Do you like boxes?
Enjoy being a thief?
Then play Grand Theft Box!
A Game Jam 2021 Submission by Jamiebearcub and ExeVirus/Just_Visiting
Hint: Turn on sound
The original bike mod and playerapi mod are not created for this jam, all other code and assets were created during this jam.
Lack of goals
My main problem with the game was that I didn't understand what to do. Like, I get that you can ride boxes (which are supposed to be bicycles I guess), but after that, what exactly? I was happy to see the game has a custom main menu and a soundtrack (too loud in my opinion), and that the author implemented nose-ups just for the sake it (nice touch!), but then the content was immediately over. I guess it's still a WIP
Lack of content
The game at its present state is nothing more than a simple box-driving simulator. Or at least, I haven't found anything else to do with it.
Kudos to add a city backdrop, but that all it seems to be. The box physics are also not the best fitted to the crafted environment, its near impossible to make the tight-turn roads considering how slow the box actually turns.
There's potential for more, I see the mention of "thief", maybe ability to interact with the city nodes and actually steal something and then running away in a box? But at its current state, there's simply no gameplay.
Entire budget went on soundtrack
I was missing the soundtrack when I first launched it due to having Minetest muted. Woops! It's a bit less boring with the soundtrack going, although at a grand total runtime of 73 seconds it will wear thin pretty quick. I thought it must be a professional/semi-amateur track originally composed elsewhere, but a look at the licence file and OGG metadata will reveal it's an original composition by ExeVirus in REAPER. I have to say the soundtrack does build the mood, but a good soundtrack doens't automatically make it a good game.
It's also the same schematic map with the same spawn point every time, and I really don't think the map layout made any real sense, it's more of a race track than a sensible road layout.
I didn't quite get why bicycle mod was chosen as a vehicle base instead of driftcar. I had some actual fun playing driftgame and one thing I think this game should aspire to become in the future is more like that, with procedurally generated streets. Other elements can be incorporated later as well, but good driving is always what one expects in a 'grand theft' type game.
I can see this project going some place like a drive-by shooting PvP game in a randomly generated arena and ending up being pretty fun. But for now I would hold off from playing it except if you want to do a few laps in the box while listening to the epic soundtrack, and then quit.
What am I supposed to do?
The idea might be cool and at this point of development it is probably the time where you start implementing ideas, goals, achievements and stuff like that - gameplay basically. However, so far this is only a box driving simulator with box-bikes unable to drive the curves and the player not knowing what to do apart from that. Not even knowing if there even is something else to do. If I start a game with no further description given I expect the game to tell me what to do and if there are goals I can achieve. If it is only a box driving sim then it should say so in the description to keep the player's expectation low enough.
Something I liked though was the background music and the miniature style using a few nodes for whole buildings.
Suggestions:
- Add goals the player can achieve
- Enable the box-bikes to drive small curves too
- Add some in-game help that pops up to the player
Halarious game with a great premise
This game is brilliant. You steal a box and you trim down the time it takes to circulate the entire world. It's halarious and a great way to relieve stress. You go around in a box, free to perform whatever you wish and as you circulate you see the wonderful cityscape.
This game is great for multiplayer when you want to bonk into other people and great for singleplayer when you want to bonk into buildings.
The theme is great, the boxes are colourful, and the lore is great (you make it yourself)1
Pretty much nothing to do
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Boring. You just enter random cubes to drive around a boring minimalist retro poly city and that seems to be it. This is barely even a complete game, sorry. This seems like a basic tech-demo.
No "theft", just a car-driving game
There are not a lot of things to do, you just drives cubes (a minetest based car-driving game already exists https://content.minetest.net/packages/paramat/driftgame/). Maybe add a lockpick to unblock cubes to have at least the feeling of stealing something. You could add the possibility to do a robbery in the building and then having mobs chasing you so you have to run away in a cube.
Lazy at best
It is literaly just a very small city map populated only with bycicles that have been retextured to solid shadless cubes.
So annoying and boring
I think you were trying to replicate GTA in minetest. But I say your game is too WIP for GTA. There is nothing to do in GTB plus only riding cubes is boring. Your buildings are one node, but to improve them you can make them many node to atleast make it like GTA and, you could add NPC's to the game and use skybox.
If you do agree to add NPC Then you could make them talk to the player, Trade with the player, shoot the player or other npc's, and lastly add them riding vehicles.
I will change my review after you add some goals and improvements in your game
Empty
The music is good, but there’s nothing to do. Racing might be fun if the game kept track of it.
Unfortunately without substance
This is something that belongs in the creator's personal space, not in ContentDB.
What have you done..?!
This exists now; you better take responsibility! xD I see what happened with the development of this game; luckily all that matters is the final presentation... Let's see: clear goals/ gameplay? Check, to have fun practicing on your boxy steed; epic tricks? Check; tight turns? Check, just press S while turning; interesting setting? Check, a beautiful city background; sick beats? Check, definitely.
Post- Jam development should focus on: nothing, this is perfect already! /s
A+ for the memes! B)