[Game] Minefall

Astrobe
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[Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

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Minefall is a 4F game (fight, farm, find, fabricate) that mixes bits of RPG, world building, and first person shooters. It can be played solo or multi. It was inspired by the first version of Farlands, and a defunct MMORPG/Shooter named Firefall.

Features:
  • levitation lets players fly for a short time.
  • Ranged weapons (wands) with various effects, not limited to fighting.
  • Equipment (armor) improves both levitation and ranged weapons.
  • Nearly each mob has its own behavior and specific drops (e.g. giant beetles drop wheat seeds that cannot be obtained by any other mean).
  • Two level-ups let players choose what they want to specialize in, a hidden per-character trait, for a total of 27 possible combinations (horizontal progression; playing multiple characters is worth considering both offline and online).
  • Farming, mining and building to attract NPC traders are all essential for progression. Exploration is also important, as some blocks can only be found in specific biomes often in limited quantities.
  • Unique mining scheme featuring an ore detection device: ores are scarcer but present at all altitudes; ore's random drop vary with the biome ("horizontal mining").
  • Unique "Reputation points" (RP) system that is used both for progression and player moderation.
  • A protection system that scales with the wealth of the players.
  • Dungeons that are worth exploring, for they allow players to build teleportation networks.
  • Offers a small number but tightly integrated features, blocks and tools (the crafting guide is only 2/3 pages). It's up to the players' to combine them in creative ways.
The game is designed with multiplayer in mind. Each type of activity (hunting, farming, mining, buidling, exploring) should be viable by trading with other players. PvP is enabled, although it is an expensive sport.

Reputation points are the currency for progression and let players invite newcomers into the game. Minefall is designed for "play with friends and friends-of-friends" and role-play.

It deliberately does not let players choose their "skin", except for the gender. It divides players between two clans, men and women. Each clan can build their own teleportation network from teleportation "beacons" found in dungeons. The system is simple, "formspec-less", and requires zero administration.

In single-player mode, the player will have to rotate between various activities, as they cannot rely on P2P trade. They cannot rely on other players teaching them the ropes either; don't miss the Help tab in the inventory screen.

About the weird screenshot:

The layout is a bit strange because it is actually the backdrop for the main menu.
On the left is, yes, a flying whale, which is the only transport in the game. On the right, the size of the moon is not caused by a fish-eye effect (or not entirely), it is actually four times bigger than the sun. On the bottom, the ground is made of gravel. We are near the top of a snowy peak where whales spawn.

Available on ContentDB: https://content.minetest.net/packages/Astrobe/minefall/
Last edited by Astrobe on Sun Dec 10, 2023 09:31, edited 5 times in total.

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freshreplicant
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Re: [Game] Minefall

by freshreplicant » Post

This game is really quite interesting, only played if for a little while, but it really has a totally different feel to plain MTG or modded MTG. It actually feels kind of like a...game. Very few Minetest games feel that way.

The multiplayer specific design choices are very interesting, but I suppose I'd need to catch your server when it's up (or make my own server).

Only thing I noticed it seems you need to use mapgen v7 or you spawn in a world entirely made of stone (with some seas/rivers). I usually play Valleys but it doesn't seem to work with Minefall. I thought I was going crazy trying to find gravel.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

freshreplicant wrote:
Sat Jun 19, 2021 18:55
The multiplayer specific design choices are very interesting, but I suppose I'd need to catch your server when it's up (or make my own server).
Multiplayer is the area that really needs tests. I don't get many players on my server because it is not online 24/7. Only recently did I have "peaks" of 3-4 players who knew each other. Observing them and their feedback has been valuable, so I guess there are still things to adjust.

The invitation system is a bit peculiar. It is very effective at keeping out griefers and other careless players, but it is perhaps too effective as it will keep out potentially interesting players if they come when nobody's online.

I am quite interested in playing the game not as a server owner. If you do bring up a server, let me know, I'll be there.
Only thing I noticed it seems you need to use mapgen v7 or you spawn in a world entirely made of stone (with some seas/rivers). I usually play Valleys but it doesn't seem to work with Minefall. I thought I was going crazy trying to find gravel.
Indeed, I think I have completely removed v6 code because too many peculiarities, and the crazy stuff v7 can generate is exactly what I want and a perfect fit for the high mobility provided by the game.
I tried to fix this, but apparently the configuration files cannot override the world creation choice. I guess I should remove more code to completely ignore this setting.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Pushed a bunch of updates. The most visible are:

- Mossy cobble roads are being replaced with obsidian (with an LBM). Minefall's world is in ruins, yet those roads are in nearly perfect shape. A non-removable block like obsidian is more consistent. It also makes it a bit less easy to mine in the tunnels they make. Mossy cobble does not appear near water as in MTG, so this change also removes the main source of mossy cobble. To compensate, jungle dungeons have been redefined to use mossy as an "alt block" (previously "air" was used to give the ruined dungeon look). Together with mossy ruins found only in jungles, rain forest are now the only source of mossy cobble.

