Personally, I quite enjoy the trend of simple puzzle games being ported over to Minetest. I think it's a breath of fresh air in a landscape otherwise dominated by the survival-crafting genre. With that said, this version of sudoku is not particularly good.
The problems start at the hotbar. The game represents numbers as physical items, but displays 9 items over of 8 item slots. With none of the items lining up with their slots, keeping track of your selection becomes notably harder than it ought to be.
Due to the vertical presentation of the board, the upper rows are difficult to see or access from the ground. Thus, the player needs to enter flying mode if they want a good shot at completing the puzzle. Rather than enhancing the game or putting a twist on it, the 3rd dimension here only serves to make solving puzzles more of a hassle.
The game has checks to prevent illegal moves, but doesn't have any automatic check to see if you've completed the puzzle. Instead, you must fly over to the block labelled "FINISCH" and punch it. Rather than advancing levels, it then requires you to go back to the level selection blocks, punch the relevant one, and click on the next level. The game doesn't bother telling you which levels are completed either, though it's not hard to guess since they unlock sequentially.
The game suffers from a general lack of polish. Whereas most 'minigames' use the player's inventory as a level menu, this game leaves in the standard Minetest Game menu complete with a crafting grid and craftguide listing every recipe from MTG... There's barely any feedback to moves, and no way to place potential numbers like most Sudoku games do either. The whole thing has serious "barebones proof-of-concept" vibes to it despite having been released 4 years ago and still receiving updates to this day.
I don't think it's impossible to make a puzzle like Sudoku work in Minetest, but this clearly needs more design and development work to be good.
According to the in-game guide, this game was made over the course of 8 years. To be perfectly frank, it looks more like 8 weeks of work at best.
Combat barely functions. Mobs appear to be identical reskins of the same model, are incapable of moving slightly to the side to get around an obstacle, and cease to do damage if the player puts on any piece of armor. A pair of wooden clogs is all it takes to foil these beasts, who will queue up ~2m from the player and respectfully wait to be slain. That is, unless they come in contact with any water which will melt them in seconds. Just to be sure that this wasn't just an early-game thing, I turned on noclip and flew to Y -1,750. The mobs there were no different.
The game's UI is a sprawling mess of menus, full of typos and broken english. I assume english is not the dev's first language, but it makes some sections (such as the guide explaining how the game works) mostly-unintelligible. Of course, none of that excuses the poor layout and UX, which often requires twice as much clicking to do anything as similar games.
The game seems to revolve upgrading a 'battleaxe', which is every tool from MTG combined, indestructible, and better than them in every way. And yet, those tools still exist to clog up the craftguide for no reason...
I could keep going, there's plenty more to say but... the dev clearly doesn't care about the quality of their game, and I'm finding it hard to care about the quality of my review. I think I've given enough examples to make my point.
I feel bad voting this down, since (going by the author's response to another review) it accomplishes everything it sets out to do--it's a simple game where you dig blocks, with a joke about crypto. In a sense, you could call this an interactive art exhibit. It has a message of sorts, and relays it to the viewer through its mechanics. And so, it functions as intended.
However, as a reviewer I try to use my reviews as recommendations to new players. So I have to answer the question of "Is this worth playing?"
In this case, I feel like the answer is no. Since all materials use the same grainy noise texture with different colors, it's rather difficult to use this as a canvas for building. The rarity of most variants-which is very point of the game-makes this even harder. And so, we're really just left with a big ol' pile of brown to dig into. The simple activity of digging is so engrained in Minetest that you can do it in pretty much any game if that's what you're after, so so Mining Game doesn't really bring anything to the table.
Media is subjective, but I think the most engaging way for a piece to deliver a message is by drawing in and engaging the viewer, then capitalizing on that engagement to say something. This game doesn't really do that, and doesn't really offer anything else either.
I have really wanted solid trapdoors that are "hidden" unless someone's studying every node to see what it's metadata says. I am really enjoying having this mod being used on a server so I can check it out. These will definitely improve some of my builds! I would like to see the mod grow to include Cool Trees compatibility.
