Notes

5 Open Source Alternatives To Minecraft

There's no denying that Minecraft is a game that is loved for millions. Because it's written in Java and Java, it runs on a variety of platforms including Linux. There are a lot of Minecraft gamers who would love access to the source code and begin to work on it. Unfortunately, the source code is not accessible to the general public.



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There's good news. Many people have tried to recreate Minecraft and other similar games with open-source software. Are you looking for a free Minecraft alternative to Minecraft? Here's a brief look at some clones and derivatives out there that you need to check out.



These projects are in various stages of completion and serve different purposes. Some attempt to replicate the Minecraft experience in full and others seek to give a similar experience. Others are taking the voxel-based gaming concept in completely different directions while others are really more of a framework to aid you in building your own game or creation.





Minetest

Minetest is the first game we've listed on our list. Minetest is perhaps the most comprehensive alternative to Minecraft that is described as an "near-infinite-world block sandbox and a game engine." It includes multiplayer games and subgames and comes with a variety of terrain generators as well as different default biomes. It also comes with a user-friendly API to make mods in Lua.



Minetest is open source under the LGPL, and is written mostly in C++ so it's relatively fast when compared to other scripting languages written in the same way. Minetest runs on Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, FreeBSD, and possibly other operating systems as well. You can find the source code on GitHub.



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 gorgeous and frightening. This game started as an experiment in the creation of procedural terrain. It has grown into a fully-featured, fully-featured game featuring multiplayer and various add-on modules that allow you to try different gameplay techniques.



Terasology is written in Java and made available 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

Voxel.js is the odd one in this list. It's not a video game , and doesn't claim it to be. Instead, Voxel.js is a JavaScript library enabling you to build your own Minecraft-style games, renderings or other interactive widgets using JavaScript and HTML and HTML, which allows for embedding directly on any page without any special plugins required for any browser that supports WebGL.



Voxel.js is composed of a number of related projects, so you can utilize as much or as little of the code as you want when you craft your perfect game. While the primary library, voxel engine, is a base engine that renders boxy images well there are over 200 extensions. Take a look at the gallery to get some ideas of what others have built using the engine. The main engine is released under the BSD-style license. Other add-ons might be licensed differently so make sure to check before you make assumptions.






Screenshot of voxel forest using Voxel.js by Jason Baker





TrueCraft

TrueCraft is written to be very close to the original game. It is described as a Minecraft "implementation," as opposed to a clone, and is compatible with official Minecraft server versions. The author of TrueCraft is looking to implement the beta version 1.7.3 of the original game, a time in Minecraft's development he deems "nearly perfect." TrueCraft is a snapshot that was deliberately frozen in time. He seeks feature-parity to Minecraft.



Because it is so similar to the original game, TrueCraft has taken great pains to avoid copyright issues by allowing developers only to code that they have not decompiled or otherwise had access to the source code, but those who have access are encouraged to contribute in different ways. TrueCraft is written using C# and is open-source under an MIT License.






TrueCraft screenshot, TrueCraft code repository, MIT license.





Craft

Craft is an open-source voxel-engine that mimics Minecraft. Its development appears to have slowed or stopped, but there are over 200 forks and many (such as the school project not2bad-craft) with major improvements. If you are looking to create an equivalent game to Minecraft Craft's simplicity could appeal to you. The game engine is only a few thousand lines in C code and utilizes OpenGL to render. It uses simple algorithms to create terrain and other tasks. Everything is stored in an SQLite3 databank. There's also a multiplayer server that is based on Python that is worth the chance.



Craft is available under an MIT licence.






Craft screenshot, Craft code repository, MIT license.





Other excellent alternatives

It is also worth checking out these other notable mentions:



Freeminer is a different sandbox-based game is a sandbox-based game that is inspired by Minecraft and is based on Minetest. The creators aim to make the game fun but still retaining some perfectionist elements. It comes with installers for Linux, Windows, and Android. ClassiCube is it is a Minecraft Classic clone, is written in C#. It is open-source under the OpenTK License and can be installed on Linux, Solaris, Windows OS, Solaris, Windows OS, Mac OS and in a browser.



Here you go. This list is far from exhaustive; there are plenty of other options out there just waiting for you to explore and over time, we'll likely see more options emerge as enthusiasts take these games and rip them out on their own. 53VV Which one do you prefer? Which one did we miss that you wish we had covered more?


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