LudumData

Maze Crawler by Hilvon

[raw]
made by Hilvon for LD 40 (COMPO)

ScreenGrab.PNGYou find yourself in the (not so) dark maze. The exit is right in front of you, but it is blocked by flaming wards.

To get past, you have to collect 7 keys scattered across the maze. But with every key you collect some passages in the maze become blocked by walls of flame.

The game is set up so there is always a possible route to the center room, but with many keys collected, and thus blockages active it might be hard to find.

Have fun!

Comments:

I didn't have enough time to finish the player model animations.. And the environment models are... kind of rough and crappy...

And there are absolutely 0 sounds, :(

POST LD:

A version 0.5 is now available, featuring: - updated Maze generation process so it runs quicker, while generating better mazes! - A character model with animations... ((Though sometimes I think that not having them would benifit the game... I'm still not the best animator there is)) - Game rules overhaul! Now you can only carry one key at a time, and some keys are used to unlock other keys, rather than need to be brought to central room (usually 1 or 2 are this way...) - Key models are updated. - Lock state marked to semi-clearly show which key is required to unlock it.

Please enjoy and leave your feedback!

Windows https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vF1to3OC7dF1ett2Zwzy5m2lBdju30Dt/view
Windows https://drive.google.com/open?id=19zoLmsQBaQt9mD2GOW3Yq9sTWQbhmSMm
macOS https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xmrxo4F5iVCDPW58yLXGUiAj843y39O_
Linux https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lni4oLbGo7zu9sA0Ov4lYgOTUVodCdHO
Windows https://drive.google.com/open?id=1biWwP8tbNAMKa3iYyxTHZqHO5yzL64dH
Windows https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NTIONxiFpd0TxQ8T-5vZcRnLYvGp0bN6
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/maze-crawler

Ratings

Overall 570th 2.909⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 610th 2.606⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 399th 3⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 504th 3.03⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 474th 2.924⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 545th 1.75⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 552th 2.55⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Given 44🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

Tezza48
04. Dec 2017 · 02:25 UTC
I was thinking oh, this texture's rather pleasant, solid colour with a soft normal map on it (gimmie plz) and then thinking "this must have been hand placed so lets get it over with" and then i finished it and saw it was procedurally generated, bloody well done!
The movement's a bit sluggish and i'd love to see dem player animations.
Are you going to keep working on it for the jam?
🎤 Hilvon
04. Dec 2017 · 02:47 UTC
@tezza48 All the textures are in the Source. Feel free to download if you like them :)

I'm not going to continue this for the jam, but I do think it would like to epand it a bit out of competition. I like the concept.

The maze is kind of procedurely generated. It uses a pixelmap to create the layout, but it them uses quite a peice of math to randomly place blockages so that by the time all keys are collected there is exactly 1 path remaining from location of the key to the master room.

So it's not fully procedural. But it wouldn't be that hard to add more layous. I might even uprade this game to read external textures from "Streaming Assets" folder and let players build their own mazes...
Tezza48
04. Dec 2017 · 03:20 UTC
@hilvon Nice, the blockages were exactly why i thought it was not procedural, i'll have to take a look at your code :p wanna learn!
Wheffle
06. Dec 2017 · 04:58 UTC
Cool idea. I saw a lot of potential, I got a great vibe wandering the halls. Also very impressive procedural blockage system. Glad I found this!
Colossal Gnome
07. Dec 2017 · 19:44 UTC
Some interesting things going on here.. I'll have to take a closer look at your maze generation logic, much different style maze than the algorithm I used in my game, [Maze Trudger!](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/maze-trudger)

Controls felt a bit off to me, like pushing a big rock around an ice rink. Definitely some potential here though. Nice job :)
🎤 Hilvon
07. Dec 2017 · 19:55 UTC
@colossal-gnome Oh yes.. The controls are one of the things I never managed to troperly polish... :(

MAze generation is definitely a star here, and I already noted a couple of things I can improve there. Hopefully I will have time to do a propper post-LD version.
Syrapt0r
07. Dec 2017 · 19:57 UTC
Plays very fluent and forces you to take new ways in order to get all the keys. I really enjoyed playing, good job :D
ExNihilo
07. Dec 2017 · 20:12 UTC
You've got quite an interesting idea, and your maze generation algorithm can certainly be a very solid base to build upon.

I didn't take a look at your source code, but it seems you must be using some variation of the default Unity character controller, which gives this floaty feeling to the giant suppository's movements. Although I understand it allows for some easy means of collision detection, the game would benefit a lot from some custom movement scheme not involving physics.

Anyway, I'll be curious to know how this project evolves.
🎤 Hilvon
07. Dec 2017 · 20:35 UTC
@exnihilo Yes. That was a default Unity controller. With not the best input enterpreter slappod over it. Just a placeholder solution I wanted to replace by Mecanim controller later, but I never finished animations for it...

