PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
I got bored. :-( Not much to do. You just run aroud in a random maze and rarely you run across items and guards. Most of the time, you wander around aimlessly. Am I supposed to have fun that way? o_O Apparently you can break walls, but they just lead you to other parts of the maze. Apart from that, there's nothing else to do. This is barely even a playable game, it feels almost like a sandbox. I don't know how to escape, but I’m not intersted enough in this game to care.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
So … The basics of a kart racing game are present. You can race on a simple race track, there are computer opponents, there are some bonuses that I don't understand. The driving physics seem solid and also the opponents seem to work more or less OK (but I did not test for long). The fact that you managed to get some kind of working AI in that time is really impressive, however, I have to admit.
But the most important thing is missing: There's still no actual game. There is no time-trial, no laps, no actual timekeeping, no actual racing, etc. It seems like an early demo, probably ran out of time. So since the most important aspect of a racing game is missing (i.e. racing), I sadly have to give a thumbs down. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but for 3 weeks of time I expect at least have a basic gameplay. At least playable 1 level/race/time-trial, or anything. Keep in mind the theme of this game jam: "small game". This is small, but not a game (yet). I'd say this thing was CLOSE to a thumbs up from me, but it's not quite there yet.
As for graphics. The racing track isn't really exciting either, the landscape is completely flat. This is probably also on the TODO list, I guess? I like the kart racer models and the kart selection.
Finally, I can 100% say this one is far superior to the other kart game in the game jam (Minekart).
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
It's a Pacman clone. Unfortunately, the game jam version is in a very incomplete state, it's like in an alpha state right now. The level does not generate automatically and even then the victory condition does not exist. Did the author run out of time?
My threshold for a thumbs up for the Game Jam is at least a minimal amount of playability, but this is not the case here. Sorry. :-(
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Incomplete game. You can only generate a map (apparently random?) with a chat command and drive with a kart around. There is no gameplay, like actual races, time-trail, or anything else you expect from "normal" racing games. It seems this game was not finished in time. Sorry, I just can't click in good faith click "Recommend" for incomplete games.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
The problem with this game is that the very game concept is not convincing. You just click squares and HOPE it randomly turns gray or green. And it seems there's only one level. I can't see how this could be possibly fun for more than 10 seconds. To me, it feels very boring. This is very subjective, I just write about my feelings here.
But it is probably a good thing this game itea is so utterly boring, because then casinos might sure as hell might find a way to capitalize on it. ;-)
Even slot machines are more "engaging" than this. I am biased, of course, since I DESPISE casinos and gambling mechanics and this looks like a classic casino game, except it probably won't get adopted.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Right off the bat, the game does not really look like the screenshot. The early levels look very empty and much less impressive. Also, the map ends in open air, rather than a constant grassland. For this deceptive/bad use of screenshots, this game immediately gets a thumbs down.
The cool models seem to appear in the later levels only? But why only in the later levels? Meh. Not enough for a thumbs up anyway. A little bit more consistency would have been nice. The screenshots sure look nice, but the actual game much less so (esp. early levels).
Also, I'm stuck in the level in which I'm supposed to climb up the vine. No matter what I do, I can't get up. I read the instructions, but they didn't help at all. Confusing and frustrating. Difficult is okay, but if I have no idea what I am supposed to do to do basic tasks like "climbing", then the game has failed.
If this game would have been a little bit more stable and playable, I might have given a thumbs up.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Bad. You fight with a diamond sword against retextured stone monsters between shelves full of presents and that's it. Sounds mildly exciting but it's really not. The map is also very repetitive. I don't see the point. Very boring. Is this an incomplete game? And when you die, you teleport outside the map.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Unfortunately, this game for me is broken and unplayable. You spawn in an empty world and fall down. You can't do anything. The game starts with two warnings. Sorry, this is all I can say. :-(
Maybe I will look again at it later, when the post-jam version has been fixed.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Boring. You just enter random cubes to drive around a boring minimalist retro poly city and that seems to be it. This is barely even a complete game, sorry. This seems like a basic tech-demo.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
There is not much to do except hopping around to color the blocks. On the ContentDB I heard of dragons by replicating something in the screenshots but I was so completely unexcited by this idea I didn't even try. This is very essential information, should be all in-game. Since this is a GAME jam, not a SANDBOX jam, I have no choice but to give a thumbs down.
And even as a sandbox, I think it's boring since you literally have only 4 actions.
