I had high hopes for this mod, especially since it came with its own command block mod, but it spams "Server: nil" into the console every 3 seconds on the dot, and even more concerningly, there seems to be inconsistencies with which commands are available on each login. the /help menu will list between 1 and 8 commands available, and the ones not on the list just give the 'invalid command' message. I can confirm that, within the same world that had only: this mod, better command blocks, and mesecons (required by command blocks), the 'damage' command was available at one point, but just by relogging seems to have disabled it...
also, some commands mentioned in /help will be partial words, such as /w or /tm, which are not from the game-that-shall-not-be-named and cannot be found on the wiki. at least twice, i have used them only to crash to the main menu instantly.
again, had high hopes for this mod, love the concept and wanted to use the scoreboard functions, but there are some serious issues here.
I don't agree with the rest of the reviewers on this one, I don't think it deserves the negativity, even if not full of content, it's a functional original game
Stellua is a great start and has lots of potential, the main mechanics are present, you can travel from one planet to other, and there's a bit of variety even if there's not a lot of detail. Your spaceship is maneuverable and moddable, and most important, is functional.
This survival game tries to be a little different and I appreciate the new art style.
2×2 textures? :-) It was interesting to explore the different biomes and the cute trees you built. I like the night sky. This simple glow effect in the clouds was nice to look at. I like when people use the simple tools of Luanti without any hacks to create a nice effect.
But I admit I didn't play with the highest graphics settings tho.
I disliked the vertical hotbar and quickly switched to the horizonal one. It's very hard to get used to the vertical one.
The downside is that the gameplay feels lacking. Unfortunately, I don't know how to proceed. I tried to make iron ingots but the instructions are just too confusing. After trying a few times, I gave up. I managed to make fire at least and light some trees on fire lol.
I wish this game had a crafting guide. Not even the README tells me a lot of information. Which is a bummer because I would have liked to see the other parts of the game. :-(
Overall, I have to give a thumbs down because of the confusing gameplay and the game help … well … doesn’t help me so I quickly became stuck in this game, not knowing what to do. :-(
But still thanks for posting this, it was still interesting to look at for a while.
I almost feel like I played this game before in previous game jams which also featured space stations. Sure, it's not exactly the same, but not very innovative. :-(
The story, sorry, just feels lackluster. You wake up in a space station and try to figure out what happened. You basically run from area to area to do some thing in a simple quest system. The graphics are okayish. The audio is … ugh. The heavy breathing makes me nervous. I know the breathing is intentional but still.
I did not really have fun playing it, playing it once was more than enough.
I think the reason is the game just failed to set the right mood/atmosphere to me, there is not really a sense of danger. And the story was not really capturing to me. Sorry. :-(
Just play literally any dice game with friends IRL and you'll have a better experience
This game is technically a complete game but extremely simple. You just throw dice in the hope to get only the number 2-6 but not 1 so you add to your score. Sorry, but I don't think this is enough to justify a full
entry in the ContentDB, frankly. I would have expected at least a couple of dice games, and not just one.
Also, for such a simple game concept, I think polishing is absolutely crucial. A simple but well-polished game can make a world of a difference. Sadly, this game is not polished at all.
It's just a mishmash of existing mod code, including the dice (this is literally my own dice2 mod btw), are just copied into the. While this is not forbidden (I'm not arguing from a copyright / game jam rules standpoint), it kind of misses the point of a game jam if you couldn't even be bothered to make the key aspects of the game yourself.
And the core game mechanic is very unpolished. Using the chat to show the game status is an absolute no-go for me. At least the game itself works but that's not enough to create a fun game. :-(
The concept (explore different star systens and planets) sounds exciting on paper but in practice I get bored very fast. I'm really sorry, that's just how it is. :-(
OK, sure, this game has a large number of worlds and star systems to choose from but … I don't really have a reason to explore. Sure, I get different metals and plants and stuff but I don't really know what do to with it. And sadly, most planets feel the same.
Maybe I'm just too arrogant to find the fun part of the game but the game doesn't show me where the fun is.
I think the reason is the game suffers from the "Big Empty Sandbox" problem as described by Jim-Stephanie Sterling. The game advertises how "big" it is and that may be true but the problem is, there aren't many interesting things you can do in the big sandbox, the big worlds quickly repeat themselves. The sandbox may
be big, but it also feels empty. Which is poison for any sandbox game. Good sandbox games allow you to do stuff. Lots of stuff.
Unfortunately, it looks like this game was left in a very early stage. It's like a pre-alpha? You spawn in some kind of room of metal and all you can do is go through the exit and then you see a large empty world.
The puzzle idea is not that innovative (It's mostly a Bloxorz clone), but it's OK.
I appreciate the author has put thought into the push/color mechanic.
Especially the puzzles get hard fast. It seems the author took their time to put it all together.
Unfortunately, they're hard not in an engaging way. It feels very punishing early on.
The game mechanics take time to get used to and the early levels do not do a great job introducing them. You have to memorize the help page (that is only shown once and then gone forever. Not great).
What is especially confusing is the meaning of color. You might think the colored side of the block must touch the colored floor tile but no. It only counts if the matching color is on the opposite site. Very confusing. Oh, and also not friendly to colorblind people.
The biggest downside of this game is the complete lack of polishing. There is no level selection. There is no music. The sounds are the most generic sounds ever. The block you're moving is not visibly animated, instead it takes steps instantly. Even Bloxorz, a simple old Flash game, featured such animations. The lack of animations makes it hard to follow what is going on. The active block looks identical to the passive blocks you can push around, making it easy to forget which one is "your" block. There is no "undo" or "restart level" feature. The background is literally the default sky. The textures also don't look that great.
The lack of polishing is such a shame because I think the game does have potential but if the game looks like default.
Neutral rating because the puzzle idea is nice, but the generic look and feel ruins the experience for me, sadly. :-(
Dungeon crawler puzzle with dark mood (in a good way)
I liked the dark blue gloomy atmosphere. The game comes with cut scenes which was a neat surprise, but it was somewhat hacky because Luanti doesn't allow you to lock the camera yet.
