Notes

5 Open Source Alternatives To Minecraft

There's no doubt that Minecraft is a top game for millions. Because it's written in Java and Java, it runs on a variety platforms, including Linux. With a huge modding community, there are many Minecraft enthusiasts who would love to get under the hood and play around with the source code themselves. Unfortunately, the source is not accessible to the general public.



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But there's good news. Many have tried to recreate Minecraft and other similar games using open-source software. Are you in search of a free Minecraft alternative to Minecraft? Here's a brief overview of some Minecraft clones and derivatives you should really check out.



These projects are in various stages of completion and serve various goals. Some seek to duplicate the Minecraft experience completely, or to at least provide a very similar experience. Others are taking the voxel-based game concept to completely new levels Some are more of a framework to aid you in building your own game or develop your own.



Minetest



The first game we'll be discussing is Minetest. Minetest, which is a "near infinite-world block sandbox game" and a "game engine", is the most complete alternative to Minecraft. It supports both multiplayer and subgames. It also has various terrain generators as well as various default biomes. It also comes with a user-friendly API for creating mods using Lua.



Minetest is open source under the LGPL and is written mostly in C++ so it's quite fast in comparison to other scripting languages. Minetest is compatible with Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, FreeBSD and possibly other operating systems, too. You can download the source code on GitHub.
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Minetest screenshot, Minetest website, CC-BY-SA 3.0.



Terasology



Terasology may be the winner of the best rendering engine award in the pack. Its shadows are both stunning and terrifying. What began as an experiment in procedural terrain generation has evolved into a fully-featured game including multiplayer and a variety of add-on modules that are automatically installed to allow you to test different gameplay techniques.



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



Terasology screenshot, Terasology Code repository, Apache 2.0.



Voxel.js



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



Voxel.js is a collection of many related projects, meaning you can use as much or as little of the code as you wish when creating your ideal game. The main library, voxel engine is a very basic engine to render boxesy scenes, however there are more than 200 add-ons that are available. Visit the gallery for some ideas of what other people have built with the engine. The main engine is released under a BSD-style licence; other add-ons may be licensed differently It's worth checking before you make any assumptions.



Screenshot of the Voxel Forest using Voxel.js by Jason Baker



TrueCraft



TrueCraft is designed to be very like the original game. It is described as a Minecraft "implementation," as instead of a clone and is compatible with official Minecraft server releases. TrueCraft's creator is looking to implement beta version 1.7.3 that he believes is "nearly perfect" during Minecraft's development. A snapshot intentionally frozen in time, TrueCraft seeks feature-parity with Minecraft.



TrueCraft is very close to the original. So, TrueCraft has taken great care to avoid copyright issues. TrueCraft allows code only from developers who haven't decompiled or otherwise had access to the original game source code. However, those who have been granted access are encouraged and welcomed to contribute in other ways. TrueCraft is written in C# and is open source under an MIT license.



TrueCraft screenshot, TrueCraft code repository, MIT license.



Craft



Craft is an open-source voxel engine which mimics Minecraft. While development appears to be slowing or stopped however, there are over 200 forks, some of which (such as the school project Not2bad-craft), offer major improvements. If you are interested in creating an equivalent game to Minecraft Craft's simplicity may appeal to you. The game engine is only several thousand lines of C code and uses OpenGL to render. It employs simple algorithms for terrain generation and other tasks, and everything is stored in an SQLite3 database. It's worth investigating a Python-based multiplayer server.



Craft is made accessible under an MIT license.



Craft screenshot, Craft code repository, MIT license.



Other great options



It is also worth checking out these other notable references:



Freeminer is a different sandbox game that was inspired by Minecraft and inspired by Minetest. The authors want to make the game fun but still retaining some perfectionist elements. It comes with installers for Linux, Windows, and Android. ClassiCube is an Minecraft Classic clone written in C#. It is open-source under the OpenTK License and is available for installation on Linux, Solaris, Windows OS, Solaris, Windows OS, Mac OS and in browsers.



So there you are. This list is far from exhaustive; there are plenty of other options out there just waiting to be explored and over time, we'll undoubtedly see more choices emerge as enthusiasts fork these games or strike out on their own. Which one is your favourite and which did we miss you would have liked to have covered?


Here's my website: https://harrashs.com/