I highly appreciate the experimental nature of this very unusual game/sandbox concept, however. Experimenting with new concept is always great, so obviously some experiments end up in failure. Don't feel bad for this project, the thing is that you did something.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
I almost gave up playing this game at all. It took me ages to figure out that I have to build at the first street. Building anywhere else is forbidden. :/ Okay, so the game is basically a very simple sandbox. You can basically only do 3 things: Collect power from wind turbines, and build streets and houses, and power them. That's it. Building costs money, but powering a building (or street) gives you back the full cost. So there is literally no strategy at all required here. You could theoretically make your city infinitely large (well, at least until you hit the ocean or hill, because slopes and bridges don't work yet).
The controls are kind of awkward and simply due to Minetest's limitations. Since Minetest is at its core a first-person game, top-down city-planning games are somewhat awkward to do, but the game tries its best. You have to awkwardly rely on Minetest's "fly mode". This is one of the more special games for Minetest which shows the limitations of the engine. Another big limitation of the controls is that you can't really build long streeds or housing areas properly with drag-and-drop like in other city building games. Again, Minetest's fault.
The graphics style is really cute, something really refreshing to see in Minetest. The ocean could look better but apart from that I like it a lot.
As for the gameplay: Really basic sandbox building game, except you can only build streets and like 5 types of houses that don't do anything. It feels very incomplete. Needless to say, it gets boring very fast.
And because of this, I give a thumbs down (sorry!).
EDIT (15/08/2022): I am RETRACTING this review, as I am beginning to personally get involved in this project.
Original review text below:
NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
There are some bugs in this. Buggy lighting. Coin display overlaps slightly. One thing that cought me off-guard is that the building is too restrictive; it does not accept mirroring or offsetting. You must replicate it EXACTLY, including offset. I like the fact that you get a tooltip when you hover a block, which is important for colorblind people. However, colorblind people are still at a disadvantage since they must walk towards the block. What is annoying is that the same building might repeat after like 2 rounds. Concerning color, I also think the colors chosen for the blocks are a bit too arbitrary. There is dark green and dark gray but no other "dark" colors. For an independent game it might have made more sense to think of a new palette. Also the inclusion of various other blocks like river water seems pointless.
A technical problem is that lighting seems to be very broken with nodes like glass.
The game doesn't seem to have a good mechanic to prevent repetitions. First, the obvious problem that it's possible that the same building might appear twice after only 2 rounds. But the game could also employ some mechanism like randomizing blocks. Like that beds aren't always with oak wood, but from also other wood. Or maybe even occassionally generating a random building from scratch.
Finally, a nitpick, I think the shops (the blocks from which you buy) could look more like shops or vending machines rather than something "printed" on a block.
This game was close from getting a thumbs up from me, but due to the bugs and due to some shortcomings in the basic gameplay (that could have been fixed before release), I give a thumbs down.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Bad. I'm greeted with many console warnings. This is barely a game, almost just an (incomplete) sandbox. You just walk around in a maze and kill people. There does not seem to be an objective. This is unconvincing.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
The idea for the game is okay, but I think there are just too few levels. There are no sounds. Also, the game doesn't have too many puzzle concepts as well. I appreciate the little "story", but it's still just too little, too boring. Sorry.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written by a PARTICIPANT of the 2021 Minetest Game Jam. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
I grudgingly give this game a thumbs up because it perfectly matches the game jam's theme of "small game" and it's an arcade classic, although it has some flaws. The fences have broken lighting, apparently. The text doesn't match properly into the GUI. The graphics could be better, it doesn't look like you're in a subway. ;-)
But still, the execution of this game is done okay enough to barely reach a thumbs up for my taste.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written by a PARTICIPANT of the Game Jam.
The game seems complex at first but as soon you figure out how each of the machine actually works, it actually turns out to be mostly a "numbers managing game", and you just have to find the best values for each machine and then a strategy on how you manage repairs.
What makes this game tricky to win is that your expenses constantly go up and there is no way to stop it. So if you take too long before making a serious profit, you are doomed to lose. The GUI has a few bugs for me, the text is "overbleeding" for some reason, and I use default fonts. But fonts are kind of a mess in Minetest anyway, unfortunately. Until Minetest has better font handling, I don't punish the game rating for it.
I appreciate the in-game help, although those highly technical formulas ... ooff!
Considering this is a game jam submission and the game jam theme is "small game", I therefore give a thumbs up.
