Builda City at its present functions as a very simple citybuilder game, with only 5 things to place, houses, shops, offices, skyscapers and roads.
As usual, Kenny graphics are amazing, and that choice alone adds significant appeal to it.
The gameplay is very simple, it is more of a creative mode citybuilder than a survival one at its current state, and I have no issues with that, as a major fan of simulation construction games. Those that were expecting more gameplay may be disappointed in this aspect.
However, this is a solid start and there's so much more potential. Out of all gamejam submissions so far, I have spent the longest time in this, trying to perfect my cute little city.
I do look forward to its continual development, and maybe contributing to it.
Regarding the laggy nature, I think anyone who has worked with minetest long enough would realize this is the norm especially with dealing with entities of this scale.
Putting that aside, this game does introduces some pretty impressive mechanics. The fact that the AI cart players (for most parts) actually work is impressive enough for me to provide a thumbs up.
The gameplay is fun and has a lot of interesting powerups, karts while laggy, are still very responsive to controls.
Even in endless singleplayer its definitely fun enough for me to play continuously.
I definitely look forward to more stages & multiplayer being released.
I considered that initially, but really it's more of a bug than a feature. Making U-turns is simply impossible without exceeding the road boundaries.
I do apologize if I come across a bit too harsh for someone's first made game. But i'm going across all the gamejam games with the same mindset, expecting a workable game with gameplay, no matter how minor.
There's a lot more simple things you can add to it, but at its current state, I personally find it as there's no gameplay.
Regardless, don't let my critique dishearten you, it is a nice start for a first game, and I do appreciate the effort but imo, this is too incomplete, there's so much more that could be done.
For those going into this not expecting what the gameplay is, I would say its comparable to a game of minesweeper except on a 2x2 board.
It's an insanely simple concept, yet I still found myself playing few rounds continuously, I imagine it will be more fun in multiplayer as well.
Execution is flawless though as Emojiminetest said, larger boards would be nice.
I think this game takes the cake with having the most interesting visuals I have seen so far.
At its core, it is a simple parkour puzzle game, but the visuals definitely make it stand out, the music is nice as well.
My only issue is, perhaps due to limitations by minetest itself, the inconsistent collision boxes of the "platforms", while I suppose the idea is to let the player figure it out, attempting to traverse these inconsistent collision boxes reminds me more of "Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy" than a fun relaxing parkour platformer that the music has tricked me into believing.
That being said, I do appreciate the attempt to break the cubic nature, and the effort into it as well, i'm sure making those collision boxes weren't fun either.
However, figuring out those collision boxes as gameplay isn't really my cup of tea, but I'm sure it's someone else.
At the end of the day however, the homemade music and graphics are beautiful enough for me to provide a thumbs up.
It's nice to see another puzzle game, but one with a mini-story built into as well.
That being said, the story is as mentioned, mini, and there could be potential for more, especially with the way they are displayed.
The puzzle element is definitely something new and fun, nothing much to complain in that aspect, it does that well.
I understand there's a lot more planned, considering all the "Coming Soon" descriptors in the game.
At its current state, Stella presents interesting graphics and gameplay with potential for more, and for that its a thumbs up.
That being said, the gameplay idea is a bit simple at the moment, dig up things to upgrade things to dig up more things, which is to say, what is different from normal minetest gameplay?
I would like to see these resources used for more purposes, maybe building your own mini city and or even hiring miners to do the job for you.
More sounds cues would be helpful too, considering there's currently no sound when interacting with things.
The game at its present state is nothing more than a simple box-driving simulator. Or at least, I haven't found anything else to do with it.
Kudos to add a city backdrop, but that all it seems to be. The box physics are also not the best fitted to the crafted environment, its near impossible to make the tight-turn roads considering how slow the box actually turns.
There's potential for more, I see the mention of "thief", maybe ability to interact with the city nodes and actually steal something and then running away in a box?
But at its current state, there's simply no gameplay.
The concept of the game is very unique and it's something that has definitely the potential for so much more.
The game already introduces some structures the player can construct, but there could be so much more than that.
There's potential to take this into a tower defense genre, rather than singular dragon bosses, there could be waves of enemies, that require structures like the ion cannon to destroy.
Additionally, making the information on how to construct these structures ingame would be more useful, rather than the need to refer to an external source.
Although the game currently doesn't have too much to offer, it is a promising start with a solid concept, and for that, it's a thumbs up.
The idea is simple, yet the implementation is but lazy.
You are required manually place down the maze and your own enemies. Why not generate it for the player at the start already?
The gameplay is dull as well, there's nothing stopping you from collecting the dots, the ghosts AI are just the simple ones, that can't even move around a corner, the challenge only comes when you do have the need to pass by them.
I was intridged when i first saw the mesh flora in the screenshot.
But frankly, that is all this game has to present.
The game shoves you down into a simple survival, where there are these spiky slug-like things chasing you down. And really there's all to the game, which is to say, what's stopping me from just running minetest_game with another mobs mod, which offers a lot more gameplay.
That being said, there's a lot of wasted potential with the mesh flora pieces which look great, but currently serve zero purpose other than a decorative backdrop right now.
A very simple and polished game that does well what it says on the tin.
The graphics are great and the gameplay works as intended.
My only complain is that given the laggy nature of minetest, certain maneuvers perhaps require a bit too much precision; for anyone having issues as I am, I find the best approach is to make the move before even reaching the tight junction.
Not sure why you are experiencing the issue, I know there was one version that broke damages, but that should have been fixed ages ago. Download the latest version here; https://github.com/minetest-LOTR/Lord-of-the-Test/archive/refs/heads/master.zip And see if it works better.
If it still doesn't work, start an issue in the git repo; https://github.com/minetest-LOTR/Lord-of-the-Test/issues It will be better kept track there. Do provide your minetest version as well.
