FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Aren't I a long-time lurker? :#

Anyway, I was recently wondering if Minetest could have something similar to the concept of a Netherworld, but better and more fitting for the science theme of Minetest?

Then I realized, wait, Mese has alien origins, so ALIENS. Imagine that there are broken portals made of Mese blocks scattered throughout maps, and you need to mine Mese to fill in the missing pieces of whichever portal you want. Once one of them is fixed and working, you can enter a portal leading to an alien mothership. (The sky has a 30,000 block limit, so the sky's the limit as far as generating a small area that a player could spawn to.)

They probably wouldn't have guns or plasma pistols, but swords and portable cannons that shoot (slow) hot plasma balls at you. Defeat the overlord, and save the earth from an alien takeover! Obviously survival strategies would apply here, so there would still be a point to mining resources and farming, ensuring you are better prepared for the fight with all the equipment you need.

Of course, this is only one of the many things you could do with a portal, and a small area players can spawn to. You could also create a dark environment to jail offending players in online multiplayer, far far away from the actual playing field, or even a secret storage cache for priviledged members only, that normal players can't access.

And, if anybody wanted to go for a fantasy mod, you could even use it to create a magical portal, leading to a secret castle that serves as an arena to fight a demon king in his realm of darkness. He threatens to wreak havoc on the earth should no one stand up to him.

.Luke wrote:Aren't I a long-time lurker? :#

Anyway, I was recently wondering if Minetest could have something similar to the concept of a Netherworld, but better and more fitting for the science theme of Minetest?

Then I realized, wait, Mese has alien origins, so ALIENS. Imagine that there are broken portals made of Mese blocks scattered throughout maps, and you need to mine Mese to fill in the missing pieces of whichever portal you want. Once one of them is fixed and working, you can enter a portal leading to an alien mothership. (The sky has a 30,000 block limit, so the sky's the limit as far as generating a small area that a player could spawn to.)

They probably wouldn't have guns or plasma pistols, but swords and portable cannons that shoot (slow) hot plasma balls at you. Defeat the overlord, and save the earth from an alien takeover! Obviously survival strategies would apply here, so there would still be a point to mining resources and farming, ensuring you are better prepared for the fight with all the equipment you need.

Of course, this is only one of the many things you could do with a portal, and a small area players can spawn to. You could also create a dark environment to jail offending players in online multiplayer, far far away from the actual playing field, or even a secret storage cache for priviledged members only, that normal players can't access.

And, if anybody wanted to go for a fantasy mod, you could even use it to create a magical portal, leading to a secret castle that serves as an arena to fight a demon king in his realm of darkness. He threatens to wreak havoc on the earth should no one stand up to him.

Good ideas for other dimensions.

Why not just some awkward metal, that can be manipulated to make Stargates, and travel to other worlds/space/(servers?) through them would be possible? Dimensions are too mainstream anyways...

10/10 CAN WE PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

I wonder if in 0.5.0 we can use other sqlite files to add a better realm/universe/planets support?

DeepGaze wrote:I wonder if in 0.5.0 we can use other sqlite files to add a better realm/universe/planets support?

MORE PLANETS AWESOME nether.... never

and ending the game no ending the game is the worst idea ever. one this is a modding engine 2 an end of the game just makes one not want to play the world any more

http://youtu.be/elCqCyD_0rc
oOChainLynxOo made this video recently.

I don't think this sort of game should have any sort of winning scenario. The "goal" is to just build/do whatever you want, not try to "win".

Menche wrote:I don't think this sort of game should have any sort of winning scenario. The "goal" is to just build/do whatever you want, not try to "win".

Agreed.

this could bring something new to the game actually and the game should not end there it should be continued and make like little chapters and expand the chapters with user created contetn :3 just an idea

The 'End' of Minecraft is a rather tacky, cheesy, mainstream, commercially-driven mistake, it's good to know the devs are against doing something similar in Minetest

Menche wrote:I don't think this sort of game should have any sort of winning scenario. The "goal" is to just build/do whatever you want, not try to "win".

i don't think you are right but i also saying you are not wrong but i feel really board while playing minetest simply building random stuff screwing with mods and looking for minerals you should also have some adventure in my experience my adventures are this go look for papyrus go look for diamonds and get a stack of wood and i am not saying NO YOUR SO WRONG people should have there own opinion but i am sick and tired of collecting stupid resources and want ADVENTURE TIME

Why is everyone saying that there shouldn't be an end to Minetest? They way you're playing right now would be the same way you would play after defeating the aliens (or other boss). I honestly find it rather boring the way it is now, I think it needs some sort of plot to it. This is a great idea!

theblob wrote:Why is everyone saying that there shouldn't be an end to Minetest? They way you're playing right now would be the same way you would play after defeating the aliens (or other boss). I honestly find it rather boring the way it is now, I think it needs some sort of plot to it. This is a great idea!

Is a sandbox game like Minetest about winning? You may tell yourself objectives to do, but not everyone wants to follow them, especially people who play mostly for the building aspect.

Most importantly: don't enforce fixed paths, that cripples the game.

theblob wrote:Why is everyone saying that there shouldn't be an end to Minetest? They way you're playing right now would be the same way you would play after defeating the aliens (or other boss). I honestly find it rather boring the way it is now, I think it needs some sort of plot to it. This is a great idea!

