Thanks for this review, it made me think! First of all, I won't implement your suggested ideas as this game is finished for me. This was done for a game jam and I'm only 50% happy with the end result or story. But I'm happy with the technology I achieved (like I wrote a complete mapgen just for this game, the heavy use of leveled nodes that have fine-tuned heights (rather than just full blocks and slabs), or how the light orb moves very well).
It was a nice experiment. For a full-blown cut scene, there wasn't time. But I didn't plan one anyway.
I think the game is "good enough" for a game jam but I don't think it has potential; the whole overall gameplay didn't really work out for me. Such is the life of a game dev: You don't know what gameplay is good without trying it.
But still! I like the idea of a camera pan showing the actual forest, I agree that could have explained the story better. It's unfortunate the messages went away too fast for you. I also agree some kind of message log would be nice. You're not the only player who couldn't follow the story at some parts. The game could indeed have done a better job here. Or in general, the whole plot point of "the forest is dying" ... I don't think the game as a whole communicated it well.
I suppose making cut scenes in Minetest is possible but it involves some ugly ugly hackery.
So although I probably don't want to make updates to this game anymore (only bugfixes), these are good ideas to keep in mind for future projects. So thanks.
Ah yes, PvP is indeed missing and I already considered to add it. My idea was to add some fighting dolls, you know, like in the middle ages (idk).
BUT! I am currently sitting on the fence of whether I make a complete new tutorial from scratch or I just extend the current one. The code is dated and I don't like that the signs are so wordy, and that the game makes no good use of the HUD, etc.
Have you tried to find all electrons yet? If you start the game world again after you reached the end, you return to the Hub again. (sorry, there's no bonus for collecting all electrons tho).
The content for this game was made for a game jam in only 3 weeks and I don't plan to add new content. Only bugfix/maintenance updates. This game is officially finished.
But there might be a successor game to this one. Who knows? :D
This mod originally was made by sorcerykid for the JT2 server, I just picked this mod up. Since then, I've seen this mod in use on the A.E.S. server in June 2024, which was nice to see.
Strange, I wasn't aware of any lag issues. Weird. This doesn't happen to me (neither Minetest 5.8.0 or 5.9.0). Placing or digging blocks is near-instant to me. If you know more about this, file a bug report please.
And yes, the mobs are just reskins except for minor code changes. It's just Mobs Redo, mostly. You caught me there. :D And it's true, it's not supposed to stay like this.
The game I envision here is actually much different from the current version which should be considered just a draft, none of the current features are set in stone. But I haven't touched this game for a long time, no idea when I return. And a little spoiler, the game I envision will also have more lore, not just the simple startup text in chat.
Thanks for your review (even if this is for an early draft version).
Okay, thanks for the fix. The game is now finally in a state where I can actually hit anything at all (previously this was near-impossible).
So I re-reviewed the game now. (But the rating didn't change.)
I like this mapgen a lot, it shows what nice things you can build with Minetest with relatively little code and data. I like that the sky has changed as well, the color fits nicely.
While the mod itself doesn't offer any real gameplay, it is still nice to explore it. I see it as a form of artistic expression. And this mod is basically begging to be integrated into an actual game (which I might just do). ;-)
I wish there would be more detail tho. First, the ocean is mostly empty. There are a few rare kelps and corals, but only at the beaches. There is no ocean vegetation otherwise. This is a major missed opportunity. So for an actual game, the ocean would definitely need some love.
The code quality leaves much to be desired, it's pretty chaotic and hard to actually integrate it into games; you are probably better off rewriting much of the registration code.
Still a thumbs up from me tho because it's just so nice.
Sorry, the description indeed failed to mention the block shape variants more clearly.
Version libre11 (released today) now clarifies in the README and mod description that new block shapes are being added. I hope this is now better.
I also fixed the broken chair code, the eye offset is now correct. But you should be on Minetest 5.7.0 at least.
Yeah, exporting animated B3D has become very hard because I need ancient Blender versions and plugins, and it's hard to find the right setup and I don't have the motivation to keep battling some ancient legacy software. This is why I haven't been updating models. Maybe I'll figure it out but my motivation is low because I basically wait for GLTF support to be added into Minetest. Updating B3D is low priority anyway since sitting works in Repixture as long no mods rely on it, and this is clearly documented. So technically, this is a missing feature, not a bug. :P I know, lame excuse, but maybe I look into it when my TODO list has become very small. So sorry, you probably will have to wait for this quite some time. :-/ Gameplay has a much higher priority right now. :P
As for player_api: The code I use is already modified and I'm not sure if I'm willing to make a compability guarantee. For example, you can set a custom selectionbox in rp_player. Anyway. Removing rp_player is not an option, it has been there for a very long time. Maybe I could add a compability layer or something.
