Sounds nice on paper, but poor technical execution
This mod is super hacky and I don't recommend it. To create such a block, you must manually put a "top slab" node on top of a normal node and you can only get those special top nodes in Creative Mode.
The top slab nodes also "blocks" the node above them, because technically the top slab is occupying the node above the bottom slab node. This means you cannot place anything above a stacked slab.
Worse, this mod allows you to place the top slabs anywhere, not just above slabs. If you place a top slab on just any random node, it "sinks" inside that node, causing ugly z-fighting (a graphical glitch).
Finally, this mod is not generic at all, only a few select Minetest Game nodes are supported.
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version, written by a participant.)
This game (?) is basically a looking-at-numbers simulator, and super confusing. The game is meant to be educational and it does include an in-game help but how it relates to the game is unclear. I also have no idea how accurate any of the information presented to us is; the meaning of the icons is not explained. I suggest readers to be skeptical by default.
You as the player can only interact by producing stuff like adrenaline but what does it do? No idea. Also, that's the ONLY way for you do do something. The rest of the time you can only follow some numbers which I assume are some measurement values of the body.
And this is the whole "gameplay". SUPER confusing. The help is not really helpful; I don't really understand what is the point of clicking the buttons. The help only gives you vague relationships but the info seems incomplete. It seems a lot more is going on behind the scenes than is displayed which makes it harder to understand. I highly doubt this "simulation" is even close to medical reality.
The "blocky" body shown in the background means nothing. You might expect that it would show something interesting like bloodstreams or chemicals moving in the body or whatever, but no. Nothing happens there ever, it's just background decoration.
This game aims to be educational but I believe it failed even at that goal because it does not do a great job in visualizing or explaining things or how stuff interacts with each other.
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 …
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
The plot and setting of this game is great, especially for a game jam. You have dropped into a hole, and must find out.
This is small and simple enough to write a little mini adventure game for and initially the game does deliver on that promise.
Unfortunately, this game is very incomplete, you only get to discover the early part of level design and can interact with a few things, but you can never escape The Gorge. Except you can, actually because you can break random blocks (like pipes) and just nerdpole out of the map. :D (this is probably a bug)
I like the mechanic where you can drag furniture to solve puzzles. Future adventure games can and should STEAL this idea. :D
The interpretation of the theme "Line of Sight" feels kinda forced here. The game justifies it with that you can "see" outside the gorge. Yeah …
For a post-jam version of the game I recommend to fix the obvious bugs (like all the breakable blocks) and the very least add a level exit door, (unless you actually plan to make the world more complex anyway). Even if the game ends up very short, having some closure will make it so much more satisfying.
This is super cool for checking out the different options available with bloom. It really needs to give the values someplace though, so we can play around and find settings we like and then use those settings wherever we'd use them, in another mod, in the default settings, etc.
Good interpretation of the "Line of Sight" theme, needs more polish and levels
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version, written by a participant.)
The plot of this game caught me by surprise, but I like it. The narration makes the abtract world feel like it has purpose.
The mechanic this game introduces is interesting a great interpretation of the "Line of Sight" theme of the game jam. You can't walk/jump but have to click on attractors to be attracted, while avoiding laser fields. This has potential. "Line of Sight" can be taken literally because you can only click on attractors you can directly see. The controls are weird, having to click somewhere else to stop being attracted feels a bit hacky. I would maybe suggest to allow to press Sneak or Aux1.
There are not a lot of levels atm but the few levels that exist were fun. The end was unsatisfying; it came before the game really began.
The speech is generated with Text-to-speech LLMs (=AI). I would normally STRONGLY disapprove of. However, the theme of this game is the digital and the voice feels uncanny corporate. Which actually makes 100% sense here. IMO this use of AI was appropriate because it is actually using technology to fulfil an already well-defined and thought-out task, rather than to just bypass the creative process. I assume the AI was not used to write the actual texts, right?
I like the music. It's not a masterpiece, but it does its job well enough for this game to give a "digital" feel.
