![\"The](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2026/wide.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tIn April, Luanti attended Radioamatore Tech Expo,\na two-day technology fair in Pordenone, Italy. The fair is the largest\nelectronics, radio, and computer fair in Italy. Luanti had a stand in the Linux\nArena, a section of the event dedicated to free and open-source software.
\n\n\n\nOur stand had four laptops running Luanti connected to A.E.S\nmost of the time, allowing visitors to play games together. We also demonstrated\nsome singleplayer games, including\nSlidespace and\nExtra Ordinance.\nThe stand was a hit with kids; Luanti is a particularly effective introduction\nfor kids to free software. A few teachers and educators also stopped by and\nshowed interest in using Luanti with their students. The stand also briefly\nappeared on Italian national TV\n(here, 26s-40s).
\n\nLuanti was presented by Zughy, a Luanti\nstaff member based in Italy.\nWhile FOSDEM remains our biggest event of the year,\nsmaller, national events are still worthwhile for outreach. Many people cannot\nattend the big events and smaller events give more time for meaningful\nconnections.
\n\nThank you to the Pordenone Linux User Group (PNLUG) for\ninviting us, supporting the stand, and funding our attendance. Some of the costs\nwere also paid for by the Luanti non-profit.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2026/07/02/radioamatore-tech-expo/", "summary": "In April, Luanti attended Radioamatore Tech Expo, a 2-day technology fair in Pordenone, Italy. The fair is the largest electronics, radio, and computer fair in Italy. Luanti had a stand in the Linux Arena, a section of the event dedicated to free and open-source software.", "date_published": "2026-07-02 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2026/05/24/5.16-released", "title": "Luanti 5.16.1 released!", "content_html": "| 117 Pull Requests merged | \n71 Issues resolved | \n212 Commits | \n
Luanti 5.16 is here! This release contains many smaller enhancements and bug\nfixes, including rendering and input improvements.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website,\ncheck out the code on GitHub, or read\nthe full changelog.
\n\nWriting to mod directories was deprecated in Luanti 5.9.0. This is now enforced\nby a runtime error. Mods should use core.get_mod_data_path() to store global\ndata or core.get_worldpath() to store world-specific data.
This was done primarily to improve security, but also prevents data loss when\nupdating packages using ContentDB and allows users to install mods and games\nin system-wide read-only directories.
\n\nWe continue to work on modernization, performance improvements, and bug\nfixes for our rendering and input code.
\n\nWe now have hardware skinning support for animated meshes. This moves work from\nthe CPU to the GPU, improving performance, especially when there\nare many animated entities in the world.
\n\nInput improvements continue with support for additional mouse buttons, improved\nfocus in GUIs, and keyboard-binding support for controlling the camera.
\n\nSeveral graphical glitches were fixed, including alpha blending of particles\nand nested node boxes.
\n\nGame developers can now rename their games without breaking player\nworlds or installs. This is done automatically using game aliases.
\n\nDevelopers can now disable the wield item swap animation. This animation is played\nby default whenever the wield item changes; skipping the animation allows\ndevelopers to take advantage of dynamic wield items without this disruptive\nanimation.
\n\nTake a look at the pull request list and\nmilestones to see what the community and developers are working on.
\n\nEveryone is welcome to contribute\nto Luanti! Questions? Ideas? Feel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2026/05/24/5.16-released/", "summary": "Luanti 5.16 is here! This release contains many smaller enhancements and bug fixes, including rendering and input improvements.", "date_published": "2026-05-24 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2026/02/07/FOSDEM2026", "title": "Luanti at FOSDEM 2026", "content_html": "Luanti had a stand at FOSDEM for the third year in a row, and it was our best\nyear yet! Held in Brussels, Belgium, FOSDEM is the largest free and open-source\nconference in the world. FOSDEM is an excellent place to spread the word, bring\nthe community together, and build connections with other FOSS projects.
\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\tIn previous years, we had a few devices on the stand, each running a specific\ngame. This year, we created a custom main menu that allowed visitors to choose\nfrom a selection of games with a single click. This better conveyed the variety\navailable in Luanti and made the interactive demo more enjoyable.
\n\nAnother change we made was to focus more on the demos. We left the monitor at\nhome and instead brought an extra laptop. The new showcase menu also replaced\nthe showcase flipbook from previous years.
\n\nThe Linux phone and Steam Deck also returned, making 4 total interactive\nshowcase devices for people to try out.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2026/showcase.png\")
\n\t\n\tThird time lucky: We finally had enough Luanti stickers at the stand! The Lua\nstickers and Pride Luanti stickers also proved to be a big hit, as we ended up\nrunning out of both. We gave out over 1,500 Luanti stickers, 300 Lua stickers,\nand 200 Luanti pride stickers.
\n\nWe did not have access to the original rollup banner, so we took the opportunity\nto redesign it before printing a new one. We adjusted the flyers to match the\nnew banner design, and tried to capture more information (such as educational\nresources) to reduce space usage on the table. The design works well, but we\nwill continue to improve our print materials to better represent Luanti as it\ngrows.
\n\nWe also had post cards to promote the yearly Luanti game jam, of which we gave\nout almost 100. In the future we would like to include more small print items\nfor community art and designs.
\n\nYou can find the resources we used on the\npress page. This includes 5 different translations,\nas usual.
\n\n![\"Luanti](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2026/print_materials.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tWe partnered with Teckids e.V to have T-Shirts for\nsale at the stand.
\n\n\n\n\nTeckids is a non-profit community of actively engaged children, youth, and\nadults. Our goal is fostering comprehensibility of all digital and technical\nthings. Luanti is one central topic our community cares about, and our\nmembers strive to be community advocates towards other young people and\neducators. Among other things, we organize workshops or entire youth camps for\nFOSS conferences.
\n
Teckids donated half of the profits to Luanti, resulting in 237 € for our\nnon-profit collective. Thank you to Teckids\nfor this and for helping out with the stand!
\n\nOnce again, education was a large area of interest for our visitors. Lots of\npeople told us that they used Luanti at school or a youth club already. We had\nmany educators and parents asking about how to use Luanti in schools or at home\nwith their kids.
\n\nMany former players of Minetest (yes, back when it was a game) recognized the\nproject and were excited about the new possibilites Luanti brings by focusing\nmore on game creation. Some couldn’t even believe it was the same project as\nbefore when they saw the new games that are possible.
\n\nThe hardware demos were also a big hit as usual, with many visitors surprised to\nsee Luanti games running on a Steam Deck and Linux phone. The laptops also\nshowcased the low hardware requirements needed for most Luanti games to run,\nwhich many people appreciated.
\n\nOn Saturday, Teckids ran a workshop to teach kids how to create Luanti mods.\nParticipants were first introduced to Luanti, and then walked through the basics\nof creating their first mod, a custom node. The workshop was popular and\nwell-attended, so much that they ran out of chairs! Even so, there were plenty\nof assistants at the workshop, allowing attendees to receive individual help.
\n\nThe takeaway message was that software need not be something you just use as-is;\nit can be something you modify and configure to suit your own needs.
\n\nFOSDEM serves as a focal point for the Luanti project. After the conference on\nSaturday night, ten community members went for pizza. This included rubenwardy,\nZughy, GreenXenith, luatic, sfan5, y5nw, and ShadowNinja. That’s seven staff\nmembers all sitting around one table!
\n\nBringing people together is hugely beneficial for the Luanti project. After the\nmeal, we spent hours discussing how to improve Luanti’s governance and\ndevelopment.
\n\n![\"Pizza](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2026/meal_1.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Discussing](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2026/meal_2.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tDespite being one of the last talks of the conference, Zughy was able to\nshowcase how his Luanti server has benefited from using Weblate throughout the\nyears. The key takeaways were “don’t reinvent the wheel” (as we did with the .tr\nextension years ago, to then switch to .po/.pot 🙃), “translators shouldn’t have\nto deal with git”, “translation means accessibility” and that having a community\ntaking care of translations gives them agency.
\n\nYou can find the video here.
\n\nAt the end, one educator was also interested in how translations work in Luanti.\nThey were quite happy to learn that, thanks to Luanti’s modular nature, once\nthat content is translated into e.g. Italian, all the other games and servers\nthat use the same content will automatically benefit from the translation.
\n\nLuanti at FOSDEM 26 cost 1302 € and was funded by our\nnon-profit collective’s supporters\nand the Italian Linux Society. ILS sponsored the\ntravel and accommodation costs of one staff member.
\n\nOur expenses were:
\n\nThis is cheaper than previous years due to a great deal on the hotel, cheaper\ntravel, and not needing to buy stickers this year.
\n\nWe use Open Collective to ensure that our finances are open and transparent.\nYou can find the raw expense data in the\nFOSDEM 26\nproject.
\n\nAttending FOSDEM 26 provided a lot of value to the Luanti project. We’d love to\nattend again next year if they accept our stand.
\n\nThank you to our supporters, the Italian Linux Society, and the community for\nmaking FOSDEM 2026 possible.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2026/02/07/FOSDEM2026/", "summary": "Luanti had a stand at FOSDEM for the third year in a row, and it was our best\nyear yet! Held in Brussels, Belgium, FOSDEM is the largest free and open-source\nconference in the world. FOSDEM is an excellent place to spread the word, bring\nthe community together, and build connections with other FOSS projects.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-07 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2026/01/24/5.15.0-released", "title": "Luanti 5.15.0 released!", "content_html": "| 133 Pull Requests merged | \n88 Issues resolved | \n242 Commits | \n
Luanti 5.15 is here! This time, we have rendering performance improvements,\ndynamic shadows on Android, a Windows installer, and many small enhancements.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website,\ncheck out the code on GitHub, or read\nthe full changelog.
\n\nLuanti now uses a modern OpenGL feature to improve rendering performance. Our\nusers have reported up to 10 times higher FPS in some situations. The feature is\ncalled Array Textures, and it\nallows Luanti to more efficiently render different parts of the map.
\n\nTo take advantage of Array Textures, your device needs to support and use\nOpenGL 3.2+ or OpenGL ES 3.0. You can verify this by checking the About tab\nof the main menu. On desktop, it should say “opengl3” (not “opengl”) on the\nbottom left. On Android, it should say “ES 3 / ogles2”.
\n\nThis release contains many other rendering clean-ups and improvements that\nshould make Luanti run better and put it in a nicer state for future work.
\n\nAndroid users rejoice: Dynamic shadows are now supported! Shadows have been\nsupported on desktop for quite a while, but needed to be heavily adjusted for\nAndroid.
\n\nYour device will need to support OpenGL ES 3.2, otherwise the dynamic shadows\nsetting will be greyed out. Once the setting is enabled, shadows will only\nappear in-game if the game you’re playing allows it.
\n\nAlongside shadows, Android now supports liquid lighting reflections and\ntranslucent foliage.
\n\n![\"Dynamic](\"/static/blog/5.15.0/android_shadows.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tWe now offer a self-extracting installer as the default for Windows users. This\nwill make it much easier for Windows users to download and update Luanti without\nhaving to manually move their save files across.
\n\nTo locate your save folder, go to the About tab and click “Open user data\ndirectory”. Or, go to “User > AppData > Roaming > Minetest”.
\n\nCheck out our guide on\nhow to migrate data from the portable build.
\n\nLuanti uses SDL, a well-maintained industry-standard\nlibrary for handling windows and input. Luanti first shipped with SDL support in\n5.12.0 as a part of our rendering and input modernization efforts. As of 5.15.0\nit is no longer optional when building the Luanti client.
\n\nUsers do not need to do anything special when downloading Luanti, SDL is\nincluded.
\n\nThere’s now an outline when focusing elements in the GUI, making it much easier\nto use Luanti with a keyboard.
\n\nYou can now bind multiple keys to the same action. This is helpful if you want\nto bind both the left and right shift, for example.
\n\nSome settings are unavailable if another setting is disabled or if the user’s\ndevice doesn’t support a feature. Rather than hiding unavailable settings, the\nsettings menu now shows unavailable settings greyed out.
\n\nThe main menu now has an exit confirmation dialog and an optional dark theme\n(Setting: “Menu theme”).
\n\n![\"Main](\"/static/blog/5.15.0/menu_dark_theme.png\")
\n\t\n\tAs always, Luanti 5.15 comes with new modding and game creation features. This\nincludes support for animated inventory images, nested modpacks inside modpacks,\nand improved alpha support in the HUD, the inventory, and the world.
\n\nTake a look at the pull request list and\nmilestones to see what the community and developers are working on.
\n\nEveryone is welcome to contribute\nto Luanti! Questions? Ideas? Feel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2026/01/24/5.15.0-released/", "summary": "Luanti 5.15 is here! This time we have rendering performance improvements, dynamic shadows on Android, a Windows installer, and many small enhancements.", "date_published": "2026-01-24 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2025/11/05/non-profit", "title": "Luanti Non-Profit: We’ve Joined Open Collective Europe", "content_html": "Luanti has joined Open Collective Europe\n(OCE), a non-profit based in Belgium that provides fiscal hosting to open source\nprojects. OCE hosts many notable projects, including EndeavourOS, F-Droid, and\npostmarketOS. Joining OCE allows Luanti to operate like a non-profit and unlocks\nmany new opportunities.
\n\nYou can donate to Luanti’s non-profit collective at\nhttps://opencollective.com/luanti.
\n\n\n\nIt has long been a goal to set Luanti up as a non-profit organization. However,\ncreating and managing a non-profit entity is both time-consuming and expensive.\nNon-profit fiscal hosts allow projects to raise money like a non-profit, but\nwithout the overhead of managing a full non-profit organization themselves.
\n\nWe chose Open Collective Europe because it is well-respected and is based in\nEurope (like much of the Luanti organization). Open Collective Europe also\nuses the Open Collective platform\nfor fundraising and expenses, which provides a high level of transparency. If we\ndecide to set up a full non-profit organization in the future, we will still be\nable to transfer any balance from Open Collective Europe to the new organization.
\n\nOpen Collective Europe is equivalent to a US 501(c)3 non-profit. This means it\nis a charity for public benefit and can receive grants from US foundations.\nDonations to Luanti from US-based individuals and foundations may be\ntax-deductible.
\n\nFrom Open Collective Europe’s docs:
\n\n\n\n\nWhile Open Collective Europe and Open Collective work closely together, they\nare distinct entities:
\n\n\n
\n- Open Collective Europe is an independent, Belgian-based nonprofit foundation\nthat offers fiscal hosting and fund management services.
\n- Open Collective is a U.S.-based tech company that develops and maintains the\nopen-source platform we use to deliver those services.
\n
There are many hidden expenses behind Luanti, such as servers for hosting\nessential services like the server list, ContentDB, and the forums. So far,\nthese expenses have been paid by the responsible staff members, some of\nwhom accept donations to cover their costs.
\n\nLuanti has also had a stand at FOSDEM 2024 and 2025. Attending FOSDEM costs us\nroughly €3000 each year in merchandise, promotional materials, travel, and\naccommodations. Some of this money was raised by rubenwardy via private support,\nwhile the rest was from other non-profit organizations\n(Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation,\nItalian Linux Society,\nand Wikimedia Italy) agreeing to pay expenses.
\n\nJoining OCE relieves the individual burden of fundraising and covering costs.
\n\nWe are hoping to return to FOSDEM with a stand in 2026, and would also like to\narrange a small Luanti meetup that Saturday. We may also use donations to fund\nlocal meetups, hackathons, and other conferences.
\n\nOpen Collective Europe allows us to pay people as freelancers. One day, we\nwould love to have a full-time developer working on Luanti. In the short-term,\nwe may pay specialists such as a UI/UX designer or a user researcher to work\non the main menu.
\n\nBeing part of a non-profit also allows us to apply for certain grants available\nfor open source software, which could be used to fund feature development.
\n\nWe welcome community involvement with the new collective. If you have any\nthoughts or ideas, feel free to share them.
\n\nThe Open Collective platform makes all contributions and expenses public. We’ll\nalso post a yearly update summarizing our finances.
\n\nWe are currently in the process of creating governance and expenditure polices.\nIf you have experience with this or know of people or projects that do, we\nwelcome your input.
\n\nFrom Open Collective Europe’s docs:
\n\n\n\n\nOpen Collective Europe charges a standard administrative fee:
\n\n\n
\n\n- 8% for most contributions (plus card processing fees)\n
\n\n
\n- 1.5% + €0.25 for European cards
\n- 2.5% + €0.25 for non-European cards
\n- 10% if your Collective:\n
\n\n
\n- Receives a grant or sponsorship
\n- Receives a tax-deductible donation
\n- Receives a public subsidy
\n- Receives a manual bank transfer
\nPart of this fee goes to support the Open Collective platform\n(which we use to operate our fiscal hosting).
\n
We would likely lose more than 10% if we were to manage our own non-profit\norganization, so we believe this is fair.
\n\nYou can donate to Luanti’s non-profit collective at\nhttps://opencollective.com/luanti.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2025/11/05/non-profit/", "summary": "Luanti has joined Open Collective Europe (OCE), a non-profit based in Belgium that provides fiscal hosting to open source projects. OCE hosts many notable projects, including EndeavourOS, F-Droid, and postmarketOS. Joining OCE allows Luanti to operate like a non-profit and unlocks many new opportunities.", "date_published": "2025-11-05 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2025/10/05/5.14.0-released", "title": "Luanti 5.14.0 released!", "content_html": "| 55 Pull Requests merged | \n53 Issues resolved | \n132 Commits | \n
5.14.0 has landed following the return of release candidates! Quality-of-life features and performance improvements are the name of the game this time around.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website, check out the code on GitHub, or read the full changelog.
\n\nIf you weren’t aware, we try to create release candidates before every new version to test changes. This was forgotten for our last two releases but has now returned. If you would like to test features before everyone else gets them, check out our releases on GitHub a couple weeks before each release.
\n\nWhen does each release happen? We follow a 3-month cycle starting in January. That means a new version in January, April, July, and October. You can find more information in the documentation.
\n\nA handful of conveniences for players made their way into this release. Starting off in the main menu, clarity has been improved with world-related options now being hidden when no world is selected (#16414). In menu and game text fields, you can now select whole words at a time with ctrl+shift+left/right, following common convention (#16455).
Moving in-game, the minimap HUD element will render overlay_tiles correctly, as opposed to rendering the base tile colors (#16285). If you need to recall a conversation later, you can now find chat messages logged to debug.txt (#14289).
