When you first launched Minetest, didn't you think it was just Minecraft? Actually not. Although their interface, style, and gameplay are almost the same, Minetest is essentially a free, open-source and cross-platform voxel game engine (written in C++ and Lua, using the Irrlicht Engine). It was created by Perttu Ahola and first released in 2010, and is now developed by a team of volunteers, with significant contributions from the community. It's available for Linux-based systems, FreeBSD, Windows, Mac, and Android platforms, and provides an API for users to create their own games and mods written in Lua.
Minetest is not just a standalone sandbox building game, but a handy and friendly game development tool. Of course, for the common users, you can simply think of it as an alternative/clone to Minecraft with a more open and free world. In Minetest, you can play one of their many games, mod a game to your liking, make your own game, or play on a multiplayer server.
Minetest is very similar to Minecraft. The common and greatest features of both are open game world and very high degree of freedom. The game allows players to explore the world and use their imagination and creativity to build anything they want. But because Minetest is open-source, it has more freedom than Minecraft, so that players/developers can come up with wild ideas at the source level. In addition, Minetest supports developing mods using the Lua scripts, and can be extended with additional modules to add more options.
There's no doubt that Minetest was inspired by Minecraft, and currently many of its users have been copying the gaming experience of Minecraft in many ways. Thankfully, Minetest has positioned itself as a free, open-source 3D voxel game engine, which is very suitable and potential. That is, it was intended to be a voxel game engine rather than just a clone that could replace Minecraft. After all, as a game, Minecraft has grown to the point where it is irreplaceable. For example, in Minetest, you can implement some game modes that are impossible or expensive to implement in Minecraft.
Key Features
| for Players | |
| Choose from Multiple Games | There are many games to choose from. You could survive in a harsh environment, build creatively, or fight other players. Just download a game or connect to a server. |
| Enormous Maps | With 62,000 × 62,000 × 62,000 blocks, there’s no running out of space. You can mine 31,000 blocks down, or build 31,000 blocks up. |
| Multiplayer Support | Play by yourself, locally with your friends, or online with dozens of players on a server. |
| Texture Packs | Not happy with the look of the textures? Change them! |
| Beautiful Map Generators | Choose from many different fast map generators included in the engine, or install one as a mod. |
| for Developers | |
| Make a Game | Create your own voxel game using our Lua API. No need to worry about tricky voxel rendering or networking; instead, write scripts to add items and control game play. |
| Modding API | Use the same Lua API to make mods for any Minetest-based game. Publish your mods on ContentDB, and contribute to others’ mods. |
| Large Collection of Existing Mods | There are over 800 open source mods on ContentDB, which are ready to be used, adapted or learned from. |
| Friendly Community | You can find help with any problems from our community. |
| Open Source | The engine is open source and transparently developed. Submit an issue for anything you’re missing, or get the source code and dig into it yourself. |
Official Demo Video
Default Controls
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Move mouse | Look around |
| W, A, S, D | Move |
| Space | Jump/move up |
| Shift | Sneak/move down |
| Q | Drop itemstack |
| Shift + Q | Drop single item |
| Left mouse button | Dig/punch/take item |
| Right mouse button | Place/use |
| Shift + right mouse button | Build (without using) |
| I | Inventory menu |
| Mouse wheel | Select item |
| 0-9 | Select item |
| Z | Zoom (needs zoom privilege) |
| T | Chat |
| / | Command |
| Esc | Pause menu/abort/exit (pauses only singleplayer game) |
| R | Enable/disable full range view |
| + | Increase view range |
| - | Decrease view range |
| K | Enable/disable fly mode (needs fly privilege) |
| P | Enable/disable pitch move mode |
| J | Enable/disable fast mode (needs fast privilege) |
| H | Enable/disable noclip mode (needs noclip privilege) |
| E | Aux1 (Move fast in fast mode. Games may add special features) |
| C | Cycle through camera modes |
| V | Cycle through minimap modes |
| Shift + V | Change minimap orientation |
| F1 | Hide/show HUD |
| F2 | Hide/show chat |
| F3 | Disable/enable fog |
| F4 | Disable/enable camera update (Mapblocks are not updated anymore when disabled, disabled in release builds) |
| F5 | Cycle through debug information screens |
| F6 | Cycle through profiler info screens |
| F10 | Show/hide console |
| F12 | Take screenshot |
Related Links
- Minetest Getting Started
- Minetest Online Tutorials
- Minetest Mods, Games and Texture Packs
- Minetest F.A.Q.
Download URLs
| License | Version | Download | Size |
| Freeware | Latest |  (mir) |
n/a |