The graphics feel somewhat cheap. I know this game is probably meant to be abstract but something just feels … off. With the color scheme, the shapes, etc. That the "lasers" are a full blocks is very confusing to me. The player model is probably just a dummy.
The game contains cut scenes but moving the mouse causes annoying camera twitching. This is a Luanti limitation, but Artifact One found a clever workaround: opening an invisible non-closable formspec.
Overall, I don't think this game is "there yet". With more levels and especially polish it could be nice.
A nice atmosphere, and some digging I found Aluminum and was able to do whatever with it, but I hit the bottom of the world at a higher point than anything else generates, which leaves me thinking the game just wasn't finished, which is understandable with a three week window. The guide, store and whatever else really NEED to have a scroll bar, because I had no idea there was more than the first four or five items listed until I accidentally scrolled on them and it moved. Terrible UI there honestly.
For a game jam it's okay, but there was no tie in to Line of Sight. I look forward to seeing future updates, pretty please. This looks like it could be fun.
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.
Fun, although the constant bouncing of the cow got pretty annoying after a while. Also the missiles are homing missiles, which I didn't realize until after I had been killed on the same level multiple times. Strong tie in with the the theme, and the gameplay was decent, could have maybe used a bit more instructions though.
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.
So you follow a path, talk to some strange characters, find some barrels/cups and learn that you can eat herbs. I must have missed the part where it told you to put the vessel on the ground and right-click it with the herbs to fill them, because I didn't figure that out until I had finished? the game. Is there really a finish, is there anything relating to line of sight, I'm not sure, I didn't see it if there was.
Poor poor Erwan he died so many times... It was funny to see him sleeping for two days straight when the game said he gets about 5 hours of sleep a day. :D I suppose there is a bit of educational content here, but I didn't see a tie in for Line of Sight, which has me quite confused.
Touch sparkles, but I did touch them and nothing happened. Not sure if that's my fault, the games fault, or if I was touching the wrong sparkles. Switching between characters was kinda cool, but didn't really seem to have much importance to the game. Also not sure where the tie in to Line of Sight was.
I only finished the tutorial levels as the first real level was beyond my coordination ability. :P What I did play was enjoyable although being a robot that looks like it should be able to roll around, and not being able to move under your own power was a bit annoying. Great game design and a clear tie in to the game jams theme.
The initial playscape was well designed, but then after I escaped the gorge, there was just a void. Not sure if I was meant to break a bunch of pipes to stack them and get out of the gorge, but I saw no instructions other than to escape, which I did. I would have expected something to say I completed the game???
As far as the game jam, I don't understand how this tied into a line of sight theme.
So you open a couple doors with keys you need to find, and then just nothing. There is a random chair? that pops in and out of existance, but other than that there isn't much. Also not sure where the Line of Sight aspect played into this game.
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
I think I played this for about 30 minutes then became bored after I managed to craft the first "light towers". You are thrown in a dark random world full of dead trees and must progressively collect materials and craft buildings to proceed, most importantly the towers of light. You can gather stone, wood metal and most importantly lightshards.
Unfortunately, this game turns out to be too grindy: It seems the only way to get the important lightshards is by killing the bug creatures but you need to kill a LOT of them. It doesn't seem you can mine for lightshards. The fact this game also doesn't have an end or any sense of closure is unsatisfying. Sandbox games only make sense when you have a lot of things to do (like a large list of crafts). For smaller games like this one, adding some mission, goal or closure is key to success, I suppose.
More frustratingly, the bug creatures randomly destroy your structures, so say bye-bye to your furnace you have grinded 20 minutes to get. :-( I don't mind difficult games, but I mind games that are difficult by being annoying.
The bug creatures don't really behave well either: Their movement is not fluent at all.
Also, the game is lacking in atmosphere: No music, no sounds. And the landscape overall feels a bit too repetitive as well so it's unfortunately not immersive.