Finally, a new API feature has been added to allow nametags to scale by distance, making it easier to tell who’s nearby and who isn’t (#16267). Note that the exact scaling behavior is not perfect and may change in the future.
\n\n![\"Grass](\"/static/blog/5.14.0/minimap.webp\")
\n\t\n\tImprovements for particles have spawned across the board this release. For players, digging particles will now appear for everyone, not just you! (#16472) Unless you don’t want particles to show up, in which case a flag has been added to particle spawners to exclude specified players (f714ac0). And if you intend to send a bunch of individual particles at once, the network will be happier now that individual particle packets are batched (#16458).
Now we dive deeper into the depths of the engine. The effects of this first one aren’t totally certain, but hopefully mapblock generation is more stable now that blocks will not unload while generating (#16339). More concretely, mapblocks made of a single type of node (like air or stone) will only have the memory footprint of a single node instead of a whole mapblock (#16293). This is consistent with how they are stored on the disk.
\n\nSpeaking of storage, textures should now load faster with paths being cached (55cca34). On the API side of things, dynamic media now has a flag for caching media on the client (#16445). The ephemeral flag documentation has been updated for accuracy.
Speaking of documentation, did you know that you have to remove the ColorSpec from box elements if you want to style[] their color? No? Well, that’s because it wasn’t documented until now (#16438). That, and some clarification on entity stepheight limits (#15035).
You will also find some new features documented:
\nnode and timeout parameters for on_timer callback (fd3588d)core.strip_escapes() (#16485)AsyncJob:cancel() (#14602)Bone interpolation for obj:set_bone_override has been fixed, preventing some silly animation issues (#16427). And in case you wonder where interlaced 3D mode went: It has left the building. Apparently it has been non-operational since 5.7.0 (#15406).
Take a look at the pull request list to see what the community and developers are working on! Some neat features in the works include inventory image animations, changeable ABMs, non-cubic chunks, and a dark mode main menu theme.
\n\nEveryone is welcome to contribute to Luanti! Questions? Ideas? Feel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2025/10/05/5.14.0-released/", "summary": "5.14.0 has landed following the return of release candidates! Quality-of-life features and performance improvements are the name of the game this time around.", "date_published": "2025-10-05 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2025/08/10/5.13.0-released", "title": "Luanti 5.13.0 released!", "content_html": "| 68 Pull Requests merged | \n49 Issues resolved | \n134 Commits | \n
This release is a little smaller than usual due to the previously-mentioned schedule shift, but 5.13.0 still has quite a few new things for developers to play with, as well as plenty of bug fixes.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website, check out the code on GitHub, or read the full changelog.
\n\nLet’s start with the big one: Object IDs! Why is this important? You see, before persistent object IDs, developers had to track unloaded entities and objects manually using staticdata or other gross tricks. With #14135, the engine provides Object:get_guid(), returning a globally unique identifier that will remain consistent across unloads and world sessions until the entity is destroyed. Never lose track of your objects ever again!
Here’s a handful of methods you can use when working with nodes and chunks.
\n\ncore.get_node_raw() to query nodes from the map, but faster, and with a content ID (#16265)VoxelManip:initialize() to create an empty VM storage object (aa1bab2)core.get_mapgen_chunksize() to determine the configured chunksize for your custom mapgens (#16289)Handy, no?
\n\nIt might not seem significant, but manually pulling up a player’s inventory has been a long-requested feature. Now, by passing an empty string (\"\", reserved for the player inventory) as the formname to core.show_formspec(), you can open the player’s inventory without their input (#15963). The inventory formspec is smoother when updating after input so mods can create forms that update with less flow interruption. I bet this could be used in some creative ways…
Firstly, you can now cycle through inventory tabs using ctrl+tab (+shift to cycle in reverse). This is a standard keybind for application tab switching, so we are happy to see it arrive in Luanti (#16167).
Secondly, the keybind modifier for exiting to the main menu is configurable (#16250). ESC plus whatever you desire. More importantly, it is no longer set by default, preventing players from accidentally leaving the game due to pressing Shift+ESC during quick movements. Now you can play CTF in (relative) peace.
The exterminators developers have been hard at work making Luanti more stable and consistent. You may be happy to learn that a plethora of issues have been resolved regarding:
[verticalframe transparency (158bfa6)Back to the 3-month intervals. By the time 5.14.0 lands, you might see camera color effects, matrix and rotation APIs, glTF morph animations, animated inventory images, and more!
\n\nQuestions? Ideas? Feel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2025/08/10/5.13.0-released/", "summary": "This release is a little smaller than usual due to the previously-mentioned schedule shift, but 5.13.0 still has quite a few new things for developers to play with, as well as plenty of bug fixes.", "date_published": "2025-08-10 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2025/05/24/5.12.0-released", "title": "Luanti 5.12.0 released!", "content_html": "Luanti 5.12.0 is here! Perfectly on schedule, we swear! Anyway, this time Luanti is sporting new input handling and controls, new item and entity visuals, better map performance, and more.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website, check out the code on GitHub, or read the full changelog.
\n\nThis section covers a plethora of outstanding issues, so don’t skip this one— SDL is a bigger deal than you might think! Until this release, Luanti relied on Irrlicht’s custom window and input interfaces, which (much like a lot of old Irrlicht code) was very outdated and buggy. SDL, on the other hand, has been consistently updated since 1998 and has been battle-tested by thousands of major applications over the years.
\n\nEfforts to migrate to SDL2 have been ongoing for a few years now, and 5.12.0 is the first version to finally see those efforts come to fruition. The cross-platform wrappers SDL2 brings have enabled a bunch of cool stuff:
\nThis also brings reliability and stability to the window and input system, fixing many other long-standing bugs. It will also make it easier to upgrade to SDL3, should we choose to in the future.
\n\nSpeaking of input handling, there have been a handful of control improvements.
\n\nKeybinds now live in the Settings menu, bringing with it some missing controls and keys (and now benefiting from Lua formspec features). The sneak and aux1 keys are now optionally togglable, saving you from finger strain while running along all those edges.
![\"The](\"/static/blog/5.12.0/keybinding.webp\")
\n\t\n\tFor our touchscreen users, dig and place buttons can be enabled instead of using gestures.
\n\nThis time we’ll start with a big one: Animated node textures on the GUI! After all these years, animated node textures are finally displayed in the inventory, hotbar, and hand. Non-node animations coming soon.
\n\nTexture filtering is no longer a blurry mess, softening pixels as intended. Gone are the days of screenshots ruined by bilinear and trilinear filtering!
\n\n![\"Trilinear](\"/static/blog/5.12.0/trilinear_filter.webp\")
\n\t\n\tPackage pages in the content browser now have a Reviews tab where you can see exactly what other users like (or dislike) about that thing you want to download. Also pictured below is the new default flat button style with the 2000s-style gradient removed.
\n\n![\"These](\"/static/blog/5.12.0/content_reviews_tab.webp\")
\n\t\n\tAre you making a game with an exclusively 3rd-person camera? Need the player to take a good look at themselves? The new set_camera player method allows developers to set the current camera mode by force! This method will hopefully expand in the future.
The node visual type has been introduced to entities to represent any node (instead of hacking the item visual til it looks right).
initial_properties = {\n visual = \"node\",\n node = {\n name = \"mymod:mynode\",\n param2 = 42, -- It supports paramtypes too!\n }\n}\nDevelopers can now prevent the Escape key from closing their formspecs using the allow_close[true] element. The form can still be closed with an exit button or with Shift + Esc in emergencies (so don’t rely on your forms being locked open). The try_quit event field has also been introduced to watch for close attempts on locked forms.
As for notable fixes, custom hands now properly override all tool capabilities. glTF models saw various fixes, most importantly local transforms no longer affect meshes.
\n\nAlongside better world loading and generation performance, world storage has been changed to save block positions as separate integers instead of a hash. This simpler implementation is much easier to work with internally and for external tools. Please note: Worlds created with or migrated to 5.12.0 are not backward-compatible.
\n\nObjects have also seen a storage speed upgrade with a new spatial index, as well as better collision detection.
\n\n/msg will echo your sent message back to you like it used to (#15887)5.13.0 will likely be released a month sooner than normal, so expect a smaller update, but you can still track the work being done on animated items, glTF morph animations, skybox layers, and more. Coming soon to a Luanti version near you!
\n\nQuestions? Ideas? Feel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2025/05/24/5.12.0-released/", "summary": "Luanti 5.12.0 is here! Perfectly on-schedule, we swear! Anyway, this time Luanti is sporting new input handling and controls, new item and entity visuals, better map performance, and more.", "date_published": "2025-05-24 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2025/03/09/FOSDEM2025", "title": "Luanti at FOSDEM 2025", "content_html": "This year marked Luanti’s second consecutive appearance at FOSDEM! Held in\nBrussels, Belgium, FOSDEM is the largest free and open source software\nconference in Europe. Fresh off our recent rebranding and new release cycle,\nFOSDEM was a fantastic opportunity to collect feedback and update people on\nwhat’s happening in the Luanti world. The rename did make some logistics a bit\ntricky (flyers and leaflets needed to be redone), but thanks to some\ncutting-edge technology, we managed to recycle some\nmaterial!
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2025/cover.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tSpeaking of feedback, FOSDEM showed us in a real-life context that renaming was\nthe right choice. Instead of entertaining frequent questions about being a\nMinecraft clone, we were able to introduce Luanti as a game platform and all the\nfeatures that came with it. The conference was also a convenient way to update\nfamiliars on the new name, with a few “Oh, this was Minetest!” comments\nthroughout.
\n\nBesides the new name, our demos were also a huge hit with attendees. We were\nvery happy to see the surprise on people’s faces while playing\nExtra Ordinance by SumianVoice\n(the winner of the 2024 Luanti Game Jam). For those who hadn’t played any Luanti\ngames for a while, a third-person mech shoot-‘em-up game was simply mind-blowing\n(give it a try if you haven’t played it yet!). Visitors were also interested in\nthe devices we featured at the booth: rubenwardy’s Steam Deck and a postmarketOS\nphone (kindly lent by David Heidelberg). Kids and adults alike greatly enjoyed their time\nwith the Steam Deck, while more tech-savvy people were fascinated by a mobile\nLinux device running Luanti games.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2025/postmarket.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tMany adults who stopped by the booth were interested in Luanti as a libre game\nenvironment for their kids or students. Parents and teachers were both happy to\nsee what Luanti could do, especially with the smooth and safe integration\nContentDB offers for downloading content. Thomas\neven ran\na workshop\non Saturday teaching kids and parents how to mod and add content to their games;\nthe kids were amazed when they were able to add dragons from\nDraconis to their\nworlds! They also had fun playing minigames together on the\nA.E.S. server. Many thanks to Haui, a passionate\ncommunity member who helped cover our booth alongside their partner while we\nwere pulled away to assist with the workshop.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2025/workshop.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThe Saturday workshop was just a small part of the education theme present this\nyear. rubenwardy and Zughy had a great conversation with\nTeckids about the workshops they host in Germany, and\nZughy was invited to run a few in Italy. Tama McGlinn created\nAdaBots with Luanti to teach children programming and\ngave\na talk\nabout it as well. And of course, Zughy\ngave a talk on Sunday\nabout Luanti and showcased some education projects and strategies.
\n\n![\"FOSDEM](\"/static/blog/FOSDEM2025/talk.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThe best part of real-life events is, hands down, the people. Many people paid a\nvisit to the Luanti booth, sharing their ideas, projects, inspirations, or\nsimply meeting us in-person after years of knowing them by a nickname on the\ninternet. For instance, Adrian would like to make a to-scale world map in Luanti\nusing OpenStreetMap data; Tama (from earlier) connected bots to the voxel world\nto teach programming with AdaBots; Markus from\nCoderDojo helps kids make and 3D\nprint buildings in Luanti; Sylvia plays on Zughy’s Luanti server and had a\nwonderful conversation with him about possible improvements.
\n\nBeing a free software convention, we got to interact with quite a few people\nrepresenting various platforms. We were situated next to Homebrew, they renamed\nthe Minetest cask to Luanti live on the stand. Folks from\nFUTO and NOSTR stopped by to\ndiscuss publishing Luanti on their platforms, while the night before FOSDEM two\nof us grabbed a bite with some Codeberg staff and got to hear about different\nexperiences in the free software ecosystem. Several Luanti core team members\nalso took the opportunity to meet in real life and talk face-to-face. We went\nfor pizza on Saturday evening, joined by the director of the French Institute\nfor Research and Innovation. With full stomachs we had plenty of fuel for a\ncasual meeting that turned out to be very productive, and we even ended up with\na new core dev (y5nw) by the night’s end!
\n\nFOSDEM was a great conference this year and we’re definitely ready to do it\nagain. We hope you had as much fun as we did, and we’re looking forward to\nmeeting you again. We’d also like to thank our sponsors who helped make the\nwhole experience possible. In alphabetical order:\nInstitut de Recherche et d’Innovation,\nItalian Linux Society,\nrubenwardy’s sponsors,\nand Wikimedia Italy.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2025/03/09/FOSDEM2025/", "summary": "This year marked Luanti’s second consecutive appearance at FOSDEM! Held in Brussels, Belgium, FOSDEM is the largest free and open source software conference in Europe. Fresh off our recent rebranding and new release cycle, FOSDEM was a fantastic opportunity to collect feedback and update people on what’s happening in the Luanti world.", "date_published": "2025-03-09 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2025/02/14/5.11.0-released", "title": "Luanti 5.11.0 released!", "content_html": "Luanti 5.11.0 is landing right on time following our 3-month release schedule! Many new menu features have arrived alongside font overrides, continued model improvements, rendering fixes, and more.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website, check out the code on GitHub, or read the full changelog.
\n\nThere are a few changes which may (or may not) affect you, so we’ll get them out of the way first:
\n\nThe settings menu can now be accessed from the in-game pause menu (very convenient!). Keep in mind that not every setting supports live changes, so you may still need to reconnect after making certain alterations.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/5.11.0/ingame_settings_menu.webp\")
\n\t\n\tFor those of you on smartphones or some other touchscreen device (smartwatch, anybody?), Luanti now includes a layout editor for your on-screen controls. Select Touchscreen Layout in the pause menu and organize the buttons to your heart’s content!
Have you ever wanted to check server info before you connect? Until now we had to use the online server list, but Luanti has introduced 4 new buttons allowing you to open the server’s website, view its mod list, see which players are online, and manage your favorites. You can also filter your searches by game, mod, or player (see search bar tooltip for specifics).
\n\n![\"Server](\"/static/blog/5.11.0/serverlist_buttons.webp\")
\n\t\n\tLuanti’s fonts are starting to get boring after more than a decade, so mods can now override the defaults! Place TTF or WOFF fonts in your mod’s fonts directory for each style you want to override (check out the documentation for more details). This is just the first step towards better font control, so keep an eye out for future font features.
![\"Everyone's](\"/static/blog/5.11.0/custom_fonts.webp\")
\n\t\n\tversion_string is now available in core.get_player_information(), with core.protocol_versions added to verify available client features (#15708).Development continues with 5.12.0, now at github.com/luanti-org/luanti! You can likely look forward to more visual effects, unique entity IDs, collision improvements, better pause menu settings, and more. Also keep an eye on docs.luanti.org, where we are unifying all Luanti knowledge in one place.
\n\nQuestions? Ideas? Feel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2025/02/14/5.11.0-released/", "summary": "Luanti 5.11.0 is landing right on time following our 3-month release schedule! Many new menu features have arrived alongside font overrides, continued model improvements, rendering fixes, and more.", "date_published": "2025-02-14 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2024/11/10/5.10.0-released", "title": "Luanti 5.10.0 released!", "content_html": "Luanti (formerly Minetest) 5.10.0 has been released\njust three months after 5.9.0 in accordance with the new release schedule. Just in time to be used in the\n2024 Luanti Game Jam, too!
\n\nHighlights include a content browser redesign, support for the modern glTF model format, gettext translation\nsupport, new visual effects, an API for per-player objects, usability improvements, and more.
\n\nYou can download Luanti from our website. As always, the full changelog can be\nfound here.
\n\nLuanti’s built-in content browser was redesigned to be more user-friendly and appealing, presenting content (mods,\ngames, and texture packs) in a grid.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/5.10.0/content_browser_grid.webp\")
\n\t\n\tYou can now also view the details for a package, similar to the ContentDB web interface:
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/5.10.0/content_browser_details.webp\")
\n\t\n\tUntil now, Luanti developers had to choose between two antiquated file formats for animated 3D models (.b3d and .x)\nwhich have poor support in modern software and are difficult to work with.
Luanti now supports the modern glTF file format, which allows for seamless exports and\nimports with modeling software such as Blender or Blockbench. It also allows developers to easily drop in\nfreely-licensed glTF assets from the internet.
\n\nClients need to be version 5.10.0 or above to see glTF models, and\nsupport is still a bit rough around the edges,\nbut feature parity with existing model file formats has already been achieved and better support is planned for the\nfuture.
\n\nLuanti finally supports the standard gettext .po and .mo translation file\nformats! These formats are much easier to manage via external tools such as Weblate, and also provide more options for\ntranslators (such as correct plural forms). The custom .tr translation file format is still supported, but we highly\nrecommend migrating to gettext (see Translations API)\nif you don’t plan to support client versions older than 5.10.0.
Even more eye candy has arrived for players to enjoy! Among the list of options are simple liquid reflections and waves,\ntranslucent foliage, node specular highlights, softer clouds, and tinted shadows. This post’s cover image features these\neffects.
\n\nDevelopers can now control which player(s) an object is sent and shown to with\nobject:set_observers(). For example, the\nCapture The Flag server uses this for nametags which\ncan only be seen by teammates. It could also be used to implement in-world interfaces or displays that only the desired\nplayer can see.
This implementation is entirely server-side, so only the server needs to be 5.10.0 to support this feature. Clients do\nnot need to upgrade to support this change.