Oops! Sorry. I thought I already removed all MTG code before. This is one of the few places where there is some MTG code left (and yes, the player code is really ancient). I guess I should update the player code then, especially since it's broken. This is a valid complaint. If you find more bugs, please report them to the bug tracker. So I checked again today, and it seems the only places with MTG-derived code still in are: Fence, map and player model. With the player model in most desparate need of an overhaul, admittedly.
As I said, adding new skin colors is on my TODO list now, but I still have to figure out a better UI because cycling through >=20 skins with a single button can be tedious.
I admit this game is similar to MTG and MCL2 right now and the core idea (sandbox gameplay) will likely always stay like that. To be fair, I developed MCL for a very long time before. And many ideas are stolen from these games because those ideas just work. However, I do plan to eventually add more and more features to set this game apart. I understand that if you played MTG or MCL2 before, Repixture can be overwhelming when it comes to content. I know that, and I'm actively working on it! This is my main project for 2024. Please check this game out again at the end of the year or so.
Note that with "simple" I didn't mean "fewer blocks". I want Repixture to have lots of content eventually! With "simple" I meant "simple rules". MCL2 has many features but they are also pretty confusing and non-obvious at times; this is where I will go radically different and deliberately avoid confusing/overcomplex features.
You're wrong. This is not a fork nor a "copy paste" of MTG. The code is almost entirely original and written from scratch. Even the mobs code is original. No code is derived from MTG. A few mods were derived from standalone non-MTG mods. This game did not copy player_api either, so don't expect compability. Do you need a particular function?
This game is meant to be a fresh, new start of the genre with simpler rules to make Minetest more accessible for beginners. Eventually, I want to have more content and better balancing. Admittedly, this games does not offer a lot of content right now but I'm in the process of adding more and more features. Unfortunately, you're not really talking about gameplay, so I don't know what to take away from this. *shrug*
But I openly admit that "moddability" of this game is not a top priority. This game is meant to stand on its own, mods are just a "nice-to-have". If you have problems with the functions, just drop a question in the forum thread.
The skin colors do not represent an ethnicity. They are just skin colors. The skin colors are not meant to be 100% realistic and I don't really know how to add more skin colors without bloating the UI. There is no "yellow" skin color, morel like a very bright orange (but this can be debated). I think 10 skin colors is already a lot. Currently, they differ in brightness but not in hue. You're the first one to complain about a missing skin color. Anyway, I keep this complaint in mind as a low-priority feature request.
I don't generate this item in the world myself (because I don't really know where to put it), this can be figured out by games, servers or different mods.
This is the mod we've been all waiting for: A clean method to render Unicode glyphs, based on the GNU Unifont.
I think GNU Unifont with its 16×16 pixel glyphs is just perfect for Minetest, there aren't many other fonts with such a huge coverage of the Unicode code space. And Pixel style is good for many retro-style games.
There are nice features like kerning and color selection.
However, while Unifont may cover the entire Unicode BMP and more, that doesn't mean this mod can render them all properly. Some writing systems are very complex and require additional adjustments. So any users of this mod need to be aware of these limitations:
Bidirectional Algorithm is not correctly implemented
Many complex writing systems have additional writing rules that would need more code to make them work. For example, rendering Arabic not only requires the bidi algorithm but also you need to draw the glyphs differently depending on where they are in the word. (Note: This is a limitation of Unifont as well.)
Complex combining marks are not supported well. The code admits they are hacky
But still, this mod is a massive improvement of what we had before. I will include a modified version of this mod in Repixture.
This mod does what it promises, providing several standing signs that can be rotated as well.
But the polishing of this mod is not good. The mod does not integrate well with all games, it just tries to guess which signs it adds which isn't a great way to do it. My biggest criticism is stretching: If the text is very long or tall, the glyphs are widely stretched, which ruins their aspect ratio.
Some of the signs make no sound when you place them.
Don't be a snowflake. No child will suffer emotional damage by seeing these colorful flags or the phrase "sexual orientation". Sex education is a GOOD thing, actually, and this mod isn't even that. I'm against child abuse, but for sex education and Pride.
Do you crash weddings of heteroSEXual couples because you believe this is a ceremony that implicitly promotes sexuality? Do you condemn wedding rings worn by heteroSEXual people? If not, then you have shown you hold LGBTQ+ people to a different standard than cis/hetero people which is therefore discrimination. I know you'll HATE to hear it, but this way of thinking is already a form of homophobia/transphobia, even if you don't insult people or become violent. https://lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Queermisia
It's simple mod but it does its thing well. Just rightclick with the spyglass to zoom. And the zoom is smooth and there's a simple HUD effect while you're zoomed in. So it feels like you're actually using a spyglass.
This mod is much superior to MTG's binoculars. A fork of this mod will be included in Repixture.
Thank you for this review. I kinda agree, this game needs balancing especially with the trades. And most importantly, this game just needs more of everything: Blocks, creatures, items, and whatnot. It's true, too many items only have one purpose, I want to change that in the next months.
