Minetest, a free and open source voxel game engine styled like Minecraft has a new release up with some graphical updates, UI improvements and more.
While Minetest does come with a basic Minecraft-like game, really the power of Minetest is the plugin system. Out of the box, there's not much in it. However, with a few button clicks in the built-in downloader, you can access a ton of extra content and entire game packs to add into it.
Minetest 5.2.0 was released a few days ago and while it does include the usual assortment of fixes, there's also some fun sounding improvements too. Waves are now generated with Perlin-type noise, arm inertia animations were improved, there's now basic model shading possible, better natural light, visual feedback for button states in the UI, modding is a little easier as it should automatically enable a mod's dependencies in the world config menu, tools/weapons can wear out on hits, lots of modding enhancements and so on.
For the built-in Minetest game (the basic thing it comes with), this also saw a bunch of updates. Weather will vary the clouds, boat physics are more realistic, better creative mode inventory and search, improved player model animation, water opacity was increased.
I do love the update a while ago that added in their vast content database into the game, which has made modding it for players much easier. Although you can also browse it online too.
Want to try it? See more on the official site. There's various distribution packages available, as well as a Snap and Flatpak for cross-distro support. Not all packages are up to date but the Snap is and tested working myself.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
On the other hand, I've played a bunch of Minetest on my own and friends' servers, and it's fantastic. Even at its most basic I enjoy what it's got to offer, and the plugin/modding systems allow for huge variations in style of play. And all community driven, too.
Minecraft didn't need tons of news vanilla mobs and feature but decent performances and seamless mod support. Minetest is bringing this nicely.
If any new person would have tried it as a random thing, they would have given up by now. It might be a good platform for mods, but the default experience is not good and not helpful in attracting new players.
RickAndTired Apr 8, 2020
Playing it a lot lately, with Immersion mod.
I’m still having a blast with Vintage Story, best "minecraft-like" in my opinion.
Playing it a lot lately, with Immersion mod.
Same here, after having played Vintage Story, I can't see myself ever going back to Minecraft or its clones.
I’m still having a blast with Vintage Story, best "minecraf-like" in my opinion.
Playing it a lot lately, with Immersion mod.
Same! Love the Game!
FifteenthPen Apr 8, 2020
I’m still having a blast with Vintage Story, best "minecraf-like" in my opinion.
Playing it a lot lately, with Immersion mod.
I thought Minecraft was crack, and one of my favorite games ever.
Then I found Vintage Story. The survival and crafting aspects of it are a lot better than Minecraft, and the terrain and biome generation is so much better than Minecraft that even after having poured hundreds of hours into VS, I still keep finding places that make me just stop and enjoy the view/atmosphere for a while!
Last edited by FifteenthPen on 8 April 2020 at 11:54 pm UTC
They should really do something about the default game though. [...] Thing I noticed is that the world was dead. No animals, no enemies, nothing happening.
Yeah, I agree, though this can also be said about Garry's mod, for instance. I was also interested in contributing, but I must say that I find some members of the community maybe a bit... childish? (I had the same issue with SuperTuxKart, though I think it's better with minetest)
Also noticed that there was no off hand to hold a torch in. But it turns out that doesn't matter because holding a torch doesn't actually provide light.
Is that a thing now in Minecraft? That was a bit annoying, but not a dealbreaker, and leaving with enough to build stacks of torches, as well as putting some everywhere, quickly becomes second-nature :)
Do people here have any recommendations as to game modes and/or mods for someone that detests survival play styles and is just interested in building cool things, in particular big structures. I am interested in anything that increases flexibility and/or options and/or speed when it comes to building. Certainly including digging/carving and blowing things up to make ready for building.
Well, by no means an exhaustive list, I'd say these mods that I have installed would be a good start:
basic_materials
biome_lib
ethereal
homedecor_modpack
mesecons
moreblocks
moreores
moretrees
pipeworks
plantlife_modpack
technic
unified_inventory
unifieddyes
xdecor
I know one of those gives you TNT, but I forget which one. Unified Inventory gives you a good crafting guide in any case, so you can see up front what's possible to make.
Ethereal has a crystal shovel you can make (after collecting crystals from special biomes) that allows you to pick up things like dirt with grass on it without it reverting to regular dirt. Good for "seeding" grass on an island or greening a rocky area.
Farming_redo can be good if you're looking for a source of cotton to make wool out of (Minetest logic, lol). There's probably more, but that's the stuff I'm familiar with.
Last edited by Nezchan on 9 April 2020 at 1:01 pm UTC
Currently waiting until one of the open-source ones will be equally complex and with cohesive design (systems and aesthetics) and intuitive enough for new players. Though I doubt a natural human lifespan would be enough time for me to see that happen...
Last edited by chr on 13 April 2020 at 10:17 am UTC
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