Maybe this was discussed on IRC, but has anybody tried
Minicraft yet? Notch made it during the recent Ludum Dare competition, basically it's a game similar to Minecraft but with a top-down Zelda-esque perspective. I'm not finding it all that appealing atm, especially in comparison to the full Minecraft, but figured we could at least talk about something in the server downtime.
I've done very little atm, but it takes some effort to really get anywhere at the beginning. I've only managed to get some stone tools built so I can chop trees quicker, fight off monsters (because there's no night/day cycle, monsters are always present), and mine rock, which housed a dungeon. I couldn't explore the dungeon because it was dark though, probably have to construct a lantern first.
EDIT: And I lost. Didn't realize swimming used energy and your health drops when you run out. Couldn't get to land in time :(