For those who are interested, here is my winning strategy: Immediately buy 50 food (should be enough for the whole game), set HVAC and heating to 15, set cooler to 300, set drill to 300, keep airlock closed, then go to gravity generator and WAIT. When energy is lower than 50 and nothing needs to be fixed, sleep. If the gravity generator breaks, you can instantly fix it because you're already standing there (the gravity generator is very important, if it breaks, other machines will soon follow). If the cooler breaks, RUN and fix it asap to prevent a full breakdown. For other machine breakdowns, you can just walk. If you don't have anything else to do, wait in front of the gravity machine to insta-fix it in case of breakdown. This setup seems to be most stable.
Well, many mods were developed for this game specifically. The flowers were drawn by Glünngi, the original author. Many games for Minetest have flowers, so it’s nothing too special.
Farming is basically the same as in Minetest Game, and the code was taken from that game. Maybe the farming mechanic will be changed one day, however. Not sure.
As for pickup: Yeah I noticed it too, it's indeed kind of annoying to mow down grass like this. When I think about it, there's not really any good reason for this.
This also begs the question of why the player needs to manually put materials in a 'crafting inventory' if crafting is handled by a menu.
Because the player still needs to choose which items to spend. This is because of group-based recipes. Letting the player craft directly from the inventory has the downside is that the player might accidentally "pay" items they didn't want to use. E.g. for sticks, do you want to use your oak or your birch planks? It would be possible for the game to just pick the first available item from the inventory, but will have unintended and potentially hazardous side-effects for the player.
As for digging time: This is kind of intentional, the game is supposed to have a slow progress, and a low-tech tree. That having said, you have a point that the best tool is still too slow.
One of my ideas I have is to increase the depth of the game without increasing complexity. I.e. keeping the basic rules the same, not add new game mechanics, but extend those that exists. This would basically boil down to more ores, more foods, more ways to trade, more structures, more animals, etc., all without adding any major gameplay mechanics like hypercomplex enchantment systems, EXP, etc. Also improving the underground in general, because only stone and ores is too boring.
About wrist pain: You'll have this problem with all Minetest games that involve a lot of digging, actually. I think a solution would be to add an autodig mode into Minetest so you don't have to keep the mouse button pressed all the time.
But don't get your hopes too high up. I am currently busy with many other projects, I probably won't do major improvements for a long time, only bugfixes. Repixture is not high on my priority list at the moment.
Deprecated use of use_texture_alpha (see lua_api.txt)
Deprecated use of minetest.setting_*
If you rightclick a door while holding a door, you place the held door (expected: you open the pointed door, forcing a place is usually Sneak+Place key in most games)
Can't place wrench in item frames and similar
If you place a trapdoor, it automatically opens (reason: you reused the def table instead of table.copying it)
If you mirror a door with the screwdriver or center the door, the hidden door segment is rotated/placed wrongly (causung players to awkwardly collide with air)
Yes, it is true, this game is obviously still in development which I wrote in multiple places of both the package and in-game, lol. This game is currently in the 'alpha' stage officially, meaning that breaks can and will occur between versions all the time. I am planning radical changes, I want to have many more features and depth than the game currently has. People can still playtest it, of course, but it's still just an early preview. Things are still chaotic in the codebase and I've got cleanup to do.
I liked this mod on the JT2 server, it was a nice decoration but also nice to give random stuff to players. :-)
This was always nice and fun to use it, as you know, I and other players on the server had lots of fun with it.
Unfortunately, this particular mod release is very buggy and broken in its current state, so I can sadly not recommend it right now. There's also non-free media. See more about this in the threads.
Some general criticisms I have:
- Color mismatch: The magenta gift has a different color than magenta wool/dye (the hue is slightly off)
- Missing node property of gift box node use_texture_alpha="clip" (triggers a legacy warning)
- Message can't be less than 5 characters, which is annoying
- The Christmas Present looks really ugly
- Missing mod.conf
If you place a gift box an then rightclick it to enter a message, it crashes
If you place a "Christmas Present" and choose an item, it crashes
Code assumes existence of a function default.is_empty which does not exist in MTG's default (another crash)
Also default.STATUS_CONTAINER_GET
Gift boxes drop non-MTG items (causing many unknown items)
I can't seem to get the gift out of the box. I tried on a local server placing one gift box as admin and digging it as a normal player, but I still only got the giftbox, not its contents
Once I played a Christmas Present as singleplayer without selecting a present, I can't get rid of it
If you put an itemstack with more than 1 item into a parcel, the inventory icon of the item stack if you open the parcel does not show the item count
If you put something in a parcel, then open the parcel HUD and click on the parcel icon, the parcel opens, but the contents of the parcel are destroyed
Tested in Minetest + Minetest Game 5.4.0 with all required dependencies and no other mods.
