It's broken. I wish it weren't broken because it looks super cool.
Needing to manually copy the map was a major minus. The map should be loaded via minetest schematics at worldgen. (for future readers, it's cp .minetest/games/lexa/map/ .minetest/worlds/lexa_map/ ).
Once you've copied the map over, it looks good.
The custom ui looks super neat and I love the AI pathfinding.
The graphics I was able to see all look stunning.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the game. The building and mining part of the game don't seem to work. I was able to place a few converyor belts right at spawn, but nothing else works.
It's clear that you put a lot of effort into this game and I'm super disappointed that it's unplayable. I'd love to see all the bugs ironed out and actually play a few levels of this.
This minigame, while suffering a bit from the creator's inexperience with game creation, proved challenging enough to keep me from quitting out of frustration.
The presentation is a bit simple, and the aisles could have used some variety; but having to complete the objective combined with keeping enemies at bay with your "butter knife" in the maze of shelving is fun, and only rarely was I swamped by zombies.
Post- Jam development should focus on:
disallowing cheating by climbing shelves with presents;
addressing issues with the mobs (i.e. pathfinding bugs and cheapshots between shelves);
polishing player experience (i.e. a better look for the mall, maybe adding a spooky/ holiday themed music, maybe small story elements);
Minetest's screwdriver is super unintuitive and I'm surprised you went for a game with it as one of the core mechanics.
Enhance the contrast between detector on and detector off. You should be able to tell the difference at a glance.
You shouldn't need to click the emitters to turn them on. They should always be on.
The level change is JARRING and leaves the player no time to understand the solution they just made. I completed a few levels without knowing how.
No level select
Level 9 has 7 emitters, 7 detectors, and 7 mirrors, but since one of the emitters isn't at a right angle to any detectors, it should require 8 mirrors (6 right-angles and 1 u-turn). Thus I got stuck on level 9.
Bug: I had to remove mods/mtr_currency/init.lua:15 to get the game to work.
I like that this game has custom graphics.
It doesn't seem like the game has a clear goal.
You use the stick to hit the dirt boys and they sometimes drop stuff, but it's not clear what happens next.
There's a room on the left that's blocked off but no clear way to get into it.
Looks like this game needed more time.
There's 4 rooms and some dudes that attack you. I wonder why you make the player teleport between rooms instead of building a large structure. There doesn't seem to be anything to do after you've killed all the dudes and walked through all the rooms.
It's buggy and clunky. I teleported outside the ugly copper room several times and had to build a sand pile to get back to the game.
I found the present thing. I guess that means I won?
Pushing the boundaries of more than just the engine
Thematically speaking it is quite refreshing to see a game made using the engine that avoids the all too common survival-sandbox game genre.
Despite being unfinished, I found it to be enjoyable and at times engaging. For the most part, the simulated opponents behave pretty convincingly like actual racing contestants (though I have seen a few glaringly obvious exceptions).
The camera jitter is off-putting and feels like typical engine stuttering, but it is inherent to Minetest’s camera manipulation and cannot be avoided.
The soundtracks are good, and seem appropriate for the environments where they are used.
The menus are nice, I quite like the Invector font and rotating character selection images; though I felt they lacked a more personalized background image that could have tied the other elements together well.
The item and weapon indicator textures are relatively easy to distinguish from one another (perhaps improving the accessibility of the game) in shape and colour. Most don’t seem to conflict too much with other visual elements.
The speed boost indicator and weapon selection crystal felt somewhat intuitive and were easy to learn. Some of the weapon indicators were easier to learn than others (rocket, shield, sand, boost variants). This will probably vary for users with differential exposure to similarly designed games, but I think the developer worked well within the creative limitations they had.
It is impressive that there even is a track editor on top of the main game and I would love to see what others make with it. The track editor could use some more builtin tools and documentation, though.
I surmise that (like the other contest submissions) most of the deficiencies would have not existed had the developer been given more time. I am fairly confident that this game will be improved upon further, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.
A very promising project produced by a quality MT dev.
After a few seconds of gameplay, I now know how to play it. Which causes a problem which is quite apparent (now what do I do next, after placing dozens of homes shops offices etc.)
The best the engine can do is "Solar Plains: Invector"
Jordach is one of a select few modders who like to work against the engine. This game is a piece of art (including textures with meme references and sounds created by Jordach during the jam, which is probably unique) which gets the most out of the engine. Initially it appeared "laggy" to me too, while in reality it isn't - the issue stems from Jordach using the only way the engine provides to set the camera direction, which isn't smooth by default. In order to keep this camera stutter to a minimum, I suggest you enable cinematic camera smoothing and - most importantly - keep your hands off the mouse!
