Artifact is an atmospheric puzzle/story game, created for the 2025 Minetest game jam.
The game is reasonably complete in its current form, but by no means fully complete. Below are some things that will make it more fully complete.
Be advised that the puzzles here are not so much mechanics-based as situation-based. It will not always be immediately obvious what you're supposed to do next, and that's intentional.
Note: The splash video and header image were created by Grok Imagine, which a) is free to use and b) grants full ownership rights for generated content to the user. Everything else was created by me (so you can blame me if it's bad).
For the interested, Artifact includes a 'debug mode' which is used to build and save the map. To enable it, set debug = true in artifact_base/init.lua . For full functionality, it is recommended to enable at least rhotator, testtools, chest_with_everything, and worldedit. Some notable debug features:
- A flat mapgen to facilitate testing the various mechanisms.
/map: Loads the map (from artifact_world/schems/map)./export: Exports the WorldEdit region as an annotated schematic. Sender-receiver relations within the region will be preserved. Senders that trigger recievers outside the region are not supported.- The linker tool. Punch a node to set it as the current sender. Place on a node to add that node to the current sender's receiver list (or sneak-place to remove it). Place on air to cycle the channel.
- There is no custom method for changing the configuration of color swappers, color targets, or large doors. However, after editing their nodes' metadata with the testtools node meta editor, you can punch their entity to reload their configuration.
Planned Features: 🔗
- More story.
- More puzzles.
- Combat.
- Sound effects in the initial cutscene.
- A system of creating movable components that can be used in puzzles (the code for this already exists, but is disabled due to insufficient use cases).
- Chests with items.
- The ability to fail.
Sadly this game ended before it even begun. :-(
(DISCLAIMER: Written by a game jam participant)
This game is a direct sequel from Artifact from last year, and has the same feel. Sadly, it is MUCH shorter and not as vast.
I dislike the use of AI for a title image, especially in a game jam.
The first room was surprisingly difficult because it turned out to be a parcours puzzle, so it was irrelevant to the "Line of Sight" theme of this year's game jam. while probably not strictly required, I figured the parcours section of the game were easier with the secret sprinting feature. The game never mentioned you're allowd to sprint. :-/
The second room was more interesting and introduced the first actual "line-of-sight" puzzles. But those puzzles were very basic, you just had to activate a few switches. The hardest part was finding the right spots to walk to and parcouring. Not really enough for a new game, even a short one. Even a short game should at least explore a little bit the unique mechanic it introduces. This game did not do that.
And the third room already ended the game. :-(
I really love the graphics and textures, it's very mysterious and dungeon-ish. The story is not really that interering and frankly forgettable, but maybe that's because the game is too short for the player to "connect" to any of the characters.
BUT! I do believe the Artifact series has potential to become something really great if more time is spent on it. There is something special about this dungeon atmosphere …
Sound design was only a few simple sounds but no music or ambience, although these dungeons really YEARN for some audible ambience.
The cut scenes have improved compared to last year's Artifact. The game uses a formspec trick to force the camera to be fully locked during cut scenes, so the glitchy camera twitching is gone. GENIUS!
Finally, this game is shizophrenic about its own name. Artifact, or Artifact One? Hmm …
No Idea
What was I meant to do. I got a stick and was told to break things, I broke everything I could and then nothing. Literally have no idea what I was meant to do.
Visuals are great. Game breaks easily
The cut scenes and stuff are amazing and pretty impressive. I got stuck in a large room with water and im not fully sure how to progress further? Also i ended up switching to Vix then left the game, and trying to enter the world causes the game to crash. so thats a way to lose a world i guess. There was also a case where i seemed to have accidentally permanently softlocked by pausing at the wrong time when Vix is supposed to wake up (she simply never wakes up)
Oerall a great looking game but easy to break if you are not careful
Immersive and interesting
I was struck instantly with the animations, they were obviously not anything too crazy, but it unusual to see something of that sort in luanti. I liked the parkour and room design, the levels were pretty interesting, though short. It seems the focus of this game are the visuals and the story, the visuals are very good, and the story intriguing though incomplete and maybe a bit cliche.
I had trouble completing the levels because it was exceptionally dark, which made it hard to see what I was supposed to be doing. The game seems to be mostly just a redirection of last year (though I admire committing to the original project and seeing it throught to something).
I liked the mechanics of swapping charactors and the interaction, though I had the color crystal thingies glitch when I picked up the green and then the blue and then put the blue down. (it fixed itself when I entered the next room)
It did feel very sudden in the end, though that's maybe more suspense than anything else. I hope you make this game go further.
And this is different from the other version—how exactly?
This is basically the same as last year's version except shorter, thankfully easier, and
harder to switch between the two people.It follows the same storyline, the dialog is just as anti-expositional and pointless, and the building isn't even a different style from the last one. Animations are of course impressive, and finally there is a game that barely tries to fit the theme. However, this is just the original game's slightly more refined twin brother. Why the rerun?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: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Plot: 2/10
Theme: 4/10
Game Jam Theme: 4/10
Overall: 23/50 🔗
I tried so hard... a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶f̶a̶r
Wow for the cutscenes (even tho sound was missing?), but... I couldn't get past the first room. The game doesn't really introduce you to any mechanics but breaking specific things, and that doesn't seem the way to go given that I just found myself trying to hit every node...
Stuck in the first big room
I was impressed by the character animations (not really by the image, as it's AI-generated) but, ehr.. I can't make it pass the first big room. I've tried for 5 minutes and I can't seem to understand what I'm supposed to do - turning off the "generators" aside and breaking the other door. That's a pity
Wow :O
Very high quality!! Animations!! Two controllable characters!! :O