Movable maze prototype

[bjbest60]

Hey all,

 

I'm attaching a prototype of an idea I'm calling Magimaze until something better comes along. You play as the morphing square thing, and your goal is to reach the star.

 

You can move your square as expected, but--where the "magi" comes in--you can move the maze itself by holding down the fire button and using the joystick. (I say "magi," but you might pronounce it as "pfscroll." ) By moving both yourself and the maze, you can reach the goal. There are six levels so far, the sixth being nigh impossible. If you touch a wall, the level resets.

 

My main question: has this been done before? It seems like a pretty simple concept, but I can't immediately name a game that operates in this manner. I don't really want to replicate an idea if it's clearly been done better elsewhere. But so far I like where the game is headed.

 

Secondary question: If you think this is interesting, what could be added to make it a game beyond maze after maze after maze? I have a timer planned to get higher scores based on faster completion, but I don't think that's enough.

 

Thanks for any comments!

Magimaze prototype 012418.bin

Magimaze prototype 012518 flipped controls.bin

Magimaze prototype code 012618.bas

Magimaze prototype 013118.bin

Edited February 1, 2018 by bjbest60

[ZackAttack]

Rather than having to manually move the maze I'd prefer it just scroll for me automatically. Personally I think it feels like difficulty via bad controls. The maze and scrolling looks good though. I think this could definitely lead to a fun game.

[Coolcrab]

This is fun and original. I like it please make it into a full game

[Mountain King]

It might be early in your development, but I find it awkward to do both move and move the maze. But I am also curious how you plan to use this mechanic.

[Arenafoot]

You can move your square as expected, but--where the "magi" comes in--you can move the maze itself by holding down the fire button and using the joystick. (I say "magi," but you might pronounce it as "pfscroll." )

 

Thanks for any comments!

 

The controls are backwards while holding down the button.... is this right?

[bjbest60]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

 

Rather than having to manually move the maze I'd prefer it just scroll for me automatically. Personally I think it feels like difficulty via bad controls. The maze and scrolling looks good though. I think this could definitely lead to a fun game.

 

I'm curious how automatic scrolling would work here. Would the idea be to put the player in a sort of bounding box, and if the player tries to move beyond the box, start moving the maze rather than the player? (That is, the player could move around the center of the screen, but if you wander too far to one edge, eventually you stop moving and the maze starts moving. I'm thinking about how the Mario games handle their horizontal scrolling this way.)

 

It might be early in your development, but I find it awkward to do both move and move the maze. But I am also curious how you plan to use this mechanic.

 

I don't have much beyond the mechanic itself. I'm thinking it's just a different kind of puzzle game. But I'm also looking for something to add interest; I'm not sure what it is yet. Standard enemy / shooting behavior seems kind of boring, and it might be difficult to scroll enemies properly. I'm open to ideas, and I'm not quite sure where I want to go with it. I added a new .bin to the original post with the maze controls flipped (e.g., button + up = pfscroll down, rather than pfscroll up) and I wonder if that makes things less awkward.

 

 

The controls are backwards while holding down the button.... is this right?

 

Not necessarily. It made sense to me, but I tried flipping everything, and I wonder if the controls are more intuitive now. With the new .bin above, the controls are reversed from the original, and perhaps it makes changing between moving the player and the maze more logical.

 

Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate the thoughts so far.

[Mr SQL]

Nice! Just gave it a try, this would make a great scrolling Adventure or Berzerk.

[ZackAttack]

I'm curious how automatic scrolling would work here. Would the idea be to put the player in a sort of bounding box, and if the player tries to move beyond the box, start moving the maze rather than the player? (That is, the player could move around the center of the screen, but if you wander too far to one edge, eventually you stop moving and the maze starts moving. I'm thinking about how the Mario games handle their horizontal scrolling this way.)

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. Of course you should be able to cross the bounding box when you get to the edge of the maze and can no longer scroll. That or allow it to scroll the edge of the maze far enough that it is in the bounding box.

 

One idea for game play could be to have some moveable walls. A dynamic maze/puzzle game. One way passages might be useful too.

[StanJr]

I really like the concept, but there needs to be more impetus to move the player and not the maze. This really doesn't become important to the game play until level 6 when the gaps are so narrow that you are often better moving the player. For all other levels, as soon as I get the player away from the edge of the screen I just move the maze around until I get the star. Level 6 isn't impossible, just really really touchy and borderline annoying. Could the player start at a different position on the screen for each new maze? (upper middle, bottom left, etc.)