\n\nbulk_action property.get_player_control()\nnow exposes joystick direction (as X and Y axes). This may be especially useful for vehicles or arcade-inspired\ngames.Check out the full changelog for other minor features and\nbugfixes. Development has resumed on 5.11.0, with work being done on improving moving object performance,\ncustom touchscreen layouts,\na new UI API, and more.\nFeel free to get involved!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2024/11/10/5.10.0-released/", "summary": "Luanti (formerly Minetest) 5.10.0 has been released! Highlights include a content browser redesign, support for the modern glTF model format, gettext translation support, new visual effects, an API for per-player objects, usability improvements, and more.", "date_published": "2024-11-10 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2024/10/13/Introducing-Our-New-Name", "title": "Introducing Our New Name", "content_html": "“Is this a Minecraft clone? Is it like Minecraft Alpha?” If you’ve been a member of our community for some time, you are\nprobably aware of how often these questions remind us of what people think of when they hear the name “Minetest”: a\nrip-off of a similar genre-defining game. Truth be told, that was celeron55’s initial plan. But things change, and\nMinetest evolved. Now, the time has come for Minetest to assume a new identity and prove it has moved beyond its\noriginal purpose.
\n\n\n\nAfter seeing Minecraft’s alpha debut, celeron55 “took it as a challenge” to explore “the mystery of how a game world\nlike this works under the hood”1. The name wasn’t very important; it was a test after all— an experiment to\nsee what it could do differently. An experiment that began attracting more users and contributors throughout the years\nuntil Minetest eventually evolved from a game to what it is today: a game platform.
\n\nThrough the efforts of the community over the past decade, Minetest has developed a unique identity with an approachable\nAPI and easy scripting language, support for community-created games and mods, a central library to easily find\ncommunity content, and more recently a shift to promoting community creations instead of the original Minetest Game.\nDespite these advancements, one anachronistic holdover has remained to remind us of the past: an idea that no longer\ndescribes the purpose of this project and community— its name.
\n\nAfter more than a year of public and internal discussions, that era is over. “Minetest” is no more; the “Minecraft\nclone” is no more. With great thanks to the community for their input, we wave goodbye to Minetest and introduce a new\nera. Welcome 🥁 … Luanti!
\n\n“Luanti” is a wordplay on the Finnish word luonti (“creation”) and the programming language Minetest Luanti employs\nfor games and mods, Lua. The goal was to avoid yet another plain English word (good luck finding something unique…)\nand highlight the core principles of the project. The fusion of celeron55’s Finnish nationality and the platform’s focus\non content creation resulted in the birth of “Luanti”.
We decided to avoid using “free” or “libre” in the name because we don’t think it does the project justice. Luanti will\nalways be free software, but that core principle is not everything it has to offer. Projects like Blender, Krita, or\nGodot are awesome, and they don’t need to convince you about their libre nature by putting it in their names. They are\nlibre, but they’re also much, much more!
\n\nLuanti is a lot of things. Many of us are familiar with the voxel nature of the engine and the library of content it\nsupports, and name suggestions related to that idea were certainly plentiful. But describing that in the new name would\nlimit the platform in the same way as the original: users and developers would come to expect it to be an engine\nexclusive to cube games when it can be more than that. Luanti is a platform that is built to help you create. It’s a\nplatform where anyone can make something. It’s a platform that will keep evolving to support your creations.
\n\nWith the new name, a few changes will be made in the engine and community. Obviously, all the repositories and community\nhubs will adopt the Luanti name in some form. You’ll be able to find the website at luanti.org and repositories at\ngithub.com/luanti-org (many old links will redirect). Our social platforms will change\nsimilarly. The logo will be staying, and you’ll probably still hear “Minetest” occasionally in reference to Minetest\nGame which will remain a testament to the project’s\nroots. Otherwise, Luanti now represents the future of the platform.
\n\nFor developers, the engine won’t actually change much. For those who aren’t aware, core is actually the real Lua\nnamespace used internally, minetest is just an alias (which we will keep for compatibility). Rather than rename all\nthe namespaces to luanti, core will be the official namespace to use. It’s shorter to type, easier to remember, and\nbackwards-compatible. It’s also friendlier to forks and future name changes (which we don’t plan to do, promise!)
We hope that, free from the ghost of its past, Luanti can bloom into something more and bring life to adventures and\nexperiences for years to come. It can now live and breathe on its own, explore its nature and potential, and overcome\nits limits. At the very least, we can finally say to those who once asked “Is this a Minecraft clone?”: No, not anymore.\nIt came from humble beginnings and has grown into a powerful game platform where you, and anyone else, can start\ncreating. And with your help, it will continue to grow into something even better.
\n\nWhat do you think about the new name? Let us know in the forum thread or on any of our community platforms!
\n\n“Is this a Minecraft clone? Is it like Minecraft Alpha?” If you’ve been a member of our community for some time, you are\nprobably aware of how often these questions remind us of what people think of when they hear the name “Minetest”: a\nrip-off of a similar genre-defining game. Truth be told, that was celeron55’s initial plan. But things change, and\nMinetest evolved. Now, the time has come for Minetest to assume a new identity and prove it has moved beyond its\noriginal purpose.
\n", "date_published": "2024-10-13 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2024/08/12/5.9.0-released", "title": "Minetest 5.9.0 released!", "content_html": "Minetest 5.9.0 has been released with performance improvements for rendering and map generation,\nnew graphical effects, and much more.
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAs always, the full changelog can be found\nhere.
\n\n\n\nAs part of x2048’s efforts to improve graphics, Minetest now supports “god rays” (also known as “volumetric lighting”), as shown in the cover image.\nIn order to give modders and game developers full artistic control, Minetest lets mods control this feature, leaving it off by default.
\n\nIf some of your installed mods or games do not opt-in to god rays yet,\nyou can install ROllerozxa’s\nvolumetric lighting mod\nto enable it.
\n\nMake sure that you have shaders, bloom, and volumetric lighting enabled in settings.
\n\nThere have been improvements to rendering performance,\nwhich on some hardware may yield a significant improvement in FPS.
\n\nParticle rendering performance in particular has been improved dramatically,\nenabling modders to create much more elaborate particle effects.
\n\nMinetest allows mods and games to take control of map generation,\nranging from the spawning of custom structures to entirely custom mapgen.
\n\nUp until now, Lua mapgen code was executed on the same thread as the rest of the game,\nwhich would be stalled when running expensive computations.\nThis forced modders to compromise on mapgen features to keep lag manageable.
\n\nMods that make use of the new APIs can now take advantage of a separate mapgen thread,\nenabling more advanced custom mapgen that doesn’t bring the game to a grinding halt.
\n\nThis lays the groundwork for drastic improvements in mapgen performance if multiple cores are available. 1
\n\nSome further highlights include:
\n\nDevelopment now resumes on 5.10.0, with many awesome features in the works:
\n\n… and many more. Stay tuned for the next release in a few months!
\n\nMultiple mapgen (“emerge”) threads are already an option, but known to have issues. Use at your own risk. ↩
\nMinetest 5.9.0 has been released with performance improvements for rendering and map generation,\nnew graphical effects, and much more.
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAs always, the full changelog can be found\nhere.
\n", "date_published": "2024-08-12 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2024/01/29/January", "title": "October to January in Minetest (16)", "content_html": "Improvements are made to graphics, the Lua API, and the user interface. We present the winners of the 2023 Game Jam along with other cool mods. A new core developer joins the team, and we look forward to FOSDEM 2024!
\n\n\n\nThe community welcomes longtime community member Lars Müller (aka Luatic, appguru(eu), LMD) (Github,\nContentDB), as the newest Core Developer! He has made\nmany contributions to documentation and entities, is\ncurrently assisting the effort to introduce the modern glTF model format,\nand is working on a PR to allow specific entities to be hidden from players.
\n\nWith SDL2 recently being set as the default rendering backend,\nprogress on better integration of gamepads and touchscreens can easily move forward.\nGrorp’s PR to enable mouse and touchscreen input on any device paired\nwith work by David Heidelberg to switch between the two while playing marks\nanother great step towards universal input support.
\n\nLars M. has extended the capabilities of armature bones, allowing\nmods to set individual bone position, rotation, and scale, with optional relation to defined animations and\ninterpolation over time. This will finally allow game developers and modders to implement smoother entity animations in Lua.
\n\nx2048’s god rays shader was\nadopted by lhofhansl and merged into the development version of\nMinetest 5.9.0. Similar to dynamic shadows, game developers can choose to enable\nthe new lighting API features\nto allow god rays in their games. Players must enable both bloom and volumetric lighting in their settings to utilize\nthe new shader.
\n\n![\"Volumetric](\"/static/blog/2024_January/volumetric.png\")
\n\t\n\tMany items are used by holding the place button (right mouse by default), such as\nbows and shields from MineClone2. Until PR #14087 by grorp, these\nitems did not work on touchscreens. With the PR merged, game and mod developers can determine which action a given item\nperforms on a long or short tap. The PR also changes the default touchscreen punch behavior to a short tap, improving\nthe Minetest combat experience and bringing it closer to other mobile voxel games.
\n\nThe 2023 Game Jam was held in December with the theme “Unexpected”.\nContestants were given three weeks to make games from scratch and submit them to ContentDB. After the community ranked\ntheir favorite submissions on the new Game Jam Site, the winners emerged.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2024_January/Citadel.png\")
\n\t\n\tWeave through the past and future in the 4-dimensional parkour puzzle game\nCitadel by Irevol.\nYou are a daring explorer searching the ruins of an ancient citadel. You find mysterious runes which allow you to\nnavigate space and time and unearth the secrets and treasures of the citadel.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2024_January/velvet_crystal.png\")
\n\t\n\tRecover the lost crystal and bring light back to the world in The Velvet\nCrystal by Regulus,\na parkour game with a twist. Use your wand to perform stunts and help you navigate the castle. Gather information from\nvoiced NPCs and defeat the final boss to recover the velvet crystal.
\n\n![\"Your](\"/static/blog/2024_January/gambit.png\")
\n\t\n\tAre you a chess lover? The Unexpected Gambit by NO11 will keep you on your toes with crazy moves that come at unexpected moments. Experience a very polished implementation of\na classic game with interesting twists in The Unexpected Gambit.
\n\nThank you to everyone who participated in the game jam and congratulations to the winners! We hope all the participants\ncontinue to improve their games to become polished player experiences and great showcases of what Minetest can do.\nHere are some other interesting projects that emerged from the 2023 jam.
\n\n![\"It](\"/static/blog/2024_January/mineos.png\")
\n\t\n\tMineOS by jordan4ibanez\nis an astonishing demo, especially for those familiar with Minetest’s GUI capabilities. MineOS implements a polished\ngraphical operating system with retro sound effects and animations and includes several windowed apps to play with,\nincluding a 3D DOOM-like shooter. It was certainly unexpected.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2024_January/shadowForest.png\")
\n\t\n\tShadow Forest by Wuzzy\nis a polished role-playing game where you fill the shoes of the Wizard of Light (and his trusty Light Crystal companion).\nYour quest is to rid the forest of the invading Shadows. Collect resources, level up your skills, and use your Staff of\nLight to defeat the Shadows. Read more about the making of Shadow Forest on Wuzzy’s website!
\n\nThis section intentionally left blank.
\n\n![\"Lovebug](\"/static/blog/2024_January/vwbug.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Savoia](\"/static/blog/2024_January/savoia.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"WWI](\"/static/blog/2024_January/ww1plane.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tAPercy continues his line of quality vehicles in Minetest! His latest work\nintroduces a Volkswagen Beetle to his Automobiles Pack,\nthe Savoia S2.1 biplane\nfrom the 1992 Japanese animated film Porco Rosso (Studio Ghibli), and a\nWorld War I airplane combat mod.
\n\njordan4ibanez has created custom\nTypeScript type definitions for Minetest\nto use with the TypeScriptToLua transpiler. He is developing and using it with his project\nForgottenLands, written almost entirely in TypeScript.
\n\n![\"Better](\"/static/blog/2024_January/better_details.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Featured](\"/static/blog/2024_January/featuredschems.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"More](\"/static/blog/2024_January/login_options.png\")
\n\t\n\tThe Blockexchange project by BuckarooBanzay has undergone a few rewrites and enhancements to improve the overall user experience. Blockexchange now\nsupports logging in with ContentDB, features schematics on the homepage, supports CDB Collections\nand markdown on detail pages, and sports a new, faster interface. Check out the new features at https://blockexchange.minetest.ch.
\n\n![\""Egyptian](\"/static/blog/2024_January/Mortuary_Temple_of_Ramesses_III_at_Medinet_Habu.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Egyptian](\"/static/blog/2024_January/Mortuary_Temple_of_Ramesses_III_at_Medinet_Habu_2.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Egyptian](\"/static/blog/2024_January/Mortuary_Temple_of_Ramesses_III_at_Medinet_Habu_3.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Colorlandia](\"/static/blog/2024_January/colorland.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Ventilated](\"/static/blog/2024_January/digilines_comp.png\")
\n\t\n\tIn late 2023 Minetest was featured at several conventions around Italy thanks to Zughy\nand his sponsor Italian Linux Society. Zughy demonstrated Minetest and gave talks at several events, from underground\nvideogame festivals like Zona Warpa to free software events like MERGE-it (you can watch\none of the talks in Italian here). In December,\nZughy also presented a workshop in Empoli, Italy where participants learned how to create minigames from scratch using\narena_lib. It doesn’t look like these events are going to stop\nany time soon, so what’s next? FOSDEM!
\n\nMinetest will be among several stands at\nFOSDEM 2024! FOSDEM is the largest free and open-source software conference in Europe and\nwill be held on February 3rd and 4th in Brussels, Belgium. The Minetest booth will be showing off the engine and\ncommunity content, giving out stickers and goodies, and introducing visitors to the platform!
\n\nIf you happen to be in the area, come say hi!
\n\n![\"Minetest](\"/static/blog/2024_January/minetest_at_freenode_live_2018.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tWant to contribute to Minetest but don’t know where to start? Start with\nthese simple issues,\nor help fix the most annoying bugs\nfor the community!
\n\nWant to add a feature, but you’re not sure if it will be accepted? Have a look at\nthe roadmap or choose an issue with the “Supported by core dev” label!
\n\nAre you a professional artist or UI designer? Help us make our main menu more\nappealing and help create an identity for Minetest!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2024/01/29/January/", "summary": "Improvements are made to graphics, the Lua API, and the user interface. We present the winners of the 2023 Game Jam along with other cool mods. A new core developer joins the team, and we look forward to FOSDEM 2024!
\n", "date_published": "2024-01-29 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/12/04/5.8.0-released", "title": "Minetest 5.8.0 released!", "content_html": "Minetest 5.8.0 has been released with improved onboarding, a new Settings GUI,\nimproved Android controls, and a lot more.
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAlso, check out\nthe full changelog.
\n\n\n\nMinetest is not a game - it’s a game creation platform that allows you to make\nyour own blocky gaming experiences. Developers can\nmake and share games. Players\ncan find and play games using the Minetest\nclient.
\n\nFor a long time, Minetest shipped with a default game called\nMinetest Game.\nThis game was intentionally left bare to encourage players to mod the game and\ntry out other games for Minetest. However, this led to new users thinking that\nMinetest Game was all Minetest had to offer.
\n\nFrom 5.8.0, users will instead be directed to choose a game when first starting\nMinetest. Minetest Game will still be available to download, but the user will\nsee other games as well. This gives greater visibility to the wide range\nMinetest has to offer.
\n\nNote: you can still play multiplayer without installing any games.
\n\nWe’ll be improving the new user experience in the future, based on feedback.
\n\n![\"What](\"/static/blog/5.8.0/debundle_no_games.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Games](\"/static/blog/5.8.0/debundle_cdb.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest 5.8.0 comes with a new settings menu, designed to make it easier for\nnew users to find and change settings.
\n\nWe’re going to be giving the entire main menu a makeover in a future release.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/5.8.0/settings.png\")
\n\t\n\tYou can now place nodes using a single tap on Android. This makes building much\neasier.
\n\nThe Android joystick used to emulate key presses but is now read directly. This\nwill make movement more responsive to user input, allowing the player to move in\nany direction and at varying speeds.
\n\nMinetest’s sound code has been completely rewritten. This improves performance,\nfixes bugs, and unlocks new capabilities.
\n\nSounds are now lazy-loaded - this reduces memory usage and load times by only\nloading long sounds when needed.
\n\nGame developers and modders have more options on how to play sound, including\nchanging the start time and offsets.
\n\nThe anti-aliasing code has been improved and modernised. There’s now the option\nto choose between two new algorithms - FXAA and SSAA. FXAA is faster but is less\naccurate. SSAA is very accurate but consumes more resources.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/5.8.0/antialiasing.webp\")
\n\t\n\tAs always, this release comes with new scripting features for game developers\nand modders. For example, developers can now change the texture of an item stack\ncompletely dynamically. This unlocks a lot of possibilities.
\n\nThose are just the highlights. Take a look at\nthe changelog for\na full list of changes.
\n\nWe’ve already started working on 5.9.0. There’s a ContentDB dialog (“browse\nonline content”) redesign in progress, and work continues on switching to SDL\nfor improved input and gamepad support. Make sure to follow the Minetest blog to\nkeep up-to-date with engine development and community news.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2023/12/04/5.8.0-released/", "summary": "Minetest 5.8.0 has been released with improved onboarding, a new Settings GUI,\nimproved Android controls, and a lot more.
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAlso, check out\nthe full changelog.
\n", "date_published": "2023-12-04 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/10/17/AugustSeptember", "title": "August and September in Minetest (15)", "content_html": "The main menu gets more love in preparation for the 5.8.0 release, developers come and go, and new shaders are in the\nworks. CTF celebrates its 10th anniversary, and new API mods make their way to ContentDB.
\n\n\n\nAs the 5.8.0 release marches closer, more work has been done to improve the main menu. It now uses the latest version\nof formspec, properly supports hypertext, and uses a button in place of the settings tab. The user experience has been improved with better game bar\nscrolling, persisting text fields, and asynchronous package\nloading on the ContentDB page.
\n\nMinetest’s newest core developer, grorp, has been hard at work fixing various GUI and\nrendering issues, improving the user experience, and squashing lots of bugs. 41 commits and\ncounting!
\n\nDesour has been\nbusy\ncleaning up GUI elements, the sound manager, and compiler warnings.
\n\nWe extend a heartfelt farewell to x2048 as he steps down from engine development, and thank him for his work on\nbloom, shadow\nmaps,\nmesh rendering, and numerous\nother improvements. His sky color,\ncascaded shadow maps, and batched particle rendering PRs are looking for\nadopters.
\n\nEven more shaders are in development as well. Godrays developed by x2048 (now adopted and in\ntesting) complement bloom and shadows wonderfully. GreenXenith has been working on a highly\nexperimental screen-space reflection shader for water and other\nmaterials. It has a long way to go but adds another layer of beauty to the Minetest world.
