Well, this isn't exactly about retro computing, but I was too excited to not ramble about this.
Minecraft, despite its deep survival mode, is a beautifully simple game conceptually, a 3D world where you can make and break blocks and leave your mark. One Reddit post described it as "the original r/place", which puts in perspective just how... what do I say...
Well anyway, I just wanted to get to the next point: there are Minecraft clones and ports up the wazoo and it's caught my attention for God knows how long as a fanatic of this game, to the point that I genuinely considered learning C to make my own. I feel the desire to share these:
-
ClassiCube is an open-source recreation of 2009's Minecraft Classic, compatible with Classic servers, and ironically a more faithful port than the recent rehash. It was made for contemporary devices, but has been ported to Windows 95, GameCube/Wii, 3DS, Xbox, PSP, Vita, and Dreamcast, per its GitHub README. It can run on a toaster.
-
Minetest is open-source but deviates into its own ecosystem. I feel it has a bigger community and a better selection of mods and texture packs to choose from, but feels a little stiff as opposed to Minecraft and ClassiCube. Minetest intends to be a voxel engine, so people can make games using it, and one such game is a compilation of mods to make it as close to Minecraft as the engine is capable of (MineClone 2).
-
Various others, such as Fromage (PSX), DScraft (DS), Crafti (Dreamcast / TI-Nspire / N64?), GBAcraft (GBA), Lamecraft (PSP), etc
But I'll confess. The reason why I've been eyeing Minecraft clones all of a sudden is because -- please don't giggle -- I like hanging around in VRChat worlds, but don't like the fact that I need a beefy computer to explore them, so I resort to recreating poor man's versions on ClassiCube, visiting them from my 3DS, then using my imagination to fill in the blanks. Maybe I'll elaborate on this in a later post?