I am currently in heavy development in this game. The painting system is very recent, and I just finished completing a major mob code rework. Many more features are planned. Please give it another try in a couple of releases or so.
I disagree that being able to place books makes item frames "less useful". I think it is legitimate to have multiple ways of decoration.
BTW: It is possible to multiply all plants, but some plants are harder to multiply. Some of them only spread on fertilizer. Experiment!
In the latest "libre10" update, most of your problems should be addressed now.
The red curtain now matches the color of red wool and should look less bad.
The trampoline is now 3D and no longer invisible from below.
The missing bowl of soup and the infinite extending rope in Creative Mode have been fixed a while ago.
The cactus brick and garden stone path is unchanged. I guess this is mostly a matter of taste; can't make everyone happy. *shrug*
I don't really want to touch the textures except for fixing obvious flaws, as I want to stick to the aesthetic of the original X-Decor mod.
Here are some more thoughts about some specific features of the game:
The world is very nice to look at. The trees are gigantic. The very tall grass in the jungles is quite annoying tho. I can't see, and I often keep missing the hitbox.
There is a shop feature. You can buy and sell items at any time everywhere and you even get to keep the coins after you die. This makes the shop pretty OP in its own right. The shop incentivizes you to just loot and plunder the villages and sell their stuff. Which is so hilarious that its fun again. Oddly, there are also special shops in villages, but the items are always more expensive than the shop you can access everywhere. And these shops are completely random.
There are "functional skins", skins that give you special skills. The snowman is completely broken. If you equip this skin, you regenerate health, food and water levels very quickly when you stand on snow, thus basically solving your food problem.
Features like this show how messy the game balance is. At parts, this game is ridiculously deadly but then much of it is nullified if you press the right buttons.
Cities are very broken. You just walk through the world and *POOF*! A city appears either inside you or under your feet. Full of cars that are all going to crash into everyone and everything including you. This makes GTA look peaceful in comparison. :D
Many foods can be eaten multiple times but this often leads to chaos in your inventory. Like, if you have a stack of 10 flesh, and eat it two times, the partially-eaten fleshes just litter your inventory. Very annoying.
And finally, to be fair, I barely scratched the surface of this game. There are so many features I did not use yet because I just die too often. XD
I think I will look again at this game later, hoping that the worst problems get fixed.
This game has a HUGE amount of content. That's a plus! It will take you quite some time to explore everything. I don't think I've even scratched the surface. You can find villages, even cities, lonely huts, animals everywhere, ruins. The underground is also full of mysteries. The biomes are large and complex. The overworld and underground are nice to look at. There are so many features. There is a LOT you can do in this game.
BUT: This game just want to kill me. Even touching flowing water can propel you at high speeds, often leading to insta-kill. The world is full of deep chasms that will kill you with fall damage. Even a single tiny wasp can kill you within seconds and you usually don't even know what killed you. Sometimes you just randomly die at full health and have NO IDEA why. If you happen to find a city, there are cars that just crash into everyone and everything. Food is somewhat sparse and hunger and thirst come fast. Especially thirst, figuring out how not to die of thirst is tricky.
There's an elaborate parcours mechanic. A LOT of special moves. But I keep triggering the moves when I do not want them and fail to trigger them when I don't. A worst of all, make a wrong parcour move, and you may take collision damage.
I don't have anything difficult games. But if most deaths just happen by random chance, this is not fun.
The menus look ugly and are full of typos. Many menu images are placed in a weird ways. Item names often look like "Crystal15".
And there are just outright bugs. So many bugs I don't even want to list them.
But still … this game, despite all its flaws, still was … kinda fun? Too bad its so broken and frustrating to play. :-(
This game really needs serious polishing and bugfixing before I can recommend it. To the developer I strongly recommend to stop adding more features but instead refine the existing ones, fix all the bugs, polish the UI and review ALL the text for typos.
Fun fact: Back when I was still the main dev of MCL2, I have been guilty of just spamming half-finished feature after feature after feature which eventually made the codebase messier and worse: buggier. The bugs started to pile up quickly which was one of the reasons that lead to me burning out and losing all motivation for MCL2. So some of the messiness of the codebase might be my partially my fault, lol. That having said, I think I never randomly broke compability for no reason except in VERY early stages of development.
If I would pick up leadership of MCL2 again today, my first priority would be to halt all feature development and focus on bugfixing and maintenance first until the bug count has returned to a managable level. Crash bugs will have top priority. Oh, and I would 100% nuke the hamburger. XD I would also be more strict on enforcing backwards-compability.
Anyway, I mostly agree with erlehmann and think having some dev standards for such a complex project is definitely very helpful. (Before you ask, no, I will not return to MCL2 dev in any way lol.)
As for the music argument, there are good news: In MT 5.8.0, music (or any large sound files) loads now much more efficiently (devs worked on performance). I think music should be "safe to use" for most games now.