\n\n![\"Godrays](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/godrays.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Screen-space](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/reflections.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tAugust 16th, 2023 was Capture the Flag’s 10th\nanniversary. Capture the Flag is a multiplayer game where two teams of players battle to claim the other team’s flag\nwhile defending their own. It is played in a destructible voxel environment, allowing players to build defenses and\nplace traps.
\n\nYou can find out more about CTF’s history and development in the 10th anniversary blog\npost.
\n\nThe game anniversary and 8th anniversary of the official server (ctf.rubenwardy.com:30001) were celebrated from August\n16th to September 1st, with fireworks and party hats as cosmetics on the server.
![\"Party](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/ctf1.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Fireworks](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/ctf2.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThe winner of the 2022 Minetest GAME JAM has continued\ndevelopment since then. As of August, Glitch (by Wuzzy) has\na weblate where the community can contribute game translations. You\ncan read about the development history of Glitch on Wuzzy’s\nwebsite.
\n\nYou can send POST and GET requests directly from Minetest using the new HTTPBlocks mod by\n56independent! This\nDigilines device allows you to construct complex systems that\ncan talk to web endpoints and request plaintext files, records, and any other raw web data.
The mod, of course, requires HTTP trust to use Minetest’s HTTP API. Future plans include HTML querying using selector\nblocks, blocks to convert JSON to Lua tables, and maybe websocket support in the distant future.
\n\n![\"Downloaded](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/httpblock1.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"HTTP](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/httpblock2.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThe Unicode Text library by erlehmann is built to\nrender fixed-width and variable-width GNU Unifont fonts (.hex). UTF-8\ntext input is converted to a table of pixels that can be written to an image file (such as a\nPNG or\nTGA). Non-Unicode text can also be written using the\nUnifont CSUR font.
By rendering text to a single image server-side, the full range of Unicode can be supported by servers without sending\nthousands or tens of thousands of textures to Minetest clients. The Unicode Signs mod by\ncora provides signs that use the Unicode Text library to draw\ntext.
\n\n![\"Unicode](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/unicodetext1.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Signs](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/unicodetext2.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Who](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/build_camper.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\""City](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/build_cityhall.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Mesecon-only](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/build_computer.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tarchtec.niklp.net:30803
\n\n![\"\"](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/archtec1.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"\"](\"/static/blog/2023_AugustSeptember/archtec2.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThe Arctech server recently added chat bridges to Matrix and IRC\nfor more flexible communication while in-game. Their building team has also been working on some cool new creations!
\n\nKeep an eye out for the 2023 Minetest GAME JAM later this year!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2023/10/17/AugustSeptember/", "summary": "The main menu gets more love in preparation for the 5.8.0 release, developers come and go, and new shaders are in the\nworks. CTF celebrates its 10th anniversary, and new API mods make their way to ContentDB.
\n", "date_published": "2023-10-17 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/07/30/MayJuneJuly", "title": "May, June, and July in Minetest (14)", "content_html": "Work on the 5.8 release continues with some exciting new engine improvements, a\nclassic game makes its way to ContentDB, and the use of Minetest in education\nwas explored.
\n\n\n\nSeveral improvements have been in the works for Minetest 5.8. On touchscreens, it will be possible to place nodes with\na single tap. New texture\nmodifiers have been added,\nallowing developers to adjust texture hue, saturation and lightness, change contrast, create textures of arbitrary size,\nand more.
\n\nRubenwardy’s settings page\nredesign has been merged, marking\nan important step towards a better user interface.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/settings.png\")
\n\t\n\tAnother major improvment is Desour’s sound\nrefactor which fixes several bugs\n(such as lag from loading large audio files) and adds many new features such as fade-in for positional audio.
\n\nFinally, x2048 added antialiasing post-processing\nfilters for smoother graphics.
\n\n![\"Crystal](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/asuna1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Cursed](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/asuna2.png\")
\n\t\n\tAsuna by\nEmptyStar welcomes the otherworldly wonders of the\nEverness mod to its domain! From the sparkling vistas of the\ncrystal forests to the haunted bogs of the cursed lands, down to the depths of its lush caves, icy caverns, and beyond—\nEverness is now a crown jewel of the Asuna experience. With a few personal touches and careful integration into Asuna’s\nfantastic fabric of biomes, Everness graces every corner of the world.
\n\nAlong with the inclusion of Everness, much work has been done to improve Asuna’s underground, new biomes have been\nadded, and landscapes are now more diverse than ever. Join the new Asuna Discord server\nto stay up-to-date with Asuna’s development.
\n\n![\"Blocks](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/blockcolor.png\")
\n\t\n\tIn an effort to preserve an old, interesting game project, the mt-historical\norganization has added BlockColor by MrChiantos to\nContentDB. The name says it all: It’s a world of blocks painted with a soothing palette of colors.
\n\nThe latest Mineclone update, “The Very Nice\nRelease”, went live last month. It is mostly a\nquality-of-life update with bugfixes, performance, texture, and audio improvements.
\n\n![\"New](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/mailmod.png\")
\n\t\n\tMany servers rely on the Mail mod for in-game communication.\nSince the beginning of the year, the mt-mods organization has developed many new features\nand fixed several bugs using feedback from the YourLand server. They also added translations\nfor at least 6 new languages. The biggest new addition is the “Sent Messages” folder, which required a complete rewrite\nof the storage system (by BuckarooBanzay).
\n\nOther new features include mailing lists, sorters and filters, drafts, multiple-message selection, and a new “About”\npage.
\n\nMost recently, the 1.2.0 release has brought settings, a trash\nsystem, major performance improvements, and bug fixes.
\n\nContributors to the mail mod include Athozus, S-S-X, BuckarooBanzay, fluxionary, and the YourLand server.
\n\n![\"Fluffy](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/plushies.png\")
\n\t\n\tYou may have noticed a recent rise in plushie content for Minetest. Three new mods— Fumo\nPlushies, and Amogus\nPlushie by\naSliceOfCake, and\nPlushies by\nAtlante— introduce a plethora of fluffy decorations.
\n\n![\"Cat](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/nc_catrealm.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThe Nodecore CatRealm modpack by\nWarr1024 and Mearson introduces a new\nNodeCore dimension inhabited by cats. Craft a portal, pay a\ncat a prill, and step out onto the mythical cat sky islands. Find new ores and craft powerful tools. Conquer the land of\nthe cats!
\n\n![\"Rain](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/weather.png\")
\n\t\n\tDevelopment on Arena_lib by\nZughy is nearing completion. With the latest update (6.3.0,\n“Piove?”) you can choose from rain, snow, or dust\nweather effects to stylize your minigame arena. You can also change the saturation of the screen inside a minigame to\nmute colors or create a black-and-white effect.
\n\n![\""Bamboo](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/bamboocave.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\""Carved](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/carved_land.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Students](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/minestory.png\")
\n\t\n\tEvery year, hundreds of students from schools across France participate in\nMinestory, an event\ncreated by French teacher Julien Crémoux in 2019. Students are tasked to replicate a heritage site from their local area\nsuch as Notre-Dame or the Louvre castle on a Minetest server, and then give a virtual tour of their creation.
\n\nThis year’s Minestory event was hosted in Terrasson-Lavilledieu in France on May 31st, 2023. 150 of the 413 participants\nvisited the nearby Lascaux cave, which is known for its prehistoric cave\npaintings. Thomate, Riwad and Lemente were present to discuss the future possibilities of Minetest as an educational\necosystem and how to facilitate its adoption by educators. The next day, they organised a 10-minute workshop (one of 14\nother workshops) in which students decorated a Minetest cave with recreations of paintings they saw previously using the\nggraffiti and\ncave_painting mods.
\n\nminetest.skiscratcher.com:30000
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2023_MayJune/opensurvival.png\")
\n\t\n\tOn June 14, 2023, Open Survival had a total reset. To remedy increasing management complexity and provide a new\nexperience for long-time players, the Open Survival team removed several mods and completely reset the world and the\nplayers.
\n\nBetter late than never, right?
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2023/07/30/MayJuneJuly/", "summary": "Work on the 5.8 release continues with some exciting new engine improvements, a\nclassic game makes its way to ContentDB, and the use of Minetest in education\nwas explored.
\n", "date_published": "2023-07-30 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/05/23/April", "title": "April - Last Month in Minetest (13)", "content_html": "After the release of Minetest 5.7.0 in April, there were some improvements to\nthe API for craft items. MineClone2 got the “Safe and Sound” update, there were\nmajor mod content updates, and Zughy made a promotional poster for Minetest.
\n\n\n\nWe released Minetest 5.7.0 in April, read\nthe release blog post for all the details.
\n\nThe ability to override item images has been merged now. This will make it\nmuch easier for modders to change the appearance of items in your inventory,\nunlocking more possibilities.
\n\nButtons in the user interface can now be styled differently when they are\nfocused, making it possible to give context to users who are not using a mouse.
\n\nMiscellaneous improvements include that markdown is now properly used for the\nLua API documentation, Desour implemented crafting performance improvements, and\nsome audio bugs were fixed.
\n\nMineClone2 v0.83,\nthe “Safe and Sound” update, was released. The new version brings many\nquality-of-life features to players and server owners. Elytras used to move\nfaster than the map generator could keep up with, so the maximum speeds on\nElytra have been adjusted, and are now accessible in settings. New background\nmusic was added and some nodes now have new footstep sounds. The sunset\nvisualization has been improved, and individual biomes have tinted water and\ngreenery. Mobs can ride minecarts now, and bamboo can be broken by pistons.
\n\nThere are tons more improvements across the board; see the full changelog\nhere.
\n\n![\"Before\"](\"/static/blog/2023_April/dewaffle-before.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"After\"](\"/static/blog/2023_April/dewaffle-after.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tExile by\nMantar was updated to fix holes\nappearing in Exile’s landscape (aka waffling). This only fixes new areas by\ndefault, but the update also includes a command to fix already-generated terrain.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2023_April/xfarmingrice.png\")
\n\t\n\tX Farming by\nSakel saw a massive update to make\nfarming more enjoyable.
\n\nThe new additions include:
\n\nInteractive candles which can be coloured with dyes. There are 4 possible\ncandle nodes, which can be obtained by placing more candles in the same spot.
\nA BBQ stove on which to place up to 6 (cookable) items. It acts like a furnace but\ndoes not require fuel.
\nRice farming
\nMiscellaneous additions include ropes and pillows.
\n\nFinally, X Farming no longer has mandatory dependencies. It works with Mineclone\nout of the box and can be easily adapted to any other game.
\n\n![\"Styled](\"/static/blog/2023_April/transam.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tA new car, the 1977 Trans Am, was added to Automobiles Pack by Apercy. The\nvehicle introduces a 2-speed automatic transmission with visual cues for the\nplayer.
\n\n![\"Easter](\"/static/blog/2023_April/eastereggs.png\")
\n\t\n\tIneva, Sven, Glubux and Apercy have shared the Easter Egg mod from the Yourland Server.\nSearch the wilds for naturally-spawning easter eggs, and enjoy yummy\nchocolate!
\n\n![\"Steampunk](\"/static/blog/2023_April/steampunk.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"A](\"/static/blog/2023_April/header.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Minetest](\"/static/blog/2023_April/france_workshop.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tThomate and Lemente, who use Minetest to host various workshops, as well as\nRiwad Salim and Vincent Puig from the IRI Foundation who work on the UNEJ\nproject, were invited to present how to “develop an educative and contributive\ndigital common with the Minetest platform” at the French “Journée du Libre\nÉducatif”, an event dedicated to FOSS in education (find the full event program\nhere). The main goal was to present the possibilities of Minetest and the\nbenefits of Free Software in Education, with projects such as Minestory,\nMinetest Classroom, and Blockalot, to a handful of teachers and educators\nfrom across France. Guests were also able to meet and discuss how\nto better cooperate and contribute to the Minetest edu ecosystem.
\n\nFor more info, you can get in touch with them and other educators on\nDiscord and Linkedin.
\n\n\n\n![\"Minetest](\"/static/blog/2023_April/poster.png\")
\n\t\n\tZughy made a poster to promote Minetest as he presents Minetest at various\nconventions this summer. It is under a creative commons license, so anyone is\nfree to print it out and post it on local posterboards. So far, there is an\nItalian and an English translation. You can find the files here.
\n\nThe website of one of our code developers was banned by Bing and DuckDuckGo last\nyear for an unknown reason. The website hosts the\nMinetest Modding Book along\nwith some other Minetest-related resources. If you’d like to know more or think\nyou might be able to help,\nrubenwardy wrote a blog post last month about the situation.
\n\nWhile it happened in May rather than April, we would like to note that Minetest (5.7)\nis once again available on the Android Play Store.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2023/05/23/April/", "summary": "After the release of Minetest 5.7.0 in April, there were some improvements to\nthe API for craft items. MineClone2 got the “Safe and Sound” update, there were\nmajor mod content updates, and Zughy made a promotional poster for Minetest.
\n", "date_published": "2023-05-23 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/04/16/March", "title": "March - Last Month in Minetest (12)", "content_html": "Last month, developers worked on the 5.7.0 release. We had lots of mod updates\nand releases. Also, Repixture got a soundscape rework.
\n\n\n\nThe developers spent March working on a release, see the\n5.7.0 release post\nfor all the information.
\n\nRepixture release\n3.9.0, “The Update That Changed Sounds Forever”, is a huge rework of sounds. The\nold soundscape was somewhat jarring, but now, after a lot of work and a few\nhundred new sound files, walking, digging and placing sounds much better.
\n\nAdditionally, Wuzzy introduced a\nplayer manual, which is not a\nwalkthrough but should help you get started with the game. It serves as a\nreference for the game’s mechanics.
\n\n![\"At](\"/static/blog/2023_March/airship_airport.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"The](\"/static/blog/2023_March/airship_cabin.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Fine](\"/static/blog/2023_March/airship_cafe.png\")
\n\t\n\tPrimarily an experiment with attachments,\nAP Airship by\nApercy adds a huge dirigible\nballoon. Like Steampunk Blimp players can walk around inside it, and it adds\nspecial features such as clickable seats, more control, and a better ladder.\nFuel is disabled for now, so it can fly indefinitely, but in the future Apercy\nwill add a fuel mechanic. The Airship is affected by winds and supports\nclimate_api from TestificateMods.
\n\n![\"Pizza](\"/static/blog/2023_March/pizza.png\")
\n\t\n\tPizzaria by\nExtex immerses you in your\npizza-building quest. You will form the dough with a rolling pin, place\ningredients on your pizza, physically place your pizza in the oven, and then\nslice up your masterpiece with a flourish using a pizza cutter.
\n\nMinetest Game lacks meat, cheese, tomatoes, and olives. Pizzaria supports\ntoppings from other mods such as pineapple and mobs_redo, but as a fallback,\nExtex invented “The Mese Mutation Crystal”, which allows players to turn their\nwealth into pizza ingredients. Running a pizza shop will require a steady stream\nof mese, gold, apples and … bones. This could get interesting.
\n\nWuzzy contributed an update for\nMesecons which adds\npitch variation for noteblocks, increasing the range of possible sounds. A\nplayer can set the pitch for a sound from C to B by punching the block just as\nwith the piano sounds. Fire and explosions have been excluded from pitch\nmodification to preserve their quality.
\n\n![\"Ow!\"](\"/static/blog/2023_March/mobs_damage.png\")
\n\t\n\tMobs Redo by\ntenplus1 added a damage\nflash indicator. Whenever a mob is hit it will glow orange for a moment if the\nsetting mob_hit_effect is set to true. Mod authors can also define a custom\ndamage_texture_modifier in the mob definition. Additionally, the API now has\nsupport for an injured animation, although mods will have to be updated to make\nuse of it.
![\"Coral](\"/static/blog/2023_March/coralocean.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Crystal](\"/static/blog/2023_March/crystalocean.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Cursed](\"/static/blog/2023_March/cursedocean.png\")
\n\t\n\tEverness’s “Deep Ocean”\nupdate brings 3 new ocean biomes with sands, craftable blocks, corals, and ocean\nplants. It adds a “shell of underwater breathing” which makes exploring these\nbiomes easier. Smaller fixes include new sounds for dirt, grass and ice blocks\nand Igloos with loot chests in Frosted Icesheet biomes. Happy exploring,\neveryone!
\n\n![\"This](\"/static/blog/2023_March/xcrow.png\")
\n\t\n\tX Farming\nby Sakel added a new scarecrow\ndecoration for your farms. It can be activated with X farming’s bonemeal,\nmaking any nearby plants grow faster.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2023_March/modlibb3d.png\")
\n\t\n\tModlib’s B3D to glTF\nconverter has been fixed and tested on about 1000 models from ContentDB. With\nthis update, mod authors can use modlib to convert otherwise un-editable b3d\nmodels into an editable glTF format, allowing the community to clean up old\nmodels and re-export them. All animations are preserved during the process. In\nother words, even if the original Blender files have been lost, the model may be\nedited. In the future, it may also help with providing an easy upgrade path from\nB3D to glTF when Minetest gets support for glTF.
\n\nAn example workflow is here.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2023_March/bunnyshrine.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Spartan,](\"/static/blog/2023_March/spartan.png\")
\n\t\n\tLast month, developers worked on the 5.7.0 release. We had lots of mod updates\nand releases. Also, Repixture got a soundscape rework.
\n", "date_published": "2023-04-16 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/04/08/5.7.0-released", "title": "Minetest 5.7.0 released!", "content_html": "Minetest 5.7.0 has been released with improved graphics, performance\nimprovements, and lots more.
\n\nThe Minetest 5.7.0 release is dedicated to Jude Melton-Houghton\n(TurkeyMcMac / jwmhjwmh), a core developer who\npassed away in February.
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAlso check out\nthe full changelog.
\n\n\n\nMinetest now has a post-processing pipeline, with support for Bloom and\nDynamic Exposure. This pipeline will allow for new effects to be implemented in the\nfuture, such as depth-of-field and volumetric lighting (god rays).\nPost-processing also improves the performance of tone mapping and allows for\nsettings like saturation adjustment.
\n\nMods and games have control over whether these effects can be enabled on the\nclient. Part of Minetest’s design philosophy is to give more control to game\ncreators, this includes giving games more control over graphics.
