02:25 UTC
- Maintainers
-
Pixelo789
Was fun.
Neat little plattformer puzzle game.
Difficultness was hard for me, therefore good.
The story telling was also nice.
Spoilers begin here.
Some issues I've found:
If you reset the last level (i.e. because you can't get arrows), you get back to the last level. And then if you activate the finish there, the ending sequence is played.Edit: Fixed.It's kinda weird that one can run, but all jumps are possible without run. But then near the end there comes a jump that needs running. Would be nice if the voice explained that one can run.Edit: Fixed.(Edit: Fixed./choose_level 21crashes. And arrow count only gets updated after you span the bow. But I'm sure you already know that.)I would've put the spoiler containing part of review in a `details` block, but...
And closing doesn't seem to work.
Fun little game
I'm not that good at parkour and i didn't found this game to be hard, only the last levels were more difficult (i didn't tried the hard mode yet, but that is an optional mode). I liked the minimalistic textures and the gameplay was fun, and that's what matters. My only sugestion is that you add a game command that resets the current level, since you need to know which level you are to reset it through the change_level command and there are some possible softlocks, like the breakable blocks disappearing if you place them on a place where a wall appears if you interact with a button.
One hour of nice thinking with arrows. It's okay
(DISCLAIMER: This is a review for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
This game makes no sense but I liked it. You are trapped in hyper-minimalist (but not ugly) rooms and must hit the target block with bow and arrows to proceed. The game progressively adds more puzzle elements like switches, arrow (symbols) that deflect the arrow (that you shoot), low gravity, etc.
This game reminded me a lot of the game Alter but it felt a little bit more polished.
It's a really basic puzzle game but the level design has a good progression. Finishing the game took me about 1 hour. I also like this game actually felt "complete" compared to other jam entries.
A few levels were slightly frustrating because they required too strong parcours skills, causing me to fall off over and over again, but the frustration was still in the acceptable range.
This is not the most polished game; there is no music and the sound effects are super basic. I also found the game to be rather buggy, many others have already mentioned the same bugs I also found in their reviews. I wish the bugs will get fixed later.
Nice Design for Quick Engagement
I can't speak to the parkour in this because I have zero skills in that area, but I really liked how clear and straightforward the set up and instructions were. I understood it immediately and could start playing without having to click around just trying to figure out what to do. And the creator did that right from the start while letting you play through the instructions instead of delaying engagement which is very good design, imo. Nice job.
Perfectly on-theme, very fun, with great, unobtrusive sound design
This game is great! It fits the theme well, and is extremely engaging. It is hard while not being too difficult to finish in one sitting. 100% recommend! I really hope the developer(s) expand this :)
Scores rate how good different aspects of the game are.
Effects is mostly how the game looks/feels. If a game doesn’t have good-looking textures, particle effects, or architecture that is actually plot-relevant, it can get a low Effects score.
Gameplay involves how good, fun, interesting or effective the gameplay is. If a game doesn’t have well-designed puzzles that are something a gamer actually feels they can figure out with obvious end results, it can get a low Gameplay score.
Plot is how good the plot is, how well it fits with the game itself, and whether it is actually interesting for players. If a game doesn’t have an obvious plot or goals, it can get a low Plot score.
Theme is how the game feels and is laid out. If a game doesn’t feel right, doesn't have a theme that fits its plot or gameplay, or is too bland, it can get a low Theme score.
Game Jam Theme is how well the game fits the theme set (this year is "line of sight")
All of these are rated out of ten (#/10), and the final result will combine all these scores out of fifty (#/50).
Effects: 9/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Plot: 8/10
Theme: 9/10
Game Jam Theme: 10/10
Overall: 46/50
Simple puzzle game, exactly as the title describes
This game is pretty fun to play, the variety of elements to the puzzle make it a perfect game to playthrough if you're bored.
I did however have a few issues playing with it. The glass was really hard to see the edges of (that's an engine issue afaik, but it could've been adressed with putting a border on the glass or smth like that). I didn't even realize you could sprint until later on in the game, when I got stuck in a level that required it.
The buttons also had some issues that I can't quite place, but part of it was my machine lagged sometimes making me unable to make certain jumps.
Overall the game is pretty fun and the story is engaging.
That was not easy, but was worth it!
I'll be honest, this game starts out so reasonable, then intoduces impressive mechanics in the puzzles, then gets downright evil and hard, and then evil and harder lol. The payoff is wonderful, but gosh darn it that was so tough.
Spoilers below:
+1 love the awards
+1 love what sounds you have, need ambience
+3 love the level designs, though a bit hard on the physical jumping, and that stupid jump toggle one like 5 from the end lol just after finishing antigravity....
BugsFeatures I found through my struggles:.
So how did I find the will to continue? Well I used fly and noclip to learn the damn tests and play through not once, but three total times from the start
I'm tired and gotta give you credit - that was fun and I got thoroughly invested.
Probably more platformer than puzzle but still quite fun
The dialogue is clearly Portal inspired. I'm pretty certain one of the lines about the buttons near the start is taken directly from GLaDOS describing the weighted storage cube. But I don't care because I like Portal.
Fun romp
Works the ol' brain and steps up in complexity and challenge well. Good job!
Gameplay without infamy and without praise
Whilst I appreciate the irony, the whole game can be reduced to "shoot a target with your bow". Initially it was good, then when more complex levels made their appearance, it became somewhat cumbersome. The most frustrating thing is probably the two-node jumps that can be achieved only if you're super precise - something that, I think, shouldn't be the main focus of the game. I'm sure the game will be 100% better with a bit more speed (so I'm voting "Neutral" hoping to see that implemented)
okay
I'm not good at parkour, I hate parkour, so when the second or third puzzle required me to do a bunch of jumps, which failing any sent me completely back to the begining of the level I quit. The game boils down to shooting things with a bow, be it switches or targets. Gameplay was fun enough, but the parkour element ruined it for me.