PS: I haven't been following MCL2 development for years so please excuse me if I got anything wrong.
Tell me about it! I have been unsuccessfully trying to establish this as the (or a) default game for years but yeah. No success and I've given up by now.
Oh well. At least in version 1.1.0, the dialog boxes are fixed and you also can no longer fall in an annoying hole at the aforementioned coordinates. Thanks for finding the coordinates, this stuff is very easy to overlook.
Also, the shadows should no longer spawn at this alarming rate like in the game jam version 1.0.1.
Let's just say I didn't really know what I was doing; I tried to do a little bit of everything and didn't have a great game idea to begin with, especially one that fits with the theme "Unexpected". I changed the direction of the game twice and stuff got a little chaotic … I'm happy I managed to get out something playable with 4 levels in the first place! And some people still liked it tho. I think we can all agree this game does not even come close to Glitch. :D
Yeah, fair enough. I tried to do something with mobs for the 2023 game jam but this was a risk since I'm not very experienced with them. I'm not really happy with the end result either, but you know, time constraints. As for the Unexpected theme, there is a minor plot twist / surprise / ??? at the end that you probably haven't reached although the question of how good it is is debatable of course. Admittedly, the 2023 theme is quite hard to find a good game idea in the first place. Just look at the other submissions. :-(
But yeah, it's not like I disagree with the critics or I'm unaware of the problems. That's the thing with risky game ideas, you can never know how well they turn out before you actually put them into practice. Originally I've planned more types of mobs but it turns out making good mobs is hard lol, especially under time contraints.
Anyway, it seems you haven't figured out how to reach the end boss. If you have 3 light crystals, you need to approach the bush in the last level (portal in the 1st floor of the Tree of Life) to unlock the final level.
I admit the dialog doesn't communicate the goal very well, maybe I improve it in the next version.
Overall, I agree with you. I'm also only half-happy with the result.
In the floating stone platform area, there's a spot where it's not deep to fall down, and you can see the ground. It's unexpected that one dies there, but unexpected in a bad way.
You can easily get out of the level in the first level, and directly go to the last level. This doesn't seem intended.
There are too many enemies at once.
Picking up items by walking over them doesn't work reliably.
Version 1.1.0 has been released and hopefully all your reported bugs are fixed here, including the sound. See forum thread for changelog. You can also check out the new sound directly here: https://codeberg.org/Wuzzy/Shadow_Forest/issues/10
Please tell me if it's OK or if it still needs fixing.
It sounds like you’re not using X-Decor-libre but only X-Decor which is the original but outdated and very buggy. I assure you X-Decor-libre does support the 50-move rule (but a player must invoke it for it to count as draw (I applied FIDE rules)) and castling, too. Also, you need at least Minetest 5.7.0 for X-Decor-libre.
Strange. I am unaware of any of the bugs you just mentioned. Sure you use the latest version of X-Decor-libre (libre8)? If yes, I would like to see the crash logs.
So, thanks for the review. Now that the game jam results are finally in, here's a longer reply:
Actually, this game was never meant as a "soulslike", as in "absurdly difficult". The large amount of mobs was not intended. The problem is that I've put too few restraints on mob spawning in so that mobs just keep spawning and spawning and killing them doesn't help to stop the spawning. Mob spawning is kinda broken and in fact, this is the last item on my TODO list before I ran out of time. :-/
There actually ARE limits to mob spawning, but obviously these restraints are just unbalanced and way too "permissive", i.e. allowing too many mobs to spawn. I think the biggest problem was that killing mobs doesn't stop or even slow down the infinite stream of mobs. So the current winning strategy is to run, which wasn't really intended lol.
Are you sure it's the projectile HIT sound that has a high frequency problem? I would say if any sound is a problem, it'll be the SHOOT sound since it's much higher pitchde than the hit sound. But anyway, I'll add that to the TODO list. This is actually one of the very few problems in the game I was NOT aware of before submission.
PS: I'm also planning to write a making-of and post it in the forum thread soon(ish). Stay tuned for that (and the post-jam update :P).
Item pickup does work reliably but you must stand VERY close to the thing. I think I should increase the pickup range
The unexpected part is the reveal in the final level where you learn where all the shadows are coming from. Your light orb literally says the word "unexpected" in the dialog. THAT is the unexpected part. OK, OK, I admit this is quite "forced". tbh I mostly ignored the theme but still tried to apply it somehow. lol now you know the truth. :P
Goal could be communicated better: Yeah, the wizard is a little cryptic and doesn't explain what the light crstals are for which I think is pointlessly confusing. But apparently not THAT confusing since you obviously managed to break the shadow bush barrier
No boss music: Yes, but this is why: This was the first time ever I composed and published my own music! This already cost me a lot of time. Adding a boss music would have completely destroyed my time schedule. And actually I tried anyway but failed to come up with a good melody but failed as I'm not really a musician lol so I just had to scrap the idea. I'm still immensely proud I managed to put any of my music in the game in the first place tho :P
Boring boss fight: Yeah, my experience with mob development is still low and it's a very very basic mob but at least it's not as broken as the other mobs. But I see if I can make the final boss more interesting
No feeling of progress ... I don't know what to say about that. Very subjective, hard to "fix"
The reason they're that big is because they're falling nodes and they can form stacks nicely.
