Skyblock: Zero by ZanderDev

[Opons]

Read dev post below

[zanderdev]

dev here, feedback and suggestions on the game appreciated!
Game is on ContentDB: https://content.minetest.net/packages/z ... lock_zero/

thanks everyone!!

[minetester52]

i love this game but im gay

[ErrorNull]

cool game. love the atmosphere. in fact it's all atmosphere until you starting adding some matter blobs..

[indeeder]

cool game. love the atmosphere. it's amazing with flying meteorites, interesting way to get materials. i hooked in.

[ancientmariner]

Really promising project. It's lots of fun so far, especially with the meteors and the new automation stuff. Credit to the dev team on the work so far.

[isaiah658]

dev here, feedback and suggestions on the game appreciated!
Game is on ContentDB: https://content.minetest.net/packages/z ... lock_zero/

thanks everyone!!

I was so happy when I saw this! Minetest has been lacking a "high quality" skyblock game for a while. I even attempted making one myself, but eventually gave up. I've been playing for about 10 hours, here are my currents thoughts and findings.

One of the first things I noticed was the theme. I really like the space atmosphere theme you came up with. You picked great songs and sound effects that go well together. The particle effects are dazzling and didn't seem to slow down my computer. I think your advertising of the game focusing on "atmosphere" and "ambiance" is very accurate.

The second thing I noticed was the quest book writing. Whoever is doing the writing is doing a fantastic job! I don't know where it originated from. but quest books in Minecraft skyblock games are often involve a bit of comedic relief and a way for the developer to "talk" to the player. For example, the "stairs rant" was a way to talk to the player. The other jokes and witty humor are the comedic relief. I also like that the quest book doesn't go overboard with these. For some quests, a simple statement about what to do is fine. Keep doing what you are doing!

Thirdly, the meteorites blew my mind. It's such a smart idea! It adds so much atmosphere. It's something the player must build to protect against. And to top it off, it provides a rare resource.

Now for some bugs and other ideas.

I have encountered what I believe to be a "bug" in the game. There is a game mechanic which turns pipes with 30 or more stacks of items in it into "invalid pipes." I had an item sorter output directly to a storinator. There were no pipes connecting the item sorter to the storinator. The storinator filled up and because the items had no where to go, the item sorter turned into an invalid pipe. I would expect machines to not turn into pipes but rather become their own invalid node or something so the player can at least get them back.

One problem I've had is with the colors of the formspecs. The formspecs and the item slot colors make it really hard to see the "matter blob" and "matter dust" type items since they are a similar color. It might make sense to tweak the colors of the formspecs or the items so that it's easier to see.

Another oddity is that the node formspec sizes are smaller that the player inventory formspec size. For example, the storinator formspec. Why can't they all be the same size?

It might be a good idea to add another inventory page for controlling in-game settings, like the music volume. While it's possible to mute the entire game, that also mutes other sounds. It would be nice if each player could adjust this. I'm not sure if there are any other settings that would make sense to add to such a page though.

Something that I think should be made clearer to the player somehow is what nodes, if any, are meteorite/explosion proof. It seems that glass is meteorite/explosion proof? If not, there needs to be some node that is meteorite/explosion proof. I'm not sure how hard this would be to make, but being able to craft a meteorite type shield/protector node could also be useful so that builds don't have to be enclosed or covered with explosion proof nodes.

It would be really nice if the player inventory crafting grid had a button that would move all items (if possible) to that player's inventory slots. A "clear crafting grid" type button. Maybe an "X" button with a tooltip or a "Clear" button. Also a trash can slot that deletes items would be nice.