Conceptually, this could have become a nice game. The idea sounds very interesting on paper, but the excution is sadly not. If the grind was not so bad, it was more atmospheric and the core gameplay would be more focused towards an end.
(DISCLAIMER: This is a review for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
This game offers too little in gameplay.
You just walk on a path and come across various biomes (mostly forest) and occassionally meed 2D NPCs with some very basic throwaway dialogue. That's it. That's the whole game.
This game is basically a map generator with a few NPCs slapped on a path, there is not much real gameplay beyond that, sadly.
I wonder if the author just ran out of time for the game jam. I wonder what the author envisioned for the "full" game.
(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.
It seems more manageable than the other one. I like the addition of thirst mechanics but i would suggest you add wooden cups or some other way to hydrate in the early game. Maybe add compatibility with the Wooden Buckets or Soup mod. Compatibility with the drinks mod would be awesome as well.
The concept is interesting.
And it fits perfectly to the jam theme.
Something that I found annoying is that you have to click something else to release the attraction, and can't click the same node again.
Also, the node selection range seems to be longer than you can activate the attractor.
I dislike the voice you used. Not because how it was generated, but because how it sounds. I guess I associate it with shit, and therefore any but satiric use is making me cringe.
At the beginning the floor was weirdly bright. After restarting the level, it was gone.
Doors can eat placeable nodes.
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.
In the level that you have to do multiple times, I hit the first two finish nodes at once. (Shot arrow at one and right-clicked the other.) It sounded like the level was meant to be played more than once. I consider this a nice feature, but the voice needs to react on it. ;)
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.
The semi-transparent nodes are barely visible.
Would be nice if the arrow node always gives you at least 5 arrows, not only if you have 0. (This made me not understand that you can get arrows if you have one left and shoot at the arrow node. Therefore I thought one of the levels was broken.)
(/choose_level 21 crashes. 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...
but it's white on white (Edit: in preview)!
</details>
And closing doesn't seem to work.
It's a cool mod that creates more life like water behaviour but sadly it comes at the cost of changing the way water works that many mods take for granted. By itself a fine mod, but if paired with other mods, watch out. Compatibility is going to be very low.
Easy to steer, pretty head tossing animations and the horseshoes enable very nice speeds. On longer trips on flat (or roads), you can just turn on autoforward, direct the horse with the mouse and forget about the keyboard.
Pillage this for ideas as a sandbox to see what the engine can do
I don't recommend extended play necessarily, but since this game contains nodes that test a wide variety of features, like liquid viscosity, slipperiness and bounciness, you can fire it up to see those kinds of things in action. Or say you wanted to know what the liquid viscosity levels feel like, you can just place them all and see which one you like. You can explore it for features you weren't sure about, and look at the definitions.
Start with the following:
/grantme all/giveme chest_of_everything:chest
Now you can browse 10 pages of stuff that might spark some interest, or not.
Also run /help and get a list of other assorted stuff.
In general, you want as many references as you can get when learning about modding, and this is one that goes through a lot of engine features at a surface level. Other references will teach you about other topics.
Just a gigantic mountain was made when I used this mod. For n00bs like me: after installing the mod, create a new map - but don't start the game yet. First click "Select mods" and enable the "Just a mountain" mod. Then the mountain will be generated. Note that it works slightly differently depending on the version of mapgen, and there are a couple of settings added to control the position of the mountain.
In the code, I turned mountain_base_xdim and mountain_base_zdim into settings, and this mostly worked to change the size - however, the sides of the mountain are being cut off. This is probably because the starting height, perhaps other parameters in the calculation also need to be changed. A little bit of guidance on this would be much appreciated.
Also, I think this code could be an excellent starting point for a tutorial on mapgen coding. I'm trying to add random treasure chests and diamonds buried into the rock.
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.
I'm another of those with a very short attention span for new games. If I can't see the goal quickly and understand the controls immediately, I'll quit very quickly. I loved how straightforward and fun this was right from the beginning. I understood it right away and felt pulled in rather than put off. Clear and engaging from the first moment is an accomplishment, I think. Nice work. Best of luck with it.