Thanks for this review, it made me think! First of all, I won't implement your suggested ideas as this game is finished for me. This was done for a game jam and I'm only 50% happy with the end result or story. But I'm happy with the technology I achieved (like I wrote a complete mapgen just for this game, the heavy use of leveled nodes that have fine-tuned heights (rather than just full blocks and slabs), or how the light orb moves very well). It was a nice experiment. For a full-blown cut scene, there wasn't time. But I didn't plan one anyway.
I think the game is "good enough" for a game jam but I don't think it has potential; the whole overall gameplay didn't really work out for me. Such is the life of a game dev: You don't know what gameplay is good without trying it.
But still! I like the idea of a camera pan showing the actual forest, I agree that could have explained the story better. It's unfortunate the messages went away too fast for you. I also agree some kind of message log would be nice. You're not the only player who couldn't follow the story at some parts. The game could indeed have done a better job here. Or in general, the whole plot point of "the forest is dying" ... I don't think the game as a whole communicated it well.
I suppose making cut scenes in Minetest is possible but it involves some ugly ugly hackery.
So although I probably don't want to make updates to this game anymore (only bugfixes), these are good ideas to keep in mind for future projects. So thanks.
Ah yes, PvP is indeed missing and I already considered to add it. My idea was to add some fighting dolls, you know, like in the middle ages (idk).
BUT! I am currently sitting on the fence of whether I make a complete new tutorial from scratch or I just extend the current one. The code is dated and I don't like that the signs are so wordy, and that the game makes no good use of the HUD, etc.
Have you tried to find all electrons yet? If you start the game world again after you reached the end, you return to the Hub again. (sorry, there's no bonus for collecting all electrons tho).
The content for this game was made for a game jam in only 3 weeks and I don't plan to add new content. Only bugfix/maintenance updates. This game is officially finished.
But there might be a successor game to this one. Who knows? :D
This mod originally was made by sorcerykid for the JT2 server, I just picked this mod up. Since then, I've seen this mod in use on the A.E.S. server in June 2024, which was nice to see.
Strange, I wasn't aware of any lag issues. Weird. This doesn't happen to me (neither Minetest 5.8.0 or 5.9.0). Placing or digging blocks is near-instant to me. If you know more about this, file a bug report please.
And yes, the mobs are just reskins except for minor code changes. It's just Mobs Redo, mostly. You caught me there. :D And it's true, it's not supposed to stay like this.
The game I envision here is actually much different from the current version which should be considered just a draft, none of the current features are set in stone. But I haven't touched this game for a long time, no idea when I return. And a little spoiler, the game I envision will also have more lore, not just the simple startup text in chat.
Thanks for your review (even if this is for an early draft version).
Okay, thanks for the fix. The game is now finally in a state where I can actually hit anything at all (previously this was near-impossible). So I re-reviewed the game now. (But the rating didn't change.)
I like this mapgen a lot, it shows what nice things you can build with Minetest with relatively little code and data. I like that the sky has changed as well, the color fits nicely.
While the mod itself doesn't offer any real gameplay, it is still nice to explore it. I see it as a form of artistic expression. And this mod is basically begging to be integrated into an actual game (which I might just do). ;-)
I wish there would be more detail tho. First, the ocean is mostly empty. There are a few rare kelps and corals, but only at the beaches. There is no ocean vegetation otherwise. This is a major missed opportunity. So for an actual game, the ocean would definitely need some love.
The code quality leaves much to be desired, it's pretty chaotic and hard to actually integrate it into games; you are probably better off rewriting much of the registration code.
Still a thumbs up from me tho because it's just so nice.
Sorry, the description indeed failed to mention the block shape variants more clearly. Version libre11 (released today) now clarifies in the README and mod description that new block shapes are being added. I hope this is now better. I also fixed the broken chair code, the eye offset is now correct. But you should be on Minetest 5.7.0 at least.
Oops, the double eat is definitely a bug. I have no idea how this bug slipped under my radar.
My guess is that it got triggered by a new Minetest version somehow.