I have a kind of interesting idea that may or may not work well. It might also be hard to make. When the player starts to reach the end of the current quests, you could expand the game by making it so that players could craft some sort of travel/mobility vehicle. It could use large amounts of metal and a reactor to craft it. A rocket ship, a jet pack, or something. This item would allow the player to travel fly around for long distances, mainly, upwards. After the player reaches a certain Y level, you could have the mapgen start to generate small spherical planets. This could sort of serve as a new chapter with new quest lines. This is just an idea that could spark other ideas on how the game could be expanded. Or maybe it's too hard or you don't like it. That's fine. I haven't actually completed the guide book, so I'm not sure if there are any surprises at the end yet.

[nazalassa]

I think what I like the best about Skyblock: zero is that it's just simple, compared to other games (or at least it was, some versions ago). I find the whole matter/antimatter duality makes it more complex (many things are duplicated), but that's not really important. It seems anti/matter explosion rules have changed, as placing an antimatter blob next to a matter blob did not produce anything.


Unrelated to that, I would like to report a few things that seem odd in the latest version of the game:

Inventory: I think the item description in inventories ("tooltips") look too dark to be readable on the dark-frey-ish background. I see you added the "unified inventory" mod, which significantly reorganizes the inventory; I prefer the old one, which I find much simpler (although that is a purely personal belief). So maybe it could be a good idea to add a setting so people can control whether they want to enable the unified inventory or not. I also noticed some icons in the inventory are pixelated, whereas others are smooth, which does clash a bit visually.

Environment: The Emitters are great but it seems they only generate around the Core, and not further, which seems a bit weird, especially if a vehicle is later added. The new background (which is totally not my pfp) looks nice but, again, there should be a way to disable it, for people who think a plain black background is simpler and more suitable (this being, again, purely personal). The bright blue "galaxy" below the world allows to more or less "see" platforms which would otherwise be impossible to see in the darkness between Emitters and the Core, which we need to build in order to get Emittrium, and which is (was?) probably part of the challenge of getting Emittrium.

I have some ideas for Lua automation; maybe I will be able to build a "distribution network" which allows players to request some goods from a central storage to somewhere else.

[frogTheSecond]

I was so happy when I saw this! Minetest has been lacking a "high quality" skyblock game for a while. I even attempted making one myself, but eventually gave up. I've been playing for about 10 hours, here are my currents thoughts and findings.

One of the first things I noticed was the theme. I really like the space atmosphere theme you came up with. You picked great songs and sound effects that go well together. The particle effects are dazzling and didn't seem to slow down my computer. I think your advertising of the game focusing on "atmosphere" and "ambiance" is very accurate.

The second thing I noticed was the quest book writing. Whoever is doing the writing is doing a fantastic job! I don't know where it originated from. but quest books in Minecraft skyblock games are often involve a bit of comedic relief and a way for the developer to "talk" to the player. For example, the "stairs rant" was a way to talk to the player. The other jokes and witty humor are the comedic relief. I also like that the quest book doesn't go overboard with these. For some quests, a simple statement about what to do is fine. Keep doing what you are doing!

Thirdly, the meteorites blew my mind. It's such a smart idea! It adds so much atmosphere. It's something the player must build to protect against. And to top it off, it provides a rare resource.

Now for some bugs and other ideas.

I have encountered what I believe to be a "bug" in the game. There is a game mechanic which turns pipes with 30 or more stacks of items in it into "invalid pipes." I had an item sorter output directly to a storinator. There were no pipes connecting the item sorter to the storinator. The storinator filled up and because the items had no where to go, the item sorter turned into an invalid pipe. I would expect machines to not turn into pipes but rather become their own invalid node or something so the player can at least get them back.

One problem I've had is with the colors of the formspecs. The formspecs and the item slot colors make it really hard to see the "matter blob" and "matter dust" type items since they are a similar color. It might make sense to tweak the colors of the formspecs or the items so that it's easier to see.

Another oddity is that the node formspec sizes are smaller that the player inventory formspec size. For example, the storinator formspec. Why can't they all be the same size?

It might be a good idea to add another inventory page for controlling in-game settings, like the music volume. While it's possible to mute the entire game, that also mutes other sounds. It would be nice if each player could adjust this. I'm not sure if there are any other settings that would make sense to add to such a page though.