Apart from this, the AIs are a rather amazing demo considering the short timeframe, and a couple effects have been implemented as well. All that is lacking are a couple more maps, which is why in it's current state this is more of an - impressive - tech demo than a fully enjoyable game.
And granted, there are some minor bugs, including a crash. Quality assurance is a time-consuming process finding little place in a game jam; only the most glaring issues can be fixed before release.
After playing it a few times I can see where it can become quite overwhelming.
While there isn't any tutorial one could after some time figure out that while the reactor isn't overloaded increase your drills speed so you keep making profit while the game keeps increasing expenses.
A note on the increasing expenses, it seems to grow at a very rapid pace, so one needs to almost immediately increase coolant production then increase the drill in order to keep up.
I have found a few issues which might cause critical issues in-game:
When a player enters "sleeping" the player can not exit sleep (Which means things can fail but there is no way to jump out of bed and go fix them)
Mobs seem to almost become never ending, making it quite dangerous to go out just to adjust your drill. (This might be taken as extra challenge)
While "research" might be a good concept for further development in-game, I haven't noticed it doing anything except extra profit. (One in debt could simply stand outside and fight mobs then go "cash" in their goo for extra cash to try and fix their debt)
Now for the positives or things that could be added in the future:
Provide some unique building concept, allowing a player to build more drills, more coolant systems, more reactors, etc. (I'd be more interested in a space sim where you can get a basic base to start with but then have some kind of method for expanding, I.E. a crafting system perhaps)
Along the current lines, perhaps include some "upgrades" which cost money but provide less occurance of failtures etc. (I.E. I could upgrade the gravity generator so it would be less likely to go down, but I can never upgrade it so it never goes down / Or I could upgrade the reactor so it produces say 200 more power)
Allow multiple players to play on one base, perhaps as a co-op thing. (This way I could be taking care of the major stuff inside while a buddy could be fighting and getting "research" goo)
Even tho I'm generally more a player who enjoys playing bigger RPG-like games, this game is really fun to play.
I especially like the concept of gradually porting Minecraft experience to Minetest.
This is a very unique game in which you navigate the world as an insect.
It is sort of a 3D platformer, except you can't jump.
You crawl on objects and "glide" to other objects
This experience somehow actually makes it feel like you are controlling an insect.
The geometry appears much different than Minetest Game, especially with node outlining turned off.
The formspecs are well done and do a great job of guiding you throughout the experience.
This game is a perfect game jam entry. Just the right amount of content and presents itself very well.
This game is very well done and presented in a professional manner.
From the menus to the mechanics and controls, it is very much it's own entity.
The mechanics are simple and fun .
The gameplay loop inspires you to try again and again and improve your skills.
There is little content but I think what is there is sufficient for the game jam.
The game is aesthetically pleasing, easy to pick up and the mechanics are unique to me.
I see the potential for this to become something like a 3D OpenTTD
I was reminded of OpenTTD while playing Builda City.
If Builda City is further developed in this direction it will probably become one of my favorite games.
The author paid attention to graphical details, but as I've already said with Stella (another Jam entry), why exactly feature a game with basically no voxels in a voxel engine? Why not on Godot, to name one?
Graphics aside, punching things makes the game crash, time doesn't work and I think that it was used too much text to explain some basic concepts that could have been indirectly narrated
I think that, to me, this is the most polished and fun game to play of the whole 2021 jam. I'm not that into puzzle games, but this was very fun and challenging to play. The humour adds personality and little breaks from the challenge, alongside levels that don't tend to be repetitive, always adding something new.
My only critique is how much the game punishes players, making them start from the very beginning when they fail a level (that's what happened to me in the one requiring spatial memory, and I refused to start again). Infinite potions or making people restart that specific level might be a better solution that avoids excessive frustration
A well polished, well rounded jam project that plays nicely and is quite compelling and addictive.
I enjoyed my time memorizing and counting blocks, getting lost on the shop, and having to use the quite unreadable signs to find my way.
Even if the shop aspect of this game gets complaints, it's clear the intent is to make navigating the shop a challenge, a disguised maze of sorts, and it works wonderfully while also achieving an unique look.