EDIT:
Attached torches and sand do not drop when giftbox was dug (hint: use minetest.check_for_falling)
I am very happy to hear that! This crafting grid IS confusing for newbies. I think that was a big design flaw but many Minetest games are like that. Modern Minetest games should probably use a different and simplified crafting system, I always thought of the crafting grid as clunky.
Haha, yeah I admit it's a bit MTG-biased if I'm being honest, especially the furnace. It's partially because Minetest has a Minecraft bias. I think making a tutorial completely generic is probably too hard and maybe would not be that helpful after all.
(Note: This review is identical to my text to Rhotator because both mods are very similar.)
Initially I was very excited to see this mod and the new concept seemed so obviously better. For normal full cubes, this is clearly superior. Yes, the MTG screwdriver indeed has bad usability, so an improvement is so much needed.
But then I noticed a huge problem: Rotating becomes hard and inconvenient again if you have to deal with complex selection boxes. Because with complex selection boxes (like a toilet), you have to hit not only correct side, but also a side which faces the right way. Since this will change drastically after every click, you can no longer spam-click a node to quickly get to the correct rotation, but you must always move the mouse and concentrate to hit the right "side" of the selection box. Faces that face the wrong way willl be frequently exposed so it is easy to hit them and screw up. That's a problem because it means you still need to think when rotating.
And the push method might sometimes be useless if the selection box face is very small (like only on the right side, meaning you can't push to the left) and you must walk to a different side.
This issue could be mostly circumvented by games by simplifying their selection boxes but sometimes that's not what you want …
For many games, this will still be a massive improvement, but they can't have complex selection boxses.
Overall, this mod is still a thumbs up, because it is an improvement over the MTG screwdriver. I appreciate all new concepts of rotation.
Initially I was very excited to see this mod and the new concept seemed so obviously better. For normal full cubes, this is clearly superior. Yes, the MTG screwdriver indeed has bad usability, so an improvement is so much needed.
But then I noticed a huge problem: Rotating becomes hard and inconvenient again if you have to deal with complex selection boxes. Because with complex selection boxes (like a toilet), you have to hit not only correct side, but also a side which faces the right way. Since this will change drastically after every click, you can no longer spam-click a node to quickly get to the correct rotation, but you must always move the mouse and concentrate to hit the right "side" of the selection box. Faces that face the wrong way willl be frequently exposed so it is easy to hit them and screw up. That's a problem because it means you still need to think when rotating.
And the push method might sometimes be useless if the selection box face is very small (like only on the right side, meaning you can't push to the left) and you must walk to a different side.
This issue could be mostly circumvented by games by simplifying their selection boxes but sometimes that's not what you want …
For many games, this will still be a massive improvement, but they can't have complex selection boxses.
Overall, this mod is still a thumbs up, because it is an improvement over the MTG screwdriver. I appreciate all new concepts of rotation.
and a quick way to swap or flood-fill nodes in a schematic
I intentionally did not provide tools for that, this mod is focusing on schematic importing and exporting. For the editing the world itself, you should use other mods like WorldEdit. There won't be powerful editing tools in this mod as this will a) make the mod more bloated and b) will clash in functionality with other mods like WorldEdit. That having said, there are two very basic replacement tools (replace air with schematic void and vice-versa) and that's it.
Actually, this project is not technically abandoned. I do have a good number of ideas on how to move this project forward. I just don't know when I will seriously pick it up again. I have other projects that I want to give my attention to first.
For some strange reason, when I download this package from Minetest, it still creates a folder named “labybrinthus” instead of the correct name “labyrinthus”. But the technical name is set to the latter.
Note the former name was accidentally used BEFORE, but I edited the package since them. It seems this did not help.
Why is this?
The media is licensed as CC BY-SA-NC. I noticed this mod is using media from other games.
