https://www.minecraft.net/
https://pixeldungeon.watabou.ru/
https://shatteredpixel.com/
https://tann.fun/games/dice/
... Java games may represent 0.01% of total games, I think they hold about 70% of my playtime.
It's not that the language is actually good for games.
I'm guessing the language making things harder is what makes these games unique. They all came out unfinished, in a state where any game that is not amazing gameplay-wise will fail.
There's an "open source" feeling to these games. Well, pixel dungeon is straightforward open source, but even Minecraft and Slice & Dice are actively trying to be as easy to modify as possible.
Java being a web server language, the devs probably had no prior contact with the game industry.
I don't know, I just really like them.
I discovered Minecraft in beta. I think I was like, 9 years old. My first video game. It was fascinating. None of that server minigame bullshit, just an infinite, buggy, destructible survival world. In english. I didn't know english. I had been told how to make a crafting table and a pickaxe, and nothing else - no reading in-game text, no Google. That was a vibe. I didn't always like it back then. I was scared of mobs, scared of loosing my way walking in the forest, scared of chunk rendering glitches diving into the sky-blue abyss. I remember discovering the creative mode, placing every block I could find in the inventory to see what they looked like. Then people around me started playing the game. I got told by a friend how to make a TNT cannon, and spent multiple weeks making tons of them.
Then I discovered PVP, which was fun for a while. Then command blocks and redstone. 1.12 mods got me back into the game for another hundred hours, driven by the discovery of all the new mechanics. Then I mostly stopped playing as For Honor was released. I would just launch the game a few times when it had major updates.
I reluctantly migrated my account to a Microsoft account... and lost it in the process. The Microsoft hotline wanted a receipt for the game to restore it. You know, that receipt from 12 years ago.
So I tried out Minetest. I didn't like it at first, it really feels wrong when you are used to the original. It's growing on me though. I like the bugs, modern Minecraft is too polished. Now I mostly play for the vibes. Making places that would appeal to my wonder, slightly off and always on a new idea.
Pixel dungeon was rough. I think I was 14 years old. My parents refused to give me a good smartphone, insisting on passing on their used models. I was bored in my bed, having read all I could find and finally lost¹ interest in power-medieval-fiction, searching through the Play Store for anything that could run on a 4.4 Android. Games with high resolution graphics were ungodly slow, so I searched for "pixel" hoping for lighter rendering. One game came up.
The touchscreen was thick and unresponsive, and it was the latest version. The one with breakable weapons. I spent HOURS trying to get to the second boss, having no clue what a roguelike even is. I was guessing how many HP mobs had by counting the minimum it took to kill them. I made procedures that I still use today for potion and scroll discovery. I discovered the surprise attack mechanic after 20 runs. I never made it.
My bedtable dimly lit blue by the Game Over screen.
Maybe one day I'll try again, now that I can pseudo-reliably finish Shattered pixel dungeon.
Maybe one day I'll make a "complete all major pixel dungeon and shattered pixel dungeon releases" marathon.
Shattered was smoother. In easier times too. I had bought myself a Fairphone 3 with my first pay. Shortly after, I would get bored of that job and discover the open source world. I tried to edit the code, but I'm not a Java dev, and I never really got around that. I'm still playing it so I can't really retrospect on that.
Slice & Dice... don't be jealous, you're just freshly installed here. I discovered your dev had a web1.0 blog, I like you already.
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