Movement felt sluggish and the building area was too dimly lit in my opinion. Some textures like the "glass" ones weren't representative of what they actually were.
Some character upgrades would be nice, movement speed, sprint, buying the telescope or the minimap, all could add some more depth to the game.
Well done, I find this to be one of the top submissions.
Controls are bad, but not as bad as they could be, when using the WASD keys, you'll go in the direction you probably intended.
Going up and down is where most of the problem is at, the camera and the body of the snake get in the way of an enjoyable and smooth experience.
This is a clear case where less is more, a 2D snake clone, or one where the snake actually manouvers on 3D terrain but still moves in 2 dimensions (with the ocasional jump/climbing up hills/walls) would've been more original and more easily executed and fun.
Sound design is next to none but that's alright, since it's just snake, artwork and modeling could be improved upon.
Extra credit for programming everything as far as I checked. Props to the author.
As of now the game has potential post-jam if the camera and movement issues are addressed, since it's a good snake game with a twist.
It would work great as a mod, but not as a stand-alone game
The portal idea unveiling new areas is absolutely great: I can already imagine an RPG requiring you some specific items to unlock certain locations, and I'd really like to push the author to continue it along this modding path. Unfortunately, this is a game and I think that, as such, it turns repetitive after a while. Lack of instructions didn't help either, I had to check out on CDB what to do
No explanation of what to do or how to get the tutorial, which was later explained to me on discord. IMO the tutorial should be abundantly clear and easy to find (or not even find), specially due to the fact that the tutorial gave you items essential to the game. Furthermore, the textures were simple and when i did find out how to play, the buttons were glitchy and only worked every now and then.
I get that formats like these work on MineCRAFT servers where you have a limited amount of time to copy something whilst racing against other players, but a single-player version felt just... boring, to me. Especially the idea that players had to manually go buying things in a physical space (with signs not always that readable and a flight mode not fast enough) instead of using a polished GUI.
Using blocks as instructions is another thing I would have avoided, as it doesn't allow to easily geolocalise the game.
On the bright side, the author took time to customise the main menu and to add some music, which are always nice things to have
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
There are games that are somehow based on luck, but here it's just pure luck. I personally don't get where is supposed to be the fun/challenge in pressing a cube, hoping that it's not the wrong one, over and over. Music and main menu are very nice, but the gaming experience is quite debatable (and kind of absent, it's just one room)
The game experience had started quite nice with a custom main menu and a BGM, but I then found myself lost into too many inputs with no instructions whatsoever. It feels very "developer"-oriented, with a lot of written parameters on the screen (some of them can be easily converted into icons, like the hunger, maybe placed near the health). I know there are instructions here on CDB, but players are not expected to check out a manual before playing: the game should be able to explain itself to them, whether it is via tutorials, hints etc.
Also, the very first launch didn't work, I had to make another world, and I'm personally not a fan of round objects in voxel worlds. Having cuboids for most of the objects would make the game way more lightweight (it took a lot to download compared to other games) and possibly nicer
I'd love to play a city builder game on MT if there were more gameplay
There's not really a lot of gameplay and the tutorial isn't shown right away, but I love being able to fly above my little city and interact with it: it is waay more immersive than just clicking on the buildings (as it happens in classic city builder games); I can imagine how funny it would be to fly on people/vehicles walking on the streets. It also has some good-looking assets. I hope this game will be further developed, 'cause right now there's not enough content to play around with.
ill be honest, looking at the screenshot for this game and initially opening it, i thought, man, this game is really lackluster and simple looking. i didnt know how wrong i could be. It does have a simple look and bare bones UI (formspecs), but it manages to be a very interesting and challanging puzzle game that can keep you entertained for a while. the one suggestion i would have to improve it is to allow restarting a level, rather than restarting the whole game.
This package leaves me with conflicted view. To start off with, looking at the positives it is a interesting game concept, something different not seen/really done with the minetest engine. the concept of what the game could be is really interesting. onto the cons, from a playability standpoint it simply is just placing some elements and increasing a counter, and after a while it gets boring. additionally you are limited to placing things branching off of existing areas rather than placing things anywhere on the map. in spite of this i think that the game could be a great thing if some of the wanted contributions for features e implemented and could potentionally give the game a point. on the topic of contributions wanted it seems the author wants to keep going with there very odd dreampt up license https://github.com/Splizard/buildacity/blob/d2b30f7aa203c163a6015947bddfb9148a249069/License.txt of which there is a osi thread asking it to be approved https://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-review_lists.opensource.org/2021-February/005068.html which appears to lead nowhere as well as potentially suggesting that git hosting sites forks might not be allowed (not a lawyer disclaimer here). regardless contributing to this code base while something that would be fun to do, seems like something that is probably best to be avoided.
