{"id":2030,"date":"2016-05-04T12:21:57","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T12:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=2030"},"modified":"2016-05-04T17:16:26","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T17:16:26","slug":"minetest-a-free-and-open-source-alternative-to-minecraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/minetest-a-free-and-open-source-alternative-to-minecraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Minetest: a free and open source alternative to #Minecraft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fminetest-a-free-and-open-source-alternative-to-minecraft%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/minetest.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2031\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2031\" src=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/minetest.jpg\" alt=\"Minetest\" width=\"794\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/minetest.jpg 794w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/minetest-300x224.jpg 300w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/minetest-768x573.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clever teachers around the world have found ways to adapt the popular open world block-building game Minecraft to teach lessons ranging from computer programming, math, history, and more. \u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/minecraft.net\">Minecraft<\/a> is like having an infinite bag of Legos. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Minecraft has empowered players young and old to build amazing environments and inspires a special kind of creativity and playful collaboration. \u00a0\u00a0For me, I\u2019m using games like Minecraft to teach concepts of 3D modeling and computer programming. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many schools, if you wanted to introduce Minecraft into a computer lab of 20 students, you would need to spend $540 or more. \u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019re looking for a free alternative, make sure to check out Minetest, an open source open world block building game. \u00a0Giving this game a quick review, I\u2019m impressed with the current state of the project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Learn more at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.minetest.net\/\">http:\/\/www.minetest.net\/<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p><b>Stability and speed:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The game is written in C++ so that game executes much faster than Minecraft and seems pretty stable. \u00a0\u00a0For basic world building, the game should work just fine for you and your students.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Multiplayer:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0The game enables players to establish servers so that they can build together. \u00a0My son and I did some quick tests building stuff together. \u00a0\u00a0He loved running around the world and exploring the mountains and caves. \u00a0\u00a0During \u00a0our quick review, we tried the game on Linux and Windows. \u00a0It worked pretty well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Simplicity: \u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minetest can\u2019t compete with Minecraft on every feature. \u00a0For instance, the game does not support combat mode, mobs, and red stone to name a few. \u00a0\u00a0I have a feeling the features will only get better over time. \u00a0From a classroom perspective, combat mode and mobs aren\u2019t particularly helpful features for me. \u00a0I appreciate the simplicity of the current project state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Mods:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The software does <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minetest.net\/customize\/#mods\">support an ecosystem of mods<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s neat to see how the game has been extended. \u00a0\u00a0If you REALLY want mobs, you can get them back using a mod or software extensions. \u00a0\u00a0Minetest Mods are written in the Lua , an approachable and clean language. \u00a0\u00a0I want to use Minetest with TinkerCAD so that students can experience the joy of designing game worlds. \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m looking for a mod that would import schematic files created by TinkerCAD. \u00a0It would be cool to challenge students to write their own mods!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In researching this article, I found a detailed video review by SmoothScape on MineTest. \u00a0You might enjoy reviewing his insights. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EssttsuNxl0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learning To Code<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1319\">Easy Data Visualization with Google Charts and JavaScript<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=795\">Learn to Build Your Own Conversational Bot using ChatScript<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1285\">10 Free Resources for Learning JavaScript and HTML5<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1238\">17 Fun Tools To Teach Kids To Code by @ChrisBetcher<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a 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style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clever teachers around the world have found ways to adapt the popular open world block-building game Minecraft to teach lessons ranging from computer programming, math, history, and more. \u00a0\u00a0Minecraft is like having an infinite bag of Legos. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Minecraft has empowered players young and old to build amazing environments and inspires [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,7,24,16,23,11,3,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2030"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2034,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030\/revisions\/2034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}