Basically this is a dungeon explorer/puzzle game. You have to explore the dungeon and solve simple puzzles by moving some kind of electricity (?) with a wand. I like the mix of "ancient mystery dungeon" and "electronics". The story is simple but I kind of wanted to know how it ends. It seems you cannot die, so it's entirely a puzzle game. It's nice to explore dungeons without deadly danger behind every corner. :D
There are not many types of blocks, but the level design I have seen so far is nice. It feels like the dungeon is absolutely HUGE for a game jam game. The sliding doors were a nice touch that sets this dungeon apart. And they work absolutely perfect, with no flickering, seams or other visual oddities.
Overall, I liked the mood of this game, even if there wasn't music.
Unfortunately I was unable to complete the game because I was stuck at the part after you free the prisoner. I was unable to find a way across the abyss. Maybe I will be able to finish it later.
But I think for this simple concept the game was very-well executed. Thumbs up from me.
I think this game has the best artwork of the game jam. The village is simple but cute. The surrounding landscape is cool. I liked the red plants. I liked the mini-lanterns. I liked the simple huts. The level of darkness
(that this game is about) is just right. I'm just a sucker for good pixel art. ;-)
This game is a simple adventure with a very simple quest system. You need to use books from a library to fend off the darkness. What was a little weird is that you have to literally type something in the chat to proceed but OK.
I would have wished the game would be a bit larger because the story is REALLY short. Especially the Library was surprisingly small and actually not a really important part of a story. Given from the title, I would have expected the search for books would be important but it turned out to be very easy.
Many people just outright refuse to talk to you and do not contribute anything to the story. But I guess this is what we get in a game jam. ;-)
While I enjoyed this short game simply because of the world/map, I have to say, the story itself was a bit generic. Why is the darkness evil? Why does it hate books or knowledge? How does it affect the villagers? I think this could have been explored more. But still!
Anyway, while the game may be short, it is very solidly executed start from finish. Therefore a recommend from me.
Resources are scarce and you have to pick the perfect starting spot if you don't want to be forced to wait FOREVER for your resource counters to grow. Growing your empire becomes hard soon. In a non-fun way.
The only way to reasonably expand is by storage units where yourpeople can drop off resources. But it comes at a hefty price: 500 stone! Which is half the amount you get from a big stone mine.
And those are rare and, of course, don't regenerate. Food and wood regenerate and won't be a problem early in the game but for stone and metal, you must expand into the deserts. Which is quite hard or impossible if you picked the wrong starting position. Once a stone/metal mine is too far away, you come to a screeching halt.
The game has a workaround. I can always collect resources manually but this is slow and feels a bit like cheating but often is the only way to proceed. :-(
After I have build every building and I depleted the metal and stone in my nearby surroundings, I quickly lost interest even before the first goblin army arrived.
This game really puts Luanti to its limits by doing things that seem impossible. It's a 3rd person shooter which is highly unusual for Luanti.
The gameplay is quite well-executed. While the objective is quite simple (walk to all control points and survive against the hordes), there are 5 difficulty levels. The mining laser is very fun. There is a surpringly large number of weapons and they feel mostly balanced. I would have wished if there was some kind of unlock mechanic and multiple levels.
Well, there are 5 difficulty levels. I managed to beat the first 3 so far.
The graphics qualitily is good but inconsistent. First we have a very nice-looking robot model which is expertly executed. Also the GUI is well-made pixel art. The robot rotation is absolutely smooth. The shooting particles and sound effects are well-made.
BUT then we have odd floor textures with visible seams everywhere. Lava textures are just textures and for some reason don't hurt you.
But the biggest downside of this game is that it's quite obviously a giant HACK and uses MANY dirty tricks
to work. I appreciate the experimentation for a game jam and love that it was attempted. And I rate this game very high. But it's not enough for a ContentDB recommendation due to instability.
The map is full of dark spots, making it quite unfair/frustrating to fight the enemies because they're basically invisible in darkness. The darkness isn't a fog-of-war. The map doesn't light up close to you. The camera movement is very weird due to the hacky nature of this game but it's amazing it works at all.
I give this one a neutral rating but only because of the HACKS. But for a game jam, this is great.
I think this game is a great demonstration of why Luanti needs more camera options. :D I hope one day there will be a way to fix the hackery so that it becomes a serious game.
EDIT: Oh, the audio of this game is good. Voice acting in a game jam game is very cool. :-)
This game has a simple quest: You must slay some hidden beast. To do that, you have to discover two areas and then drop into some kind of dungeon.
The graphics are custom and include 3D models but everything looks really bad and clunky.
Then the game has a lot of bugs: The beast didn't even spawn in the final arena (and I didn't bother to check why). There are missing textures. You can dig through the ground and fall into the void (and the game doesn't reset you).
The game overall is quite boring. The quest is too simple, you basically just have to walk in a small forest to reach targets on a map. The map helps you.
The final dungeon looked a bit better than the rest, but it still was just a (mostly) simple linear corridor and unfortunately, at the end, no beast to be found here (bug?).
This is barely even a game. There's not much to do. It looks like a VERY early pre-alpha version. Just a grass biome with small trees, an ocean, and that's it. No music, no sound, no mobs, no crafting (at least I didn't discover any recipes), no plants besides trees.
Good idea, but unplayable because when i was going up with shift + space, the games teleports me somewhere and make me loose control of the ship, i tried getting back by jumping on the seat, but it doesn't work. Then i got out and i fell in the space.
Eyeballs is puzzle platformer with a slight horror theme.
Ambiance is immaculate and great care has been put into creating a cohesive experience,
The music and sound design is also impeccable, feels kind of nostalgic in some way.
A well rounded experience, gameplay and mechanics are thought out and polished. Mistakes are unforgiving and will set you back to the beggining of the level. Oddly, the gameplay became more enjoyable in third person. I have to admit it's very hard and I didn't get that far.
It is a very safe game, does not bring anything particularly novel to the table, but everything is done very well.
ETB begins with a sort of expository presentation on the background and history to put you in the scene.