I was really happy to see a game taking place in some sort of Ancient Egypt: the first map was really on point talking about level design, wide outside and narrow inside. A few decorations more would have totally helped, and as general taste I would avoid completely round objects inside a voxel game (ie. columns).
However, I wasn't able to understand the sense of the game, especially the white room that was way different from the rest (is the character inside a mental institution? Is there an end? Am I supposed to endlessly cicle?). Unfortunately, gameplay comes before atmosphere (games with a wonderful graphics but with poor gameplay < games with a poor graphics and wonderful gameplay), hence the negative vote.
I wasn't expecting a runner in Minetest, but it's fun
That's definitely not the first game that would pop into my mind when thinking about Minetest (and I don't even think it's a great stand-alone game concept, it feels more like a minigame) but the author made a really nice job porting an endless runner videogame into Minetest. Collecting coins is rewarding, it can jump AND slide (the dead animation also works perfectly, congratulations for using the tools the game already gives you), and with the music defaulted to on it would have been even better.
If I have to find some critiques, putting it into a cave would have made more sense with the title, as the empty sky is somehow out of context. Also, I think that, after a while, the author just copy-pasted a piece of the map over and over, but (if I'm right) it's a jam and it's totally understandable.
P.S.: I know that saying the following isn't impartial as I'm the author, but consider to use arena_lib to turn it into a really nice minigame that people can put into their servers
This was the first game from the jam that I've seen having a custom icon and background image in the main menu, so +1. Unfortunately, inputs felt a bit clumsy (maybe because I'm used to MisterE Snake 3D, and I admit that it's not that easy to calibrate anyway) and even playing in third person doesn't help as the body of the snake basically covers the whole camera
The first thing I don't understand is why there are monsters roaming through this warehouse. It looks like a puzzle game where you have to find these special presents, but it feels like the author thought fighting was a must have, forcing these creatures in the game. They don't seem to add anything special to it (also, when damaged, they have no feedback but the HP bar changing on their head).
Another thing I can't seem to grasp is how the aisles counting works. I... just can't navigate through them properly, so I have no idea of what present I should open. Furthermore, instructions in chat aren't that handy (why not a GUI or an HUD?) and, if you die, you respawn outside the warehouse, breaking the game
It's broken. I wish it weren't broken because it looks super cool.
cp .minetest/games/lexa/map/ .minetest/worlds/lexa_map/).Heart thumping, warioware type minigame
This minigame, while suffering a bit from the creator's inexperience with game creation, proved challenging enough to keep me from quitting out of frustration.
The presentation is a bit simple, and the aisles could have used some variety; but having to complete the objective combined with keeping enemies at bay with your "butter knife" in the maze of shelving is fun, and only rarely was I swamped by zombies.
Post- Jam development should focus on:
disallowing cheating by climbing shelves with presents;
addressing issues with the mobs (i.e. pathfinding bugs and cheapshots between shelves);
polishing player experience (i.e. a better look for the mall, maybe adding a spooky/ holiday themed music, maybe small story elements);
Overall, a fair attempt for the Jam.
Cool puzzle game!
Needs more polish or more content.
Bug: I had to remove mods/mtr_currency/init.lua:15 to get the game to work.
I like that this game has custom graphics. It doesn't seem like the game has a clear goal. You use the stick to hit the dirt boys and they sometimes drop stuff, but it's not clear what happens next. There's a room on the left that's blocked off but no clear way to get into it. Looks like this game needed more time.
Smiple game with not much content.
There's 4 rooms and some dudes that attack you. I wonder why you make the player teleport between rooms instead of building a large structure. There doesn't seem to be anything to do after you've killed all the dudes and walked through all the rooms.
A worse clone of infinite IKEA
It's buggy and clunky. I teleported outside the ugly copper room several times and had to build a sand pile to get back to the game. I found the present thing. I guess that means I won?
Pushing the boundaries of more than just the engine
Thematically speaking it is quite refreshing to see a game made using the engine that avoids the all too common survival-sandbox game genre. Despite being unfinished, I found it to be enjoyable and at times engaging. For the most part, the simulated opponents behave pretty convincingly like actual racing contestants (though I have seen a few glaringly obvious exceptions). The camera jitter is off-putting and feels like typical engine stuttering, but it is inherent to Minetest’s camera manipulation and cannot be avoided.