- Added two recipes for aberrant tree saplings: one from emergent jungle tree saplings (which are difficult to find), and one from cactus saplings (somewhat difficult to get). Aberrant tree saplings are basically lottery tickets, as you can get anything (there is a dozen of types) ranging from a useless "rock tree" to a valuable metal tree.

There is also a new /recall command, which teleports the user back to their home beacon, and costs 1 RP. It is meant to be an emergency device (e.g. player lost in the dark). But it can also be used in normal situations, in particular in single player play, this makes RPs more useful.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Major update:

For their last level, players must choose one talent (perk). Possible talents are: drastically reduced mana drain while levitating ("flyer"), teleportation keys that don't break on use ("keymaster") and no drowning ("diver"). Players can change their talent again for the same cost as leveling at any time, but this is quite expensive so they might consider creating and leveling up a new character instead ("multiboxing").

Various aspects of the game have been adapted around this change ; for instance, previously high level players could freely levitate ("fly" or so) during nights, this is no longer the case.

I've added a bit more directions for singleplayer. Minefall is focused a lot on online multiplayer and in particular "old" players mentoring new players. But Minefall is quite playable as singleplayer - actually it may be easier.

I typically start offline a new world from scratch and level up to check that a major change doesn't make it impossible to play alone, but because I wrote this game I know quite well how things work, so my opinion on how difficult it is biased. I'd like to have some feedback on it, in particular if the directions and hints are sufficient or not.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Major update:

I changed my mind about trying to get mobile players in the game as peaceful farmers/builders. Trying to make farming self-sufficient without PvE fights was a bad idea.
Minefall is built for PvE. I don't provide half a dozen types of wands, most of them having defensive or offensive effects, and armor that enhances player stats, just to sit in the middle of a walled garden.

The economy has been readjusted, in particular with regard to loot crates. Now it is worth looking for crates in ruins and dungeons even in solo play.

The behavior of mobs have been improved in various ways. It allowed me to remove the random miss "feature" of MobRedo's net. Now if you miss a fish, it is because it really dodged.

The spreading algorithm for mushrooms has been changed. This is mainly a nerf in exchange for more control on how the brown/red mushroom production ratio. But basically mushroom-based diet is gone (i.e. less interesting than other farm foods).

The mese sword has been improved with the possibility to enchant it twice to get better single-hit damage and a better "cooldown" (technically the full_punch_interval thing). Then basic mese sword just has +1 range over standard steel sword. The upgrade path of the mese sword is now linear, has opposed to armour pieces.

Our version of the Nether world has been split into two layers, one peaceful where you can travel or make your own "bubble world", and on with mobs for those who are looking for action and better equipment (this is where you get red mese for enchantments).

I am waiting for MT 5.5 which should include interesting features, before going version 1.0.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Second release, see top post.

Tested with MT 5.6.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Minefall is now available on ContentDB and can therefore be installed directly from the in-game package manager.

I keep it in WIP for now because of the recent changes made to comply with CDB's rules about compatibility with existing mods (hopefully it didn't introduce bugs), and because multiplayer needs to be battle-tested (fairness, exploits, etc.). But it is complete and fully playable in solo. I suggest to use the seed 12341234 for your first world.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Update: part of the text in the Help tab was missing. I've also added more hints for beginners.

Note that the texture for loot crates/boxes have changed.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Update: "Screaming From The Sky" release

- Added gliders and the device to obtain them, windmills.
- Improved various tooltips.
- Tried to mitigate the "straw&sticks shortage" issue.
- Beginners "only" lose 5 RP on death (back to 10 when they level up).

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Midnight » Post

In singleplayer I suppose you should give a dagger-like thing at start so that at least one can defend himself if a monster attacks cause bare hand attacks are useless.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Midnight wrote:
Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:28
In singleplayer I suppose you should give a dagger-like thing at start so that at least one can defend himself if a monster attacks cause bare hand attacks are useless.
Indeed they are. It's doable to kill a small spider with punches, but by the time you finish it, two more may have popped. Or something worse.