Yeah, exporting animated B3D has become very hard because I need ancient Blender versions and plugins, and it's hard to find the right setup and I don't have the motivation to keep battling some ancient legacy software. This is why I haven't been updating models. Maybe I'll figure it out but my motivation is low because I basically wait for GLTF support to be added into Minetest. Updating B3D is low priority anyway since sitting works in Repixture as long no mods rely on it, and this is clearly documented. So technically, this is a missing feature, not a bug. :P I know, lame excuse, but maybe I look into it when my TODO list has become very small. So sorry, you probably will have to wait for this quite some time. :-/ Gameplay has a much higher priority right now. :P
As for
player_api: The code I use is already modified and I'm not sure if I'm willing to make a compability guarantee. For example, you can set a custom selectionbox inrp_player. Anyway. Removingrp_playeris not an option, it has been there for a very long time. Maybe I could add a compability layer or something.You can thank sorcerykid for the animation. :D I mostly just made the mod release-ready by fixing bugs and adding more flags.
OK. Technical details are best discussed in the issue tracker: https://codeberg.org/Wuzzy/Repixture/issues/183
Oops! Sorry. I thought I already removed all MTG code before. This is one of the few places where there is some MTG code left (and yes, the player code is really ancient). I guess I should update the player code then, especially since it's broken. This is a valid complaint. If you find more bugs, please report them to the bug tracker. So I checked again today, and it seems the only places with MTG-derived code still in are: Fence, map and player model. With the player model in most desparate need of an overhaul, admittedly.
As I said, adding new skin colors is on my TODO list now, but I still have to figure out a better UI because cycling through >=20 skins with a single button can be tedious.
I admit this game is similar to MTG and MCL2 right now and the core idea (sandbox gameplay) will likely always stay like that. To be fair, I developed MCL for a very long time before. And many ideas are stolen from these games because those ideas just work. However, I do plan to eventually add more and more features to set this game apart. I understand that if you played MTG or MCL2 before, Repixture can be overwhelming when it comes to content. I know that, and I'm actively working on it! This is my main project for 2024. Please check this game out again at the end of the year or so.
Note that with "simple" I didn't mean "fewer blocks". I want Repixture to have lots of content eventually! With "simple" I meant "simple rules". MCL2 has many features but they are also pretty confusing and non-obvious at times; this is where I will go radically different and deliberately avoid confusing/overcomplex features.
You're wrong. This is not a fork nor a "copy paste" of MTG. The code is almost entirely original and written from scratch. Even the mobs code is original. No code is derived from MTG. A few mods were derived from standalone non-MTG mods. This game did not copy
player_apieither, so don't expect compability. Do you need a particular function?This game is meant to be a fresh, new start of the genre with simpler rules to make Minetest more accessible for beginners. Eventually, I want to have more content and better balancing. Admittedly, this games does not offer a lot of content right now but I'm in the process of adding more and more features. Unfortunately, you're not really talking about gameplay, so I don't know what to take away from this. *shrug*
But I openly admit that "moddability" of this game is not a top priority. This game is meant to stand on its own, mods are just a "nice-to-have". If you have problems with the functions, just drop a question in the forum thread.
The skin colors do not represent an ethnicity. They are just skin colors. The skin colors are not meant to be 100% realistic and I don't really know how to add more skin colors without bloating the UI. There is no "yellow" skin color, morel like a very bright orange (but this can be debated). I think 10 skin colors is already a lot. Currently, they differ in brightness but not in hue. You're the first one to complain about a missing skin color. Anyway, I keep this complaint in mind as a low-priority feature request.
Something like treasure chests.
I don't generate this item in the world myself (because I don't really know where to put it), this can be figured out by games, servers or different mods.
Wait, what just happened?
This is the mod we've been all waiting for: A clean method to render Unicode glyphs, based on the GNU Unifont.
I think GNU Unifont with its 16×16 pixel glyphs is just perfect for Minetest, there aren't many other fonts with such a huge coverage of the Unicode code space. And Pixel style is good for many retro-style games.
There are nice features like kerning and color selection.
However, while Unifont may cover the entire Unicode BMP and more, that doesn't mean this mod can render them all properly. Some writing systems are very complex and require additional adjustments. So any users of this mod need to be aware of these limitations:
But still, this mod is a massive improvement of what we had before. I will include a modified version of this mod in Repixture.
This mod does what it promises, providing several standing signs that can be rotated as well.
But the polishing of this mod is not good. The mod does not integrate well with all games, it just tries to guess which signs it adds which isn't a great way to do it. My biggest criticism is stretching: If the text is very long or tall, the glyphs are widely stretched, which ruins their aspect ratio.
Some of the signs make no sound when you place them.
Don't be a snowflake. No child will suffer emotional damage by seeing these colorful flags or the phrase "sexual orientation". Sex education is a GOOD thing, actually, and this mod isn't even that. I'm against child abuse, but for sex education and Pride.
Do you crash weddings of heteroSEXual couples because you believe this is a ceremony that implicitly promotes sexuality? Do you condemn wedding rings worn by heteroSEXual people? If not, then you have shown you hold LGBTQ+ people to a different standard than cis/hetero people which is therefore discrimination. I know you'll HATE to hear it, but this way of thinking is already a form of homophobia/transphobia, even if you don't insult people or become violent. https://lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/Queermisia
I'm asexual btw. So much for "sexualization".