The soundtracks are good, and seem appropriate for the environments where they are used. The menus are nice, I quite like the Invector font and rotating character selection images; though I felt they lacked a more personalized background image that could have tied the other elements together well.
The item and weapon indicator textures are relatively easy to distinguish from one another (perhaps improving the accessibility of the game) in shape and colour. Most don’t seem to conflict too much with other visual elements.
The speed boost indicator and weapon selection crystal felt somewhat intuitive and were easy to learn. Some of the weapon indicators were easier to learn than others (rocket, shield, sand, boost variants). This will probably vary for users with differential exposure to similarly designed games, but I think the developer worked well within the creative limitations they had.
It is impressive that there even is a track editor on top of the main game and I would love to see what others make with it. The track editor could use some more builtin tools and documentation, though.
I surmise that (like the other contest submissions) most of the deficiencies would have not existed had the developer been given more time. I am fairly confident that this game will be improved upon further, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.
A very promising project produced by a quality MT dev.
Simple and plain
After a few seconds of gameplay, I now know how to play it. Which causes a problem which is quite apparent (now what do I do next, after placing dozens of homes shops offices etc.)
Fun, but has room for improvement
Pros
Cons
Great Game
The gameplay is great, looks better than subway surfers. Recommanded to anyone who likes games with running.
The best the engine can do is "Solar Plains: Invector"
Jordach is one of a select few modders who like to work against the engine. This game is a piece of art (including textures with meme references and sounds created by Jordach during the jam, which is probably unique) which gets the most out of the engine. Initially it appeared "laggy" to me too, while in reality it isn't - the issue stems from Jordach using the only way the engine provides to set the camera direction, which isn't smooth by default. In order to keep this camera stutter to a minimum, I suggest you enable cinematic camera smoothing and - most importantly - keep your hands off the mouse!
Apart from this, the AIs are a rather amazing demo considering the short timeframe, and a couple effects have been implemented as well. All that is lacking are a couple more maps, which is why in it's current state this is more of an - impressive - tech demo than a fully enjoyable game.
And granted, there are some minor bugs, including a crash. Quality assurance is a time-consuming process finding little place in a game jam; only the most glaring issues can be fixed before release.
Has potential
After playing it a few times I can see where it can become quite overwhelming.
While there isn't any tutorial one could after some time figure out that while the reactor isn't overloaded increase your drills speed so you keep making profit while the game keeps increasing expenses.
I have found a few issues which might cause critical issues in-game:
Now for the positives or things that could be added in the future:
This is non Free/Libre Software
With this License, this software is non-free as in Freedom.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html
Nice game
Even tho I'm generally more a player who enjoys playing bigger RPG-like games, this game is really fun to play. I especially like the concept of gradually porting Minecraft experience to Minetest.
Peaceful
This game is a moment of Zen.
Hang out on a tropical island and collect coconuts.
If you need a break from things, try Coconut Collection.
Very Unique
This is a very unique game in which you navigate the world as an insect.
It is sort of a 3D platformer, except you can't jump.
You crawl on objects and "glide" to other objects
This experience somehow actually makes it feel like you are controlling an insect.
The geometry appears much different than Minetest Game, especially with node outlining turned off.
The formspecs are well done and do a great job of guiding you throughout the experience.
This game is a perfect game jam entry. Just the right amount of content and presents itself very well.
Impressive
This game is very well done and presented in a professional manner.
From the menus to the mechanics and controls, it is very much it's own entity.
The mechanics are simple and fun .
The gameplay loop inspires you to try again and again and improve your skills.
The makings of a quality game.
There is little content but I think what is there is sufficient for the game jam.
The game is aesthetically pleasing, easy to pick up and the mechanics are unique to me.
I see the potential for this to become something like a 3D OpenTTD
I was reminded of OpenTTD while playing Builda City.
If Builda City is further developed in this direction it will probably become one of my favorite games.
Several bugs and basically no cubes
The author paid attention to graphical details, but as I've already said with Stella (another Jam entry), why exactly feature a game with basically no voxels in a voxel engine? Why not on Godot, to name one?
