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A free and open source survival sandbox game pack for the voxel game engine Minetest, MineClone2 is as close to Minecraft as you can get without playing Minecraft. A big new release has rolled out with version 0.82.0 with lots added.

For those of you who dislike Minecraft and want something just like it, this is what you want. There's a reason it has clone in the name. Some of what's new in the latest release includes:

  • Bamboo and bamboo blocks added.
  • Added game music.
  • Light blocks added.
  • Japanese translation.
  • Overworld Biome Sky And Fog Colours.
  • Villager pathfinding improvement.
  • Villages spawn more effectively in desert and snow.
  • Performance improvements.
  • Lots of bug fixes.

The developers did their own overview video to showcase some of it:

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If any of my readers play MineClone2 — why do you choose it over Minecraft?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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11 comments

hardpenguin Jan 30, 2023
Good free alternative for everyone 👍️
Nezchan Jan 30, 2023
Honestly I've only puttered around in Mineclone 2 the way it's presented. But I have done CallMeKevin's One Chunk Challenge a few times using it, because I don't have (or see the need for) official Minecraft, but wanted the same experience and mechanics as the original videos on the challenge.

That said, I am interested in digging deeper into it. Now that they've got their original benchmark (1.14, I think?) pretty much locked down and have moved on to the more modern stuff like the newer mobs, blocks, biomes and so forth, it looks like a lot of fun.
pageround Jan 30, 2023
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I dumped a ton of hours into minecraft before it was sold to Microsoft. Recently in the past year or so, Ive dug up my old mojang account and had it re-enabled for my son to use. I've also enjoyed playing around with MineTest, I find the mods much easier to use.
Edit: I dont have to worry about a paid marketplace in MineTest.


Last edited by pageround on 30 January 2023 at 3:12 pm UTC
1xok Jan 30, 2023
I play Mineclone with my nephew, who currently only has a Raspi 400. Mineclone runs much better on the device than Minecraft. Plus the server side mods are great when playing with kids. The kids just have to connect to the server and not install anything locally. And it doesn't cost any money. Although I might donate a bit.
dmoonfire Jan 30, 2023
Me and the kids (Child.0 is 12, Child.1 is 8) have been enjoying almost nightly sessions with MineTest. Default, not MineClone, though, but it has been a lot of fun just building and working, plus it was so easy to create a shared server with NixOS.

Probably one of the nicest bits is that the clients will download the assets required by the server, so I don't have to worry about making sure they have everything in since (unlike say, Satisfactory).
Minux Jan 30, 2023
Good free alternative for everyone 👍️

Same think here. By the way, your profile picture is cool buddy.
Pengling Jan 30, 2023
If any of my readers play MineClone2 — why do you choose it over Minecraft?
I owned Minecraft back when I had a Nintendo Switch, and over time claimed a lot of freebie DLC items during promotions. At some point or another a bug got introduced that trashed the items that were tied to your account, and the only known workaround to get them back was to log into Minecraft on an Xbox or a Windows installation, neither of which I have or want.

For a game that turned out to not really be my sort of genre, where I sometimes just explore to see what sort of worlds get procedurally generated and what sights I can see, it wasn't worth it at all for me to re-buy it and deal with more of that sort of hassle after I moved my gaming over to Linux, so MineClone2 has been just the ticket for those rare occasions when I get the exploring-blocky-worlds itch.
StoneColdSpider Jan 30, 2023
If any of my readers play MineClone2 — why do you choose it over Minecraft?
Thats easy....... MineClone2 is not owned by Microsoft......
14 Jan 30, 2023
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When I had to convert multiple Mojang accounts to Microsoft accounts and set up parental control that still allowed us to play together on a LAN, I just about threw in the towel. So, I'm really not happy with the Microsoft accounts. That actually extends to other PC games as well.

That said, I worked through the turmoil and we still play Minecraft. We spent quite a bit of time in Minetest for a while, though.

If Microsoft does something super annoying with the game again, I would maybe ditch Minecraft or hack it so we can play offline but still on LAN. I bought that game umpteen years ago when it was operated by a different company. I would not feel immoral hacking it so I can play offline without their control. I already paid for the game 4-5 times now.

Other games do it better: Stardew Valley, Starbound, Terraria, etc.
Nezchan Jan 31, 2023
So did they dumb down the Villager AI to make them as suicidal as they tend to be in Minecraft?

Like the pathing has to make a beeline for things they can fall off of, for immersion's sake.
kneekoo Feb 5, 2023
So did they dumb down the Villager AI to make them as suicidal as they tend to be in Minecraft?

The mobs' AI is one of the medium-to-high priorities currently, along with spawning and performance improvements in various places.

The game is over 6 years old and it has plenty of technical debt that was never easy to address because new features were prioritized to make the game more fun and more useful. But having progressed a lot in the last years, it's in a decent enough place where some time can be spent on less visible parts of the game but important to the overall experience and gameplay.

I was talking to the lead maintainer yesterday about the Minecraft mobs in general, and how they pathfind and walk towards destinations they can't come back from (2-block high drops). We wouldn't be different if we did the same, but he's not a fan of that "feature/bug" and wants to look into smarter pathfinding once more important work gets done.

As I don't do development for MineClone2 at this point, I tend to view this like a player who sometimes enjoys challenges, and sometimes getting annoyed with it. I don't know how many Minecraft players are annoyed by the villagers' pathfinding - considering they can be very important if the players rely on them. Is this something that should definitely be improved, or is it fine if it remains a challenge? You know, very smooth gameplays can easily become boring or feel more like grinding than fun and problem solving. :)
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