Lol of course I understand the code, I've been making Minetest mods on and off for over 10 years.
It's simple mod but it does its thing well. Just rightclick with the spyglass to zoom. And the zoom is smooth and there's a simple HUD effect while you're zoomed in. So it feels like you're actually using a spyglass.
This mod is much superior to MTG's binoculars. A fork of this mod will be included in Repixture.
Thank you for this review. I kinda agree, this game needs balancing especially with the trades. And most importantly, this game just needs more of everything: Blocks, creatures, items, and whatnot. It's true, too many items only have one purpose, I want to change that in the next months.
I am currently in heavy development in this game. The painting system is very recent, and I just finished completing a major mob code rework. Many more features are planned. Please give it another try in a couple of releases or so.
I disagree that being able to place books makes item frames "less useful". I think it is legitimate to have multiple ways of decoration.
BTW: It is possible to multiply all plants, but some plants are harder to multiply. Some of them only spread on fertilizer. Experiment!
The fact this mod is even needed is probably evidence that Minetest suffers from undiscovered memory leaks.
The real long-term solution to the described problem, thus, is to investigate what on Earth is going wrong with Minetest.
Ideally, Minetest should be able to run for a long time with no memory issues.
In the latest "libre10" update, most of your problems should be addressed now. The red curtain now matches the color of red wool and should look less bad. The trampoline is now 3D and no longer invisible from below. The missing bowl of soup and the infinite extending rope in Creative Mode have been fixed a while ago.
The cactus brick and garden stone path is unchanged. I guess this is mostly a matter of taste; can't make everyone happy. *shrug* I don't really want to touch the textures except for fixing obvious flaws, as I want to stick to the aesthetic of the original X-Decor mod.
Thank you for saving the world. You're a hero! :D
Here are some more thoughts about some specific features of the game:
The world is very nice to look at. The trees are gigantic. The very tall grass in the jungles is quite annoying tho. I can't see, and I often keep missing the hitbox.
There is a shop feature. You can buy and sell items at any time everywhere and you even get to keep the coins after you die. This makes the shop pretty OP in its own right. The shop incentivizes you to just loot and plunder the villages and sell their stuff. Which is so hilarious that its fun again. Oddly, there are also special shops in villages, but the items are always more expensive than the shop you can access everywhere. And these shops are completely random.
There are "functional skins", skins that give you special skills. The snowman is completely broken. If you equip this skin, you regenerate health, food and water levels very quickly when you stand on snow, thus basically solving your food problem.
Features like this show how messy the game balance is. At parts, this game is ridiculously deadly but then much of it is nullified if you press the right buttons.
Cities are very broken. You just walk through the world and *POOF*! A city appears either inside you or under your feet. Full of cars that are all going to crash into everyone and everything including you. This makes GTA look peaceful in comparison. :D
Many foods can be eaten multiple times but this often leads to chaos in your inventory. Like, if you have a stack of 10 flesh, and eat it two times, the partially-eaten fleshes just litter your inventory. Very annoying.
And finally, to be fair, I barely scratched the surface of this game. There are so many features I did not use yet because I just die too often. XD I think I will look again at this game later, hoping that the worst problems get fixed.
(review for version 2024-01-23)
This game has a HUGE amount of content. That's a plus! It will take you quite some time to explore everything. I don't think I've even scratched the surface. You can find villages, even cities, lonely huts, animals everywhere, ruins. The underground is also full of mysteries. The biomes are large and complex. The overworld and underground are nice to look at. There are so many features. There is a LOT you can do in this game.
BUT: This game just want to kill me. Even touching flowing water can propel you at high speeds, often leading to insta-kill. The world is full of deep chasms that will kill you with fall damage. Even a single tiny wasp can kill you within seconds and you usually don't even know what killed you. Sometimes you just randomly die at full health and have NO IDEA why. If you happen to find a city, there are cars that just crash into everyone and everything. Food is somewhat sparse and hunger and thirst come fast. Especially thirst, figuring out how not to die of thirst is tricky.
There's an elaborate parcours mechanic. A LOT of special moves. But I keep triggering the moves when I do not want them and fail to trigger them when I don't. A worst of all, make a wrong parcour move, and you may take collision damage. I don't have anything difficult games. But if most deaths just happen by random chance, this is not fun.
The menus look ugly and are full of typos. Many menu images are placed in a weird ways. Item names often look like "Crystal15".
And there are just outright bugs. So many bugs I don't even want to list them.
But still … this game, despite all its flaws, still was … kinda fun? Too bad its so broken and frustrating to play. :-(
This game really needs serious polishing and bugfixing before I can recommend it. To the developer I strongly recommend to stop adding more features but instead refine the existing ones, fix all the bugs, polish the UI and review ALL the text for typos.