Graphics aside, punching things makes the game crash, time doesn't work and I think that it was used too much text to explain some basic concepts that could have been indirectly narrated
Solid puzzle with Portal humour
I think that, to me, this is the most polished and fun game to play of the whole 2021 jam. I'm not that into puzzle games, but this was very fun and challenging to play. The humour adds personality and little breaks from the challenge, alongside levels that don't tend to be repetitive, always adding something new.
My only critique is how much the game punishes players, making them start from the very beginning when they fail a level (that's what happened to me in the one requiring spatial memory, and I refused to start again). Infinite potions or making people restart that specific level might be a better solution that avoids excessive frustration
A breath of fresh air
A well polished, well rounded jam project that plays nicely and is quite compelling and addictive.
I enjoyed my time memorizing and counting blocks, getting lost on the shop, and having to use the quite unreadable signs to find my way. Even if the shop aspect of this game gets complaints, it's clear the intent is to make navigating the shop a challenge, a disguised maze of sorts, and it works wonderfully while also achieving an unique look.
Movement felt sluggish and the building area was too dimly lit in my opinion. Some textures like the "glass" ones weren't representative of what they actually were.
Some character upgrades would be nice, movement speed, sprint, buying the telescope or the minimap, all could add some more depth to the game.
Well done, I find this to be one of the top submissions.
buggy and underdeveloped game
Zombies can hit you from too far away and you respawn outside the building.
great idea but needs improvements
great concept but it needs some improvements like ability to jump on wagons. the models in this game are great
It is snake I guess
Controls are bad, but not as bad as they could be, when using the WASD keys, you'll go in the direction you probably intended. Going up and down is where most of the problem is at, the camera and the body of the snake get in the way of an enjoyable and smooth experience.
This is a clear case where less is more, a 2D snake clone, or one where the snake actually manouvers on 3D terrain but still moves in 2 dimensions (with the ocasional jump/climbing up hills/walls) would've been more original and more easily executed and fun.
Sound design is next to none but that's alright, since it's just snake, artwork and modeling could be improved upon.
Extra credit for programming everything as far as I checked. Props to the author.
As of now the game has potential post-jam if the camera and movement issues are addressed, since it's a good snake game with a twist.
It would work great as a mod, but not as a stand-alone game
The portal idea unveiling new areas is absolutely great: I can already imagine an RPG requiring you some specific items to unlock certain locations, and I'd really like to push the author to continue it along this modding path. Unfortunately, this is a game and I think that, as such, it turns repetitive after a while. Lack of instructions didn't help either, I had to check out on CDB what to do
Tutorial?
No explanation of what to do or how to get the tutorial, which was later explained to me on discord. IMO the tutorial should be abundantly clear and easy to find (or not even find), specially due to the fact that the tutorial gave you items essential to the game. Furthermore, the textures were simple and when i did find out how to play, the buttons were glitchy and only worked every now and then.
Copying by heart is not that fun
I get that formats like these work on MineCRAFT servers where you have a limited amount of time to copy something whilst racing against other players, but a single-player version felt just... boring, to me. Especially the idea that players had to manually go buying things in a physical space (with signs not always that readable and a flight mode not fast enough) instead of using a polished GUI.
Using blocks as instructions is another thing I would have avoided, as it doesn't allow to easily geolocalise the game.
On the bright side, the author took time to customise the main menu and to add some music, which are always nice things to have
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
Cool game
Very cool game
On the road to greatness
Even though you can't win or lose at the moment, it's still fun to overtake the AI and test out the powerups/mechanics.
Multiplayer and damage would be on top of my wishlist.
Currently reminds me of the good old racers of the PS1, where I spent countless hours.
Also I see some people mentioning performance issues, but on my laptop it ran nicely!
Definitely one to watch!
EDIT: added a bit more info.
100% luck based game
There are games that are somehow based on luck, but here it's just pure luck. I personally don't get where is supposed to be the fun/challenge in pressing a cube, hoping that it's not the wrong one, over and over. Music and main menu are very nice, but the gaming experience is quite debatable (and kind of absent, it's just one room)
Complex game with no instructions
The game experience had started quite nice with a custom main menu and a BGM, but I then found myself lost into too many inputs with no instructions whatsoever. It feels very "developer"-oriented, with a lot of written parameters on the screen (some of them can be easily converted into icons, like the hunger, maybe placed near the health). I know there are instructions here on CDB, but players are not expected to check out a manual before playing: the game should be able to explain itself to them, whether it is via tutorials, hints etc.