It's a complete game, and it's one of the few I actually played from start to finish.
You explore a bit, find certain key areas, go into the beast's lair and defeat it, a very straightforward story.
Seems like a lot of effort went into crafting the world and creating the whole scenario, so I'd say it accomplishes the task, even if it is a bit rough around the edges.
Artifact starts up strong with an unexpected fully animated cinematic, plus dialogue in the form of text boxes. This seems like it's present in other areas of the game as there are some extra key scenes that are also animated.
Objective is not clear straight up, but after a bit of exploring you find out it's a puzzle game with a focus on reconnecting circuits of some sort.
Lighting is way too dark and I had to bump up my monitor's brightness to be able to see certain puzzle elements, and probably missed a lot as well, because of this, at some point I got stuck and quit.
A good start for what could end up being an immersive puzzle game.
1042 is a yet-to-be-completed survival game, the aesthetic is pleasing, simple 2 by 2 textures. Sound is a bit lacking. Effects like snowfall and rain are present and add to ambiance as well, but the world feels barren.
Hud is interesting as well, with the inclusion of a readme, gameplay, and credit buttons to read documentation in game.
There is still a lot of room for improvement but I see the potential, and this is a good foundation.
On a side note, at first I spawned in a huge snow biome and couldn't really progress since there's no sticks, so I had to create a new world. Not the best start.
Extra Ordinance is either a top down twin-stick shooter or a third person shooter wave clearing game.
Drops you right into action, after a bit of (great) voice acting you start blasting your way thru ant-like creatures, the graphic effects and sound design is really well done, it's likely one of the most unique games made in the Luanti engine to date.
Textures are great, models are great, menus are great, UI is great as well but could use some improvement.
The camera is a bit problematic, the engine doesn't handle this kind of top down camera angles well, and you need to aim way higher than expected in order to actually hit the enemies, this is a bit annoying but I guess it could be fixed in the next updates.
Currently it feels like a one-stage demo, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this game develops.
Hm...another MTG-like game, just without dependency on "default". Again Minecraft-like crafting (3x3). The textures look very prototypy (and probably are). I sure like that you cannot cut trees with your bare hands, something I always found strange in MTG or MC. Also I was killed by a hailstorm, nice idea. I always wanted hazardous environment (maybe not that hazardous as in Exile).
As in "Wishful" I must ask why you don't take some other non-MTG survival game and build upon that. I'd recommend Repixture. Personally I like the approach of NodeCore, where you craft in-game and cannot carry 500 tons of rock around with you. I just don't think that we need yet another from-scratch approach to survival games, as long as it doesn't bring any breaking change.
As a Jam Game, Extra Ordinance is very fun, which is more than I can say for most entries, and which is probably the most important aspect of the game. However, this game is more than a winning Jam entry: it is a glimpse of the future of Luanti. The author pushes the limitations of Minetest. The engine limitations are obvious, but do not break gameplay. The multiplayer support is ready, if only client-side prediction were available. The map sometimes flutters in and out of exisitance due to Luanti's lack of realtime client map control, but the gameplay is too fun for that to break it. None of these limitations prevent the game from being engaging.
What the game does show is that Luanti is almost ready to break out of the mold of Minecraft-likes and become a full-fledged engine. It points the way toward the next steps in that direction. It thwarts the too-common vicious cycle of no one working on features because no one is doing anything that requires the features, by creating something that works but could be (and ought to be) better.
If the engine limitations that are holding this game back are resolved, we can likely expect this game to reach its full potential, and we can expect many more high-quality mold-breaking games in the future.
This game is what the Jam is all about, thank you Sumi for making it!
The map is well made, albiet very dark in some areas. The puzzles are fun, although I did have a few doors that I was completely unable to get open and had to cheat my way through. I think doing that, probably broke some of the endgame elements.
Some of the longer text elements cleared from the screen before I was able to read them, although had I not been reading them outloud for the video I was recording that probably wouldn't have been an issue.
I own up that this game was pretty useful a few years ago, when not a lot of great games populated the top spots of ContentDB. However, I don't see the point of it today: we have games like mineos and Extra Ordinance, showcasing what it can be done with Luanti, and games that actually explain to the player what they should do without guessing keys or else. Their gameplay speaks way louder than an interactive tutorial, which needs to be updated every time some new aspects are introduced into the engine (so a lot of burden for the author).
It could be argued that it might still be useful for modders, but the modding book already provides a foundation for anyone who wants to start modding, and this game is in general pretty oriented towards MTG-like games anyway (which, again, were the norm a few years ago, but that are only a part of the whole now).
I'm basically downvoting this because I think that it has run its course, and having new players actually playing this thinking that it's everything that Luanti can be is misleading. I'd rather see actual games in the first spots, rather than a tutorial about games (which, last but not least, was thought for PCs only). Quality-wise, I also find it too dispersive.
This is some hard puzzle. I must admit, I haven't even solved the third checkpoint yet. But it makes me keep trying. Nice one. As others already wrote: a little balancing could help reduce initial frustration. Some background music and maybe a guy giving a few hints would also be nice.
But...a nice game taken the time you had.
I am really impressed! This game shows what the Luanti engine is capable of doing! Creating it “just for a game jam” is even more impressive and shows deep understanding of how the engine works.
Good atmosphere, very short, easy to skip important things.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
This game was very short: my curiosity caused some things to be skipped over. When the game started, I harrassed an NPC until I'd read every line, then after meeting the wizard, the game put red arrows over some of the NPCs just for me to hear the same lines again. After entering the library, I noticed all the English-title books in the bright red shelves and took them, so when the darkness met me on the way to the pedestals, I had no previous context for why it said "I warned you." Then, after I banished the darkness and left the pedestals, the darkness came back to me and gave me a warning not to read books. :') The theme was very similar to The Velvet Crystal from last year's Game Jam.
Overall though, I like the look and feel of the game. The textures go well together, the music is nice, and the spell mechanics were a neat touch. I think if there were good ways to restrict the player so that the story is played out better, and if the game were a little longer, I would make a positive review. This game deserves more story!
