Someone Made a 4D Minecraft Clone

4D Miner is 4D Minecraft, a concept that makes everything from building to destroying enemies more difficult.

Generally, video games fall into two categories: 2D video games and 3D games. You will rarely see a game go beyond that since we live in a 3D world. But then how can a Minecraft clone exist in 4D? At first glance, 4D Miner looks like Minecraft. You enter an endless world with a mining mission to survive as long as possible. Minecraft, that is. As long as you don’t use the mouse wheel.

4D Miner, 4D Minecraft

As you scroll, the world changes. Elements in front of you disappear, others appear. Everything changes. But nothing really changes. From a 5D perspective, whatever you see while scrolling is actually there all the time, it’s just that we can’t see it because we’re limited by our 3D perception.

Imagine a 2D character like Mario in Super Mario Bros. He can see left, right, up and down, but remains limited to these two dimensions. If you put him in a 3D environment, he won’t be able to see the extra dimension. Instead, he will see a 2D section of this 3D space, which will show only part of the world as a whole. Move that section and it will see everything else and some elements will “disappear”from its original point of view.

This explanation may be rather abstract for you, but that’s okay. For some, this is quite difficult to understand, and is ultimately easier to explain visually. Watch this demo video.

A 4D game like 4D Miner takes this concept and applies it to us. We are a two-dimensional character, but we are experiencing a three-dimensional section in a four-dimensional world. To a 4D observer, the world appears completely normal, with its trees, caves, rivers, etc. We, on the other hand, only see what our section offers to our gaze: by scrolling, we move the section, revealing another part of the 4D world.

This mechanic adds another dimension to the exploration in Minecraft that we all know. You might think that after mining a tree you don’t have a drop, but by scrolling you can find a branch.

Similarly, you will find that cave exploration is much more difficult than in Minecraft. To find the entries, you will certainly have to scroll and keep scrolling inside. Otherwise, you will miss many points.

The concept that complicates everything

In this game, your enemies are 4D characters, which means you can’t see them unless you’re in their perspective. You may also never see them in their full form: you can scroll through them to see different parts of them, but their full view will still be hidden in a four-dimensional space that you cannot see. The first enemy you are most likely to face is the 4D Hyper Spider Spider. If the thought of a spider lurking in another dimension makes you arachnophobic, we can’t blame you.

As you play, you’ll be able to craft tools to help you navigate this 4D world more easily. 4D glasses, for example, show the outlines of objects and enemies that you don’t normally see in your 4D perspective. And immediately these spiders seem less scary. You can also build a 4D compass to know your position and better visualize your 3D part of the 4D world.

You will need these tools because everything is more complicated in 4D Miner than in Minecraft. Building a simple shelter becomes a real challenge when you realize that your 3D building skills aren’t worth that much in 4D. Your first 4D hideout will be full of holes. And spiders will scare you again.

4D Miner is currently available for free as a demo on Steam, with an official release scheduled for November. It won’t be the first 4D game to hit the market, but according to this list on Wikipedia, it’s the first 4D game of 2022 and only the third since 2020. As limited as games in this genre are, they are fun. play.

Another interesting concept is 4D Toys, which allows you to play with shapes in 4D space. Just like in 4D Miner, you are limited to your 3D section, so you will see these toys change shape and disappear as you scroll through the sections.