Of course a way to win could be added to minetest but only as a mod else it would result in something like finding a nyan cat which is generated even if singlenode is used.

I think Indeed that Minetest (the engine) as it is designed and offered at the moment should not include a "story" as such and therefor cannot offer much of a goal what to do or a reward.

I guess that is simply besides the point.

If you are looking for an level based game that builds up on achievements and offers some rewards for your progress then look at some "Minetest Games". Some are scripted to offer exactly that sort of gameplay.

If you are looking for a mission to accomplish that is set by the game then look at some "Minetest Maps". Some have little stories scripted into the premade worlds that will take you by the hand and lead you through an adventure somebody else has created for you.

The Minetest community has all this stuff to some degree (we could really need some more good stuff here). Some of it is even pretty good. The only problem is it does not come prepacked. You will have to search for whatever you await of the game (admittingly this is not at all a trivial task if you have no experience at searching)

Please view Minetest sort of as a box full of building bricks. If you are creative it can become anything you want and include any adventure you can think of. I know this is somewhat difficult for epic heroes who are just sitting around in their humble hut, not knowing what to do with their time and pretty reluctant to think up something exciting they could do, and therefore desperately waiting for some king to say: "I need a hero. There is this monster. Now go and kill it"

To me, there are a few ways to deal with this question.

First of all, I agree that the game should not have an 'end', so to speak.... or rather, at least minetest_game shouldn't. ;)
However, if an overarching goal is something you're after, I'd say having a Minetest game package with a story would work. The people who want the pure sandbox won't have to download it, while those seeking such an adventure can download and play an alternate [game].

Secondly, since there aren't any "boss" mods right now, I'd say the second best thing you can do is invent your own goals, i.e. slay 10 Dungeon Masters, gather 5 diamond blocks, etc. If you're not inventive enough/ too lazy to do this, download one of the achievements mods being developed right now.

Also, although it isn't out for download yet, the AdventureTest [game] for Minetest looks like it could end up being quite immersive for people looking for something extra. I'd keep an eye on that one...

Finally, remember that Minetest is multiplayer. Set up a server with heavy leanings toward RPG elements, tons of player skins, perhaps even factions. Have better known players who frequent the server be assigned positions as "kings" of certain realms who are responsible for advancing the goals of their "kingdom." Install the nether mod and skylands or fracture (but not both) mods, then you can have kings of the nether, the sky, the surface, maybe even the sea. Dole out quests to your subjects in the form of public postings that anyone can undertake, and reward them for success.

The bottom line is this: with minetest, the only limits are a 64km cube and your imagination.

https://github.com/HybridDog/minetest-nether
My edited version of Ik.'s nether mod adds something like a second world to minetest. Damage and bones should be enabled if you want to play it right.
— At first you need to create a portal like the one of PilzAdam's nether mod. If you use it you should respawn in the nether with an empty inventory.
— Then you need to collect the stuff you are able to dig there.
— After that you craft simple mushroom picks and dig some netherrack bricks of a building.
— craft a furnace (I used the default one because much code would be needed to make an own one.)
— cook some blood nodes and craft a blood extractor
— eat a nether fruit to get a bit blood
— extract the blood out of the blood stem
— craft nether sticks
— make a cooked blood wood pick
— get stuff and make better picks
— collect stuff to make following portal

to use it, eat a nether fruit while standing on the white node
Don't forget to take enough stuff with you to build such a portal on the overworld, too to be able to bring usual nodes into the nether.

If you take it at face value (of course, there are several alternative theories about), the End was quite possibly the stupidest thing you could add to an open-world game. To attempt to replicate it in Minetest would be a mistake. IMO, point of games like is to generate emergent gameplay by giving the players (practically) unlimited freedom and letting them form and persue their own "ends".

That said, I think the idea of something like a Stargate to alternate worlds offers interesting possibilities, which can increase the scope of the game. The kind of situation that I imagine would be: if a player was able to discover (build?) an alien or time-travelling artifact, and how to use that technology (likely the more difficult challenge), he could be respawned in another world, with (for example) vastly different physics, or geology, or ecology or whatev.

An addition like this would extend and enrich gameplay.

spootonium wrote:If you take it at face value (of course, there are several alternative theories about), the End was quite possibly the stupidest thing you could add to an open-world game. To attempt to replicate it in Minetest would be a mistake. IMO, point of games like is to generate emergent gameplay by giving the players (practically) unlimited freedom and letting them form and persue their own "ends".

That said, I think the idea of something like a Stargate to alternate worlds offers interesting possibilities, which can increase the scope of the game. The kind of situation that I imagine would be: if a player was able to discover (build?) an alien or time-travelling artifact, and how to use that technology (likely the more difficult challenge), he could be respawned in another world, with (for example) vastly different physics, or geology, or ecology or whatev.

An addition like this would extend and enrich gameplay.

This post sounds so much like Mystcraft, it's UNREAL.

Heh. I remember loving Myst back in the day (and I still have a soft spot for pointy-clicky interactive stories). But again my point is that we shouldn't attempt to port or replicate something that Minecraft has already done. Rather, I think there's more potential in the idea of inter-world transport, and what that could do for shakeing up gameplay.