This game was fairly enjoyable. I'm not very good at parkour, but I like the unique eyeball game mechanics. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far in the game. In the level with all the columns and the light switches, I would respawn in complete and utter darkness, with no way of knowing where I was. The textures and sounds are pretty good, and fit well together. I don't know anyone else who came across the same issue as I did, so I might retry it and see how far I can get.
I played long enough to complete several levels. The mechanics are difficult to work with at first and take time to get used to, but each level is pretty quick. There's a good sense of accomplishment; finishing a level is satisfying and rewarding. I also enjoyed some of the clever ways that the puzzles were solved. The graphics and sounds are simple, but refined and cohesive. This game take a little bit of patience, but it's quite enjoyable, and I recommend it!
Atmosphere is great, the low background music, though short and repetitive, fits well.
It feels more like a demo because there are few, easy puzzles. But I see great potential if you extend this game. The hints in books are a nice idea.
I wonder if it's a bug that the shadow didn't kill me on the second encounter (½. heart left).
I mean, this is not the first collect/build/fight game but somehow I like it. The little guys are cute. The buildings have been built with love. I get the "Die Siedler" feeling :)
There is no sound, docs could be better, animations I miss, but it's perfectly playable, once you understand the mechanics. Keep it up!
Turning Luanti into a top down shooter is possible
I won't lie, this is almost as mindblowing as mineos was in last year's jam. I thought I knew what Luanti can do but this game says the contrary.
As the game has already received a lot of compliments, I won't repeat much here. I was more shocked by what the author did that from the actual gameplay (which is a solid 7 anyway). Graphics are highly refined (e.g. the ground using a non pixelated texture that perfectly espouses the aesthetics nonetheless), sounds as well (e.g. the operator voice with the radio static) and the game is in general a great showcase for Luanti. Do we also want to talk about the camera's movement which just works?
The author put a lot of effort to do something like this in 3 weeks and the community is definitely showing their gratitude. I'd gladly join them, congratulations!
No goals, no instructions, no sounds, nothing. Probably just the beginning of some project which didn't make it in time, there's nothing to play here at the moment
Interesting idea, but a bit too slow and punishing
The concept is interesting and the author knows what they're doing. The whole game revolves around one simple mechanic, which makes it very easy to grasp, in a series of levels that are not really ordered by difficulty, but rather by author experiments. Audio is well refined (one the few games of this jam actually featuring a soundtrack) and graphics are as well, so nothing to say - I'm not a fan of the round shaped eyes but in this case it's really not that important.
Gameplay-wise, however, the game felt kind of heavy at times, not as smooth as I'd like. The worst case was when the level involved a lot of walking and you failed right at the end (e.g. the halls with pillars and light switches), not really involving me to try again (I went on for a few levels more). This ruined the experience of something that could have been pretty fun if well dosed, as the annoyance surpassed the curiosity. I'd score it a 6.5 out of 10, which is closer to the neutral vote
Big maze with a refined graphical and sound system
The game started amazingly: a cutscene, in Luanti, with proper animations (!). I was mesmerized. Unfortunately after that I found myself stuck twice in a pitch black area, to only find out (by reading another review here) that it's a bug. Using the solution suggested in the review, I teleported myself in the actual area the player is expected to play in and I decided to give it a chance. And that's where I found back my enthusiasm.
Sounds are well-finished, the animation of doors is great, no useless inventory, custom HUD. However, my enthusiasm kept decreasing as long as I kept playing. The game is basically a big maze, with a refined graphical and sound system. If my first reaction when opening a door was of amazement, after the 40th one in 5 minutes with basically nothing else happening was "oh, ok, door..". I didn't finish it as I found myself stuck in a room where I couldn't see basically anything, but in general the game wasn't entertaining enough after the first minutes and I wasn't really interested in continuing. Running through the maze became a chore, which is a pity, considering the focus that the author has put on the artistic side
All you can do is walk around, watch, mine wood, leaves and dirt, and that's it. No recipes, nothing. Not even help or a hint.
Edit: now I understood that it's not meant as a game but rather a new game base like MTG. But the mechanics look pretty much like MTG, e.g., the 3x3 crafting grid. Why reinvent the wheel? If you want to make an MTG-like game, make one out of MTG.
There are already at least two good alternative approaches, Repixture and NodeCore. Both do not depend on "default" and have a new, unique style of crafting and mechanics. Why not build upon them instead of starting from scratch?
Being a jam, I think the author played smart by making a small game: both in game length (around 5 minutes) and in map size (you're in a spaceship). They also tried to add some elements as to grant immersions, i.e. the breathing, the text telling you a story and the interactions with the environment (e.g. PCs telling you that can't be turned on). They were also able to create some suspence here and there, which I appreciated.
Unfortunately the overall experience doesn't really stand out, turning the game in basically a "go from point A to B" and a risky parkour. I think the basic concepts for making a game are there, just, the author needs to work on the game experience (in general; I'd invite them to see this attempt as a closed chapter and experiment with something new). Last but not least, I wasn't sure if at the end I had glitched the game or if I had actually finished it (until the HUD popped up)
I don't even know where to begin. The game is very well done, and fun to play. It took me a few deaths to figure out the countdown after the blue ring was the amount of enemies remaining, and not how much time I had to get to the next blue ring. No shortage of loadout options either. Very impressive for a three week timeframe.
Seems to be highly bugged, even when by itself
I had high hopes for this mod, especially since it came with its own command block mod, but it spams "Server: nil" into the console every 3 seconds on the dot, and even more concerningly, there seems to be inconsistencies with which commands are available on each login. the /help menu will list between 1 and 8 commands available, and the ones not on the list just give the 'invalid command' message. I can confirm that, within the same world that had only: this mod, better command blocks, and mesecons (required by command blocks), the 'damage' command was available at one point, but just by relogging seems to have disabled it... also, some commands mentioned in /help will be partial words, such as /w or /tm, which are not from the game-that-shall-not-be-named and cannot be found on the wiki. at least twice, i have used them only to crash to the main menu instantly.
again, had high hopes for this mod, love the concept and wanted to use the scoreboard functions, but there are some serious issues here.