This mod is great, realistic, and that's what I particularly like in the game. Thanks to these more than magnificent landscapes, we have access to new opportunities to build, with mountains sometimes very close to the sea which are beautiful to see, and delightful to use. Thanks for this fantastic mod.
I noticed a problem which is that along lakes or seas there is water under continents, islands, even trees.
simple animals mod with enough features for a survival server, with an easy to use mob api to add any features you like, might want to check Dmobs for more animals if you are missing some with this one :)
nice mod, adds too many animals and monsters, might want to edit it before using it in your server to make it the way you like, also if you are missing an animal in your server you might find an alternative for it in this mod :) it works with mobs redo so it can be edited easily by anyone.. i like how smooth the dragons in this mod are, yes, this mod includes dragons!
as said in the description 8px, so it won't look that amazing, but when you want a smooth gameplay give this texture pack a try.. recommending this for those who get low FPS especially Capture The Flag players as it supports it :)
The mod is really nice with too many features, however i could not do any good machine with it because of lag, servers that use it always have high max_lag and.. makes high fps lose to those with not very good performance, really cool it'd be if it makes.. less lag, i'd never recommend a mod that causes lag..
The monsters mod that i started minetest with, it is always fun to play when there are monsters around, the mod is easy to use, anyone can make a new monster easily, and it is fully customisable! recommending this mod for every survival server..
Edited/updated review:
to address the orginal review. yes, the mod was using textures that it did not have the rights to. for more on that, read section 4 of https://content.minetest.net/policy_and_guidance/
In my orginal review, i stated "this mod used to be great when it included just the baked clay nodes, for a simple color pallete for pixel artists as well as for accenting builds with a non pattern node" and i still roughly agree with that, personally, i think the "new" nodes dont match the style of the existing ones well, with the "orginal" clay nodes being rather plain and the new ones being rather flashy. addtionally, while it is a minor gripe, and probably not easily fixable with backwards compat, this mod not using hardware coloring for the basic clay nodes causes a waste in node defs, and textures sent. while the node count here is minor, multiple mods doing this add up over time to make a bigger issue. however, as i stated previously, this probably isnt fixable.....easily at least in a backwards compat way, because while you can use an lbm to convert old nodes to the new hardware colored ones, dealing with other mods that (optionally) require this one for crafting recipes would break.
Orginal title:
license issues
Orginal text:
this mod contains modified minecraft textures which the legality of the license is questionable. this mod used to be great when it included just the baked clay nodes, for a simple color pallete for pixel artists as well as for accenting builds with a non pattern node
Interesting concept, poor execution
Personally, I quite enjoy the trend of simple puzzle games being ported over to Minetest. I think it's a breath of fresh air in a landscape otherwise dominated by the survival-crafting genre. With that said, this version of sudoku is not particularly good.
The problems start at the hotbar. The game represents numbers as physical items, but displays 9 items over of 8 item slots. With none of the items lining up with their slots, keeping track of your selection becomes notably harder than it ought to be.
Due to the vertical presentation of the board, the upper rows are difficult to see or access from the ground. Thus, the player needs to enter flying mode if they want a good shot at completing the puzzle. Rather than enhancing the game or putting a twist on it, the 3rd dimension here only serves to make solving puzzles more of a hassle.
The game has checks to prevent illegal moves, but doesn't have any automatic check to see if you've completed the puzzle. Instead, you must fly over to the block labelled "FINISCH" and punch it. Rather than advancing levels, it then requires you to go back to the level selection blocks, punch the relevant one, and click on the next level. The game doesn't bother telling you which levels are completed either, though it's not hard to guess since they unlock sequentially.
The game suffers from a general lack of polish. Whereas most 'minigames' use the player's inventory as a level menu, this game leaves in the standard Minetest Game menu complete with a crafting grid and craftguide listing every recipe from MTG... There's barely any feedback to moves, and no way to place potential numbers like most Sudoku games do either. The whole thing has serious "barebones proof-of-concept" vibes to it despite having been released 4 years ago and still receiving updates to this day.