For example, the player texture (“Sam”) is from Minetest Game, but MTG is under CC BY-SA. This license does not permit you to unilaterally change the terms to something else (like adding a NC clause). That's a problem. I did not check the other files yet.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
I got bored. :-( Not much to do. You just run aroud in a random maze and rarely you run across items and guards. Most of the time, you wander around aimlessly. Am I supposed to have fun that way? o_O Apparently you can break walls, but they just lead you to other parts of the maze. Apart from that, there's nothing else to do. This is barely even a playable game, it feels almost like a sandbox. I don't know how to escape, but I’m not intersted enough in this game to care.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
So … The basics of a kart racing game are present. You can race on a simple race track, there are computer opponents, there are some bonuses that I don't understand. The driving physics seem solid and also the opponents seem to work more or less OK (but I did not test for long). The fact that you managed to get some kind of working AI in that time is really impressive, however, I have to admit.
But the most important thing is missing: There's still no actual game. There is no time-trial, no laps, no actual timekeeping, no actual racing, etc. It seems like an early demo, probably ran out of time. So since the most important aspect of a racing game is missing (i.e. racing), I sadly have to give a thumbs down. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but for 3 weeks of time I expect at least have a basic gameplay. At least playable 1 level/race/time-trial, or anything. Keep in mind the theme of this game jam: "small game". This is small, but not a game (yet). I'd say this thing was CLOSE to a thumbs up from me, but it's not quite there yet.
As for graphics. The racing track isn't really exciting either, the landscape is completely flat. This is probably also on the TODO list, I guess? I like the kart racer models and the kart selection.
Finally, I can 100% say this one is far superior to the other kart game in the game jam (Minekart).
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
It's a Pacman clone. Unfortunately, the game jam version is in a very incomplete state, it's like in an alpha state right now. The level does not generate automatically and even then the victory condition does not exist. Did the author run out of time?
My threshold for a thumbs up for the Game Jam is at least a minimal amount of playability, but this is not the case here. Sorry. :-(
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Incomplete game. You can only generate a map (apparently random?) with a chat command and drive with a kart around. There is no gameplay, like actual races, time-trail, or anything else you expect from "normal" racing games. It seems this game was not finished in time. Sorry, I just can't click in good faith click "Recommend" for incomplete games.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
The problem with this game is that the very game concept is not convincing. You just click squares and HOPE it randomly turns gray or green. And it seems there's only one level. I can't see how this could be possibly fun for more than 10 seconds. To me, it feels very boring. This is very subjective, I just write about my feelings here.
But it is probably a good thing this game itea is so utterly boring, because then casinos might sure as hell might find a way to capitalize on it. ;-) Even slot machines are more "engaging" than this. I am biased, of course, since I DESPISE casinos and gambling mechanics and this looks like a classic casino game, except it probably won't get adopted.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Right off the bat, the game does not really look like the screenshot. The early levels look very empty and much less impressive. Also, the map ends in open air, rather than a constant grassland. For this deceptive/bad use of screenshots, this game immediately gets a thumbs down.
The cool models seem to appear in the later levels only? But why only in the later levels? Meh. Not enough for a thumbs up anyway. A little bit more consistency would have been nice. The screenshots sure look nice, but the actual game much less so (esp. early levels).
Also, I'm stuck in the level in which I'm supposed to climb up the vine. No matter what I do, I can't get up. I read the instructions, but they didn't help at all. Confusing and frustrating. Difficult is okay, but if I have no idea what I am supposed to do to do basic tasks like "climbing", then the game has failed.
If this game would have been a little bit more stable and playable, I might have given a thumbs up.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Bad. You fight with a diamond sword against retextured stone monsters between shelves full of presents and that's it. Sounds mildly exciting but it's really not. The map is also very repetitive. I don't see the point. Very boring. Is this an incomplete game? And when you die, you teleport outside the map.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Unfortunately, this game for me is broken and unplayable. You spawn in an empty world and fall down. You can't do anything. The game starts with two warnings. Sorry, this is all I can say. :-( Maybe I will look again at it later, when the post-jam version has been fixed.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Boring. You just enter random cubes to drive around a boring minimalist retro poly city and that seems to be it. This is barely even a complete game, sorry. This seems like a basic tech-demo.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
There is not much to do except hopping around to color the blocks. On the ContentDB I heard of dragons by replicating something in the screenshots but I was so completely unexcited by this idea I didn't even try. This is very essential information, should be all in-game. Since this is a GAME jam, not a SANDBOX jam, I have no choice but to give a thumbs down.
And even as a sandbox, I think it's boring since you literally have only 4 actions.