Thank you for feedback!
🎤 Hilvon
07. Dec 2017 · 20:41 UTC
@syrapt0r Thank you for the kind review.
blobo
08. Dec 2017 · 21:55 UTC
Well done! The addition of a run button, or overall faster movement would be nice, but it was still very enjoyable. Procedural generation is my jam, so you definitely hit the sweet spot.
tschery
08. Dec 2017 · 23:16 UTC
Bit rough around the edges. Yai for procedural animation tho!
Bookworm31
09. Dec 2017 · 00:19 UTC
I'm a huge fan of mazes, both making them and solving them, so this was a lot of fun for me. Once I read the comments and realized it was procedurally generated (or even pseudo-procedural), I was very impressed. The one thing that I felt could be improved on (besides the unfinished aspects) was some form of suspense. Solving the maze was awesome, but there wasn't really any sense of urgency. Overall, very nice game!
incomplete
09. Dec 2017 · 10:42 UTC
I liked the textures of your game. Would have been great if the character was animated (e.g. moving slowly up and down). It feels a bit static now. But overall a nice game! :)
Antti Tiihonen
09. Dec 2017 · 18:06 UTC
The game is pretty chill! It's quite enjoyable to wander around but as it is right now there's a little bit too much missing from the game to make it engaging enough to get back into. Maybe entering to the jam category instead and developing this for an extra day might have been beneficial?
🎤 Hilvon
09. Dec 2017 · 18:44 UTC
@antti-tiihonen Maybe so. ((Though I suppose that having an Animator hand available would have been even more beneficial!)) Unfortunately, there is a minor nuissanse of having to work on mondays that heally hamstrung my ability to use the third day.

Anyway I'm working on the Post-LD version now... So maybe after the voting is over I will put a more polished version up.
Artur Hawkwing
09. Dec 2017 · 19:08 UTC
I loved the mazes, and I find the procedural generating to be awesome! I would have loved some audio, and maybe more detailed player / exit models, but what yuou have works very well and as a whole the game was amazing! Great job!!
🎤 Hilvon
11. Dec 2017 · 11:14 UTC
@artur-hawkwing, Thank you for the feedback. Character model and Exit model are definitely on the TO DO list. In fact the character model (with some rigging) can be found among the source files. But I just didn't have time to do the animations, and I just didn't want to put a still T-pose model into the game.

Audio is also somewhere down the list, but... I'm not good at it. ((Then again, I'm not good at animations as well, which doesn't stop me from doing them... slowly but surely.))

And I am planning to add some secondary environmental props... A couple more potential room layouts to add variety. Some Maze-constructor optimizations and an extra mechanic that would allow you to actually lose a level...

But that will have to wait till the voting is over. I want the votes to reflect my actual LD game and not be affected by post-LD version. ((And it would give me more time to work on stuff))
Laaph
18. Dec 2017 · 11:11 UTC
The weird lack of camera movement both makes keeping track of the maze easier (I always get confused when the camera turns around in a maze) but definitely leads to odd things (I get to see through walls and running backwards I don't see what I'm running in to).

Very nice!
🎤 Hilvon
18. Dec 2017 · 11:19 UTC
@laaph

Huh? The camera was supposed to be controlled by mouse movement... so this is most likely some sort of a bug. :(

Could you give me some details on what is your setup so I might try to figure out what went wrong for you?

((And on an unrelated note, but I might as well confess since nobody pointer it out by now - I forgot to put a constraint to vertical axis, so you technically can turn the game upside-down...))
Laaph
18. Dec 2017 · 11:23 UTC
@Hilvon nothing is broken, I'm just silly enough that I never thought to move the mouse. :p
🎤 Hilvon
18. Dec 2017 · 11:35 UTC
@laaph No mouse? Erm... :thinking:

Just to check - you were using a controller and the camera rotation didn't link to right stick?

This might be a problem as I never play-tested the game using a controller... due to not owning one. :blush:

I guess I better pick one up after all.
Laaph
18. Dec 2017 · 12:23 UTC
@Hilvon nope, was using the keyboard, just didn't occur to me to see what the mouse did. I don't own a game controller either, I keep thinking I should pick one up but haven't done so yet either. And I always find myself asking other people if the game works as expected when I try to add controller support.
justinooncx
22. Dec 2017 · 18:29 UTC
Interesting game! Or, well, tech demo. I like the concept; picking up a key makes the maze a bit more difficult to traverse with walls being cut off... In practice, though, it's surprisingly easy. The flames that block off your path will simply guide you to the next key, and it gets less complicated as time goes on. Hilariously, a minimap would actually make things a lot more challenging, as long as you don't show where the flames are! Also, it's pretty funny to be able to see through a wall by tilting the camera just so, although it's usefulness isn't that much. Still, it's a nice, promising game that must've been tricky to do!
🎤 Hilvon
25. Dec 2017 · 12:19 UTC
@justinooncx Thank you for feedback!

Yeah, I realized that my blockage placement algorithm was a bit too zealous in placing the fires... And when the final key was picked up there is literally nothing but the correct path remaining which makes the maze.. less of a maze.
Definitely something to dix in the post-LD version.
Linear
27. Dec 2017 · 20:42 UTC
New Text
shemoKam
27. Dec 2017 · 21:49 UTC
I like the game, I didnt see any other maze game :3

I just hope you put few screeshots of the game in here, hopefully you`ll add more challenges to the maze, god luck !
🎤 Hilvon
28. Dec 2017 · 14:59 UTC
@shemokam There definitely were some other maze games. :)

And honestly... I didn't feel like my game had some solid graphics to make appealing screenshots. ((That, and I had to really publish the game in a rush, so I just forgot to put some...))
🎤 Hilvon
29. Jan 2018 · 23:32 UTC
A new version is finally made available! Please see description for more details.

At the moment there is onlu Windows 32 build available of the new version. If you need a buils on another platform - please let me know.