Minecraft-esque game "fortresscraft" out now!

Might have to check it out however not sure what I think about it being what looks like a rip off of minecraft.
 
Hmm, I'll give it a shot. I could never get MineCraft working on my MacBook so this might be an OK alternative...

Edit: Interestingly enough, this thread encouraged me to give Minecraft on my Mac one more try. Turns out I just needed to try it in a different browser! May still give this XBLIG a shot, but for now free = good.
 
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I've never played minecraft, looked somewhat cool but I'm not a PC gamer so never put in effort towards actually playing. I always figured it'd be real cool if they took that concept towards console with co-op and voice communication. Thus, I'll give it a try.
 
[quote name='bsmiff'] Interestingly enough, this thread encouraged me to give Minecraft on my Mac one more try. Turns out I just needed to try it in a different browser! May still give this XBLIG a shot, but for now free = good.[/QUOTE]

Unless I'm mistaken, only creation mode is free. So the skeletons and creepers and what not, I think you have to pay for the alpha build to access all that.

Which reminds me. Is there creatures in this game or is it just a creation mode and that's it?
 
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[quote name='JStryke']Unless I'm free, only creation mode is free. So the skeletons and creepers and what not, I think you have to pay for the alpha build to access all that.

Which reminds me. Is there creatures in this game or is it just a creation mode and that's it?[/QUOTE]

Haha, I was wondering when the monsters were going to come out... that explains it.

I'm guessing this release of FortressCraft doesn't have such stuff either, as it's called "Chapter 1: Creation."
 
Wow...I just realized my typo. "Unless I'm free". WTF?

I think Minecraft is $15, but it gets updates a lot and from some people I know, enjoy it a lot and EASILY get their money's worth from it.
 
[quote name='JStryke']Wow...I just realized my typo. "Unless I'm free". WTF?

I think Minecraft is $15, but it gets updates a lot and from some people I know, enjoy it a lot and EASILY get their money's worth from it.[/QUOTE]

I'd drop the money on Minecraft right now if I still had a PC gaming rig. It runs fine on my Macbook, but it really gets its insides cranking loud. I'm still considering it.

As for FortressCraft, I messed around in the demo and it's not very polished. Blocks take a while to appear and disappear, and even though it's so simple, they're missing the style mark in my opinion. Just seems odd having high quality skins on a world of simple cubes. May still blow $3 on it just to be able to play something like Minecraft on the 360 though.
 
Minecraft was $10 during the "Alpha phase" but went to $15 during the "Beta phase." I think the full release comes out on 11/11/11... and it might be $20 by that point? It gets a ton of really great updates and you don't have to pay anything extra for it.

FortressCraft is $3 and I think all of the updates will have a cost to them as well, so I'm not sure how much it will cost by the end of it. It's pretty fun... part of me wishes that your character would swing the pickaxe, though.
 
Well I went ahead and bit the bullet on Minecraft, and I'm very glad I did. Building stuff with blocks is neat, but it's the survival mentality that really makes this fun IMO.
 
[quote name='theredworm']I tried the demo and I'm not sure what is so cool about Minecraft (or this clone).[/QUOTE]

I wasn't convinced of Minecraft either until I bought into the Beta and played the survival mode, which isn't a part of Minecraft's free version or FortressCraft at all. Makes all the difference in my opinion.

Basically you gather resources, craft tools, objects, and structures out of your findings, discover your surroundings, and survive the various monsters that lurk in the dark. It's quite addicting and very entertaining in a laid back way. The world's simplicity and art style also plays a big role in why I'm enjoying it.
 
[quote name='sendme']Might have to check it out however not sure what I think about it being what looks like a rip off of minecraft.[/QUOTE]

Interestingly enough the creator of FortressCraft first started by trying to make a 3d version of a lesser known game titled Dwarf Fortress, but it didn't work out that well until he was inspired by minecraft and decided to make the game in that sort of style. That's where the name comes from, and right now it looks a lot more like minecraft because its just chapter one and in the following chapters there will be things like physics, tower defense, machines (not just minecarts mind you) etc.

So far theres 7 planned chapters equalling 21 bucks so just a dollar more than minecraft is at, but you don't have to buy every single one, you could buy the last chapter for 3 bucks and get the full game!