I highly appreciate the experimental nature of this very unusual game/sandbox concept, however. Experimenting with new concept is always great, so obviously some experiments end up in failure. Don't feel bad for this project, the thing is that you did something.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
I almost gave up playing this game at all. It took me ages to figure out that I have to build at the first street. Building anywhere else is forbidden. :/ Okay, so the game is basically a very simple sandbox. You can basically only do 3 things: Collect power from wind turbines, and build streets and houses, and power them. That's it. Building costs money, but powering a building (or street) gives you back the full cost. So there is literally no strategy at all required here. You could theoretically make your city infinitely large (well, at least until you hit the ocean or hill, because slopes and bridges don't work yet). The controls are kind of awkward and simply due to Minetest's limitations. Since Minetest is at its core a first-person game, top-down city-planning games are somewhat awkward to do, but the game tries its best. You have to awkwardly rely on Minetest's "fly mode". This is one of the more special games for Minetest which shows the limitations of the engine. Another big limitation of the controls is that you can't really build long streeds or housing areas properly with drag-and-drop like in other city building games. Again, Minetest's fault. The graphics style is really cute, something really refreshing to see in Minetest. The ocean could look better but apart from that I like it a lot. As for the gameplay: Really basic sandbox building game, except you can only build streets and like 5 types of houses that don't do anything. It feels very incomplete. Needless to say, it gets boring very fast. And because of this, I give a thumbs down (sorry!).
EDIT (15/08/2022): I am RETRACTING this review, as I am beginning to personally get involved in this project.
Original review text below:
NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
There are some bugs in this. Buggy lighting. Coin display overlaps slightly. One thing that cought me off-guard is that the building is too restrictive; it does not accept mirroring or offsetting. You must replicate it EXACTLY, including offset. I like the fact that you get a tooltip when you hover a block, which is important for colorblind people. However, colorblind people are still at a disadvantage since they must walk towards the block. What is annoying is that the same building might repeat after like 2 rounds. Concerning color, I also think the colors chosen for the blocks are a bit too arbitrary. There is dark green and dark gray but no other "dark" colors. For an independent game it might have made more sense to think of a new palette. Also the inclusion of various other blocks like river water seems pointless. A technical problem is that lighting seems to be very broken with nodes like glass.
The game doesn't seem to have a good mechanic to prevent repetitions. First, the obvious problem that it's possible that the same building might appear twice after only 2 rounds. But the game could also employ some mechanism like randomizing blocks. Like that beds aren't always with oak wood, but from also other wood. Or maybe even occassionally generating a random building from scratch. Finally, a nitpick, I think the shops (the blocks from which you buy) could look more like shops or vending machines rather than something "printed" on a block. This game was close from getting a thumbs up from me, but due to the bugs and due to some shortcomings in the basic gameplay (that could have been fixed before release), I give a thumbs down.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
Bad. I'm greeted with many console warnings. This is barely a game, almost just an (incomplete) sandbox. You just walk around in a maze and kill people. There does not seem to be an objective. This is unconvincing.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
It's literally unplayable for me. It say "Jump to play" but when I do that, nothing happens. I tried that multiple times, but failed. I'm sorry. :-(
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written for the 2021 Minetest Game Jam version of this game, by a PARTICIPANT. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
The idea for the game is okay, but I think there are just too few levels. There are no sounds. Also, the game doesn't have too many puzzle concepts as well. I appreciate the little "story", but it's still just too little, too boring. Sorry.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written by a PARTICIPANT of the 2021 Minetest Game Jam. I used Minetest version 5.4.1 to playtest.
I grudgingly give this game a thumbs up because it perfectly matches the game jam's theme of "small game" and it's an arcade classic, although it has some flaws. The fences have broken lighting, apparently. The text doesn't match properly into the GUI. The graphics could be better, it doesn't look like you're in a subway. ;-) But still, the execution of this game is done okay enough to barely reach a thumbs up for my taste.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is written by a PARTICIPANT of the Game Jam.
The game seems complex at first but as soon you figure out how each of the machine actually works, it actually turns out to be mostly a "numbers managing game", and you just have to find the best values for each machine and then a strategy on how you manage repairs. What makes this game tricky to win is that your expenses constantly go up and there is no way to stop it. So if you take too long before making a serious profit, you are doomed to lose. The GUI has a few bugs for me, the text is "overbleeding" for some reason, and I use default fonts. But fonts are kind of a mess in Minetest anyway, unfortunately. Until Minetest has better font handling, I don't punish the game rating for it. I appreciate the in-game help, although those highly technical formulas ... ooff! Considering this is a game jam submission and the game jam theme is "small game", I therefore give a thumbs up.