\n\nDynamic Exposure is a feature that simulates eyes adjusting when going from a\nwell-lit area into a cave, allowing for high dynamic range (HDR).
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/backrooms_full.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest is well-known for supporting old hardware, but has often not made the\nbest use of modern and high-end hardware. In 5.7.0, Minetest has a setting that\nallows better use of the GPU when uploading world data. This results in vastly\nimproved performance on modern hardware at 500+ view ranges. Note that you don’t\nneed to have a discrete GPU, modern integrated GPUs may still benefit from this\noptimization.
\n\nIn the future, this optimization is likely to be enabled automatically when\nMinetest detects that the hardware supports it. But for now, those with modern\nGPUs will need to change the “Client Mesh Chunksize” (client_mesh_chunk)\nsetting to 4 or 8.
You’ll also need to change some settings to load more of the map, here’s a\nguide on how to get a larger view range.\nWith these changes, the bottleneck for getting a large view range is how quickly\nthe server can send the map data; it can take a while to fully load a 1000 view\nrange - that is 258,048 nodes in total. Map loading performance is likely to\nbe improved in the future.
\n\n![\"Steam](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/steam_deck_600_full.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"1600x1600](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/topdown_full.png\")
\n\t\n\tOn Steam Deck (left), this optimization improves rendering performance from 10 FPS to\n53 FPS on this forest scene - roughly 600 view range.
\n\nPerformance improvements aren’t just limited to modern gaming hardware. The\nocclusion culler has been improved, which provides better performance by not\nrendering areas that cannot be seen. The culler is faster, too.
\n\nTo display the world, the client needs to turn blocks into 3d geometry\ncalled meshes. The mesh generator is now multithreaded, which will improve\nperformance especially at large view ranges.
\n\nThere’s now support for rotating selection and hitboxes. which will allow mobs\nand players to have more accurate hitboxes. This will make combat much nicer,\nespecially with larger monsters. Unfortunately, this is just for\nselection/hitboxes, it doesn’t change collision.
\n\n![\"Rotating](\"/static/blog/2022_May/rotating_selection.png\")
\n\t\n\tCrosshair support for Android has been merged. Unlike desktop, Android defaults\nto punching/placing/digging where you tap. With this new feature, users can\nenable the crosshair to have an experience closer to desktop.
\n\nMods can now find out the player’s window size, which will allow for full-screen\nand more responsive GUIs.
\n\nIt’s no longer possible to load a world if mods have unsatisfied dependencies.\nBefore, Minetest would automatically disable these mods - but it led to\nconfusion. You will need to add the missing dependency or disable the mods.
\n\nRead the full changelog.
\n\nDownloads:
\n\n![\"By](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/perf_1_full.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"By](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/perf_2_full.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"By](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/perf_3_full.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"By](\"/static/blog/5.7.0/long_night_full.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest 5.7.0 has been released with improved graphics, performance\nimprovements, and lots more.
\n\nThe Minetest 5.7.0 release is dedicated to Jude Melton-Houghton\n(TurkeyMcMac / jwmhjwmh), a core developer who\npassed away in February.
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAlso check out\nthe full changelog.
\n", "date_published": "2023-04-08 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/03/12/February", "title": "February - Last Month in Minetest (11)", "content_html": "In February, a method for getting clients’ game window information was added and\nmap viewing performance was greatly improved. Repixture added boats, and there is a new\nartistic server on the serverlist.
\n\n\n\nThis month, rubenwardy’s minetest.get_player_window_information() PR was\nfinally merged, which will allow mods to get the client’s window size. The new\ninformation will make it possible to design responsive formspecs that fit\nproperly on each client’s screen.
x2048’s work on making meshes the size of 8 mapblocks was also merged this\nmonth, allowing for vastly greater view distances. Reducing the number of meshes\ndrawn makes better use of the GPU thereby improving performance or allowing even\ngreater view distances at the same framerates.
\n\nGreenXenith contributed a feature that allows chat to be disabled on servers,\ngiving more control to games and mods. This could be used for hiding chat during\ncut scenes or for mods that implement their own chat system.
\n\nAdditionally, x2048 is continuing graphics improvement work with a PR to add\nshader-based antialiasing filters. This allows for improved performance over the\ncurrent fixed pipeline antialiasing filters.
\n\nUnfortunately, Jude Melton-Houghton (TurkeyMcMac / jwmhjwmh)\npassed away in early\nFebruary. While he was only a core developer for a short time, he made a huge\nimpact on the Minetest project and will be greatly missed by the community.
\n\nAt the time of writing, Minetest is in a feature freeze in preparation for the\n5.7 release. During this time, the developers are focusing on fixing bugs and\npreparing for the release - features and unnecessary changes are avoided.
\n\nNow is the time to test the\nrelease candidate,\nand submit any bug reports so that they can be fixed before the release.\nServer owners and mod/game authors are especially encouraged to test the\nrelease candidate to ensure a smooth upgrade.
\n\nMinetest 5.7.0 is due to be released on March 19, but this date may be pushed\nback if needed.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2023_February/repixture_boats.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Airweed](\"/static/blog/2023_February/repixture_airweed.png\")
\n\t\n\tWuzzy has added a\nlarge selection of boats to\nRepixture in the\n“The Nautical Update” which includes various types of rafts and log boats. Each\nstyle has its handling mechanics. Additionally, a new type of seaweed lets you\ncollect air to stay underwater longer. Other water-related and miscellaneous\nimprovements were also added.
\n\n![\"Minesweeper](\"/static/blog/2023_February/minesweeper3d.png\")
\n\t\n\tHume2 has created a game inspired\nby Minesweeper in Minetest. Like the original,\nMinesweeper 3d’s\ngoal is to survive as long as possible without setting off a mine. The game can\nbe more challenging in its 3D version since there are 26 neighbors to each block\ninstead of 8. Currently, the port has no end when one sets off a mine; a\nscoreboard is planned for a future update.
\n\nLonger races are now possible in Panquesito7’s work-in-progress kart racing game\nPanqkart with a recent update that allows races to have multiple laps.
\n\n![\"Look](\"/static/blog/2023_February/lefthand.png\")
\n\t\n\tTestificateMods has made\na fork of Mineclone’s ability to have a left-hand item slot for use with\nMinetest Game. Offhand Items\nsupports wielded light, allowing one to carry a torch and a pickaxe at the same\ntime. Items switch hands at the press of a button.
\n\n![\"Interior](\"/static/blog/2023_February/temple.png\")
\n\t\n\tvoxelmanip.se:30002
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2023_February/mtplace.png\")
\n\t\n\tmtPlace is a canvas 512x512 pixels in size. You have 24 colors at your disposal.\nWhat will you make?
\n\nInspired by the Reddit r/place social experiments that took place during 2017\nand 2022, mtPlace is a collaborative canvas hosted as a Minetest server. You\npaint the canvas by placing nodes on it within Minetest, and it will show up on\nthe map that updates every 5 minutes.
\n\nThe server is available on the Minetest server list (just search for “mtPlace”),\nand at voxelmanip.se:30002.\nYou can also view the map live at https://mtplace.voxelmanip.se/
minetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\n![\"3d](\"/static/blog/2023_February/aes3d.png\")
\n\t\n\tSome great improvements have been happening on A.E.S.\nBlockleague and Fantasy Brawl now have 3d models for weapons. In Blockleague,\neach weapon has its own pixel art crosshair.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2023/03/12/February/", "summary": "In February, a method for getting clients’ game window information was added and\nmap viewing performance was greatly improved. Repixture added boats, and there is a new\nartistic server on the serverlist.
\n", "date_published": "2023-03-12 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2023/02/16/January", "title": "January - Last Month in Minetest (10)", "content_html": "In this update, we cover several engine improvements from the last two months,\nBackrooms Test’s first release, and more.
\n\n\n\nx2048 worked on several performance improvements in December. In order to\nshow blocks, the client needs to turn them into 3d geometry called meshes. x2048\nmade the mesh generator multithreaded, which will improve performance at large\nview ranges. Another thing x2048 worked on was a better occlusion algorithm\nwhich is used to decide which parts of the map should be rendered.
\n\nsfan5 submitted the first version\nof multithreaded Lua mapgen. This will allow mapgen mods to be much faster,\nalmost as fast as builtin mapgen.
\n\nkilbith finally submitted his new\ncamera API in December,\nwhich will allow mods to place and control cameras. The possibilities allowed by\nthis API are widespread - some examples include cutscenes, RTS cameras, and CCTV.
\n\nAndrey2470T submitted a\n3d lines PR which could be\nused for fishing lines and power networks.
\n\nIn January, josiah_wi and jordan4ibanez have been working on a modern model file\nformat (.glTF) for minetest. So far, static models are working, and animations\nare well on their way to being implemented. When complete, this will remove the\nneed for installing blender addons to create models for minetest, as .glTF is\na common format for 3d modelling applications.
\n\n![\"Level](\"/static/blog/2023_January/br_1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Level](\"/static/blog/2023_January/br_2.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Level](\"/static/blog/2023_January/br_3.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Level](\"/static/blog/2023_January/br_4.png\")
\n\t\n\tBackrooms Test\nby Sumi is a game inspired by\nthe original backrooms concept. You’ve glitched through reality into this\nstrange place. Is there a way out? Are you alone in here?
\n\nThe goal of this game is to explore liminal spaces, to be lost and alone, and to\naimlessly wander. There are no items to gather, no creatures to run from, and\nno tasks to do. There are just huge, near-infinite expanses filled with\nunsettling, uncanny architecture. There are ambient sounds, different biomes and\nareas to explore, and a constant nagging feeling that something might be just\naround the corner. The game builds on the original Backrooms concept: fear of\nthe unknown, strangely unsettling spaces, and helpless isolation. It produces\nfeelings of being thrust into a foriegn yet strangely familiar environment.
\n\n![\"Trees](\"/static/blog/2023_January/asuna1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"A](\"/static/blog/2023_January/asuna2.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Looking](\"/static/blog/2023_January/asuna3.png\")
\n\t\n\tAsuna by\nEmptyStar is a new\nwork-in-progress game that brings together some of the very best biome and world\ndecoration mods that the Minetest community has to offer. Journey through a\npotpourri of natural wonders as you traverse beautiful and breathtaking\nlandscapes. Forests, meadows, jungles, tundras, deserts, swamps, and more await\nyou at every horizon.
\n\nThe game’s purpose is to collect many wonderful biome mods into a single world.\nIt does not provide other deep game mechanics; those are still left to\nindividuals to assemble from ContentDB.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2023_January/piranesi_clockroom.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tWarr1024 has continued\ndevelopment on iarbat’s game jam submission “Piranesi”. The original had several\nbugs that made it impossible to finish the game.\nPiranesi Restoration Project\naims to recreate the puzzles in Piranesi as originally intended, but with\nbugfixes, refinements, quality-of-life improvements, improved accessibility, and\ntranslations. iarbat does not intend to continue the original Piranesi at this\ntime, and endorses Piranesi Restoration Project as its successor.
\n\nThe game is about exploring an infinite and space-warping house, and trying to\nsolve the mysteries inside.
\n\n![\"Coral](\"/static/blog/2023_January/everness_coral_forest.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Crystal](\"/static/blog/2023_January/everness_crystal_forest.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Forsaken](\"/static/blog/2023_January/everness_forsaken_desert.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Giant](\"/static/blog/2023_January/giant_sequoia.png\")
\n\t\n\tEverness is a WIP\nbiomes mod by Sakel, which aims to\nprovide an endless array of beautiful biomes from the surface lands to the\ncaverns with custom-painted textures. It creates both a sense of discovery and of\ndanger when one lands in the wrong biome. It also adds structures, dungeons with\nloot chests, and custom skyboxes based on the biome.
\n\nThis month’s header is a cave biome from Everness.
\n\n![\"Dungeons](\"/static/blog/2023_January/dungeons.png\")
\n\t\n\tPhii released a procedural dungeon\ngenerator called randungeon\nfor complex randomized dungeons, complete with treasure rooms, forest caves and\nrandomized materials, using almost exclusively the blocks provided by Minetest\nGame. It is perhaps the most advanced dungeon generator written for Minetest\nGame so far.
\n\n![\"New](\"/static/blog/2023_January/arenalibsign.png\")
\n\t\n\tArena_lib 5.4 is out!\narena_lib’s goal is to do Minetest minigames much better. In arena_lib 5.4,\nZughy has created a new interface\nfor each minigame sign that when right-clicked shows who is currently inside the\nminigame as well as the arena’s info and a picture of the arena. Also, it makes\nlife easier for server admins: they can now perform several actions with the new\n/arenas built-in command and customise their server’s media with the arena_lib\nworld folder. Finally, spectators can now enter arenas without having to leave\nthe match.
All the updates can be seen on the A.E.S. Minigames server!
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2023_January/blockexchange.png\")
\n\t\n\tBlockexchange by\nBuckarooBanzai got a few\nnew features, including the possibility to update the uploaded schematics\nincrementally; that means larger builds can be updated in smaller parts without\nuploading the whole build again.
\n\nBlockexchange is an online service that allows players to backup and share their\nbuilds. It has a\ncompanion mod\nthat allows schematics to be uploaded or downloaded and placed.
\n\n![\"Setup](\"/static/blog/2023_January/otp_qrcode.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Verification](\"/static/blog/2023_January/otp_verify.png\")
\n\t\n\tOTP is a mod by\nBuckarooBanzai which\nallows security-conscious players to optionally protect their player accounts\nwith a second factor authentication method. It is published under the\nmt-mods umbrella.
\n\n![\"Central](\"/static/blog/2023_January/ercavica.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"An](\"/static/blog/2023_January/waltons.png\")
\n\t\n\tLemente has made a Discord server\ndedicated to the using Minetest for Education, Workshops, and other related\nactivities! It is a place made for discussing existing projects, sharing\nresources and helping each other.
\n\nJoin here: https://discord.gg/hUs9xT634S
\n\nLemente started it because there are many people trying to use Minetest for\neducational purposes but their projects usually remain at the prototype stage.\nStarting a Minetest project requires a specific set of skills such as creating a\ngame, hosting a server, using moderation tools within the game, developing\ncustom mods, etc. Learning everything can be a complicated and time consuming\ntask for teachers, educators and workshop facilitators.
\n\nThe goal of the discord server is to bring together anyone interested in using\nMinetest as a virtual tool for education, artistic workshops, citizen\nparticipation in urban planning, or any other practical use one might think of.\nIt will allow people to learn from existing projects, share specific resources,\nand create new ones together.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2023/02/16/January/", "summary": "In this update, we cover several engine improvements from the last two months,\nBackrooms Test’s first release, and more.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/12/10/November", "title": "November - Last Month in Minetest (09)", "content_html": "November was the 2022 Game jam month; there were some great submissions\nthis year! Core devs worked on graphics and gamepad support. In late\nOctober, Minetest was used as an urban planning tool to engage students\nin their community’s planning process.
\n\n\n\nNovember saw a lot of bug fixes and performance improvements. Android in\nparticular saw quite a few fixes to improve stability.
\n\nx2048 has continued to work on graphics by implementing\ndynamic exposure.\nThis is a feature that simulates eyes adjusting when going from a well-lit area\ninto a cave, allowing for high dynamic range (HDR). This builds upon the work to\nadd post-processing and bloom in 5.7.
\n\nv-rob has submitted\na work-in-progress version of a GUI replacement. Minetest currently uses\nformspecs, a custom GUI framework based on Irrlicht GUI. Formspecs are\ninflexible, hard to use, and generally an all-round poor experience for users\nand developers. The current formspec and HUD APIs will remain to avoid breaking\nmods, but the new GUI replacement will supersede these APIs. Replacing formspecs\nis a huge undertaking and is still a long way off.
\n\nrubenwardy has been working on full gamepad support in Minetest. Currently,\nMinetest’s gamepad support is very broken - it doesn’t work with most hardware.\nrubenwardy’s first change was\nto rewrite the gamepad code to use better APIs, this will allow any controller\nto just work. Next, he started working on using UIs from the gamepad, but this\nis a bit harder.
\n\nNovember was the month of the 2022 Minetest Game Jam. Participants had 3 weeks\nto create a new game using the Minetest engine, to win cash prizes and prestige.\nAs the second game jam ever, we weren’t sure how it would turn out.\nThankfully, it was a roaring success with 15 submissions.
\n\nThe games were played and rated by 7 judges and the community. The judge scores\nwere used for the final leaderboard and cash prizes. The community scores\nwere used to choose a community winner; the most liked game that wasn’t in the\ntop 3 of the judge leaderboard.
\n\nSome of the entries were made by judges, and so weren’t eligible for prizes.\nThey’re clearly marked in the leaderboard and draw with the nearest non-judge\nentry.
\n\nBelow are the winners. Some games stood out with a high degree of polish and\ngameplay. Some stood out by being intriguing and promising, with novel gameplay.\nCheck out all the submissions on ContentDB.
\n\nThank you to everyone who participated, we had a great time playing your creations!
\n\nAll prize winners, please do not forget to contact\nGreenXenith\nabout your prizes.
\n\n![\"Part](\"/static/blog/2022_November/glitch_1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_November/glitch_2.png\")
\n\t\n\tGlitch is a gem.\nAt its core, it is a parkour/platformer game, but it’s so much\nmore than that. You play as a bit in a computer system. To strengthen yourself\nto help save the system, you have to collect electrons, which are floating\ncrystals placed throughout the map. The game has a story that the\nplayer is plunged into from the start with an intro and dialog. The endgame\nfeels like a review of everything you learned in the game, while presenting it\nin a fresh and challenging way.
\n\nCongrats to Wuzzy for first place!
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_November/klots.png\")
\n\t\n\tAs a judge entry, Klots\nwas non-competing, and so it shared 2nd place with competitive entries.
\n\nKlots is a puzzle game set in space. It skillfully tells a small story without\nwords: the player begins at the site of a UFO wreck, and finds a portal that\nbrings them to a spaceship. Klots are colorful blocks which can be pushed\naround, and stick to each other. The game involves finding a way to clear each\ndoorway to the next portal. The HUD and animations are innovative and fun.
\n\nCongratulations, Warr1024!
\n\n![\"Slidespace](\"/static/blog/2022_November/slidespace.png\")
\n\t\n\tSlidespace was\nanother non-competitive judge entry, sharing 2nd place with competitive entries.
