dixonschou33 - Tumblr blog

[dixonschou33]

5 Open Source Alternatives To Minecraft

There's no doubt that Minecraft is a favorite game for millions. The fact that it's written in Java enables it to run on many different platforms such as Linux. There are a lot of Minecraft gamers who would like to have access to the source code of Minecraft and to work on it. Unfortunately the source code is not accessible to the general public.

More excellent content

Online course for RHEL technical overview. Download cheat sheets. Find an Open Source Alternative. Read the most popular Linux content. info Check out open-source resources.

There's good news. Minecraft's popularity has led to a variety of attempts to recreate the game, and others in the same vein as open source software. Are you looking for a free Minecraft alternative? Here's a quick overview of some Minecraft clones and derivatives that you must definitely check out.

These projects are at different stages of completion and meet many different purposes. Some seek to duplicate the Minecraft experience in full or at the very least offer a similar experience. Others are taking the voxel-based game concept in entirely new directions Some are more of a framework to aid you in building your own game or create.

Minetest

The first game we'll be discussing is Minetest. Minetest, a "near infinite-world block sandbox game" and a "game engine" is the most complete alternative to Minecraft. It supports multiplayer and subgames. It also comes with several terrain generators as well as different default biomes. It also offers a user-friendly API to make mods in Lua.

Minetest is an open source software under the LGPL, and is written primarily in C++ so it's fairly fast compared to some others written in scripting languages. Minetest can be used on Windows, OS X and Linux as well as Android, Linux, Android, FreeBSD and possibly other operating systems. The source code at GitHub.

Minetest screenshot, Minetest website, CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Terasology

Terasology could be a contender for the most beautiful rendering engine within the pack. Its shadows are both terrifying and stunning. This game was originally an experiment in procedural terrain creation. It has since evolved into a fully-featured game with multiplayer and a variety of add-on modules that let players to play with different mechanics.

Terasology is written in Java and released under an Apache 2.0 license. It is Java-based and can run on any platform that has sufficient power.

Terasology screenshot, Terasology Code repository, Apache 2.0.

Voxel.js

The odd one out in this list is Voxel.js as, unlike the other it's not a game in any way and doesn't claim to be. Voxel.js instead is an JavaScript library that allows users to create their own Minecraft-style games, renderings, and other interactive widgets using JavaScript or HTML. It can be embedded into any website without the need for special plugins.

Voxel.js is put together as a number of related projects, so you can utilize as much or as little of the code as you wish when creating your perfect game. Although the core library, voxel engine, is a base engine that renders boxy scenes well There are more than 200 add-ons. Check out the gallery for some ideas of what others have built with the engine. The engine itself is released under a BSD-style licence; other add-ons might be licensed differently and it's a good idea to check before making assumptions.

Screenshot of voxel forests made with Voxel.js by Jason Baker

TrueCraft

TrueCraft is designed to be very similar to the original game. It is described as a Minecraft implementation, and not an exact copy. It is compatible with official Minecraft server releases. TrueCraft's creator is looking to implement beta version 1.7.3 that he considers to be "nearly perfect" during the development of Minecraft. TrueCraft is a snapshot that was intentionally frozen in time. He seeks feature-parity to Minecraft.

Because it is so close to the original, TrueCraft has taken great care to avoid copyright issues by accepting developers to contribute only if they haven't decompiled or had access to the source code, although those who have had access are welcome to contribute in different ways. TrueCraft is written in C# and is open source under an MIT license.

TrueCraft screenshot, TrueCraft code repository, MIT license.

Craft

Craft is another open source Voxel engine that has the look of Minecraft. While development appears to have slowed or stopped however, there are over 200 forks, some of which (such as the school project Not2bad-craft) are able to provide major improvements. Craft's simplicity might appeal to you if looking to build an alternative to Minecraft but don't know where to begin: the game engine resides in just a few thousand lines of C code and utilizes OpenGL for rendering. It makes use of simple algorithms to create terrain and perform other tasks. Everything is stored in an SQLite3 databank. There's also a Python-based multiplayer server that's worth the chance.

Craft is available under an MIT licence

Craft screenshot, Craft code repository, MIT license.

Other great options

You can also look at these other notable mentions:

Freeminer Another sandbox-based title is a game inspired by Minecraft and based upon Minetest. The creators aim to make the game fun while retaining some of the best elements. It has installers for Linux and Android. ClassiCube is a Minecraft Classic clone written in C#. It is open source under the OpenTK license, and installs on Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows, Mac OS, and in browsers.

Here you go. This list is far from exhaustive; there are plenty of other options waiting for you to explore and over time, we'll likely see more options emerge as enthusiasts play these games in a variety of ways or even strike out on their own. Which one do you prefer? And which one did we leave out that you would have liked to be included more of?