For those who are interested, here is my winning strategy: Immediately buy 50 food (should be enough for the whole game), set HVAC and heating to 15, set cooler to 300, set drill to 300, keep airlock closed, then go to gravity generator and WAIT. When energy is lower than 50 and nothing needs to be fixed, sleep. If the gravity generator breaks, you can instantly fix it because you're already standing there (the gravity generator is very important, if it breaks, other machines will soon follow). If the cooler breaks, RUN and fix it asap to prevent a full breakdown. For other machine breakdowns, you can just walk. If you don't have anything else to do, wait in front of the gravity machine to insta-fix it in case of breakdown. This setup seems to be most stable.
Yeah, that's why I had the idea on building up the tech tree for this game eventually. But the time is not there yet. Maybe in a different year …
Managing multiple games at once isn’t easy, I need to focus my efforts.
But thanks for this long review. I always appreciate when people have lots of things to say about the things I do. :-)
Well, many mods were developed for this game specifically. The flowers were drawn by Glünngi, the original author. Many games for Minetest have flowers, so it’s nothing too special.
Farming is basically the same as in Minetest Game, and the code was taken from that game. Maybe the farming mechanic will be changed one day, however. Not sure.
TNT is not part of this game.
The issue tracker link is broken. It seems there is no issue tracker.
The technical name is set to "12345" for some reason. Please change it to something closer to the actual name, thanks.
As for pickup: Yeah I noticed it too, it's indeed kind of annoying to mow down grass like this. When I think about it, there's not really any good reason for this.
Because the player still needs to choose which items to spend. This is because of group-based recipes. Letting the player craft directly from the inventory has the downside is that the player might accidentally "pay" items they didn't want to use. E.g. for sticks, do you want to use your oak or your birch planks? It would be possible for the game to just pick the first available item from the inventory, but will have unintended and potentially hazardous side-effects for the player.
As for digging time: This is kind of intentional, the game is supposed to have a slow progress, and a low-tech tree. That having said, you have a point that the best tool is still too slow.
One of my ideas I have is to increase the depth of the game without increasing complexity. I.e. keeping the basic rules the same, not add new game mechanics, but extend those that exists. This would basically boil down to more ores, more foods, more ways to trade, more structures, more animals, etc., all without adding any major gameplay mechanics like hypercomplex enchantment systems, EXP, etc. Also improving the underground in general, because only stone and ores is too boring.
About wrist pain: You'll have this problem with all Minetest games that involve a lot of digging, actually. I think a solution would be to add an autodig mode into Minetest so you don't have to keep the mouse button pressed all the time.
But don't get your hopes too high up. I am currently busy with many other projects, I probably won't do major improvements for a long time, only bugfixes. Repixture is not high on my priority list at the moment.
List of bugs:
use_texture_alpha(seelua_api.txt)minetest.setting_*deftable instead oftable.copying it)Yes, it is true, this game is obviously still in development which I wrote in multiple places of both the package and in-game, lol. This game is currently in the 'alpha' stage officially, meaning that breaks can and will occur between versions all the time. I am planning radical changes, I want to have many more features and depth than the game currently has. People can still playtest it, of course, but it's still just an early preview. Things are still chaotic in the codebase and I've got cleanup to do.
I liked this mod on the JT2 server, it was a nice decoration but also nice to give random stuff to players. :-) This was always nice and fun to use it, as you know, I and other players on the server had lots of fun with it.
Unfortunately, this particular mod release is very buggy and broken in its current state, so I can sadly not recommend it right now. There's also non-free media. See more about this in the threads.
Some general criticisms I have: - Color mismatch: The magenta gift has a different color than magenta wool/dye (the hue is slightly off) - Missing node property of gift box node
use_texture_alpha="clip"(triggers a legacy warning) - Message can't be less than 5 characters, which is annoying - The Christmas Present looks really ugly - Missingmod.confAs the description itself admits, this mod includes non-free media (
present_greeting.png), although the media is claimed to be CC BY-SA 3.0.Here's a quick and dirty libre remake of the image which you can use for your mod (you have my permission): https://satoshiupload.com/images/Jq0cQxqYR2.png
This mod is very buggy right now
default.is_emptywhich does not exist in MTG'sdefault(another crash)default.STATUS_CONTAINER_GETTested in Minetest + Minetest Game 5.4.0 with all required dependencies and no other mods.