A total game changer of a mod, literally ... this brings the amazing lighting of Mineclonia in, including a very easy way to adapt settings. I've been able to transform Minetest Game to something I never imagined it could look like before. Not tech so just tried out some random numbers, and immediately much bigger reach of godrays, and the vibrant colours of grass/sky/overall make it look like a ghibli setting! Much brighter world. Thank you very much for making this mod.
I've tried this out with VoxeLibre, and it's working without any issues. The controls are good, and as another review pointed out, it's handy that when you dismount, it gradually descends to the surface. The crafting recipe seems to have the right level of difficulty to it, and requires resources you'd start gathering shortly after building your first home.
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).
Each round of this game goes by really quick, but it is so addictive. The music and sound design are pristine, and the gameplay is fun and easy to get the hang of. Who doesn't want to be a floating cow with laser eyes? Can't wait for S.O.W. (Sows Of War)
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).
More walking than the Lord of the Rings, but the chairs are not a help
Spooooky...Chairs are scary at night. A little more sound design in the future would be nice, though, and the peculiar things going on sometimes make walls interactive like doors. The chairs drop signs occasionally, which can be picked up and written on. Still very interesting for a while, until you get claustrophobia. It is a little unclear how exactly my view angle actually affects the gameplay, but I can tell it does. This could be modified to look better for people with 120FOV. I'm interested to see how this is improved for the future!
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).
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
Nothing that interesting really happens, your kinda just given a few buttons to click and some numbers to look at.
I dont really know what to say other than its not that good. and has no relation to the theme what so ever
Sounds nice on paper, but poor technical execution
This mod is super hacky and I don't recommend it. To create such a block, you must manually put a "top slab" node on top of a normal node and you can only get those special top nodes in Creative Mode. The top slab nodes also "blocks" the node above them, because technically the top slab is occupying the node above the bottom slab node. This means you cannot place anything above a stacked slab.
Worse, this mod allows you to place the top slabs anywhere, not just above slabs. If you place a top slab on just any random node, it "sinks" inside that node, causing ugly z-fighting (a graphical glitch).
Finally, this mod is not generic at all, only a few select Minetest Game nodes are supported.
Looking-at-numbers simulator
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version, written by a participant.)
This game (?) is basically a looking-at-numbers simulator, and super confusing. The game is meant to be educational and it does include an in-game help but how it relates to the game is unclear. I also have no idea how accurate any of the information presented to us is; the meaning of the icons is not explained. I suggest readers to be skeptical by default.
You as the player can only interact by producing stuff like adrenaline but what does it do? No idea. Also, that's the ONLY way for you do do something. The rest of the time you can only follow some numbers which I assume are some measurement values of the body.
And this is the whole "gameplay". SUPER confusing. The help is not really helpful; I don't really understand what is the point of clicking the buttons. The help only gives you vague relationships but the info seems incomplete. It seems a lot more is going on behind the scenes than is displayed which makes it harder to understand. I highly doubt this "simulation" is even close to medical reality.
The "blocky" body shown in the background means nothing. You might expect that it would show something interesting like bloodstreams or chemicals moving in the body or whatever, but no. Nothing happens there ever, it's just background decoration.
This game aims to be educational but I believe it failed even at that goal because it does not do a great job in visualizing or explaining things or how stuff interacts with each other.
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 …
Unsatisfying because the end is missing
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
The plot and setting of this game is great, especially for a game jam. You have dropped into a hole, and must find out. This is small and simple enough to write a little mini adventure game for and initially the game does deliver on that promise.
Unfortunately, this game is very incomplete, you only get to discover the early part of level design and can interact with a few things, but you can never escape The Gorge. Except you can, actually because you can break random blocks (like pipes) and just nerdpole out of the map. :D (this is probably a bug)
I like the mechanic where you can drag furniture to solve puzzles. Future adventure games can and should STEAL this idea. :D
The interpretation of the theme "Line of Sight" feels kinda forced here. The game justifies it with that you can "see" outside the gorge. Yeah …
For a post-jam version of the game I recommend to fix the obvious bugs (like all the breakable blocks) and the very least add a level exit door, (unless you actually plan to make the world more complex anyway). Even if the game ends up very short, having some closure will make it so much more satisfying.