Builda City at its present functions as a very simple citybuilder game, with only 5 things to place, houses, shops, offices, skyscapers and roads. As usual, Kenny graphics are amazing, and that choice alone adds significant appeal to it.
The gameplay is very simple, it is more of a creative mode citybuilder than a survival one at its current state, and I have no issues with that, as a major fan of simulation construction games. Those that were expecting more gameplay may be disappointed in this aspect.
However, this is a solid start and there's so much more potential. Out of all gamejam submissions so far, I have spent the longest time in this, trying to perfect my cute little city. I do look forward to its continual development, and maybe contributing to it.
Regarding the laggy nature, I think anyone who has worked with minetest long enough would realize this is the norm especially with dealing with entities of this scale.
Putting that aside, this game does introduces some pretty impressive mechanics. The fact that the AI cart players (for most parts) actually work is impressive enough for me to provide a thumbs up. The gameplay is fun and has a lot of interesting powerups, karts while laggy, are still very responsive to controls. Even in endless singleplayer its definitely fun enough for me to play continuously.
I definitely look forward to more stages & multiplayer being released.
I considered that initially, but really it's more of a bug than a feature. Making U-turns is simply impossible without exceeding the road boundaries.
I do apologize if I come across a bit too harsh for someone's first made game. But i'm going across all the gamejam games with the same mindset, expecting a workable game with gameplay, no matter how minor.
There's a lot more simple things you can add to it, but at its current state, I personally find it as there's no gameplay.
Regardless, don't let my critique dishearten you, it is a nice start for a first game, and I do appreciate the effort but imo, this is too incomplete, there's so much more that could be done.
For those going into this not expecting what the gameplay is, I would say its comparable to a game of minesweeper except on a 2x2 board.
It's an insanely simple concept, yet I still found myself playing few rounds continuously, I imagine it will be more fun in multiplayer as well. Execution is flawless though as Emojiminetest said, larger boards would be nice.
It does what it says on the tin and does it well. Control a snake moving in 3d space.
While the concept is simple, it is still fun and challenging, and the execution leaves no complains.
I think this game takes the cake with having the most interesting visuals I have seen so far. At its core, it is a simple parkour puzzle game, but the visuals definitely make it stand out, the music is nice as well.
My only issue is, perhaps due to limitations by minetest itself, the inconsistent collision boxes of the "platforms", while I suppose the idea is to let the player figure it out, attempting to traverse these inconsistent collision boxes reminds me more of "Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy" than a fun relaxing parkour platformer that the music has tricked me into believing.
That being said, I do appreciate the attempt to break the cubic nature, and the effort into it as well, i'm sure making those collision boxes weren't fun either. However, figuring out those collision boxes as gameplay isn't really my cup of tea, but I'm sure it's someone else.
At the end of the day however, the homemade music and graphics are beautiful enough for me to provide a thumbs up.
It's nice to see another puzzle game, but one with a mini-story built into as well.
That being said, the story is as mentioned, mini, and there could be potential for more, especially with the way they are displayed. The puzzle element is definitely something new and fun, nothing much to complain in that aspect, it does that well.
I understand there's a lot more planned, considering all the "Coming Soon" descriptors in the game. At its current state, Stella presents interesting graphics and gameplay with potential for more, and for that its a thumbs up.
That being said, the gameplay idea is a bit simple at the moment, dig up things to upgrade things to dig up more things, which is to say, what is different from normal minetest gameplay?
I would like to see these resources used for more purposes, maybe building your own mini city and or even hiring miners to do the job for you. More sounds cues would be helpful too, considering there's currently no sound when interacting with things.
I will definitely be watching its development.
The game at its present state is nothing more than a simple box-driving simulator. Or at least, I haven't found anything else to do with it.
Kudos to add a city backdrop, but that all it seems to be. The box physics are also not the best fitted to the crafted environment, its near impossible to make the tight-turn roads considering how slow the box actually turns.
There's potential for more, I see the mention of "thief", maybe ability to interact with the city nodes and actually steal something and then running away in a box? But at its current state, there's simply no gameplay.
It's a simple concept, collect coconuts, preferably done in a multiplayer setting. But that is all to the game.
What's to stop me from simply running minetest_game and do this with another node?
The concept of the game is very unique and it's something that has definitely the potential for so much more.
The game already introduces some structures the player can construct, but there could be so much more than that. There's potential to take this into a tower defense genre, rather than singular dragon bosses, there could be waves of enemies, that require structures like the ion cannon to destroy.
Additionally, making the information on how to construct these structures ingame would be more useful, rather than the need to refer to an external source.
Although the game currently doesn't have too much to offer, it is a promising start with a solid concept, and for that, it's a thumbs up.
The idea is simple, yet the implementation is but lazy.
You are required manually place down the maze and your own enemies. Why not generate it for the player at the start already?
The gameplay is dull as well, there's nothing stopping you from collecting the dots, the ghosts AI are just the simple ones, that can't even move around a corner, the challenge only comes when you do have the need to pass by them.
I was intridged when i first saw the mesh flora in the screenshot. But frankly, that is all this game has to present.
The game shoves you down into a simple survival, where there are these spiky slug-like things chasing you down. And really there's all to the game, which is to say, what's stopping me from just running minetest_game with another mobs mod, which offers a lot more gameplay.
That being said, there's a lot of wasted potential with the mesh flora pieces which look great, but currently serve zero purpose other than a decorative backdrop right now.
A very simple and polished game that does well what it says on the tin. The graphics are great and the gameplay works as intended.
My only complain is that given the laggy nature of minetest, certain maneuvers perhaps require a bit too much precision; for anyone having issues as I am, I find the best approach is to make the move before even reaching the tight junction.