\n\nSlidespace is a small puzzle game or 3d maze with a simple mechanic: You press\nspace to slide in one direction until you hit something or fall out of the game.\nThe puzzles start simple but quickly increase in difficulty. The graphics are\nbarebones: they let you feel the bleakness and hostility of space.
\n\nCongratulations to MisterE for\nthe community pick!
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_November/piranesi.png\")
\n\t\n\tPiranesi is an\nintriguing non-euclidean space puzzle game. It calls to mind old text-adventure\ngames with its discrete rooms, items to collect, and puzzles to decipher. The\nplayer starts outside an imposing house; the only thing to do is to enter it.\nThe trouble begins when you walk down the hall: You turn around and find that\nthe entrance has disappeared. As you wander the shifting halls, read journals\nleft by other adventurers who have left behind their notes of despair and hope.\nGather clues and items to help you escape.
\n\nPiranesi suffered from crashes in the game jam version, but that did not prevent\nit from becoming a favorite entry and winning second place for its creative use\nof space and an intriguing story and puzzle.
\n\nCongratulations, Iarbat!
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_November/secret_story.png\")
\n\t\n\tIn The Secret Story of Spacetravel, you find yourself trapped in a spaceship on\nlow power. Reading the ship logs, you discover that the crew abandoned the\nvessel but left you a single escape pod. Your goal is to get to the pod, but you\nare trapped in the ship’s reception hall. The large doors require too much power\nto operate, and other doors are locked. Use your super sleuthing skills to find\na way to increase your security clearance onboard the ship, find the powerbox to\npower up the large doors, and then make your way to the bridge and to freedom!
\n\nThe Secret Story of Spacetravel is a solid game of escape room. It has fun\njournals left by the crew which tell the story of what happened to the ship, and\nnice models and graphics as well. It does suffer from a lack of diversity\nin-game mechanics, but for a game jam entry made in three weeks, it does very\nwell.
\n\nCongratulations, Nathan!
\n\n![\"Apercy's](\"/static/blog/2022_November/auto_cycle.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Apercy's](\"/static/blog/2022_November/auto_vespa.png\")
\n\t\n\tApercy added a Vespa and a Motorcycle to the Automobiles Pack. Time to hit the\nopen road!
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2022_November/fishing_boat.png\")
\n\t\n\tApercy also made a new vehicle mod, Fishing Boat. Like his Blimp, you can walk\nthe deck and use the onboard compass. It also has a horn to toot.
\n\n![\"Techage](\"/static/blog/2022_November/TAESPE.png\")
\n\t\n\tTechage Energy, Storage and Product Extension (TA ESPE) is a new mod by Debiankaios extending Techage. It adds Lead, Tungsten\nand Urainium, as well as a method of power generation.
\n\n![\"Minetest](\"/static/blog/2022_November/defripper.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tDefripper is a mod\nby Warr1024 which was made as\npart of the development process of Klots and was publicly released in late\nNovember.
\n\nIt’s a tool for more efficient game development: it grabs community art assets\n(node definitions, textures and media) from mods without including problematic\nbehavior or other game logic in new games. It also helps prune unused assets,\nwhich can shrink download sizes, improve load times and reduce memory usage. It\nwas used to create the scenery nodes in Klots. See the\nContentDB description\nfor more details.
\n\n![\"An](\"/static/blog/2022_November/cover.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Dragon](\"/static/blog/2022_November/dragon.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"on](\"/static/blog/2022_November/urban_planning.png\")
\n\t\n\tOn October 25-27, Lemente and Thomate organized a workshop with Minetest for the\ncity of Maubeuge in France. Each day, a group of young citizens between 10 and\n16 years old shared ideas to improve the public space in their neighborhood, and\nthen they built these ideas in an in-game map of their city, allowing urban\nplanners to see what young people wanted for their local area and discuss\ncurrent issues with them.
\n\namericas.mesecraft.com:30000
\n\n![\"Obsessed](\"/static/blog/2022_November/mc_xmas_1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Tree,](\"/static/blog/2022_November/mc_xmas_2.png\")
\n\t\n\tMesecraft survival server #1 is now in Christmas mode: the game has an automatic\nChristmas seasonal event that Komodo designed himself. Happy holidays!
\n\nminetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\n![\"Join](\"/static/blog/2022_November/arcade_event.png\")
\n\t\n\t👾 THE FIRST A.E.S. Minigames Server ARCADE TOURNAMENT IS HERE! 👾
\n\nFeeling nostalgic? Feeling competitive? Well, look no further! Introducing the\nnew free-for-all AES tournament, right before Christmas ❄️ Come have fun and\nplay through all the different arcade minigames in our server: see you there!\n(ho-ho-ho 🎅)
\n\n❓ 20 players, two phases:
\n\n1 Direct Elimination on arenas: Bells (20) -> Bowser’s (16) -> Circle (12) ->\nLostTown (10) -> PetriDish (8)
\n\n2 King of the Arcade: the 6 players left compete in all the arcade maps left,\ngaining 3 points every time they rank 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place and 1\npoint for 3rd place. The one with the most points at the end wins.
\n\n🗓️ December 22, 2023
\n\n🕑 19:30 - 21:30, UTC+0
\n\n🏆️ a 2 month statue at the center of the lobby + “Arcade champion” label
\n\n✍️ How to apply:
\n\nJoin either the Minetest - A.E.S. server Matrix room or IRC at irc.freeirc.org\n#minigames-discuss and tell us your in-game nick. and that you are applying for\n the tournament. Applications close on Sunday, December 18, or when 20 players\nare reached.
\n\nClick here to join the Matrix space.\nOr here to join irc.
\n\n13 spots left, reserve yours!
\n\nOn Saturday 5th, Bobicraft, a Spanish-language Youtube channel with 5M\nsubscribers, posted a video about\nMinetest. At the time of writing, it has reached 1.3 million views and is now the\nmost-watched Minetest video, exceeding AntVenom’s views.
\n\nrubenwardy has written\na detailed write-up\nof the event, including stats, based on data from ContentDB.
\n\n![\"ContentDB](\"/static/blog/2022_November/nov5_traffic_spike.png\")
\n\t\n\tOne problem with advanced trains is that it can be hard to collect all the\ncontent for it. To help with that, W3RQ01, Blockhead and Orwell96 have made a\ngit organization to collect all the Advanced Trains content in one place, as\nwell as keep some stale adv_trains mods up-to-date.
\n\nThe collection can be found here.
\n\nWe are switching the name of the blog to “Last Month In Minetest” instead of\n“This Month…” because it better fits what we actually do.
\n\nWe did not have a post last month for a few reasons. First, I\n(MisterE) was feeling a bit burned out as I tackle school and other aspects of\nlife.
\n\nSecondly, there was little or no content submitted on the GitHub issue\ntracker. The content submission process (involving making issues on the blog\nissue tracker for news) makes the editors’ jobs easy, which means the blog\ncreation process is easier and that proper attribution is easier as well.
\n\nAdditionally, we could use more editors. Currently, the only active editors are\nrubenwardy, who collects the engine news and checks format and usage, and\nmyself. More editors would mean more diverse content and more reliable content.\nIf you are interested, please contact rubenwardy.
\n\nAlso, a big thank you to the contributors who used the issue tracker this month!\nYou really helped improve the post!
\n\nSee you next month; Merry Christmas!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/12/10/November/", "summary": "November was the 2022 Game jam month; there were some great submissions\nthis year! Core devs worked on graphics and gamepad support. In late\nOctober, Minetest was used as an urban planning tool to engage students\nin their community’s planning process.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-10 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/10/14/September", "title": "September - This Month in Minetest (08)", "content_html": "This month, TurkeyMcMac joined the core dev team, post-processing and bloom were\nmerged, and Android crosshair support was added. Minefall released on ContentDB,\nBlockExchange got a graphical rework, and more!
\n\n\n\nTurkeyMcMac was added as a core developer this month. He has been\ncontributing\nto Minetest for a while and has demonstrated a high level of technical ability.
\n\nx2048’s post-processing Pull Request was merged, as well as a work-in-progress\nversion of a bloom shader. Post-processing is a technique implemented as part of\nthe graphics modernization project, and will result in improved performance for\ntone mapping. It also allows new graphical effects to be implemented in the\nfuture, including depth-of-field and volumetric lighting (god rays).
\n\nFor now, bloom is a client-side setting only, but mods will be able to control\nit in the future too. Bloom lets light bleed into dark areas and creates a glow\naround bright objects. You can try out the bloom shader by building Minetest\nfrom source, enabling shaders, and then entering All Settings. Search for\nbloom, enable it, and experiment with the other two bloom settings, bloom\nintensity and bloom radius. More shaders will be coming soon!
Crosshair support for android has been merged. Unlike desktop, Android defaults\nto punching/placing/digging where you tap. With this new feature, users can\nenable the crosshair to have an experience closer to desktop.
\n\nDesour is working on a\nrefactor of Minetest’s sound system.\nIt will make sounds load faster, add a doppler effect, and fix many sound bugs -\nsuch as fading not working on positional sounds and sounds not pausing during\nthe pause menu.
\n\nNodecore received a\nsignificant performance update. Warr1024 found that\nTurkeyMcMac’s LuaJIT Profiler\nwas particularly useful in finding the cause of performance issues - much more\nuseful than the built-in profiler. That helped him discover functions that were\nmore expensive than expected, such as minetest.check_player_privs().
![\"Cave](\"/static/blog/2022_September/cave_game.png\")
\n\t\n\tOlive made\nCave Game, a\nrecreation of Notch’s first implementation of Minecraft. It has Stone and Grass.\nYeah, that’s about it.
\n\nMinefall was released\non ContentDB. It is a new take on the Minetest Game concept. Its main feature is\nthe ability of players to levitate if they have enough stamina. Also, it has\nhostile mobs and flying whales.
\n\nBuckarooBanzai rewrote\nmost of the frontend part of the\nBlockExchange project -\nit should now be fairly usable/stable.\nAlso, it has moved to a new home/address: https://blockexchange.minetest.ch/\ninstead of the .land domain).
\n\n![\"MeseJets](\"/static/blog/2022_September/mesejet_train.png\")
\n\t\n\tXenon released the first version\nof another Advanced Trains expansion pack. So far it only includes the MeseJet,\na bullet train that has color-coded line numbers displayed on its side.
\n\ndebiankaios released\nTNTtag. Don’t get tagged with TNT, and if you do get tagged, be sure to tag someone else before\nthe time runs out and the TNT on your head explodes!
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_September/ocd.png\")
\n\t\n\tROllerozxa released the\nOhCeeDee texture pack,\ninspired by FVDisco’s oCd Minecraft resource pack.
\n\n![\"Temple](\"/static/blog/2022_September/temple_peppermint_patty.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Banner](\"/static/blog/2022_September/super_sam.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"a](\"/static/blog/2022_September/trains1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"a](\"/static/blog/2022_September/trains2.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"One](\"/static/blog/2022_September/castleprop.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tnodecore.mine.nu:30000
\n\nNodecore was updated with the performance updates in the games section above.\nThat makes the performance of the Nodecore Community Server better than ever.
\n\nminetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\nA.E.S. has a new beta minigame: Tnttag! There are also two new skins for you to\nfind and unlock by completing parkours.
\n\nThe November Block League tournament is coming up! BlockLeague is a shooter\nminigame that is best described as “Soccer with guns”. It now has passive\nskills and a menu for choosing them. Check out the pads to the side of the\nBlockleague island to choose your skill. There will be up to 8 teams of 3\nplayers each for the tournament. See the details\nhere for how to\nsign up.
\n\nGeneralBaker began a project to recreate Mindustry in 3d in Minetest. The first\nstable release is still a long way off, but the project is looking for\ncontributors. Check it out here:\nForum and\nGit
\n\nThis is our 8th Minetest monthly update. So far, content for the blog has mostly\nbeen collected on an ad-hoc basis - the blog editors see something interesting\nand put it in the blog. We have had a few content creators approach editors\nabout the blog, but we’d like to see more people suggest content using the\nissue tracker\n(GitLab Mirror).\nIt prevents us from missing or forgetting about something.\nThank you to those who have used the issue tracker.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/10/14/September/", "summary": "This month, TurkeyMcMac joined the core dev team, post-processing and bloom were\nmerged, and Android crosshair support was added. Minefall released on ContentDB,\nBlockExchange got a graphical rework, and more!
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-14 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/09/13/August", "title": "August - This Month in Minetest (07)", "content_html": "While not much happened in August with engine development due to a post-release\nbreak, a few mods were released that are worth checking out.
\n\n\n\nEngine development has been in a lull since the 5.6.0 release, as developers\ntake a break and deal with other responsibilities.
\n\nAndroid hasn’t received 5.6 yet due to a game-breaking crash. Work has been done\ntowards a 5.6.1 release to fix this, and several other bugs. This will be\nreleased in September.
\n\nWork continued towards modernising the graphics pipeline with a post-processing\nstage. This has since been merged.
\n\nMultidecor by\nAndrey01 brings a bit of realism\nto your world with home furnishings from several different periods.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_August/multidecor.png\")
\n\t\n\tDirection Compass\nis a new compass mod by Apercy.\nIt intends to avoid confusion caused by the misleading yaw value in the\nbuiltin debug screen. Having a compass in your inventory puts a HUD element on\nthe screen with your position. When the compass is wielded, a live-updating\ncompass HUD will also appear.
\n\n![\"Direction](\"/static/blog/2022_August/direction_compass.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tBeTween API by\nGianpy is a new interpolation\nAPI that can be used for smoothly animating HUD elements, as well as anything\nelse that needs smooth interpolation using a collection of available rules. You\ncan choose from linear, sinusoidal, circular, quartic, quadratic and elastic\ninterpolation methods. Here is a demo of it in action:
\n\nFinally, Elceejo shares this vague teaser for an upcoming mod,\n“Where’s Waldo”-style:
\n\n![\"Monstrum](\"/static/blog/2022_August/monstrum_moment.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_August/the_beast_awakens.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Turtle.](\"/static/blog/2022_August/turtle.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Cottage](\"/static/blog/2022_August/cottage.png\")
\n\t\n\tkimapr.net:30001
\n\nNonsensical skyblock has come online! Unlike other skyblocks, this one is\nnot quest-based. You can make everything through crafting and other\nmechanics, starting from a dirt block and an apple tree. You can also\nautomate most crafting processes.
\n\nThere was not much activity this month, but that has changed in September.\nWe will have more to share in the next post. See you all soon!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/09/13/August/", "summary": "While not much happened in August with engine development due to a post-release\nbreak, a few mods were released that are worth checking out.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-13 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/08/12/July", "title": "July - This Month in Minetest (06)", "content_html": "Last month, developers worked on releasing 5.6.0, and x2048 started work on\npost-processing and god rays for 5.7. MeseCraft has an important update, as well\nas a few interesting mods. Finally, Minetest was shown off at the\nexploreandlearn@LMZ edutech conference, with talks and workshops.
\n\n\n\nThe main focus of July was releasing Minetest 5.6.0, which happened on August\n4th. Read all about it in the dedicated blog post.
\n\nOne of the features added to Minetest 5.6.0 was an improved particle system,\nwith more control over animation and physics. Here are some demos made by x2048:
\n\n![\"<a](\"/static/blog/2022_July/coloredtorches.png\")
\n\t\n\tx2048 has been continuing to implement a new post-processing framework. This\nis part of the graphics modernization project and will result in improved\nperformance for tone mapping.
\n\nHe has now developed some work-in-progress shaders that use the new pipeline,\nincluding volumetric lighting (god rays), depth of field, and bloom.
\n\n![\"Depth](\"/static/blog/2022_July/dof_full.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest was featured at\nexploreandlearn@LMZ\n(translation here),\na German online Educator Instruction event from July 3rd to July 6th. Teachers\nand others interested in education could participate in workshops and\npresentations from the three categories - ‘playandlearn’, ‘buildandlearn’, and\n‘codeandlearn’ - each using minetest to reinforce educational goals.
\n\n![\"exploreandlearn@LMZ](\"/static/blog/2022_July/exploreandlearnlogo.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tOn Tuesday, July 5, there was a one-day workshop concerned with future-oriented\nlearning and how to develop learning scenarios for educational contexts. The\nworkshop was held by Chris Binder and Tammo Engelhard, who are both freelance\ntrainers for the Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg, Germany (LMZ BW). In the\nworkshop, teachers were introduced to Minetest and its learning potential.\nStarting from some gameplay examples, the participants developed learning\nscenarios in small groups and later on, built prototypes of their ideas.
\n\nOn Thursday, July 7, two shorter workshops were held to introduce a map template\nthat can be used by teachers in conjunction with the\nBLOCKALOT web dashboard for Minetest servers.\nThe swampy landscape offers different points of interest that each pose their\nown challenges to the learners. These points of interest can be modified by\nteachers to cater to their curricula or intended learning outcomes. However, it\nis crucial that learners remain active and not just passive recipients of\nknowledge. One point of interest is an area with floating islands and an old\nhouse that needs to be renovated with sustainability in mind. Then, the learners\nchoose sustainable development goals themselves and build the settlement\naccording to their own plans. The whole group can discuss and evaluate the\nresults after the building phase. The players are provided with useful materials\nin a cave, where they may also write ideas about sustainable building on the\nwalls.
\n\n![\"Workshop](\"/static/blog/2022_July/LMZworkshop1.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Workshop](\"/static/blog/2022_July/LMZworkshop2.png\")
\n\t\n\tThe BLOCKALOT team is currently in the process of translating its\nBLOCKALOT minetest server dashboard and\ncompanion wiki into English. Take a look if you\nare interested in how to use Minetest for future-oriented learning! If you need\nassistance, the BLOCKALOT team is happy to help with any questions in English,\nFrench, and German.
\n\nApercy’s\nhelicopters were\nadded to the game, with minor modifications. They now require oil (from deep\nunderground) to use as fuel, and they can carry a passenger. Helicopters were\na much-missed feature, and now they are back! Also, Mesecraft is now available\nfrom ContentDB,\nmaking it easy to install in-game.
\n\n![\"Cleared](\"/static/blog/2022_July/mesecraft_helicopter.png\")
\n\t\n\tLiil made\na new biomes mod\nthat adds many well-designed biomes to the game. Included are: Wet Savanna,\nOutback, Alder Swamp, Alpine, Beach, Bamboo Forest and Mediterranean biomes.