Needs one thing
This is super cool for checking out the different options available with bloom. It really needs to give the values someplace though, so we can play around and find settings we like and then use those settings wherever we'd use them, in another mod, in the default settings, etc.
Good interpretation of the "Line of Sight" theme, needs more polish and levels
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version, written by a participant.)
The plot of this game caught me by surprise, but I like it. The narration makes the abtract world feel like it has purpose.
The mechanic this game introduces is interesting a great interpretation of the "Line of Sight" theme of the game jam. You can't walk/jump but have to click on attractors to be attracted, while avoiding laser fields. This has potential. "Line of Sight" can be taken literally because you can only click on attractors you can directly see. The controls are weird, having to click somewhere else to stop being attracted feels a bit hacky. I would maybe suggest to allow to press Sneak or Aux1.
There are not a lot of levels atm but the few levels that exist were fun. The end was unsatisfying; it came before the game really began.
The speech is generated with Text-to-speech LLMs (=AI). I would normally STRONGLY disapprove of. However, the theme of this game is the digital and the voice feels uncanny corporate. Which actually makes 100% sense here. IMO this use of AI was appropriate because it is actually using technology to fulfil an already well-defined and thought-out task, rather than to just bypass the creative process. I assume the AI was not used to write the actual texts, right?
I like the music. It's not a masterpiece, but it does its job well enough for this game to give a "digital" feel.
The graphics feel somewhat cheap. I know this game is probably meant to be abstract but something just feels … off. With the color scheme, the shapes, etc. That the "lasers" are a full blocks is very confusing to me. The player model is probably just a dummy.
The game contains cut scenes but moving the mouse causes annoying camera twitching. This is a Luanti limitation, but Artifact One found a clever workaround: opening an invisible non-closable formspec.
Overall, I don't think this game is "there yet". With more levels and especially polish it could be nice.
It's a start
A nice atmosphere, and some digging I found Aluminum and was able to do whatever with it, but I hit the bottom of the world at a higher point than anything else generates, which leaves me thinking the game just wasn't finished, which is understandable with a three week window. The guide, store and whatever else really NEED to have a scroll bar, because I had no idea there was more than the first four or five items listed until I accidentally scrolled on them and it moved. Terrible UI there honestly.
For a game jam it's okay, but there was no tie in to Line of Sight. I look forward to seeing future updates, pretty please. This looks like it could be fun.
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.
The missiles follow you
Fun, although the constant bouncing of the cow got pretty annoying after a while. Also the missiles are homing missiles, which I didn't realize until after I had been killed on the same level multiple times. Strong tie in with the the theme, and the gameplay was decent, could have maybe used a bit more instructions though.
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.
Ohhh, so that's how herbs work
Remember kids, Don't Do Drugs.
So you follow a path, talk to some strange characters, find some barrels/cups and learn that you can eat herbs. I must have missed the part where it told you to put the vessel on the ground and right-click it with the herbs to fill them, because I didn't figure that out until I had finished? the game. Is there really a finish, is there anything relating to line of sight, I'm not sure, I didn't see it if there was.
Sorry Erwan
Poor poor Erwan he died so many times... It was funny to see him sleeping for two days straight when the game said he gets about 5 hours of sleep a day. :D I suppose there is a bit of educational content here, but I didn't see a tie in for Line of Sight, which has me quite confused.
Didn't work
Touch sparkles, but I did touch them and nothing happened. Not sure if that's my fault, the games fault, or if I was touching the wrong sparkles. Switching between characters was kinda cool, but didn't really seem to have much importance to the game. Also not sure where the tie in to Line of Sight was.