The beginning of something
I don't agree with the rest of the reviewers on this one, I don't think it deserves the negativity, even if not full of content, it's a functional original game
Stellua is a great start and has lots of potential, the main mechanics are present, you can travel from one planet to other, and there's a bit of variety even if there's not a lot of detail. Your spaceship is maneuverable and moddable, and most important, is functional.
Very WIP
Kobo is what could be the first RTS game made in Luanti, design is rough and gameplay is experimental, but it's got potential
The artstyle is very charming, I think this is an unexpected genre where Luanti would be very good as an engine
Once you lose you can still visit your world, but you'll need to create a new one in order to start a new game
Choosing the wrong spot for your base may prove a fatal mistake, as you can't really move far it, and units depend on it
Worth trying out in the current state, and looking forward to further development
I’m confused …
This survival game tries to be a little different and I appreciate the new art style. 2×2 textures? :-) It was interesting to explore the different biomes and the cute trees you built. I like the night sky. This simple glow effect in the clouds was nice to look at. I like when people use the simple tools of Luanti without any hacks to create a nice effect.
But I admit I didn't play with the highest graphics settings tho.
I disliked the vertical hotbar and quickly switched to the horizonal one. It's very hard to get used to the vertical one.
The downside is that the gameplay feels lacking. Unfortunately, I don't know how to proceed. I tried to make iron ingots but the instructions are just too confusing. After trying a few times, I gave up. I managed to make fire at least and light some trees on fire lol.
I wish this game had a crafting guide. Not even the README tells me a lot of information. Which is a bummer because I would have liked to see the other parts of the game. :-(
Overall, I have to give a thumbs down because of the confusing gameplay and the game help … well … doesn’t help me so I quickly became stuck in this game, not knowing what to do. :-(
But still thanks for posting this, it was still interesting to look at for a while.
Generic space accident
I almost feel like I played this game before in previous game jams which also featured space stations. Sure, it's not exactly the same, but not very innovative. :-(
The story, sorry, just feels lackluster. You wake up in a space station and try to figure out what happened. You basically run from area to area to do some thing in a simple quest system. The graphics are okayish. The audio is … ugh. The heavy breathing makes me nervous. I know the breathing is intentional but still.
I did not really have fun playing it, playing it once was more than enough.
I think the reason is the game just failed to set the right mood/atmosphere to me, there is not really a sense of danger. And the story was not really capturing to me. Sorry. :-(
Just play literally any dice game with friends IRL and you'll have a better experience
This game is technically a complete game but extremely simple. You just throw dice in the hope to get only the number 2-6 but not 1 so you add to your score. Sorry, but I don't think this is enough to justify a full entry in the ContentDB, frankly. I would have expected at least a couple of dice games, and not just one.
Also, for such a simple game concept, I think polishing is absolutely crucial. A simple but well-polished game can make a world of a difference. Sadly, this game is not polished at all.
It's just a mishmash of existing mod code, including the dice (this is literally my own dice2 mod btw), are just copied into the. While this is not forbidden (I'm not arguing from a copyright / game jam rules standpoint), it kind of misses the point of a game jam if you couldn't even be bothered to make the key aspects of the game yourself.
And the core game mechanic is very unpolished. Using the chat to show the game status is an absolute no-go for me. At least the game itself works but that's not enough to create a fun game. :-(
Big Empty Sandbox?
The concept (explore different star systens and planets) sounds exciting on paper but in practice I get bored very fast. I'm really sorry, that's just how it is. :-(
OK, sure, this game has a large number of worlds and star systems to choose from but … I don't really have a reason to explore. Sure, I get different metals and plants and stuff but I don't really know what do to with it. And sadly, most planets feel the same.
Maybe I'm just too arrogant to find the fun part of the game but the game doesn't show me where the fun is.
I think the reason is the game suffers from the "Big Empty Sandbox" problem as described by Jim-Stephanie Sterling. The game advertises how "big" it is and that may be true but the problem is, there aren't many interesting things you can do in the big sandbox, the big worlds quickly repeat themselves. The sandbox may be big, but it also feels empty. Which is poison for any sandbox game. Good sandbox games allow you to do stuff. Lots of stuff.
Early demo?
Unfortunately, it looks like this game was left in a very early stage. It's like a pre-alpha? You spawn in some kind of room of metal and all you can do is go through the exit and then you see a large empty world.
That's it. That's the whole game. :-(
If the game would just have better polishing …
The puzzle idea is not that innovative (It's mostly a Bloxorz clone), but it's OK. I appreciate the author has put thought into the push/color mechanic.
Especially the puzzles get hard fast. It seems the author took their time to put it all together.
Unfortunately, they're hard not in an engaging way. It feels very punishing early on. The game mechanics take time to get used to and the early levels do not do a great job introducing them. You have to memorize the help page (that is only shown once and then gone forever. Not great).
What is especially confusing is the meaning of color. You might think the colored side of the block must touch the colored floor tile but no. It only counts if the matching color is on the opposite site. Very confusing. Oh, and also not friendly to colorblind people.
The biggest downside of this game is the complete lack of polishing. There is no level selection. There is no music. The sounds are the most generic sounds ever. The block you're moving is not visibly animated, instead it takes steps instantly. Even Bloxorz, a simple old Flash game, featured such animations. The lack of animations makes it hard to follow what is going on. The active block looks identical to the passive blocks you can push around, making it easy to forget which one is "your" block. There is no "undo" or "restart level" feature. The background is literally the default sky. The textures also don't look that great.
The lack of polishing is such a shame because I think the game does have potential but if the game looks like default.
Neutral rating because the puzzle idea is nice, but the generic look and feel ruins the experience for me, sadly. :-(
Dungeon crawler puzzle with dark mood (in a good way)
I liked the dark blue gloomy atmosphere. The game comes with cut scenes which was a neat surprise, but it was somewhat hacky because Luanti doesn't allow you to lock the camera yet.