\n\n![\"Liil's](\"/static/blog/2022_July/Outback2.png\")
\n\t\n\tLemente has been working on a mod\nthat simulates tides in real-time. It started out as a fork of\nTides by\nMarkTheSmeagol, which allowed Lemente to prototype a few ideas quickly.
\n\nLemente split the sea into multiple types of nodes, which minimizes the number\nof active ABMs instead of having all ocean nodes run the same ABM. He also\nspread the ABM load by making the tides spread in waves. The mod also permits\nwater to be raised above the original sea level, for some dramatic floodings.\nOther features are planned; contributors are welcome!
\n\nYou can try out the WIP mod here.
\n\nThe Worm Farm\nmod by sirrobzeroone lets you farm worms for the ethereal mod’s fishing feature\nwithout digging up a lot of dirt.
\n\nYou may remember Apercy’s\nSteampunk blimp\nfrom last month… well, now he has added a compass feature as well as the\nability to paint the blimp while onboard.
\n\n![\"Island](\"/static/blog/2022_July/ship.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Modern](\"/static/blog/2022_July/modernhouse.png\")
\n\t\n\tminetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\nThe time has come to announce the next Block League tournament!
\n\nFriday, September 9 from 19:30 - 21:30, UTC+0
\n\nPrepare yourself: if you think you’re good enough, you’re not. This time,\ninstead of playing the entire tournament on Station 2, we’ll play the\nquarterfinals on Hyperium map, meaning more training, sweat and tears. Are you\nup for the challenge? There will be 8 teams of 3 players each. The contest\nformat is direct elimination. The tournament will be held on the Hyperium and\nStation 2 maps.
\n\nHow to apply: Join either the\n#minetest-aes:matrix.org Matrix room\nor on IRC at\nirc.freeirc.org #minigames-discuss.\nTell us who your team is or look for people to team up with there.
\n\nApplications close on Wednesday, August 31 or when 8 teams are reached.
\n\n37.46.208.34:30000
\n\nOn 29th June 2022, the extension of the express line R2 on Tunnelers’ Abyss was\nopened. It was elongated by 7.4 km, reaching its total length 15 km. This makes\nline R2 the longest train line in Tunnelers’ Abyss. It leads from Will Beach\nvia Spawn and File not Found to Docker and reaches the maximum speed 160 km/h.\nThe prior record was held by line S1 with a length of 13.1 km, spanning from\nSouthern Cliff to Fort Harko.
\n\nWhile building this extension, it was necessary to cope with several challenges.\nThe track passes over Fourier Mountains and Trolly Hills. The slope from File\nnot Found, the previous endpoint of R2, up to Noot Noot is quite flat. However,\nthe slope from Noot Noot down to Densevlad is very steep and therefore it was\nnecessary to choose a longer curvy trajectory. The maximal speed there drops to\n90 km/h. Trolly Hills are not higher than Fourier Mountains but they are very\njaggy in some places. Therefore, it was necessary to dig two tunnels. On the\nother hand, the Legendrian Basin is quite flat and building the track there was\na pleasure. The track ends at the Docker station, which is both a train station\nand a harbour.
\n\npanqkart.minetest.land:30001
\n\nPanqkart is a new WIP kart racing game. You can now play it at panqkart.minetest.land, port: 30001
\n\nAntVenom, a Minecraft YouTuber with over 3 million subscribers, made a video\nabout Minetest. It’s very well researched and captures what makes Minetest\nunique. It’s worth a watch, whether you’ve been with Minetest for a while or\nhave only just discovered it.
\n\nLast month, developers worked on releasing 5.6.0, and x2048 started work on\npost-processing and god rays for 5.7. MeseCraft has an important update, as well\nas a few interesting mods. Finally, Minetest was shown off at the\nexploreandlearn@LMZ edutech conference, with talks and workshops.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-12 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/08/04/5.6.0-released", "title": "Minetest 5.6.0 released!", "content_html": "Minetest 5.6.0 has been released with dynamic shadows, improvements to\nmod management, a clearer player registration process, and more!
\n\nLast year, we decided on a\nroadmap of\ngoals to focus on. This release has made good progress on these goals,\nespecially regarding graphics and user interfaces (UIs).
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAlso check out\nthe full changelog.
\n\n\n\nA big focus in 5.6.0 was improving our graphics and input code. Minetest\nuses a 3D rendering library called Irrlicht. Irrlicht is quite outdated and is\nno longer being updated, so in 5.5.0 we created a fork called IrrlichtMt. This\nhas allowed us to fix many bugs that we couldn’t before. We have also been\nremoving unused code and replacing what we can with other libraries. Our goal\nis to completely remove Irrlicht, using SDL2 and OpenGL directly.
\n\nMinetest also now supports dynamic shadows based on the sun and moon position.\nNodes, players and entities will all cast shadows, and shadows can be colored\nby semi-transparent things such as water or glass. Work for this feature was\nactually started in 5.5.0, but didn’t make that release for various reasons.
\n\nIn order to enable dynamic shadows, a mod or game must opt-in to it. You can use\nthe Enable Shadows\nmod to allow them to be enabled in any game but be aware this may not work as expected.
\n\n![\"Dynamic](\"/static/blog/5.6.0/shadow_1.jpg\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Dynamic](\"/static/blog/5.6.0/shadow_2.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tOne major change was adding proper transparency sorting; this has fixed many\nglitches related to viewing transparent materials through other transparent\nmaterials such as liquids, glass and leaves.
\n\nIt’s now possible to have the same mod in multiple places, and then select\na specific instance to enable. Having the same mod installed multiple\ntimes is common because mod packs often contain mods found elsewhere.
\n\nThe “Select Mods” dialog has been updated to show helpful information when\nthere are missing dependencies. The user interface also now shows the mod’s\nhuman-readable title rather than its technical name.
\n\n![\"Dependency](\"/static/blog/2022_May/mod_config.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest’s per-server login system was confusing to new\nplayers. We frequently got questions about how to create accounts.\nTo fix this, the “confirm password” registration dialog has been removed. There are now\nseparate buttons for “Register” and “Login”, as well as a new registration dialog. This\nshould make the process clearer to new users.
\n\n![\"Split](\"/static/blog/5.6.0/login_register.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"New](\"/static/blog/2022_April/split_login_register_2.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest now has an API that lets mods run Lua code in another thread. This can\nbe used to offload expensive calculations, unblocking the main server thread.
\n\nIt’s also now possible for games and mods to hide the position and other\ninformation contained in the debug (F5) display.
\n\nUsing name in game.conf is now deprecated; title should be used instead.\nThis improves consistency with mod.conf which uses title for human-readable\nnames.
Loading a world using mods with missing dependencies currently disables those\nmods automatically. This is now deprecated. In the future, worlds will fail to\nload instead. This improves user experience since players are often confused\nwhen mods disable themselves.
\n\nLast, but not least, the particle spawner API has seen a lot of improvement,\nadding more features to control animations and physics.
\n\nRead the full changelog.
\n\nDownloads:
\n\nCover image is by Ronoaldo, and features 5.6’s shadows with\nNice Textures (texture pack)\nand\nEthereal NG (mod).
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/08/04/5.6.0-released/", "summary": "Minetest 5.6.0 has been released with dynamic shadows, improvements to\nmod management, a clearer player registration process, and more!
\n\nLast year, we decided on a\nroadmap of\ngoals to focus on. This release has made good progress on these goals,\nespecially regarding graphics and user interfaces (UIs).
\n\nYou can download Minetest from\nour website.\nAlso check out\nthe full changelog.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-04 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/07/07/June", "title": "June - This Month in Minetest (05)", "content_html": "This month, rubenwardy has been working on a settings redesign, and x2048 has\nbeen working on adding post-processing to Minetest. Traitor has received two\nlong-requested features, and Exile was updated with giant rings as well as\ngameplay features. Additionally, the Minetest Modding Book has a new chapter\navailable on mods/games translation support.
\n\n\n\nJune saw 46 commits to master, 38 PRs merged, and 92 issues closed.
\n\nContinuing with User Experience improvements, rubenwardy has been working on a\nsettings redesign. The intention is to make settings more discoverable and\neasier to change. Zughy provided the new icons, and along with Giova, the\nsettings structure.
\n\nThis is the start of the mainmenu redesign project. The styling matches the\ncurrent mainmenu style, but it will change when the mainmenu redesign is worked\non.
\n\n![\"Settings](\"/static/blog/2022_June/settings_redesign.png\")
\n\t\n\trubenwardy plans to continue working on the settings redesign. It needs to go\nthrough a review, and then the next step is to only show settings if they are\nrelevant. For example, shader settings should only be visible when shaders are\nenabled, and Android settings should only be on Android.
\n\nWork on the rest of the mainmenu redesign is likely to start at some point in\nthe next few months.
\n\nx2048 has been working on adding post-processing to Minetest. This is part\nof the graphics modernization project and will result in improved performance\nfor tone mapping. It will also allow new effects including depth of field, bloom,\nand color filters to be implemented.
\n\nMinetest 5.6.0 is currently planned for July. Releases are preceded by a\nfeature freeze, a time where only bug fixes and maintenance changes\nare allowed. Freezes last for at least one week and are extended if there are\nremaining issues.
\n\nkilbith has been working on an experimental change that adds camera control.\nThere is currently one camera per player in Minetest. This Camera API allows\nmore (static) cameras in the game at different places. They can be used for\ncutscenes, screen casting onto an entity (HL² Dr Breen speech-like), security\ncameras, vehicle’s rear views, and more.
\n\nTraitor is a game by NathanS\ninspired by Among Us. It’s recently received two long-requested features, vents\nand level sabotage.
\n\nThe vents have been adapted from Joe7575’s hyperloop mod and allow traitors and\nghosts to instantly travel between vents, providing that the level builder chose\nto include them. This feature has been requested for over a year.
\n\nLevel sabotage, while a work-in-progress, is now available. Currently,\nthere is only one node that can be sabotaged by the traitor: the switch. Level\ndesigners can choose how long the players have to repair the sabotaged node, and\nwhether repairing or failing to repair the node should result in the match\nending.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_June/traitor1.png\")
\n\t\n\tExile is a challenging\nsurvival game for Minetest.
\n\nExile’s tech tree has been rebalanced to provide for multiple paths. A new\nmapgen feature has been added that spawns giant rings on the surface, probably\nleft by the Ancients. You can now throw spears for hunting and fighting. Canoes\nand airboats have been improved for performance. Tree trunks and some other\nthings are more fire-resistant now. Fish farming is now possible with an update\nto the Gundu fish’s behavior, and finally, the Spanish translation of the game\nhas been completed.
\n\n![\"Giant](\"/static/blog/2022_June/exile_rings.png\")
\n\t\n\tMrFreeman’s first mod is a\nminigame called\nColour Jump.\nIt’s all about jumping on the correct platform before you get eliminated.
\n\nPhii has released\n“pilzmod”, an interesting\nnew biome mod. It adds an unnatural mushroom biome that must be spawned to\nappear. After that, it grows on its own accord, and can only be contained by\ndefeating the boss that will spawn in it.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_June/pilz.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"SB66's](\"/static/blog/2022_June/sb66.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tplay.nathansalapat.com:30000
\n\nTraitor is running on the ‘In Our Midst’ server, where there is currently work\nbeing done on an academy that further explains game mechanics for players and\nbuilders. The Vents update featured above is already implemented in some arenas;\ngrab a few friends and check it out!
\n\nminetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\nThe winner of the last Blockleague tournament was team Horizon. Congrats to the\nwinners; stay tuned for the next tournament!
\n\nThe Minetest Modding Book has a\nnew chapter available\nabout mods/games translation support.\nThe modding book is a great way to learn how to write mods and games for\nMinetest.
\n\nrubenwardy wrote a\nblog article about an AI that can write Minetest\nmods.\nIt’s an exploration of GPT-3/Codex/GitHub Copilot's knowledge of Minetest\nmodding, with node registration, formspec manipulation, mod creation, and\nMinecraft to Minetest mod conversion
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/07/07/June/", "summary": "This month, rubenwardy has been working on a settings redesign, and x2048 has\nbeen working on adding post-processing to Minetest. Traitor has received two\nlong-requested features, and Exile was updated with giant rings as well as\ngameplay features. Additionally, the Minetest Modding Book has a new chapter\navailable on mods/games translation support.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-07 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/06/05/May", "title": "May - This Month in Minetest (04)", "content_html": "This month, Minetest 5.5.1 was released, we reached less than 90 PRs and 1000\nissues, and there’s been big improvements to performance, rendering and\nstability. We also have a new mapping mod and fully-walkable Airships.
\n\n\n\nFor the first time in a long time, Minetest finally has fewer than 90 open PRs\nand 1000 open issues. A big thank you to the Development Team for speeding up\nthe pace of development, and to Zughy for triaging the issues and PRs and\nclosing the ones that could safely be closed.
\n\nMinetest reached 10,000 commits! A commit is a change to the code and could be\na feature, bug fix, or maintenance change. Given that Minetest was first started\nin 2011, this works out to be an average of 72 commits per month.
\n\nMay saw 85 commits to master, 57 PRs merged, and 122 issues closed.
\n\nMinetest 5.5.1 was released last month. It fixes a whole\nlist of bugs,\nincluding several security issues resulting in crashes. Minetest 5.5.0’s\nrelease on Android was cancelled due to crashes, 5.5.1 fixes these issues.
\n\nx2048 improved the rendering performance of snow and other simple nodeboxes by\nnot drawing hidden faces. Of course, this only applies to opaque nodes where the\nfaces are truly hidden. x2048 also improved soft shadows, by implementing\nbetter presets and better filters.
\n\nThere has been loads of performance improvements and bug fixes this past month.\nPart of the process of reducing the number of open issues has been reproducing\nbugs and fixing them.
\n\nLook out for Minetest 5.5.2 soon, and the 5.6.0 release is planned\nfor July.
\n\nrubenwardy has finished work on an upgrade to the Select Mods dialog that shows\nmore helpful information when there are missing dependencies, and it’s currently\ngoing through review. This is part of a general effort to improve user experience.
\n\n\n\t\n\tZughy published his\nmain menu redesign proposal\nto receive feedback. This is just a mockup, images created to show what it could\nlook like. Whilst there has been some effort in turning this into reality, the\ncurrent stage of development is to receive feedback and build consensus.
\n\n![\"Mockup](\"/static/blog/2022_May/mainmenu.png\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest uses Axis-Aligned Bounding Boxes (AABB) for collision and selecting\nnodes/objects. This is a fancy way of saying boxes which don’t rotate: the boxes\nare aligned to the grid directions (=axis).
\n\nLMD is implementing support for\nrotating selection boxes,\nwhich will allow mobs and players to have more accurate hitboxes. This doesn’t\nchange collision boxes, as it’s much harder to rotate them - you’d need to\nhandle how two rotated boxes would collide with each other.
\n\n\n\t\n\trubenwardy has been working on a window information API that will allow mods to\nget the player’s window resolution and DPI. He has also been working on an API\nto get the player’s input methods, such as keyboard, touchscreen, or gamepad.\nTogether, these will allow mods to make GUIs more responsive and fit the screen\nbetter.
\n\nSince March, Warr1024 has been working on translations for Nodecore. Now there\nare practically complete translations in Russian, French, and German. Also, many\nthings have been improved with the optics automation systems. The new features\nespecially improve optics’ detection capabilities.
\n\nExile 0.3.7 is out! Among other improvements, the highlights are improved\nairboats, multiplayer node protection for some valuable items, and the\nbeginnings of translation support.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2022_May/cascade.png\")
\n\t\n\tCascade is a new maze game. While other maze games have been released, this one\nis unique in that each new maze level is laid out before you before you enter\nit, giving you a chance to plan your route to the exit. Once entered, the walls\nare too high to see over. It is an interesting take on the maze game theme.
\n\n![\"Treasure](\"/static/blog/2022_May/xmaps.png\")
\n\t\n\txmaps is a new mod by erle that adds treasure-maps to\nthe HUD. You get them by rightclicking a mapping kit. You can mark the spot with\nan X by rightclicking a node. Treasure Hunt, anyone?
\n\n![\"Exploring](\"/static/blog/2022_May/blimp_1.png\")
\n\t\n\tApercy’s\nAirship allows\nyou to walk around on it while it flies. It aims for a sense of immersion, with\na fire and steam engine sound, and being able to refill the water tank by\nlanding on water. It brings a sense of adventure and mystique to any game as\nyou fly off into the distance with a couple of friends.
\n\nLMD’s new texture generator\nmod lets you recolor any\ntexture pack into a given color pallete.
\n\nMisterE’s\nQuikbild minigame has\nbeen updated to support gameplay in several languages, concurrently. Now you can\nhave fun in your own language (if it’s English, Italian, Spanish, French, or\nGerman), or practice and challenge yourself in another language.
\n\nSpiradilus,\na huge crocodile boss featured in March’s post, was released on ContentDB.
\n\n![\"Izzyb's](\"/static/blog/2022_May/izzyscastle.webp\")
\n\t\n\tminetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\nThe 3rd Blockleague tournament is planned for Friday, June 24 at 21:30 - 23:15,\nGMT+1. The event will be a direct elimination competition between teams of 3\nplayers. The winners will get a chat prefix and statues in the lobby until the\nnext tournament. There are still 3 team slots left; to find people to team up\nwith or to register your team, join us on\nmatrix or\nIRC.
\n\nMinetest was represented this past month at the Svilupparty game dev conference\nin Bologna, Italy by Zughy, Crazyminer, and _Zaizen_. Visitors had the chance\nto play Alter, PRANG, Mineclone5, and their server AES (Arcade Emulation\nServer).
\n\n![\"Zughy](\"/static/blog/2022_May/silvuparty.png\")
\n\t\n\tThis month, Minetest 5.5.1 was released, we reached less than 90 PRs and 1000\nissues, and there’s been big improvements to performance, rendering and\nstability. We also have a new mapping mod and fully-walkable Airships.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-05 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/05/08/April", "title": "April - This Month in Minetest (03)", "content_html": "This month, engine development picks up with regular meetings,\nNodeCore gets a 24/7 livestream, and the Minetest Blog is now official!
\n\n\n\nEngine development has suffered from too many issues and Pull Requests compared\nto available developer hours for a long time. At the start of April, the engine\nhad over 130 Pull Requests (PRs) and 1.1k issues. In order to resolve this, and\nto speed up development, Minetest developers have started fortnightly meetings.