Fun
I only finished the tutorial levels as the first real level was beyond my coordination ability. :P What I did play was enjoyable although being a robot that looks like it should be able to roll around, and not being able to move under your own power was a bit annoying. Great game design and a clear tie in to the game jams theme.
Meh
The initial playscape was well designed, but then after I escaped the gorge, there was just a void. Not sure if I was meant to break a bunch of pipes to stack them and get out of the gorge, but I saw no instructions other than to escape, which I did. I would have expected something to say I completed the game???
As far as the game jam, I don't understand how this tied into a line of sight theme.
Ducks? Noodles?
I didn't see any ducks or noodles, just a solid block of pepperoni hidden behind a bit of parkour.
Boring
So you open a couple doors with keys you need to find, and then just nothing. There is a random chair? that pops in and out of existance, but other than that there isn't much. Also not sure where the Line of Sight aspect played into this game.
Too much of a grind
(DISCLAIMER: This review was written for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
I think I played this for about 30 minutes then became bored after I managed to craft the first "light towers". You are thrown in a dark random world full of dead trees and must progressively collect materials and craft buildings to proceed, most importantly the towers of light. You can gather stone, wood metal and most importantly lightshards.
Unfortunately, this game turns out to be too grindy: It seems the only way to get the important lightshards is by killing the bug creatures but you need to kill a LOT of them. It doesn't seem you can mine for lightshards. The fact this game also doesn't have an end or any sense of closure is unsatisfying. Sandbox games only make sense when you have a lot of things to do (like a large list of crafts). For smaller games like this one, adding some mission, goal or closure is key to success, I suppose.
More frustratingly, the bug creatures randomly destroy your structures, so say bye-bye to your furnace you have grinded 20 minutes to get. :-( I don't mind difficult games, but I mind games that are difficult by being annoying.
The bug creatures don't really behave well either: Their movement is not fluent at all.
Also, the game is lacking in atmosphere: No music, no sounds. And the landscape overall feels a bit too repetitive as well so it's unfortunately not immersive.
Conceptually, this could have become a nice game. The idea sounds very interesting on paper, but the excution is sadly not. If the grind was not so bad, it was more atmospheric and the core gameplay would be more focused towards an end.
Walking simulator without little content
(DISCLAIMER: This is a review for the game jam version of the game, written by a participant.)
This game offers too little in gameplay.
You just walk on a path and come across various biomes (mostly forest) and occassionally meed 2D NPCs with some very basic throwaway dialogue. That's it. That's the whole game.
This game is basically a map generator with a few NPCs slapped on a path, there is not much real gameplay beyond that, sadly.
I wonder if the author just ran out of time for the game jam. I wonder what the author envisioned for the "full" game.
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.
Good to see a new temperature mod around.
It seems more manageable than the other one. I like the addition of thirst mechanics but i would suggest you add wooden cups or some other way to hydrate in the early game. Maybe add compatibility with the Wooden Buckets or Soup mod. Compatibility with the drinks mod would be awesome as well.
Much better immersion
I was just about to write code for this exact purpose, but now I don't have to. Finally some real underwater immersiom (pun intended).
Too short, has potential
The concept is interesting. And it fits perfectly to the jam theme.
Something that I found annoying is that you have to click something else to release the attraction, and can't click the same node again. Also, the node selection range seems to be longer than you can activate the attractor.
I dislike the voice you used. Not because how it was generated, but because how it sounds. I guess I associate it with shit, and therefore any but satiric use is making me cringe.
Plus points for self-made music!
The camera movement also was nice.
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:
/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...
Nice but
It's a cool mod that creates more life like water behaviour but sadly it comes at the cost of changing the way water works that many mods take for granted. By itself a fine mod, but if paired with other mods, watch out. Compatibility is going to be very low.
perfect
Easy to steer, pretty head tossing animations and the horseshoes enable very nice speeds. On longer trips on flat (or roads), you can just turn on autoforward, direct the horse with the mouse and forget about the keyboard.