I don't think it's impossible to make a puzzle like Sudoku work in Minetest, but this clearly needs more design and development work to be good.
How on earth did this take 8 years to make?
According to the in-game guide, this game was made over the course of 8 years. To be perfectly frank, it looks more like 8 weeks of work at best.
Combat barely functions. Mobs appear to be identical reskins of the same model, are incapable of moving slightly to the side to get around an obstacle, and cease to do damage if the player puts on any piece of armor. A pair of wooden clogs is all it takes to foil these beasts, who will queue up ~2m from the player and respectfully wait to be slain. That is, unless they come in contact with any water which will melt them in seconds. Just to be sure that this wasn't just an early-game thing, I turned on noclip and flew to Y -1,750. The mobs there were no different.
The game's UI is a sprawling mess of menus, full of typos and broken english. I assume english is not the dev's first language, but it makes some sections (such as the guide explaining how the game works) mostly-unintelligible. Of course, none of that excuses the poor layout and UX, which often requires twice as much clicking to do anything as similar games.
The game seems to revolve upgrading a 'battleaxe', which is every tool from MTG combined, indestructible, and better than them in every way. And yet, those tools still exist to clog up the craftguide for no reason...
I could keep going, there's plenty more to say but... the dev clearly doesn't care about the quality of their game, and I'm finding it hard to care about the quality of my review. I think I've given enough examples to make my point.
Lifechanging
I never knew I needed this until I installed and tried the mod.
Hard to Recommend
I feel bad voting this down, since (going by the author's response to another review) it accomplishes everything it sets out to do--it's a simple game where you dig blocks, with a joke about crypto. In a sense, you could call this an interactive art exhibit. It has a message of sorts, and relays it to the viewer through its mechanics. And so, it functions as intended.
However, as a reviewer I try to use my reviews as recommendations to new players. So I have to answer the question of "Is this worth playing?"
In this case, I feel like the answer is no. Since all materials use the same grainy noise texture with different colors, it's rather difficult to use this as a canvas for building. The rarity of most variants-which is very point of the game-makes this even harder. And so, we're really just left with a big ol' pile of brown to dig into. The simple activity of digging is so engrained in Minetest that you can do it in pretty much any game if that's what you're after, so so Mining Game doesn't really bring anything to the table.
Media is subjective, but I think the most engaging way for a piece to deliver a message is by drawing in and engaging the viewer, then capitalizing on that engagement to say something. This game doesn't really do that, and doesn't really offer anything else either.
Best mineclone of all time…
because:
It's nicer then minecraft as modder
You have in mtg more freedom than in minecraft in fall mods. Thank you for no Overmodify!
Simple, Balanced with Easy modifiable code
A simple mod without non needed stuff, it includes everything a person might need with bonemeal, with an easy editable and well commented code.
Is complicated but good
The cannon has destroy all my world
Good mod
I encounter this mod in random :v
I cant complete hard mode :d
A good and simple game
A very good mod
This mod is essential for a complete minetest experience
Best technic modpack which is for minetest downloadable
It is really the best technic modpack which is downloadable for minetest. Other i can't say.
Wow
Wow, only wow. From the idea to implementation. Only wow.
This mod is fantastic
I like this mod really. Thank you very much.
Nether..
cool mod, i really underestimated it before trying it out, good job in making it! will be nice to have more biomes tho
cool
nice mod,good for chimneys or decorative steam or smoke sources. also i use it in my sawmill as sawdust.
These are awesome!
I have really wanted solid trapdoors that are "hidden" unless someone's studying every node to see what it's metadata says. I am really enjoying having this mod being used on a server so I can check it out. These will definitely improve some of my builds! I would like to see the mod grow to include Cool Trees compatibility.
A new side of the game
This mod is great, realistic, and that's what I particularly like in the game. Thanks to these more than magnificent landscapes, we have access to new opportunities to build, with mountains sometimes very close to the sea which are beautiful to see, and delightful to use. Thanks for this fantastic mod.