You have a mobility advantage, use it wisely: just run away. In Minefall, monsters don't have wall-hacks, so you can lose them relatively easily, most of the times.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Midnight » Post

Ok if that is the case I think there should more items and some slow health restoration ability a player can have

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Farming is a key activity in the game ; any sort of health regen would diminish this aspect (for the same reason I abstained from introducing healing magic) - and the "green" biomes offer plenty of food for single player game (but you still need farming for leveling up!).

However, starting anywhere else is quite challenging currently, because other biomes only have sparse mushrooms at best. This is on purpose, as they are attractive for other reasons, and the lack of food requires either solo players to prepare their "expedition" by stacking a good amount of food, or creates trading opportunities in multiplayer.

So I am considering giving some starting food.

As for items, I intend to keep the recipe book 2-3 pages as it currently is. If I add an item, it's generally in order to solve a (gameplay) problem or enable something. Besides, there are also not craftable items (usually obtainable from NPC traders).

I consider that adding stuff to keep players busy is the easy way out of the game durability problem. I want to do more with less, so I am very cautious about adding stuff in the game. Actually, the next release should introduce a bunch of new blocks and a couple of items (the bad news is that you'll have to be max level to get them).

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Update: "Seasons In The Abyss".

Highlights:

Introduces a new subworld, based on a heavily customized version of the Nether mod, where advanced players can find unique blocks and materials to build new interesting items.

Introduces "the melding" are purple blocks that appear in the world the expand slowly. They are not directly lethal, but can become an issue if left alone. This features is inspired from the game I originally wanted to recreate.

I tried to fix some mistakes I made with the mapgen - some things didn't look natural. This only affects newly generated parts of the map, though, and in some case new parts next to old parts might look weird. Those who want to take a fresh start can use the seed 123123123. Walk towards the sun (east) to find a nice green land.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Update: "Psychopathy In Red".

Highlights:

New Blasting Wand. Made from red Mese, shoots a missile that explodes on impact. This wand is however not really OP. Against mobs, it is is worth the cost only when players can hit multiple mobs with the explosion, or achieve something else in the process (digging a hole, removing melding, setting cobwebs on fire). But having a weapon that makes big explosions and sets things on fire feels weirdly good, hence the title of this release ;-)

The "diver" talent gets 2x durability on the net item.

Business cards are no longer obtainable (but still work). Instead, one can summon an NPC by feeding a grey mese shard to a beacon. The reason for this change is to speed up a bit the early game.

The mushroom spreading algorithm has been changed in order to make it more doable to start in biomes with few food.

The Anvil is now protected and clan-restricted, meaning that only players in the same clan as the owner can use it.

The texture for "aggregate" (what you get from "cooking" gravel) has been changed to a clearer, cleaner one.
My game? It's Minefall.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Midnight » Post

Hey how to grow trees

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Midnight wrote:
Fri Jul 07, 2023 06:15
Hey how to grow trees
Sorry, I missed your post.

You can grow trees from saplings as usual, except:
- they grow much slower than in MTG,
- maybe they require more light than MTG (not sure)
- saplings cannot be crafted, but can be found in the wild. In forests of course, but not only. So keep your eyes open.

PS: embarrassingly, after 5 years on the forum, I had not yet discovered the "subscribe topic" feature.
Last edited by Astrobe on Sun Sep 10, 2023 11:41, edited 1 time in total.
My game? It's Minefall.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Next release will introduce many changes in the biomes layout and the "economy" of the game. Consistency with existing worlds cannot be kept.

Should I release it separately as "Minefall 2" or something, or are players OK with throwing away their worlds and restarting from scratch?

I personally don't mind to restart from scratch (I have thrown away dozens of worlds with 100+ hours along the years) but YMMV. On the other hand, the changes in the next version are significant, but not enough to warrant a version 2 (even though from the perspective of "semantic versioning" fans, it would be appropriate, as I am breaking compatibility).
My game? It's Minefall.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Blockhead » Post

Astrobe wrote:
Fri Sep 08, 2023 15:30
Next release will introduce many changes in the biomes layout and the "economy" of the game. Consistency with existing worlds cannot be kept.

