Hume2 wrote: ↑Fri May 20, 2022 19:33
I'm also opposed against using magic in games because magic is a part of occultism, which is also religion.
if magic is automatically occult religion, it is poorly designed.
with enough explanation magic can be treated as science, and the more complex and/or abstract the science-fiction the more occult it becomes.
i see the difference between science-fiction and fantasy as mostly aesthetic.
Lotr is considered fantasy, even though the Simarillion provides detailed explanations to why the world is like it is.
meanwhile science-fiction series like Star Trek, and especially Star Gate, are quite occult by simply stating "aliens" as the reason for anything.
i can understand the preference of aesthetics, since i always prefer fantasy over sci-fi, but i cannot see how religion would a difference between these two. especially since most sci-fi material deconstructs religion to an illusion created by ignorance.
either you can accept fiction as fiction, or you cannot. there is no in-between.
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catering to each and every religion is not possible, so it shouldn't be of any concern at all.
instead the theme should be aligned with what Minetest represents.
Mese was made as a joke, and supposedly an alien mineral, while Oerkkis are literally Orcs, which originate from fantasy themes such as LotR. so Minetest can go both ways, perhaps even both at once. so far Minetest was supposed to be a sandbox platform, there is no official canon on what kind of world it is set in.
"official" only refers to what is maintained by the core devs, but any user-made story could be just as much considered canon, unless Celeron personally invents a Minetest story with complete world-building and everything.
going the sci-fi route just because Minecraft has a fantasy setting is a poor choice. they don't have a patent on the fantasy genre, and we shouldn't forcefully try to be different in every way.
i think a general approach of all genres would have a greater appeal to the broader audience. if such a game exists, it can always be modified by the users to fully fit into one genre.
regarding the restrictions of gameplay, there are not many possibilities of making the story interesting or engaging. most game stories are are like "go here, find this item, go there, fight that boss, rinse and repeat." i have no idea how to take a different route, but it could at least be made more free to the player.
for example, the bosses could be previous player characters, supposedly corrupted by their powers. each one specialises in one genre (magic, sci-fi, steampunk, ect.) and the player is asked to defeat them by the quest giver. the final twist is that the quest giver is actually the evil mastermind and used the player to get rid of the other characters who stood against them.
not very original, but instead of making it linear like most other games the player should be free to explore and take them on in any order. with each defeated character, the player gains more power and the difficulty of taking on the other characters increases.
or another, perhaps easier to implement, idea: there are 2 sides (like magic vs science) and player has to choose one side and defeat the other.
tl;dr:
having the option to choose will make everyone happy. if you can't compromise on one thing, do both. if the game is supposed to be complete and not demand additional mods, then all the options should be included.