Amazing edition to the game
This is a great enhancement to the game. The glowing ores look awesome and i do want to see more mods like this :D
Pillage this for ideas as a sandbox to see what the engine can do
I don't recommend extended play necessarily, but since this game contains nodes that test a wide variety of features, like liquid viscosity, slipperiness and bounciness, you can fire it up to see those kinds of things in action. Or say you wanted to know what the liquid viscosity levels feel like, you can just place them all and see which one you like. You can explore it for features you weren't sure about, and look at the definitions.
Start with the following:
/grantme all/giveme chest_of_everything:chestNow you can browse 10 pages of stuff that might spark some interest, or not.
Also run
/helpand get a list of other assorted stuff.In general, you want as many references as you can get when learning about modding, and this is one that goes through a lot of engine features at a surface level. Other references will teach you about other topics.
Big Berg
Just a gigantic mountain was made when I used this mod. For n00bs like me: after installing the mod, create a new map - but don't start the game yet. First click "Select mods" and enable the "Just a mountain" mod. Then the mountain will be generated. Note that it works slightly differently depending on the version of mapgen, and there are a couple of settings added to control the position of the mountain.
In the code, I turned
mountain_base_xdimandmountain_base_zdiminto settings, and this mostly worked to change the size - however, the sides of the mountain are being cut off. This is probably because the starting height, perhaps other parameters in the calculation also need to be changed. A little bit of guidance on this would be much appreciated.Also, I think this code could be an excellent starting point for a tutorial on mapgen coding. I'm trying to add random treasure chests and diamonds buried into the rock.
Great mod; somewhat challenging but very fun
This is a great mod because it adds advanced ores, tools, armor, and even liquid metals to the game.
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.
Engaging Right from the Start
I'm another of those with a very short attention span for new games. If I can't see the goal quickly and understand the controls immediately, I'll quit very quickly. I loved how straightforward and fun this was right from the beginning. I understood it right away and felt pulled in rather than put off. Clear and engaging from the first moment is an accomplishment, I think. Nice work. Best of luck with it.
Very useful
Thank you for making this mod. Really easy to use, useful, and being able to name the basket is awesome.
Amazing!
A total game changer of a mod, literally ... this brings the amazing lighting of Mineclonia in, including a very easy way to adapt settings. I've been able to transform Minetest Game to something I never imagined it could look like before. Not tech so just tried out some random numbers, and immediately much bigger reach of godrays, and the vibrant colours of grass/sky/overall make it look like a ghibli setting! Much brighter world. Thank you very much for making this mod.
Works with VoxeLibre
I've tried this out with VoxeLibre, and it's working without any issues. The controls are good, and as another review pointed out, it's handy that when you dismount, it gradually descends to the surface. The crafting recipe seems to have the right level of difficulty to it, and requires resources you'd start gathering shortly after building your first home.
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 🔗
I'll never eat beef again, I swear! o_O
Each round of this game goes by really quick, but it is so addictive. The music and sound design are pristine, and the gameplay is fun and easy to get the hang of. Who doesn't want to be a floating cow with laser eyes? Can't wait for S.O.W. (Sows Of War)
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: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Plot: 8/10
Theme: 9/10
Game Jam Theme: 8/10
Overall: 45/50 🔗
More walking than the Lord of the Rings, but the chairs are not a help
Spooooky...Chairs are scary at night. A little more sound design in the future would be nice, though, and the peculiar things going on sometimes make walls interactive like doors. The chairs drop signs occasionally, which can be picked up and written on. Still very interesting for a while, until you get claustrophobia. It is a little unclear how exactly my view angle actually affects the gameplay, but I can tell it does. This could be modified to look better for people with 120FOV. I'm interested to see how this is improved for the future!
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: 6/10
Plot: 6/10
Theme: 10/10
Game Jam Theme: 6/10
Overall: 37/50 🔗
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
Kinda boring
Nothing that interesting really happens, your kinda just given a few buttons to click and some numbers to look at. I dont really know what to say other than its not that good. and has no relation to the theme what so ever