Basically this is a dungeon explorer/puzzle game. You have to explore the dungeon and solve simple puzzles by moving some kind of electricity (?) with a wand. I like the mix of "ancient mystery dungeon" and "electronics". The story is simple but I kind of wanted to know how it ends. It seems you cannot die, so it's entirely a puzzle game. It's nice to explore dungeons without deadly danger behind every corner. :D
There are not many types of blocks, but the level design I have seen so far is nice. It feels like the dungeon is absolutely HUGE for a game jam game. The sliding doors were a nice touch that sets this dungeon apart. And they work absolutely perfect, with no flickering, seams or other visual oddities.
Overall, I liked the mood of this game, even if there wasn't music.
Unfortunately I was unable to complete the game because I was stuck at the part after you free the prisoner. I was unable to find a way across the abyss. Maybe I will be able to finish it later.
But I think for this simple concept the game was very-well executed. Thumbs up from me.
Very short cute story with excellent pixel art
I think this game has the best artwork of the game jam. The village is simple but cute. The surrounding landscape is cool. I liked the red plants. I liked the mini-lanterns. I liked the simple huts. The level of darkness (that this game is about) is just right. I'm just a sucker for good pixel art. ;-)
This game is a simple adventure with a very simple quest system. You need to use books from a library to fend off the darkness. What was a little weird is that you have to literally type something in the chat to proceed but OK.
I would have wished the game would be a bit larger because the story is REALLY short. Especially the Library was surprisingly small and actually not a really important part of a story. Given from the title, I would have expected the search for books would be important but it turned out to be very easy. Many people just outright refuse to talk to you and do not contribute anything to the story. But I guess this is what we get in a game jam. ;-)
While I enjoyed this short game simply because of the world/map, I have to say, the story itself was a bit generic. Why is the darkness evil? Why does it hate books or knowledge? How does it affect the villagers? I think this could have been explored more. But still!
Anyway, while the game may be short, it is very solidly executed start from finish. Therefore a recommend from me.
The game feels more like a chore than fun. :-(
Resources are scarce and you have to pick the perfect starting spot if you don't want to be forced to wait FOREVER for your resource counters to grow. Growing your empire becomes hard soon. In a non-fun way.
The only way to reasonably expand is by storage units where yourpeople can drop off resources. But it comes at a hefty price: 500 stone! Which is half the amount you get from a big stone mine. And those are rare and, of course, don't regenerate. Food and wood regenerate and won't be a problem early in the game but for stone and metal, you must expand into the deserts. Which is quite hard or impossible if you picked the wrong starting position. Once a stone/metal mine is too far away, you come to a screeching halt.
The game has a workaround. I can always collect resources manually but this is slow and feels a bit like cheating but often is the only way to proceed. :-(
After I have build every building and I depleted the metal and stone in my nearby surroundings, I quickly lost interest even before the first goblin army arrived.
Sorry, but this game wasn't really fun to me. :-(
It's games like this why I like game jams
This game really puts Luanti to its limits by doing things that seem impossible. It's a 3rd person shooter which is highly unusual for Luanti.
The gameplay is quite well-executed. While the objective is quite simple (walk to all control points and survive against the hordes), there are 5 difficulty levels. The mining laser is very fun. There is a surpringly large number of weapons and they feel mostly balanced. I would have wished if there was some kind of unlock mechanic and multiple levels. Well, there are 5 difficulty levels. I managed to beat the first 3 so far.
The graphics qualitily is good but inconsistent. First we have a very nice-looking robot model which is expertly executed. Also the GUI is well-made pixel art. The robot rotation is absolutely smooth. The shooting particles and sound effects are well-made. BUT then we have odd floor textures with visible seams everywhere. Lava textures are just textures and for some reason don't hurt you.
But the biggest downside of this game is that it's quite obviously a giant HACK and uses MANY dirty tricks to work. I appreciate the experimentation for a game jam and love that it was attempted. And I rate this game very high. But it's not enough for a ContentDB recommendation due to instability. The map is full of dark spots, making it quite unfair/frustrating to fight the enemies because they're basically invisible in darkness. The darkness isn't a fog-of-war. The map doesn't light up close to you. The camera movement is very weird due to the hacky nature of this game but it's amazing it works at all.
I give this one a neutral rating but only because of the HACKS. But for a game jam, this is great.
I think this game is a great demonstration of why Luanti needs more camera options. :D I hope one day there will be a way to fix the hackery so that it becomes a serious game.
EDIT: Oh, the audio of this game is good. Voice acting in a game jam game is very cool. :-)
Feels very unprofessional
This game has a simple quest: You must slay some hidden beast. To do that, you have to discover two areas and then drop into some kind of dungeon.
The graphics are custom and include 3D models but everything looks really bad and clunky.
Then the game has a lot of bugs: The beast didn't even spawn in the final arena (and I didn't bother to check why). There are missing textures. You can dig through the ground and fall into the void (and the game doesn't reset you).
The game overall is quite boring. The quest is too simple, you basically just have to walk in a small forest to reach targets on a map. The map helps you.
The final dungeon looked a bit better than the rest, but it still was just a (mostly) simple linear corridor and unfortunately, at the end, no beast to be found here (bug?).
Basically an empty game
This is barely even a game. There's not much to do. It looks like a VERY early pre-alpha version. Just a grass biome with small trees, an ocean, and that's it. No music, no sound, no mobs, no crafting (at least I didn't discover any recipes), no plants besides trees.
:-(
Good idea, but not playable
Good idea, but unplayable because when i was going up with shift + space, the games teleports me somewhere and make me loose control of the ship, i tried getting back by jumping on the seat, but it doesn't work. Then i got out and i fell in the space.
Unforgiving
Eyeballs is puzzle platformer with a slight horror theme.
Ambiance is immaculate and great care has been put into creating a cohesive experience,
The music and sound design is also impeccable, feels kind of nostalgic in some way.
A well rounded experience, gameplay and mechanics are thought out and polished. Mistakes are unforgiving and will set you back to the beggining of the level. Oddly, the gameplay became more enjoyable in third person. I have to admit it's very hard and I didn't get that far.