EDIT:
minetest.check_for_falling)I am very happy to hear that! This crafting grid IS confusing for newbies. I think that was a big design flaw but many Minetest games are like that. Modern Minetest games should probably use a different and simplified crafting system, I always thought of the crafting grid as clunky.
Haha, yeah I admit it's a bit MTG-biased if I'm being honest, especially the furnace. It's partially because Minetest has a Minecraft bias. I think making a tutorial completely generic is probably too hard and maybe would not be that helpful after all.
(Note: This review is identical to my text to Rhotator because both mods are very similar.)
Initially I was very excited to see this mod and the new concept seemed so obviously better. For normal full cubes, this is clearly superior. Yes, the MTG screwdriver indeed has bad usability, so an improvement is so much needed.
But then I noticed a huge problem: Rotating becomes hard and inconvenient again if you have to deal with complex selection boxes. Because with complex selection boxes (like a toilet), you have to hit not only correct side, but also a side which faces the right way. Since this will change drastically after every click, you can no longer spam-click a node to quickly get to the correct rotation, but you must always move the mouse and concentrate to hit the right "side" of the selection box. Faces that face the wrong way willl be frequently exposed so it is easy to hit them and screw up. That's a problem because it means you still need to think when rotating.
And the push method might sometimes be useless if the selection box face is very small (like only on the right side, meaning you can't push to the left) and you must walk to a different side.
This issue could be mostly circumvented by games by simplifying their selection boxes but sometimes that's not what you want …
For many games, this will still be a massive improvement, but they can't have complex selection boxses.
Overall, this mod is still a thumbs up, because it is an improvement over the MTG screwdriver. I appreciate all new concepts of rotation.
Initially I was very excited to see this mod and the new concept seemed so obviously better. For normal full cubes, this is clearly superior. Yes, the MTG screwdriver indeed has bad usability, so an improvement is so much needed.
But then I noticed a huge problem: Rotating becomes hard and inconvenient again if you have to deal with complex selection boxes. Because with complex selection boxes (like a toilet), you have to hit not only correct side, but also a side which faces the right way. Since this will change drastically after every click, you can no longer spam-click a node to quickly get to the correct rotation, but you must always move the mouse and concentrate to hit the right "side" of the selection box. Faces that face the wrong way willl be frequently exposed so it is easy to hit them and screw up. That's a problem because it means you still need to think when rotating.
And the push method might sometimes be useless if the selection box face is very small (like only on the right side, meaning you can't push to the left) and you must walk to a different side.
This issue could be mostly circumvented by games by simplifying their selection boxes but sometimes that's not what you want …
For many games, this will still be a massive improvement, but they can't have complex selection boxses.
Overall, this mod is still a thumbs up, because it is an improvement over the MTG screwdriver. I appreciate all new concepts of rotation.
That's an interesting idea.
I intentionally did not provide tools for that, this mod is focusing on schematic importing and exporting. For the editing the world itself, you should use other mods like WorldEdit. There won't be powerful editing tools in this mod as this will a) make the mod more bloated and b) will clash in functionality with other mods like WorldEdit. That having said, there are two very basic replacement tools (replace air with schematic void and vice-versa) and that's it.
FYI: Textures are from the PixelPerfection texture pack for Minecraft. You can read the MCL2 README file for details.
Then the brewing screenshot no longer makes sense, right?
Actually, this project is not technically abandoned. I do have a good number of ideas on how to move this project forward. I just don't know when I will seriously pick it up again. I have other projects that I want to give my attention to first.
Thank you very much! ^^
Strange. Now it doesn't happen at all anymore, no matter what I do. Did you touch anything?
For some strange reason, when I download this package from Minetest, it still creates a folder named “labybrinthus” instead of the correct name “labyrinthus”. But the technical name is set to the latter.
Note the former name was accidentally used BEFORE, but I edited the package since them. It seems this did not help. Why is this?
The media is licensed as CC BY-SA-NC. I noticed this mod is using media from other games.
For example, the player texture (“Sam”) is from Minetest Game, but MTG is under CC BY-SA. This license does not permit you to unilaterally change the terms to something else (like adding a NC clause). That's a problem. I did not check the other files yet.