I noticed a problem which is that along lakes or seas there is water under continents, islands, even trees.
Simple Animals
simple animals mod with enough features for a survival server, with an easy to use mob api to add any features you like, might want to check Dmobs for more animals if you are missing some with this one :)
Extremely like Minecraft
Very similar like Minecraft (but some stuff yet to be done to be perfectly like Minecraft). Can almost say "Minecraft for free". Nice Work!
Good Horse
smooth, with light model and nice animation, a simple horse with an easily editable code.. want a horse? this is the best choice
so good
very cool game. good alternative to mcl2!
спасибо, в общем :-)
More Mobs!
nice mod, adds too many animals and monsters, might want to edit it before using it in your server to make it the way you like, also if you are missing an animal in your server you might find an alternative for it in this mod :) it works with mobs redo so it can be edited easily by anyone.. i like how smooth the dragons in this mod are, yes, this mod includes dragons!
better dirt..
makes the dirt look better, it was nice moving in a world with ethereal with this texture pack activated
A smooth texture pack
as said in the description 8px, so it won't look that amazing, but when you want a smooth gameplay give this texture pack a try.. recommending this for those who get low FPS especially Capture The Flag players as it supports it :)
Cool but..
The mod is really nice with too many features, however i could not do any good machine with it because of lag, servers that use it always have high max_lag and.. makes high fps lose to those with not very good performance, really cool it'd be if it makes.. less lag, i'd never recommend a mod that causes lag..
Best Transportation Way
it is nice & more realistic to use trains as the main transportation way in your server.. without using anyway to teleport..
Very Useful
Really useful mod, that saves time, to.. clean griefing, building huge projects in your world.. basicly editing the world
i don't recommend using it in a server without singleplayer practice
Simple..
This is a simple inventory mod.. if you don't know what inventory mod to use in your server, i recommend this for you..
Bags
good way to make people keep stuff after death, to make a hard survival server.. i'd keep only the smallest bag tho
Sneak Glitch!
Amzing mod that brings back our favorite glitch! :D
Monsters!
The monsters mod that i started minetest with, it is always fun to play when there are monsters around, the mod is easy to use, anyone can make a new monster easily, and it is fully customisable! recommending this mod for every survival server..
some thoughts
Edited/updated review:
to address the orginal review. yes, the mod was using textures that it did not have the rights to. for more on that, read section 4 of https://content.minetest.net/policy_and_guidance/
In my orginal review, i stated "this mod used to be great when it included just the baked clay nodes, for a simple color pallete for pixel artists as well as for accenting builds with a non pattern node" and i still roughly agree with that, personally, i think the "new" nodes dont match the style of the existing ones well, with the "orginal" clay nodes being rather plain and the new ones being rather flashy. addtionally, while it is a minor gripe, and probably not easily fixable with backwards compat, this mod not using hardware coloring for the basic clay nodes causes a waste in node defs, and textures sent. while the node count here is minor, multiple mods doing this add up over time to make a bigger issue. however, as i stated previously, this probably isnt fixable.....easily at least in a backwards compat way, because while you can use an lbm to convert old nodes to the new hardware colored ones, dealing with other mods that (optionally) require this one for crafting recipes would break.
Orginal title:
license issues
Orginal text:
this mod contains modified minecraft textures which the legality of the license is questionable. this mod used to be great when it included just the baked clay nodes, for a simple color pallete for pixel artists as well as for accenting builds with a non pattern node
Click
Never really had the urge to staple bread to things, but it's very handy for bready decoration :)
Floaty
A nuisance that moans in your general direction, love it :)
Lights, action!
Very colourful, perfect for home decoration :)
Deaf now
Almost pooped myself when she appeared on my day old bones and screamed in my ear.
Pumpkin time!
Autumn is almost here and time for some tasty treats.
You shall not pass
Make sure you are well kitted out with armor and weapons before going anywhere near this guy.
Om nom nom
Amazing selection of tasty treats.