Fun fact: Back when I was still the main dev of MCL2, I have been guilty of just spamming half-finished feature after feature after feature which eventually made the codebase messier and worse: buggier. The bugs started to pile up quickly which was one of the reasons that lead to me burning out and losing all motivation for MCL2. So some of the messiness of the codebase might be my partially my fault, lol. That having said, I think I never randomly broke compability for no reason except in VERY early stages of development.
If I would pick up leadership of MCL2 again today, my first priority would be to halt all feature development and focus on bugfixing and maintenance first until the bug count has returned to a managable level. Crash bugs will have top priority. Oh, and I would 100% nuke the hamburger. XD I would also be more strict on enforcing backwards-compability.
Anyway, I mostly agree with erlehmann and think having some dev standards for such a complex project is definitely very helpful. (Before you ask, no, I will not return to MCL2 dev in any way lol.)
As for the music argument, there are good news: In MT 5.8.0, music (or any large sound files) loads now much more efficiently (devs worked on performance). I think music should be "safe to use" for most games now.
PS: I haven't been following MCL2 development for years so please excuse me if I got anything wrong.
Tell me about it! I have been unsuccessfully trying to establish this as the (or a) default game for years but yeah. No success and I've given up by now.
Version 1.1.0 is out with many bugfixes. I hope it is better now.
Oh well. At least in version 1.1.0, the dialog boxes are fixed and you also can no longer fall in an annoying hole at the aforementioned coordinates. Thanks for finding the coordinates, this stuff is very easy to overlook.
Also, the shadows should no longer spawn at this alarming rate like in the game jam version 1.0.1.
Let's just say I didn't really know what I was doing; I tried to do a little bit of everything and didn't have a great game idea to begin with, especially one that fits with the theme "Unexpected". I changed the direction of the game twice and stuff got a little chaotic … I'm happy I managed to get out something playable with 4 levels in the first place! And some people still liked it tho. I think we can all agree this game does not even come close to Glitch. :D
But thanks for playing! XD
Yeah, fair enough. I tried to do something with mobs for the 2023 game jam but this was a risk since I'm not very experienced with them. I'm not really happy with the end result either, but you know, time constraints. As for the Unexpected theme, there is a minor plot twist / surprise / ??? at the end that you probably haven't reached although the question of how good it is is debatable of course. Admittedly, the 2023 theme is quite hard to find a good game idea in the first place. Just look at the other submissions. :-(
But yeah, it's not like I disagree with the critics or I'm unaware of the problems. That's the thing with risky game ideas, you can never know how well they turn out before you actually put them into practice. Originally I've planned more types of mobs but it turns out making good mobs is hard lol, especially under time contraints.
Anyway, it seems you haven't figured out how to reach the end boss. If you have 3 light crystals, you need to approach the bush in the last level (portal in the 1st floor of the Tree of Life) to unlock the final level.
I admit the dialog doesn't communicate the goal very well, maybe I improve it in the next version.
Overall, I agree with you. I'm also only half-happy with the result.
In version 1.1.0, these points are fixed now:
Version 1.1.0 has been released and hopefully all your reported bugs are fixed here, including the sound. See forum thread for changelog. You can also check out the new sound directly here: https://codeberg.org/Wuzzy/Shadow_Forest/issues/10
Please tell me if it's OK or if it still needs fixing.
It sounds like you’re not using X-Decor-libre but only X-Decor which is the original but outdated and very buggy. I assure you X-Decor-libre does support the 50-move rule (but a player must invoke it for it to count as draw (I applied FIDE rules)) and castling, too. Also, you need at least Minetest 5.7.0 for X-Decor-libre.
Anyway, let’s continue this discussion here: https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?t=28891
Strange. I am unaware of any of the bugs you just mentioned. Sure you use the latest version of X-Decor-libre (libre8)? If yes, I would like to see the crash logs.
How far in the game did you get? Did you at least reach the Hub?
So, thanks for the review. Now that the game jam results are finally in, here's a longer reply:
Actually, this game was never meant as a "soulslike", as in "absurdly difficult". The large amount of mobs was not intended. The problem is that I've put too few restraints on mob spawning in so that mobs just keep spawning and spawning and killing them doesn't help to stop the spawning. Mob spawning is kinda broken and in fact, this is the last item on my TODO list before I ran out of time. :-/
There actually ARE limits to mob spawning, but obviously these restraints are just unbalanced and way too "permissive", i.e. allowing too many mobs to spawn. I think the biggest problem was that killing mobs doesn't stop or even slow down the infinite stream of mobs. So the current winning strategy is to run, which wasn't really intended lol.
Are you sure it's the projectile HIT sound that has a high frequency problem? I would say if any sound is a problem, it'll be the SHOOT sound since it's much higher pitchde than the hit sound. But anyway, I'll add that to the TODO list. This is actually one of the very few problems in the game I was NOT aware of before submission.
PS: I'm also planning to write a making-of and post it in the forum thread soon(ish). Stay tuned for that (and the post-jam update :P).