\n\nCore dev meetings provide a time when multiple core developers are around to\ndiscuss issues, changes, and the development direction. As Minetest is an\nopen-source project, it’s important that the development is done publicly and\ntransparently. Meetings take place on\nInternet Relay Chat (IRC) and are publicly\nlogged, allowing anyone to watch or participate. Meetings follow a plan arranged\nprior to the meeting;\nmeeting plans and notes can be found on the\ndev wiki.
\n\nAnother organisational change is that Zughy has joined the team as a triager,\nlabelling and managing issues. The triager system was introduced a couple of\nyears ago but was never actively used. Zughy has already made huge progress in\norganising older issues, and we’re likely to be adding more triagers soon.
\n\nApril saw 30 PRs merged and 75 issues closed.
\n\nDevelopment largely consisted of bug fixes, minor features, and continued\nimprovements to the graphics pipeline. One major change was adding proper\ntransparency sorting, this has fixed many glitches related to viewing\ntransparent materials through other transparent materials, such as liquids,\nglass, and leaves.
\n\nWork is continuing on improving Minetest’s User Experience (UX).
\n\nNew users are often confused about how to sign up for new servers. In 5.1.0, a\n“confirm password” dialog was added in an attempt to make new account creation\nmore straightforward; however, this change was ineffective. Users were still\nconfused by account creation, and the dialog did not abate that.
\n\nTo resolve these problems, core developers have decided to change the UX to\ninclude separate register and login buttons. You can still log into a server as\nbefore, but a new register button will take you to a new dialog. Pro users need\nnot worry; there’s a setting to return to the previous behaviour.
\n\n![\"Split](\"/static/blog/2022_April/split_login_register_1.png\")
\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\tAnother feature currently under review is sfan5’s\nasync modding API. This will\nallow mods to run code on multiple threads, speeding up calculation-heavy tasks\nlike precalculating mapgen or Advanced Trains\ntrain routes. There are caveats: writing async code is harder than writing sync code,\nand the async API cannot access most data including the map and players.\nIt’s mostly for offloading calculations from the main thread.
\n\nWuzzy has released Repixture 2.0.\nThere’s no player-facing changes, but there’s been a lot of work to\nredesign the structure of the game to reduce technical debt and help future\ndevelopment.
\n\nRealmoon, a lunar\nsurvival game, has received an update, bringing some changes to geology,\nminerals, and crafts.
\n\nWuzzy has released\nPerlin Explorer,\na mod that allows you to test and experiment with Perlin noises. This is\nespecially useful for game and mod developers who want to fine-tune the noises\nin an efficient manner. It’s also helpful for discovering useful noise parameters\nfor the various mapgen settings in Minetest.
\n\n![\"Perlin](\"/static/blog/2022_April/perlin_explorer.png\")
\n\t\n\tMesecons is one of Minetest’s most popular mods, but until now has been entirely\ndependent on Minetest Game. TurkeyMcMac is\nmaking mesecons independent from MTG,\nwhich means that you’ll be able to play it with more games soon.
\n\nTheres a new Arena_lib minigame: Balloon Bop! It’s on\nContentDB and on\nA.E.S minigames. Bop balloons into spikes to pop’em and rack up points! Based on\nExeVirus’s Ludum Dare game\nBalloon Bash.
\n\nJoe7575 has just released\nBeduino,\na CPU/computer simulation (virtual machine) with a programming environment.\nIt’s based on the older mod\nVM16, and features\nC-like and ASM languages to program in-game with.
\n\nHeres an intro video:
\n\nAnother plane has rolled onto the tarmac from\nApercy’s hanger. The\nPA28 is a small passenger\nplane that can fit up to 4 passengers. Like all the other planes, it is\npaintable too!
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_April/PA28.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tLego fans may be interested in erlehmann’s\nStuds, which turns all\nnon-natural blocks into lego blocks!\nBut be aware, this may reduce performance - at least until 5.6.0.
\n\n![\"Lego,](\"/static/blog/2022_April/studs.png\")
\n\t\n\tthe_raven_262 posted a new mod for customizing skys based on biomes. SkyGen lets\nyou define sky colors per-biome, while it automatically handles the size of\ncelestial bodies and cloud properties based on the heat and humidity of the\nbiome. It comes with support for Minetest Game’s biomes, but more biomes are\neasy to add.
\n\n![\"Northern](\"/static/blog/2022_April/skygen.png\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Fire](\"/static/blog/2022_April/dragon_statue.png\")
\n\t\n\tA ruinous, apocalyptic spawn building in close contact with nature and with a\nhint of draconic mythology; quite fitting for the server, “The Last Survivors”.\nIt exudes the toughness that players will embody as they build society from the\nground up.
\n\n![\"'Warehouse',](\"/static/blog/2022_April/warehouse.jpg\")
\n\t\n\tyour-land.de:30000
\n\nThe Easter event is almost over!
\n\nSoon, we will end the Easter Event and return spawn to its old glory. You can\nuse the the last week to try your luck in the labyrinth.
\n\nOur next major event will be the monthly birthday celebration, for all those who\nhave a birthday in May. It takes place on May 28th; more details will be\nannounced on Discord.
\n\nnodecore.mine.nu:30000
\n\nWarr1024 has created a 24/7 livestream\nof his NodeCore server. The livestream\nis entirely automated, choosing camera angles and players to focus on.
\n\nNodeCore\nis a game about emergent behaviour and exploration:
\n\n\n\n\nA surreal dream-world where everything is possible but nothing is easy.\nPeaceful and Zen. Brutally obstinate. Prepare to unlearn everything you\nthought you knew about voxel sandbox games.
\n
The livestreaming software consists of\nDocker services to run and stream\nMinetest, and a\nserver-side mod\nto control the camera. The mod chooses an angle to look at the player, and\nassesses whether it is viable based on distance and line-of-sight.
\n\nminetest.eticadigitale.org:30010
\n\nA.E.S. Minigames and Minigames Galore! are teaming up. Minigames Galore will\nshut down, and move all our minigames onto A.E.S. This will hopefully mean more\npeople online to play minigames, as well as a central minigame community. We are\nalso interested in getting someone to organize events for A.E.S. If that sounds\nlike your cup of tea, join our matrix\nroom and chat with Zughy and\nMisterE.
\n\nThe Minetest Blog is now official! It has also received a redesign, thanks\nto rubenwardy.
\n\nSorry that this post is a week late; we try to keep an approximately monthly\nschedule but sometimes life happens :)
\n\nEdit 2022-05-09: updated Repixture description, fixed some typos.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/05/08/April/", "summary": "This month, engine development picks up with regular meetings,\nNodeCore gets a 24/7 livestream, and the Minetest Blog is now official!
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/03/27/March", "title": "March - This Month in Minetest (02)", "content_html": "This month, there is big news regarding engine-related side projects. Shadows\nreceive an update, and a couple games get major new features. Last but not\nleast, the blog is becoming official!
\n\n\n\nJordach is making a more\nrealistic C++ mapgen. Imagine deep, wide oceans spanning the map; getting lost\nat sea is a real danger. Small islands dot the expanse. Oceanic trenches yawn in\nthe depths below. Long beaches snake the coastline. On the continents, crags\nkilometers high scrape the clouds, and the wide, low-lying plains are lightly\ncrinkled by rolling hills, providing excellent building area.
\n\nIn order to accomplish this, Jordach made a model of the entire map in blender,\nusing the sampled noise sources encoded into images. He was then able to mix the\nnoise sources in blender, designing them to produce the large-scale landscape in\nreal-time. The mixing code was translated from blender to lua, and from lua to\nC++.
\n\nThe mapgen is WIP, and\nwill continue development until its ready for an engine PR.
\n\n![\"Jordach's](\"/static/blog/2022_March/jordach_mapgen.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tAnother area that we can agree needs improvement is Minetest’s main menu.\nZughy and\nGiova are working on a detailed\ndesign for the menu. While they are not actually implementing it (just doing the\nplanning and asset work); there are rumors that someone else is working on\nactual implementation. Stay tuned, this could go somewhere nice.
\n\n![\"Concept](\"/static/blog/2022_March/menu_concept.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tParadust is trying to port minetest to run in a browser. The demo is playable\n(YMMV), though there are many bugs. Try seed 2222.\nTry it online here.
\n\n![\"Minetest](\"/static/blog/2022_March/minetest_in_browser.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tMinetest 5.6 development is underway. After the team re-enabled dynamic shadows,\nx2048 began improving them. Shadows\nare now rendered on entities,\nand and api has been added to\nallow games to control shadow intensity.
\n\nEarlier this month, AiTechEye\nadded added a new realm to\nXAenvironment.\nIt contains macroscopic fauna and flora. You can use the game’s unique parkour\nsystem to explore among the towering grass and mushrooms, while avoiding being\neaten by giant bugs.
\n\nIn Talas’\nColourHop, there’s a\nnew end-game construction that allows for mass-production of complex structures.\nIt takes much study to figure out, and even more to master. There’s no official\nrelease yet, but its “coming soon”.
\n\n![\"Two](\"/static/blog/2022_March/two_labs.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tMantar is preparing for an Exile release which will add a dye system.
\n\nApercy has made an official\nrelease of his\nJu52 airplane mod.\nAlso, many of his vehicles now have inventories.
\n\n![\"Ju52\"](\"/static/blog/2022_March/ju52.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tElceejo is experimenting with new\nways to use his\nCreatura API. The latest\nproduct is Spiradilus, a new Boss. It is heavily based on\nSCP-682. A public release is planned for\nearly April.
\n\nwsor has been quietly working on\nmods in the mt-mods repo, making them\ngame-agnostic. A few recently updated mods are: unified_dyes, basic_materials,\nsteel, and pipeworks. That means that other mods that only depend on those can\nnow be game agnostic as well.
\n\nBuckarooBanzai has\ndeveloped a mod and server software called\nBlockExchange.\nIt allows you to share and use your builds (schematics) across different worlds.\n(think: Thingiverse(tm) for Minetest builds) You can browse available builds\nhere, and with the mod installed on\nsingleplayer or on a server, you can download and place builds, or upload new\nbuilds.
\n\n![\"Block](\"/static/blog/2022_March/blockexchange.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\t![\"<a](\"/static/blog/2022_March/ai_map.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\t![\""MSS](\"/static/blog/2022_March/MSS_Faraday.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\t![\"Atlas](\"/static/blog/2022_March/atlas.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tThe Minetest blog is going to be made official! Plans are being worked on to\nmove the blog repository to the Minetest github account and possibly embed the\nlatest posts on the Minetest Website. Stay tuned for changes.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/03/27/March/", "summary": "This month, there is big news regarding engine-related side projects. Shadows\nreceive an update, and a couple games get major new features. Last but not\nleast, the blog is becoming official!
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/02/26/February", "title": "February - This Month in Minetest (01)", "content_html": "Minetest 5.5 was released last month, with some significant improvements. Colour\nHop has received some major updates. Several mods received updates this month,\nand they look fun.
\n\n\n\nMinetest 5.5.0 has been released!
\n\nWhile you may not see many visible changes, there’s been a considerable amount of work under the hood to improve the rendering system. Minetest now uses its own fork of the Irrlicht rendering library, which will make further improvement easier. It’s already allowed several longstanding bugs to be fixed.
\n\nBe warned: when you update to 5.5, it’ll upgrade worlds to a new map encoding (Maps will now take up to 20% less space!). This is irreversible, and will prevent you from running those worlds on older Minetest versions. If you aren’t sure about the upgrade, then backup your map beforehand.
\n\nThere were some interesting changes to the modding API. Various features have been de-hardcoded, allowing mods and games more control. For example, liquid features have been decoupled from liquid drawtypes (making it easier to make things like spiderwebs). Player fall damage is also changeable using armor groups; you can avoid red flashes from disabled fall damage.
\n\nPossibly the most interesting change to the API was an upgrade to the dynamic media API. Modders and game creators can now send media to individual clients, and label it as “ephemeral”, meaning the client will forget it when they disconnect. Previously, dynamic media was sent to all clients, and became part of the media sent to clients on join. With the new version, individualized media is finally possible! The applications are huge, especially regarding background music (BGM), which used to extend login times enormously. BGM can now be sent one track at a time after the player has joined.
\n\nAs always, you can check out the full changelog. Also see the official announcement.
\n\ntalas has just released version 1.2 of Colour Hop!\nThis includes some fundamental changes to the game, giving each player colour an activated ability.\nThe story (or lack of) has been expanded upon and a completely new boss was added.\nThere are some new advanced buildings that players can build, most are unrelated to the dragons.\nAs usual, things are hidden and finding the new boss will take much exploration.\nThe game is still a work-in-progress, but it’s getting closer to a complete game.
\n\n![\"A](\"/static/blog/2022_February/a_new_place.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\t![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_February/the_royal_blob.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tSuper Sam Adventures is a WIP jump’n’run game by BuckarooBanzai that promises fun platforming for minetest. While it is obviously in early stages of development, it is already playable, and even slightly engaging, with secret areas, moving platforms, and several levels.
\n\n![\"Super](\"/static/blog/2022_February/super_sam_wip.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tElCeejo has released a trio of updates to his animal mods, as well as a new mob api to base them on.
\n\n![\"The](\"/static/blog/2022_February/the_monster_invades.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tDraconis improves the gameplay of multiple Minetest games, like Minetest Game, Voxelgarden, and MineClone. It gives more incentive to traverse your worlds’ mountains and caves, and provides engaging mini-boss fights. After defeating a Dragon, you may find an Egg. The mysterious Egg-hatching process can be puzzling, but it rewards you with a new, destructive companion with which you can take to the skies when its old enough, and it unlocks a new tier of weaponry and armor. The Libri Draconis book can help you discover elements of the mod by unlocking certain objectives with the book in your inventory.
\n\nAnimalia adds life and depth to experiences with livestock, pets, and ambient creatures. You can create farms for eggs, milk, and meat. You can use a Horse to quickly traverse ground, perhaps with a Wolf companion at your side. And you can enjoy ambient sounds of in-game Animals throughout most biomes. The builtin documentation, Libri Animalia, acts as a journal which you expand by clicking on animals with the book. There is currently a vote underway on the forums for which set of animals to add to Animalia next.
\n\nCreatura makes creating a new mob relatively easy, while not cutting corners on features. You can take advantage of the Utility Stack system for smooth decision making, enchance behaviors using Theta* Pathfinding for lifelike paths, and even use the implemented boids algorithm for realistic flocks and swarms.
\n\nLoosewheel has been updating lw_components with more mesecons devices. The latest additions were digilines-controlled storage, and a security camera that can actually take “photos”- rough representations of the scene in front of it that remind you of early maze graphics. One of the most exciting recent additions is a force field generator:
\n\n![\"Force](\"/static/blog/2022_February/force-field-demo.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tlw_components seems to be a real contender to other mesecons-compatible automation mods, and without the high entity-count, it may be a lower lag option.
\n\nOgelGames has released a mod that adds a wearable headlamp.
\n\nZughy is modding again! He recently updated arena_lib, adding the ability to control the sky of minigames made with the library. It allows you to tweak clouds, sky colors, skybox backgrounds, and more!
\n\n![\"Pink](\"/static/blog/2022_February/pink_sky.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tApercy has made another great vehicle mod. This time its Automobiles. These cars are two-seaters. They have working headlights. They have wheels and steering wheels that turn. They run on fuel. They detect elevation and tilt to match the elevation under them. Best of all, they are low-lag and extremely playable. The latest addition to the fleet is the coupe below:
\n\n![\"Apercy's](\"/static/blog/2022_February/apercycars.png?raw=true)
\n\t\n\ttemhotaokeaha has been making cool banners for games:
\n\n![\"Blockbomber](\"/static/blog/2022_February/blockbomberbanner.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\t![\"FarLands](\"/static/blog/2022_February/farlandsbanner.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tThe Dwarves of the YourLand server show off stonework: “An Essay in Dwarf-Sculpture”, built by debian44.
\n\n![\"An](\"/static/blog/2022_February/essay_in_dwarf.png?raw=true\")
\n\t\n\tYourLand is preparing chat integration with discord. A nice side effect is a WIP matterbridge mod that will allow bridging server chat to any of discord, irc, matrix, and much more, all at once.
\n\nThis is the first post of our blog, y’all! We are actively looking for content\nsubmission for the next post, which will be in about a month, maybe sooner. Let\nus know what you are doing! If you are working on something great for Minetest\nin any of the following categories, please follow the easy instructions in the\nAbout page to submit content or contact\nMisterE on\ndiscord, matrix, or the forums to submit content without the hassle of the issue\ntracker (please use the issue tracker if you can, though!)
\n\nCategories:
\nThe “In Other News” is the place for basically anything else Minetest related,\nso theres a place for everything here. Submissions must meet the submission\nguidelines on the About page, and are\nsubject to editor review and revision.
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/02/26/February/", "summary": "Minetest 5.5 was released last month, with some significant improvements. Colour\nHop has received some major updates. Several mods received updates this month,\nand they look fun.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-26 00:00:00 +0000" }, { "id": "/2022/01/22/Welcome", "title": "Welcome to the new Minetest Blog", "content_html": "A Blog is a great way for a project to share updates and generate excitement for new featues among its community. Thats why we are starting a new blog for minetest! This will be a great way to stay up-to-date with the diverse parts of the community. Blog content will be solicited from community members, for Engine development updates, Mods, Games, Builds, Art, Servers and anything minetest related. Yes, this will include shills for people’s own projects, but they need an excuse such as a major update, great new feature, or event. See Contributing Guidelines
\n\n\n\nAs for the release schedule, that depends on time available for the editors to review content, the number of active editors, and the amount of content submitted. We may aim for a weekly release schedule, though bi-weekly or monthly seems more sustainable. We need you to be an editor; if you have the time and the desire to help us edit this blog, please contact MisterE on the Forums.
\n\nThats all for now; see you soon!
\n", "url": "https://blog.luanti.org/2022/01/22/Welcome/", "summary": "A Blog is a great way for a project to share updates and generate excitement for new featues among its community. Thats why we are starting a new blog for minetest! This will be a great way to stay up-to-date with the diverse parts of the community. Blog content will be solicited from community members, for Engine development updates, Mods, Games, Builds, Art, Servers and anything minetest related. Yes, this will include shills for people’s own projects, but they need an excuse such as a major update, great new feature, or event. See Contributing Guidelines
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-22 00:00:00 +0000" } ] }