4/17 is the date of the first patch and it will be a HUGE bug fix so if you're still on the fence give it another try after the patch comes out :)
Edit: here's the official patch notes http://fortresscraftforums.com/index.php?/topic/1430-patch-15-details/page__pid__11522#entry11522
 
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Bought it and played for like 5 hours this past Saturday. I am really digging it and I might give Minecraft a shot now, I had seen my friend play it and was uninterested at the time.
 
I bought this game, i still to this day dont understand what to do in minecraft, but i respect the idea of it. I own minecraft on pc, bought it in alpha, if i have that does it get auto upgraded everytime? so when its official released i dont have to buy again right?
 
[quote name='Big St3ph3n']I bought this game, i still to this day dont understand what to do in minecraft, but i respect the idea of it. I own minecraft on pc, bought it in alpha, if i have that does it get auto upgraded everytime? so when its official released i dont have to buy again right?[/QUOTE]

That's right.

Fortresscraft looks alright and I'll keep an eye on it, but I was already playing Minecraft with a dual-analog controller setup and loving it.
 
[quote name='theredworm']lol @ that video, not the 4th most downloaded thing of all time on xbox

maybe 4th this week but not even close to all time[/QUOTE]

In the video he says it's the fourth "Most downloaded today" i dont know what you're talking about
 
The game is ok, but needs a lot of work. The next update will fix some big issues. Not buying another chapter until the last one though. Also upset that the maker "PROMISED" (he wrote in caps) recon armour/tech axe and I haven't recieved it yet, but I've seen others with it.
 
Tempted to buy this, since I have some friends that prefer console gaming to PC and are probably going to get this, but I don't like supporting such an obvious copy of Minecraft, which doesn't currently have the drive of Minecraft (At least for me. I just don't see the point of creating gigantic fortresses of awesomeness if it's not protecting me from monsters. I'll look at it and say "Well, what does it DO?")

I wish Notch and crew would just make an XBLA version or something, but that's just a crazy pipe dream.
 
[quote name='bob101910']The game is ok, but needs a lot of work. The next update will fix some big issues. Not buying another chapter until the last one though. Also upset that the maker "PROMISED" (he wrote in caps) recon armour/tech axe and I haven't recieved it yet, but I've seen others with it.[/QUOTE]

What did you do for recon? i didn't have any problems getting mine, you just have to make sure to send him a message with your gamertag in it so he knows who to give it to
 
The interesting thing about the video he posted is that he said the mobs will be coming as an update for "the game you already bought", which would indicate it's not going to be a separate purchase (ie. "Chapter 2: Mobs"). If that's the case, I'll probably go grab this now to start familiarizing myself with the differences between it and Minecraft. Having said that, I don't know what the intention for the other chapters would be, but it would be great to get a full-featured Minecraft game on 360 for $3...especially one with better multi-player/online integration.

Also, he posted a new video today of some of the fixes that will be coming very soon, including party invites. This game may be a rip off someone elses idea, but as The Social Network taught us, if it's done better, nobody will care. This game has every opportunity to be huge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUksQ4GbSkU&feature=player_embedded
 
yeah Arcas (the creator) said that chapter 2: Physics won't be released until June so he has a while to optimize it and he'll be adding stuff every week which will be nice, but we also have that same amount of time to wait for doors and water physics and minecarts and ball physics etc.
 
I'm thinking I might pick this up just to give it a try. I just hope some of my friends will also get this so I can try the only with them.
 
I picked it up today after playing the demo twice. Been reading online about it quite a bit, I even found a few relics tonight which make getting around easier.
 
I've only recently started playing Minecraft, but I do it on a really great server where people have created some really incredible stuff and there's a great sense of community. There's so much to do and new stuff to see every time I login to the persistent server. I tried the demo for this and it just felt lacking.

I realize that this hasn't been in development as long, is $3, and is more limited by the hardware. I get it. It may grow into it's own thing and be great, but right now I'm not seeing it and it won't give me the experience I get from the Minecraft server I play on. I got that big Lego Monorail set when I was a kid. Playing this game after Minecraft feels a bit like picking up some Duplo blocks after using that monorail set.
 
I tried the demo, and I think this game is really, really, really poopy / awkward / pointless.

MineCraft is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr superior.
 
The demo was ok, but I can't see buying every chapter at $3 a pop.

Apparently it's going to go up to 10 chapters with a chapter being released every month or two at $3 bucks each. If I had to say anything about it I would say that it might be worth buying down the road when it's on the final laps. I'm also a minecraft owner. I enjoy Minecraft to an extent and could easily see this getting better in the future, so I don't really understand the whole releasing it a bit at a time deal. Just do the whole thing and let it rip.