It is a very safe game, does not bring anything particularly novel to the table, but everything is done very well.
A short game
ETB begins with a sort of expository presentation on the background and history to put you in the scene.
It's a complete game, and it's one of the few I actually played from start to finish.
You explore a bit, find certain key areas, go into the beast's lair and defeat it, a very straightforward story.
Seems like a lot of effort went into crafting the world and creating the whole scenario, so I'd say it accomplishes the task, even if it is a bit rough around the edges.
Strong visual identity
Artifact starts up strong with an unexpected fully animated cinematic, plus dialogue in the form of text boxes. This seems like it's present in other areas of the game as there are some extra key scenes that are also animated.
Objective is not clear straight up, but after a bit of exploring you find out it's a puzzle game with a focus on reconnecting circuits of some sort.
Lighting is way too dark and I had to bump up my monitor's brightness to be able to see certain puzzle elements, and probably missed a lot as well, because of this, at some point I got stuck and quit.
A good start for what could end up being an immersive puzzle game.
It's the year 1042 and you are lost.
It's the year 1042 and you are lost.
1042 is a yet-to-be-completed survival game, the aesthetic is pleasing, simple 2 by 2 textures. Sound is a bit lacking. Effects like snowfall and rain are present and add to ambiance as well, but the world feels barren.
Hud is interesting as well, with the inclusion of a readme, gameplay, and credit buttons to read documentation in game.
There is still a lot of room for improvement but I see the potential, and this is a good foundation. On a side note, at first I spawned in a huge snow biome and couldn't really progress since there's no sticks, so I had to create a new world. Not the best start.
Solid game
Extra Ordinance is either a top down twin-stick shooter or a third person shooter wave clearing game.
Drops you right into action, after a bit of (great) voice acting you start blasting your way thru ant-like creatures, the graphic effects and sound design is really well done, it's likely one of the most unique games made in the Luanti engine to date.
Textures are great, models are great, menus are great, UI is great as well but could use some improvement.
The camera is a bit problematic, the engine doesn't handle this kind of top down camera angles well, and you need to aim way higher than expected in order to actually hit the enemies, this is a bit annoying but I guess it could be fixed in the next updates.
Currently it feels like a one-stage demo, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this game develops.
I don't see the point
Hm...another MTG-like game, just without dependency on "default". Again Minecraft-like crafting (3x3). The textures look very prototypy (and probably are). I sure like that you cannot cut trees with your bare hands, something I always found strange in MTG or MC. Also I was killed by a hailstorm, nice idea. I always wanted hazardous environment (maybe not that hazardous as in Exile).
As in "Wishful" I must ask why you don't take some other non-MTG survival game and build upon that. I'd recommend Repixture. Personally I like the approach of NodeCore, where you craft in-game and cannot carry 500 tons of rock around with you. I just don't think that we need yet another from-scratch approach to survival games, as long as it doesn't bring any breaking change.
A Fun Demo at A Critical Time
As a Jam Game, Extra Ordinance is very fun, which is more than I can say for most entries, and which is probably the most important aspect of the game. However, this game is more than a winning Jam entry: it is a glimpse of the future of Luanti. The author pushes the limitations of Minetest. The engine limitations are obvious, but do not break gameplay. The multiplayer support is ready, if only client-side prediction were available. The map sometimes flutters in and out of exisitance due to Luanti's lack of realtime client map control, but the gameplay is too fun for that to break it. None of these limitations prevent the game from being engaging.
What the game does show is that Luanti is almost ready to break out of the mold of Minecraft-likes and become a full-fledged engine. It points the way toward the next steps in that direction. It thwarts the too-common vicious cycle of no one working on features because no one is doing anything that requires the features, by creating something that works but could be (and ought to be) better.
If the engine limitations that are holding this game back are resolved, we can likely expect this game to reach its full potential, and we can expect many more high-quality mold-breaking games in the future.
This game is what the Jam is all about, thank you Sumi for making it!
Good level design
The map is well made, albiet very dark in some areas. The puzzles are fun, although I did have a few doors that I was completely unable to get open and had to cheat my way through. I think doing that, probably broke some of the endgame elements. Some of the longer text elements cleared from the screen before I was able to read them, although had I not been reading them outloud for the video I was recording that probably wouldn't have been an issue.
It has run its course
I own up that this game was pretty useful a few years ago, when not a lot of great games populated the top spots of ContentDB. However, I don't see the point of it today: we have games like mineos and Extra Ordinance, showcasing what it can be done with Luanti, and games that actually explain to the player what they should do without guessing keys or else. Their gameplay speaks way louder than an interactive tutorial, which needs to be updated every time some new aspects are introduced into the engine (so a lot of burden for the author).
It could be argued that it might still be useful for modders, but the modding book already provides a foundation for anyone who wants to start modding, and this game is in general pretty oriented towards MTG-like games anyway (which, again, were the norm a few years ago, but that are only a part of the whole now).
I'm basically downvoting this because I think that it has run its course, and having new players actually playing this thinking that it's everything that Luanti can be is misleading. I'd rather see actual games in the first spots, rather than a tutorial about games (which, last but not least, was thought for PCs only). Quality-wise, I also find it too dispersive.
Woh - this is hard
This is some hard puzzle. I must admit, I haven't even solved the third checkpoint yet. But it makes me keep trying. Nice one. As others already wrote: a little balancing could help reduce initial frustration. Some background music and maybe a guy giving a few hints would also be nice. But...a nice game taken the time you had.
That is imnpressive
I am really impressed! This game shows what the Luanti engine is capable of doing! Creating it “just for a game jam” is even more impressive and shows deep understanding of how the engine works.
Good atmosphere, very short, easy to skip important things.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
This game was very short: my curiosity caused some things to be skipped over. When the game started, I harrassed an NPC until I'd read every line, then after meeting the wizard, the game put red arrows over some of the NPCs just for me to hear the same lines again. After entering the library, I noticed all the English-title books in the bright red shelves and took them, so when the darkness met me on the way to the pedestals, I had no previous context for why it said "I warned you." Then, after I banished the darkness and left the pedestals, the darkness came back to me and gave me a warning not to read books. :') The theme was very similar to The Velvet Crystal from last year's Game Jam.