Should I release it separately as "Minefall 2" or something, or are players OK with throwing away their worlds and restarting from scratch?
Either way, the answer for existing players is to not update. A separate release makes it easy to not fumble the "update all" button in the Content tab and accidentally break worlds. But it also makes it a requirement that people have to become aware of the updated version and start using it. I would say if you consider your software Alpha/beta then just update in place, but if it's supposed to be stable, keep it. But if you keep the old version available, even if it's marked as unsupported, you'll still end up with people asking about it. At only 2 years old and not seeing any Minefall servers on a quick search of the server list, I would say just update in place.
Astrobe wrote:
Fri Sep 08, 2023 15:30
I personally don't mind restarting [ed: ftfy] from scratch (I have thrown away dozens of worlds with 100+ hours along the years) but YMMV. On the other hand, the changes in the next version are significant, but not enough to warrant a version 2 (even though from the perspective of "semantic versioning" fans, it would be appropriate, as I am breaking compatibility).
Well regardless of whether you like semantic versioning or not, it helps to have a logical basis to determine version numbers if you ask me. There are other schemes. For instance the 2nd and 3rd numbers of a GIMP release are even if it's a supported release and odd for the development in between releases. Others use a Major.Minor.Revision.Build, but .build is not particularly relevant for Minetest since it's not compiled. Whatever you do, try to keep it consistent. More advice can be had from other sources on the internet of course :)
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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Blockhead wrote:
Fri Sep 08, 2023 15:46
Either way, the answer for existing players is to not update. A separate release makes it easy to not fumble the "update all" button in the Content tab and accidentally break worlds. But it also makes it a requirement that people have to become aware of the updated version and start using it. I would say if you consider your software Alpha/beta then just update in place, but if it's supposed to be stable, keep it. But if you keep the old version available, even if it's marked as unsupported, you'll still end up with people asking about it. At only 2 years old and not seeing any Minefall servers on a quick search of the server list, I would say just update in place.
Yes, I worry about the "update all" button, because I can't explain CDB's stats with regard to the very sparse feedback I get - in particular considering that the game is currently not good at helping players getting into the game (something that will improve a bit in the next release).

According to CDB's stat, Minefall has 6 new installs per day , and a total of almost 1800 installs. I don't think Minefall has a thousand of active players. I'm not looking for comforting words here, it is a game tailored for myself and wasn't expecting (nor wanting - popularity has its downsides too) a runaway success.

CDB doesn't count uninstalls, perhaps in order to preserve the morale or the ego of authors ;-) ? It would be useful, though.

Thanks for your input.
My game? It's Minefall.

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Midnight » Post

Astrobe wrote:
Fri Sep 08, 2023 15:16
Midnight wrote:
Fri Jul 07, 2023 06:15
Hey how to grow trees
Sorry, I missed your post.

You can grow trees from saplings as usual, except:
- they grow much slower than in MTG,
- maybe they require more light than MTG (not sure)
- saplings cannot be crafted, but can be found in the wild. In forests of course, but not only. So keep your eyes open.

PS: embarrassingly, after 5 years on the forum, I had not yet discovered the "subscribe topic" feature.
Have you kept maxlight as 15, if yes then they require more and if not they grow with same light levels as MTG

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Re: [Game] Minefall

by rubenwardy » Post

Astrobe wrote:
Fri Sep 08, 2023 18:03
CDB doesn't count uninstalls, perhaps in order to preserve the morale or the ego of authors ;-) ? It would be useful, though.
For privacy reasons. There's no need for the client to tell the server about uninstalls so it doesn't, the only reason would be for stats and I feel like that would be unpopular. I'd love to know active user counts but alas
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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

Midnight wrote:
Mon Sep 11, 2023 05:41
Have you kept maxlight as 15, if yes then they require more and if not they grow with same light levels as MTG
They grow with if light at noon is greater than 13, So a little (static, dynamic don't matter) shadow is Ok. What "little" is, is difficult to figure out in practice. The compass gives the current light level at your feet - so if you use it, it is best do it around noon.

Saplings will take 100 minutes (one hour and half, 1.5 in-game days) to grow in ideal conditions. However, it can be up to 3 times slower if not - e.g. a cactus in a snowy plain. Same goes for seeds.
Last edited by Astrobe on Mon Sep 11, 2023 18:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Game] Minefall

by Astrobe » Post

rubenwardy wrote:
Mon Sep 11, 2023 12:17
For privacy reasons. There's no need for the client to tell the server about uninstalls so it doesn't, the only reason would be for stats and I feel like that would be unpopular. I'd love to know active user counts but alas
Maybe in a larger "telemetry" opt-in it could pass, but it would be affected by a self-selection bias and I guess that telemetry is not high priority anyway.
My game? It's Minefall.

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