Also, the very first launch didn't work, I had to make another world, and I'm personally not a fan of round objects in voxel worlds. Having cuboids for most of the objects would make the game way more lightweight (it took a lot to download compared to other games) and possibly nicer
I'd love to play a city builder game on MT if there were more gameplay
There's not really a lot of gameplay and the tutorial isn't shown right away, but I love being able to fly above my little city and interact with it: it is waay more immersive than just clicking on the buildings (as it happens in classic city builder games); I can imagine how funny it would be to fly on people/vehicles walking on the streets. It also has some good-looking assets. I hope this game will be further developed, 'cause right now there's not enough content to play around with.
Presumably useful for roleplaying servers
Consider expanding upon this mod in the future. Support for something like player entity nametags might be interesting too.
great entertainment
ill be honest, looking at the screenshot for this game and initially opening it, i thought, man, this game is really lackluster and simple looking. i didnt know how wrong i could be. It does have a simple look and bare bones UI (formspecs), but it manages to be a very interesting and challanging puzzle game that can keep you entertained for a while. the one suggestion i would have to improve it is to allow restarting a level, rather than restarting the whole game.
interesting concept
This package leaves me with conflicted view. To start off with, looking at the positives it is a interesting game concept, something different not seen/really done with the minetest engine. the concept of what the game could be is really interesting. onto the cons, from a playability standpoint it simply is just placing some elements and increasing a counter, and after a while it gets boring. additionally you are limited to placing things branching off of existing areas rather than placing things anywhere on the map. in spite of this i think that the game could be a great thing if some of the wanted contributions for features e implemented and could potentionally give the game a point. on the topic of contributions wanted it seems the author wants to keep going with there very odd dreampt up license https://github.com/Splizard/buildacity/blob/d2b30f7aa203c163a6015947bddfb9148a249069/License.txt of which there is a osi thread asking it to be approved https://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-review_lists.opensource.org/2021-February/005068.html which appears to lead nowhere as well as potentially suggesting that git hosting sites forks might not be allowed (not a lawyer disclaimer here). regardless contributing to this code base while something that would be fun to do, seems like something that is probably best to be avoided.
Nice atmosphere, but it lacks of gameplay
I was really happy to see a game taking place in some sort of Ancient Egypt: the first map was really on point talking about level design, wide outside and narrow inside. A few decorations more would have totally helped, and as general taste I would avoid completely round objects inside a voxel game (ie. columns).
However, I wasn't able to understand the sense of the game, especially the white room that was way different from the rest (is the character inside a mental institution? Is there an end? Am I supposed to endlessly cicle?). Unfortunately, gameplay comes before atmosphere (games with a wonderful graphics but with poor gameplay < games with a poor graphics and wonderful gameplay), hence the negative vote.
I wasn't expecting a runner in Minetest, but it's fun
That's definitely not the first game that would pop into my mind when thinking about Minetest (and I don't even think it's a great stand-alone game concept, it feels more like a minigame) but the author made a really nice job porting an endless runner videogame into Minetest. Collecting coins is rewarding, it can jump AND slide (the dead animation also works perfectly, congratulations for using the tools the game already gives you), and with the music defaulted to on it would have been even better.
If I have to find some critiques, putting it into a cave would have made more sense with the title, as the empty sky is somehow out of context. Also, I think that, after a while, the author just copy-pasted a piece of the map over and over, but (if I'm right) it's a jam and it's totally understandable.
P.S.: I know that saying the following isn't impartial as I'm the author, but consider to use arena_lib to turn it into a really nice minigame that people can put into their servers
Can't maneuver properly
This was the first game from the jam that I've seen having a custom icon and background image in the main menu, so +1. Unfortunately, inputs felt a bit clumsy (maybe because I'm used to MisterE Snake 3D, and I admit that it's not that easy to calibrate anyway) and even playing in third person doesn't help as the body of the snake basically covers the whole camera
Confusing
The first thing I don't understand is why there are monsters roaming through this warehouse. It looks like a puzzle game where you have to find these special presents, but it feels like the author thought fighting was a must have, forcing these creatures in the game. They don't seem to add anything special to it (also, when damaged, they have no feedback but the HP bar changing on their head).
Another thing I can't seem to grasp is how the aisles counting works. I... just can't navigate through them properly, so I have no idea of what present I should open. Furthermore, instructions in chat aren't that handy (why not a GUI or an HUD?) and, if you die, you respawn outside the warehouse, breaking the game