Something that I think should be made clearer to the player somehow is what nodes, if any, are meteorite/explosion proof. It seems that glass is meteorite/explosion proof? If not, there needs to be some node that is meteorite/explosion proof. I'm not sure how hard this would be to make, but being able to craft a meteorite type shield/protector node could also be useful so that builds don't have to be enclosed or covered with explosion proof nodes.

It would be really nice if the player inventory crafting grid had a button that would move all items (if possible) to that player's inventory slots. A "clear crafting grid" type button. Maybe an "X" button with a tooltip or a "Clear" button. Also a trash can slot that deletes items would be nice.

I have a kind of interesting idea that may or may not work well. It might also be hard to make. When the player starts to reach the end of the current quests, you could expand the game by making it so that players could craft some sort of travel/mobility vehicle. It could use large amounts of metal and a reactor to craft it. A rocket ship, a jet pack, or something. This item would allow the player to travel fly around for long distances, mainly, upwards. After the player reaches a certain Y level, you could have the mapgen start to generate small spherical planets. This could sort of serve as a new chapter with new quest lines. This is just an idea that could spark other ideas on how the game could be expanded. Or maybe it's too hard or you don't like it. That's fine. I haven't actually completed the guide book, so I'm not sure if there are any surprises at the end yet.

"I have encountered what I believe to be a "bug" in the game. There is a game mechanic which turns pipes with 30 or more stacks of items in it into "invalid pip...." - That is not a bug, the just tube breaks, and yes the item sorter is classified as a tube

"Another oddity is that the node formspec sizes are smaller that the player inventory formspec size... " - oh i never considered that... well... i don't think i ever will as i really think it doesn't matter

"Something that I think should be made clearer to the player somehow is what nodes, if any, are meteorite/explosion proof..." - Oh that should be trivial to make

"It would be really nice if the player inventory crafting grid had a button that would move all items (if possible) to that player's inventory slots. A "clear crafting grid" type button. Maybe an "X" button with a tooltip or a "Clear" button. Also a trash can slot that deletes items would be nice." - see the newest update, the inventory is completely different

"After the player reaches a certain Y level, you could have the mapgen start to generate small spherical planets. " I HAD THIS IDEA TOO!!!! (BUT THEY REALLY DIDNT LIKE IT)

[frogTheSecond]

> The Emitters are great but it seems they only generate around the Core, and not further, which seems a bit weird, especially if a vehicle is later added.

hmm... maybe we should add a new type of emitter (that, when you give it power, gives you 2x the resources and lot of light, i dont know)

[zanderdev]

[/quote]
"After the player reaches a certain Y level, you could have the mapgen start to generate small spherical planets. " I HAD THIS IDEA TOO!!!! (BUT THEY REALLY DIDNT LIKE IT)
[/quote]
when you suggested it i understood it as the planets spawning close to the actual core / being accessible via teleportation. it's a good idea when presented like this though, but i will let it sit there a bit since right now i dont think planets are a good addition, and it should be moved back and be more "late-game"

[zanderdev]

> The Emitters are great but it seems they only generate around the Core, and not further, which seems a bit weird, especially if a vehicle is later added.
they generate everywhere in the world ever since they were added, if this is a bug on your end please let us know

[isaiah658]

"I have encountered what I believe to be a "bug" in the game. There is a game mechanic which turns pipes with 30 or more stacks of items in it into "invalid pip...." - That is not a bug, the just tube breaks, and yes the item sorter is classified as a tube

I think you maybe misunderstood. The item sorter node turns into an invalid tube when it overflows. The item sorter requires significantly more resources to craft compared to a single tube. It really shouldn't be that hard to make it possible to get your item sorter back instead of losing it. It's not fun to come back to your machines and discover that you accidentally lost all of your item sorters due and need to craft new ones.