Humans are exceptionally adept at navigating through three-dimensional spaces. After all, that's the way the world operates. But try and add an extra dimension to something as simple as the game Minecraft, and suddenly things take a sharp turn into the confusing.
4D Miner is, as such, confusing. It's a free demo on Steam (opens in a new tab) Developer Mashpoe's multi-dimensional take on Minecraft is a lot to get your head around, even after following a brief tutorial that explains the concept of dimensionality using an adorable frog.
The playable tutorial introduces the concept of rotating through dimensions by showing you the concept of a 2D platformer, with a visualisation of how that "slice" of the world represents a greater 3D space. Scroll the mouse wheel and that slice will rotate in a way that alters the 2D perspective.
Enter the game itself, and the same concept applies. You're exploring a 3D world, as per normal Minecraft. Scroll the wheel and your "slice of the greater 4D world" rotates, cutting the world from. If it sounds confusing, it's because I'm still struggling to visualize how the dimensions relate to one another-at first appearing to fold the world inside itself, a cube world that is able to detect diagonals, as a hidden plane rotates against, or within, or on top of it, and oh god it's all quite confusing, isn't it?
As you explore the world from an 3D perspective, you'll have to rotate through the fourth dimension to continue exploring. Things can fall from trees or from rock blocks outside of your current view caves could open up into forest valleys, and you may be attacked by terrifying Hyperspiders outside of your current frame of reference.
There are tools available to help you understand 4D space. Making 4D glasses out of a mysterious ore will let you percieve things outside of your limited vision, while the compass does more than let you know where you are, but gives you a solid visualisation of how the 4D space is actually constructed.
Right now, 4D Miner is a very basic emulation of Minecraft's mechanics. However, the extra dimension adds an infinite amount of complexity to something that is as simple as "how can I build an apartment in four dimensions?" Minecraft textures plays with the idea of four-dimensional multiplayer, which sounds like an extremely chaotic way to get confused with your friend.
"On the surface, this game does look a bit like Minecraft and the inspiration is undeniable," Mashpoe said in a YouTube explainer. "But things like building, collecting resources and even navigating the game are entirely different. This impacts pretty much every mechanic in the game.
"I plan to expand this aspect of the game further in the future, so that most of the new game mechanics and features are focused on how the player interacts with the fourth dimension."
Mashpoe tried to get started on 4D Miner last week but was unsuccessful. He's now gone to Patreon (opens new tab) to continue development. It's not easy to determine if 4D Miner can stand on its own as a game, or remain a confusing tech demo that's confusing for its own good.
But I want Mashpoe to continue his experiments in 4D space. Let me take a minute to relax this, as all this dimension-bending has made me feel like I'm in a haze.