-edit-
Or release it for more points and promise FREE chapters.
 
[quote name='louiedog']I've only recently started playing Minecraft, but I do it on a really great server where people have created some really incredible stuff and there's a great sense of community. There's so much to do and new stuff to see every time I login to the persistent server. I tried the demo for this and it just felt lacking.

I realize that this hasn't been in development as long, is $3, and is more limited by the hardware. I get it. It may grow into it's own thing and be great, but right now I'm not seeing it and it won't give me the experience I get from the Minecraft server I play on. I got that big Lego Monorail set when I was a kid. Playing this game after Minecraft feels a bit like picking up some Duplo blocks after using that monorail set.[/QUOTE]

Well put. Mind sharing that Minecraft server info? Every one I've jumped into is full of people spamming blocks and acting foolish.
 
Some of you guys keep forgetting that this is only chapter one, i mean its been in development for around 9 weeks it won't be instantly better than minecraft especially not before ANY updates just give it some time, but imo this is way better than minecraft creative was. And about the chapters would you really wanna wait till next year to save a couple bucks and get the final version at a cheap price (o wait we're on cheap ass gamer lol nvm)? I plan on getting every chapter cause i don't wanna wait that long plus im supporting the developer.
 
For those of you that got into the beta update is anyone else having trouble with this game. I downloaded it and each time I load it up to play I get a message saying that I need to apply the latest update before I can play. I deleted and re-downloaded but the same thing happened.
 
[quote name='Spanky']For those of you that got into the beta update is anyone else having trouble with this game. I downloaded it and each time I load it up to play I get a message saying that I need to apply the latest update before I can play. I deleted and re-downloaded but the same thing happened.[/QUOTE]

I'm in the beta, and it works fine for me (though I have heard of several others with your problem). For what it's worth, I'm in the Live update. I also haven't played my free Reach copy yet...but I wouldn't think that would affect anything since I should have all my updates anyway.
 
[quote name='Spanky']For those of you that got into the beta update is anyone else having trouble with this game. I downloaded it and each time I load it up to play I get a message saying that I need to apply the latest update before I can play. I deleted and re-downloaded but the same thing happened.[/QUOTE]

That has something to with Microsoft i forget exactly but it should fixed hopefully within a week
 
[quote name='ElementBreaker']Some of you guys keep forgetting that this is only chapter one, i mean its been in development for around 9 weeks it won't be instantly better than minecraft especially not before ANY updates just give it some time, but imo this is way better than minecraft creative was. And about the chapters would you really wanna wait till next year to save a couple bucks and get the final version at a cheap price (o wait we're on cheap ass gamer lol nvm)? I plan on getting every chapter cause i don't wanna wait that long plus im supporting the developer.[/QUOTE]

I wouldnt mind dropping some $ on it, but I would always feel like while i'm building.... that I could be doing other things as well. Things that aren't there yet. I'd hate to make a huge -Insert whatever you want to build here- only to have an update come that would help you with things. Then it would have been a waste of time.
 
[quote name='CosmosTheMouse']I wouldnt mind dropping some $ on it, but I would always feel like while i'm building.... that I could be doing other things as well. Things that aren't there yet. I'd hate to make a huge -Insert whatever you want to build here- only to have an update come that would help you with things. Then it would have been a waste of time.[/QUOTE]

There's nothing like that planned for fortresscraft and it definitely wont be coming to chapter one
 
[quote name='ElementBreaker']There's nothing like that planned for fortresscraft and it definitely wont be coming to chapter one[/QUOTE]

I was watching the dev video commentary thing on Youtube a few weeks ago and they said various pulley systems, tracks, switches, monsters, etc are coming soon. But who knows what "coming soon" means.

I wouldn't downplay fortresscraft at all and say those things def WONt come, because odds are they will. but for the moment it's just blocks. I played the demo a bit more today and it has some promise. It's already #1 on the top downloads list I noticed.
 
[quote name='CosmosTheMouse']I was watching the dev video commentary thing on Youtube a few weeks ago and they said various pulley systems, tracks, switches, monsters, etc are coming soon. But who knows what "coming soon" means.

I wouldn't downplay fortresscraft at all and say those things def WONt come, because odds are they will. but for the moment it's just blocks. I played the demo a bit more today and it has some promise. It's already #1 on the top downloads list I noticed.[/QUOTE]

Monsters WILL be in chapter one but itll be somewhere around the end of may, and tracks will be in the next chapter "physics" as well as pulleys perhaps. Switches im not sure about since they might be held off until the "machinery" chapter.
 