 

If you want to flesh it out, points can be awarded for speed of completion, or additional power-ups found along the way to the star. There could also be negative power-ups that freeze the maze in place for 2-5 seconds or make the maze invisible, etc. You could have levels where the star moves to a new location after X amount of time.

 

Loads of potential here with a good core foundation to build upon.

 

[uosipa llamxew]

I am impressed by the scrolling. Is there any chance you might release a .bas file so that someone like myself can take a peek? I think there are many bB folks who might be interested in implementing something similar in their own games.

 

Cheers.

[bjbest60]

I am impressed by the scrolling. Is there any chance you might release a .bas file so that someone like myself can take a peek? I think there are many bB folks who might be interested in implementing something similar in their own games.

 

Cheers.

 

Certainly! I've uploaded it to the original post. I don't really follow conventional niceties with commenting, naming, labeling, etc., but I'm hoping the variable names and section names are sufficiently clear. And yes, if someone sees some possibilities for their own games, please feel free to use whatever's helpful.

[uosipa llamxew]

Actually, at first glance, it appears more readable to me than many examples with all of the strange naming conventions and things.

Thanks!

[bjbest60]

I've uploaded a new version that includes an indestructible enemy. I think this addresses the issue of needing to move both the player and the maze. For levels 1 and 2, the enemy is an "Evil Otto" type--it just chases you. For levels 3 and above, there's an enemy that's confined to the maze itself. (It's buggy as hell, often jumping walls due to scrolling, but the idea is there.) I'm curious if one is more compelling. I'm surprised that I think Evil Otto makes for better gameplay, and I think there's enough potential variation (speed, directions that it travels, etc.) that it could suffice.

 

I'm using the standard kernel, so I'm kind of left with the ball as my remaining graphic. That could definitely be a pickup of some sort--right now I'm thinking that if you pick it up, it gives you the power to destroy one wall (one or two pfpixels, depending on where you hit them).

 

I definitely plan on the countdown timer, and varying player / goal positions. A temporarily invisible maze is a great idea, and I think a moving goal could work, too. I'm also going to look into using multiples copies of the enemy and also possibly the player.

 

So, lots to consider. But for now: is one of the enemies, in theory at least, better than the other?

 

Thanks!

[StanJr]

I like BOTH enemies. The Evil Otto enemy is best suited for the early levels to force you to move the player and not the maze, that executed perfectly. But the EO enemy would really really suck on levels like level 6. For those kinds of levels the second enemy is much better. What if you could make the second enemy like the Zombie in Entombed, so he must follow the maze, but every now and then loses his shit and goes through walls like a maniac.

 

I'm not sure about the wall-breaker power-up unless it is clear when it is active. Since touching a wall is death it would be problematic to just crash into walls hoping the power-up is active. I would think more about score power-ups, the base game is solid as is. Also, negative power-ups would force you to move about the maze in new ways to avoid.

 

Really enjoying this. Keep it up!

[bjbest60]

I like BOTH enemies. The Evil Otto enemy is best suited for the early levels to force you to move the player and not the maze, that executed perfectly. But the EO enemy would really really suck on levels like level 6. For those kinds of levels the second enemy is much better. What if you could make the second enemy like the Zombie in Entombed, so he must follow the maze, but every now and then loses his shit and goes through walls like a maniac.

 

I love Entombed! I'm trying very hard to not make it basically a clone of that game. But I agree, that enemy could be very interesting.

 

 

I'm not sure about the wall-breaker power-up unless it is clear when it is active. Since touching a wall is death it would be problematic to just crash into walls hoping the power-up is active. I would think more about score power-ups, the base game is solid as is. Also, negative power-ups would force you to move about the maze in new ways to avoid.

 

I would probably use one of the score bars to somehow keep track of the number of wall breaks available. I don't know if would make sense with the game overall. I like the idea of score pickups, too. I'm particularly excited about the invisible maze idea. It seems easy to program (knock on wood) and would really change how the game plays.

 

I think it's time to kind of sit down and think about the larger flow of the game (which enemies occur when, when does Evil Otto have a duplicate copy, when should things be invisible, what's a satisfying order of mazes, etc.) and set about incorporating those ideas.

 

Thanks!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Heya B.J.!! We're featuring your game Majimaze LIVE on Wednesday's ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 6PM PT/9PM ET, hope you can tune in! :-)

 

Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to say about your game during the show, just PM me with the info!

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.t...ropagehomebrew/

Games:

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- MagicMaze (WIP) by B.J. Best (bjbest60)
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- Dungeon (Retail) by David Weavil (s0c7)