Overall though, I like the look and feel of the game. The textures go well together, the music is nice, and the spell mechanics were a neat touch. I think if there were good ways to restrict the player so that the story is played out better, and if the game were a little longer, I would make a positive review. This game deserves more story!
Good game, interesting concept, a bit bugged.
This game was fairly enjoyable. I'm not very good at parkour, but I like the unique eyeball game mechanics. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far in the game. In the level with all the columns and the light switches, I would respawn in complete and utter darkness, with no way of knowing where I was. The textures and sounds are pretty good, and fit well together. I don't know anyone else who came across the same issue as I did, so I might retry it and see how far I can get.
Challenging, but pretty engaging!
I played long enough to complete several levels. The mechanics are difficult to work with at first and take time to get used to, but each level is pretty quick. There's a good sense of accomplishment; finishing a level is satisfying and rewarding. I also enjoyed some of the clever ways that the puzzles were solved. The graphics and sounds are simple, but refined and cohesive. This game take a little bit of patience, but it's quite enjoyable, and I recommend it!
Nice Adventure Demo
Atmosphere is great, the low background music, though short and repetitive, fits well. It feels more like a demo because there are few, easy puzzles. But I see great potential if you extend this game. The hints in books are a nice idea. I wonder if it's a bug that the shadow didn't kill me on the second encounter (½. heart left).
Nice fresh idea
I mean, this is not the first collect/build/fight game but somehow I like it. The little guys are cute. The buildings have been built with love. I get the "Die Siedler" feeling :) There is no sound, docs could be better, animations I miss, but it's perfectly playable, once you understand the mechanics. Keep it up!
Turning Luanti into a top down shooter is possible
I won't lie, this is almost as mindblowing as mineos was in last year's jam. I thought I knew what Luanti can do but this game says the contrary.
As the game has already received a lot of compliments, I won't repeat much here. I was more shocked by what the author did that from the actual gameplay (which is a solid 7 anyway). Graphics are highly refined (e.g. the ground using a non pixelated texture that perfectly espouses the aesthetics nonetheless), sounds as well (e.g. the operator voice with the radio static) and the game is in general a great showcase for Luanti. Do we also want to talk about the camera's movement which just works?
The author put a lot of effort to do something like this in 3 weeks and the community is definitely showing their gratitude. I'd gladly join them, congratulations!
You're a bunny and... that's literally it
No goals, no instructions, no sounds, nothing. Probably just the beginning of some project which didn't make it in time, there's nothing to play here at the moment
Interesting idea, but a bit too slow and punishing
The concept is interesting and the author knows what they're doing. The whole game revolves around one simple mechanic, which makes it very easy to grasp, in a series of levels that are not really ordered by difficulty, but rather by author experiments. Audio is well refined (one the few games of this jam actually featuring a soundtrack) and graphics are as well, so nothing to say - I'm not a fan of the round shaped eyes but in this case it's really not that important.
Gameplay-wise, however, the game felt kind of heavy at times, not as smooth as I'd like. The worst case was when the level involved a lot of walking and you failed right at the end (e.g. the halls with pillars and light switches), not really involving me to try again (I went on for a few levels more). This ruined the experience of something that could have been pretty fun if well dosed, as the annoyance surpassed the curiosity. I'd score it a 6.5 out of 10, which is closer to the neutral vote
Big maze with a refined graphical and sound system
The game started amazingly: a cutscene, in Luanti, with proper animations (!). I was mesmerized. Unfortunately after that I found myself stuck twice in a pitch black area, to only find out (by reading another review here) that it's a bug. Using the solution suggested in the review, I teleported myself in the actual area the player is expected to play in and I decided to give it a chance. And that's where I found back my enthusiasm.
Sounds are well-finished, the animation of doors is great, no useless inventory, custom HUD. However, my enthusiasm kept decreasing as long as I kept playing. The game is basically a big maze, with a refined graphical and sound system. If my first reaction when opening a door was of amazement, after the 40th one in 5 minutes with basically nothing else happening was "oh, ok, door..". I didn't finish it as I found myself stuck in a room where I couldn't see basically anything, but in general the game wasn't entertaining enough after the first minutes and I wasn't really interested in continuing. Running through the maze became a chore, which is a pity, considering the focus that the author has put on the artistic side
What's the point?
All you can do is walk around, watch, mine wood, leaves and dirt, and that's it. No recipes, nothing. Not even help or a hint.
Edit: now I understood that it's not meant as a game but rather a new game base like MTG. But the mechanics look pretty much like MTG, e.g., the 3x3 crafting grid. Why reinvent the wheel? If you want to make an MTG-like game, make one out of MTG. There are already at least two good alternative approaches, Repixture and NodeCore. Both do not depend on "default" and have a new, unique style of crafting and mechanics. Why not build upon them instead of starting from scratch?
Pretty neat, compact Game
I really like that it doesn't have useless blocks or unnessesairy tedium
Small experience but not so entertaining
Being a jam, I think the author played smart by making a small game: both in game length (around 5 minutes) and in map size (you're in a spaceship). They also tried to add some elements as to grant immersions, i.e. the breathing, the text telling you a story and the interactions with the environment (e.g. PCs telling you that can't be turned on). They were also able to create some suspence here and there, which I appreciated.
Unfortunately the overall experience doesn't really stand out, turning the game in basically a "go from point A to B" and a risky parkour. I think the basic concepts for making a game are there, just, the author needs to work on the game experience (in general; I'd invite them to see this attempt as a closed chapter and experiment with something new). Last but not least, I wasn't sure if at the end I had glitched the game or if I had actually finished it (until the HUD popped up)
Lots of fun
I don't even know where to begin. The game is very well done, and fun to play. It took me a few deaths to figure out the countdown after the blue ring was the amount of enemies remaining, and not how much time I had to get to the next blue ring. No shortage of loadout options either. Very impressive for a three week timeframe.