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OK.
Well I jumped in on chapter 1, so I can have an official opinion now.

I think I stand by what I said in waiting till it's "complete" to get it if you even feel like it. At the stage it's in now it's pretty buggy, sort of broken online, and actually sort of frustrating at times. Was giving it a chance seeing as the devs will be working things out on and off... but from what I've been reading their starting to have problems, and are delayed due to several reasons already. The way they keep talking about their lack of time to work sounds like they bit off more than they could chew with it. Personally I would be surprised if this even goes for more than 5 chapters before they jump ship on it. BUT... it could be good if they keep it up. As for right now? Not that good.
 
[quote name='CosmosTheMouse']OK.
Well I jumped in on chapter 1, so I can have an official opinion now.

I think I stand by what I said in waiting till it's "complete" to get it if you even feel like it. At the stage it's in now it's pretty buggy, sort of broken online, and actually sort of frustrating at times. Was giving it a chance seeing as the devs will be working things out on and off... but from what I've been reading their starting to have problems, and are delayed due to several reasons already. The way they keep talking about their lack of time to work sounds like they bit off more than they could chew with it. Personally I would be surprised if this even goes for more than 5 chapters before they jump ship on it. BUT... it could be good if they keep it up. As for right now? Not that good.[/QUOTE]
The only reason they get delayed is because of peer review, and the reason it failed wasn't because of a bad patch but because of an issue that was already in the game that the peer reviewers themselves missed the FIRST time. And no Arcas (yeah this game is made by one guy like minecraft was with notch till he started mojang) is definitely not going to jump ship lol imo if he could get some better testers who could find all bugs and report them nobody would be complaining right now cuz he can fix issues within like a few hours of them being reported. O and patch 1.2 will be this Sunday because of MS rules otherwise it would be out now.
 
Well I heard more than a few reasons so far. The ones you said obviously, also time constraints, moving to new offices, microsoft screw-ups etc. It really doesn't bother me that their delayed right now.

What does get me is that it was even released at all with the issues it has. You would think that it would have been gone over 1000000 times before getting put up, but my guess is that since it's being pitched as a "minecraft clone" it would get money fast... and as a result get more development support. That's understandable, but what isn't (and this is a major issue) is the fact that we now have a game that's based off the concept of multiplayer building, and at the moment you can't even see what other players are building. Whats the point if you can't have that.

BTW i'm not trying to be an asshole or anything. lol
 
[quote name='CosmosTheMouse']Well I heard more than a few reasons so far. The ones you said obviously, also time constraints, moving to new offices, microsoft screw-ups etc. It really doesn't bother me that their delayed right now.

What does get me is that it was even released at all with the issues it has. You would think that it would have been gone over 1000000 times before getting put up, but my guess is that since it's being pitched as a "minecraft clone" it would get money fast... and as a result get more development support. That's understandable, but what isn't (and this is a major issue) is the fact that we now have a game that's based off the concept of multiplayer building, and at the moment you can't even see what other players are building. Whats the point if you can't have that.

BTW i'm not trying to be an asshole or anything. lol[/QUOTE]

woah woah woah 1000000 times? No way the testers for this game are NOT professionals, they are just regular people who didn't find the bugs, and like i said you can't fix a bug if you don't know about it so can't really blame the developer for the issues it had. Also it isn't being pitched as a "minecraft clone"... money was also not an objective for this project, the developer still works a full time job and the game was released at the lowest amount he give it out for on xbox (yeah M$ is the ones being greedy here not the dev). And we can see other players' buildings just not the majority of the time :(

Edit: Update scheduled for the 25th lets hope this one won't get failed by the review
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']Fortresscraft fails another peer review and now there are some MAJOR accusations flying around. Doctored videos, conspiracies, grudges. It's like a reality show up in here.

http://dev.ezmuze.co.uk/?p=20[/QUOTE]

Yep thanks for the link i think that guy gives a good view of the situation. Imo these peer review failures are getting way out of hand, we should have gotten it two weeks ago.
 
So the update we were looking for seems to never be coming.
The dev forum has been either botched or taken down the past week.

And my world crashed leaving me to start a new game. So all my tooling around was for nothing. I'll be fucked if I give any more MS points to these people in the future. lol
 
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