What's the thing you'd like to see implemented/improved the most? Why?
SSCSM. I think there's an enormous amount of polish that could be added to mods/games (and, most likely, some nice perf/responsiveness improvements as well) if scripts could be reliably loaded on clients.
Can you name other two minor things you'd like to see implemented/improved and why?
- Replacing 'texture packs' with something more generic that can replace other asset types. As a texture pack maker, I've had the misery of dealing with loads of broken or low-quality models. Being able to just replace them with something better-looking (or at least workable) would be a huge victory in my book, and being able to roll in audio for a more unified experience would be pretty cool too.
- Dynamic asset loading (ie, loading texture/audio data mid-game). This could reduce load times (especially for things like background music), but more importantly could also open the door to some interesting concepts like more complex procedural textures.
How much did it take you to understand Minetest was an engine and not a videogame? Do you think it should be more obvious? And if yes, how?
It didn't take terribly long, but only because I was lucky enough to stumble into ContentDB's games section. However, I'd 'bounced off' of Minetest several times before, and only forced myself to stick with it far enough to find out because I was determined to find a decent open-source voxel game. If not for that, I still wouldn't know this (or be here to begin with).
It NEEDS to be clear to new users, and I think the best way to make it clearer is to force them to pick a game out of ContentDB on their first run. It may be a little blunt, but it should plant the idea of "if I don't like this game, there are still others I can try" in their head.
What do you think of Minetest Game?
I think it has a negative effect on the health of the modding ecosystem, and the engine as a whole. Because it's the default, modders tend to just develop for it without supporting other games. This means new games need to either base themselves off of Minetest Game (and lose out on a chance to make themselves different and unique) or fight the uphill battle of supplying enough content for players alone. At the same time, it gives new players a bad first impression by being the videogame equivalent of Wonder Bread.
I also don't think it will ever become a good game. There are too many people with too many thoughts about what it ought to be, and no clear core vision aside from "don't add or change too much lest we anger the community". I also think (though this is slightly off-topic) that the very concept of a game as an empty "modding base" is flawed--if you look at the most modded games, they're always games that have a lot of engaging content and mechanics. I think if you want a good game with good mod support, the first step is to
make a good vanilla game.