Here in the Hamster Burrow, we'll be feature game design tips from experts in the OHR field. In this design-focused article, Willy breaks down what it means to have a maze in your game, the pitfalls and dead-ends you're sure to encounter while designing them, and how to successfully navigate your way to a well designed maze.
Author: Willy Elektrix
Introduction
Mazes have been relevant in computer role-playing since the
medium's infancy. Colossal
Cave
A maze is a puzzle of intersecting paths that challenges
memory, direction sense, and logic. The most difficult mazes are recursive in
design, meaning that the paths loop back onto themselves. In a non-recursive
maze, every branch eventually dead-ends. To solve a non-recursive maze, the player
imagines placing their hand on a wall of the maze. If they proceed without
removing it, eventually they wind their way to the conclusion. Recursion can
make this method unreliable since the player can go in circles infinitely. This
is even more confounding if that maze’s start and end are located within the maze,
instead of on its boundaries.
Obstacles
The toughest mazes test the player’s memory as well as
direction sense. Long recursive paths, repetitive patterns, and massive scale
can be daunting and bewildering. Mazes in computer role-playing games often use
clever obstacles as well. Below are common obstacles and some variations on
them.
Logic Lance: Logic lance is a term coined by maze-maker
Adrian Fisher. A logic lance is a system of rules whose correct interpretation
solves the maze. For example, the player must go south at every intersection,
or always proceed to the nearest door, or avoid branches with hairpin corners.
These rules can incorporate tiles, text boxes, sound effects, and shaped paths.
Clues can suggest these rules, or player can discover them through observation.
Invisible Walls: Players revile invisible walls, so it’s
always tempting to include some, or even make the whole maze invisible.
Unfortunately, this is too frustrating. A clever solution is to use animated wall
tiles that are mostly invisible but flicker briefly into existence. Better yet,
devise a system of coded sound effects. For instance, ticking is heard as the
player reaches an invisible intersection. The quantity and pitch of the ticks
indicates the number and direction of any paths.
Teleporters: Teleporters transport the player to another
maze section. Since he is rarely sure of the spatial relationship between the
teleporter’s origin and destination, this is very disorienting. A common RPG
maze involves rooms connected by a branching teleporter network. It’s easy to
go wild with this type of puzzle. Identical rooms and looping sequences of
teleporters are infuriating. Even crueler, create a teleporter that appears to
transport the player, but doesn’t move him anywhere. He assumes he has
teleported to an identical room, while actually he never left the origin point.
It’s effortless to be sneaky with teleporters. Vast teleporter webs are
impossibly difficult to navigate yet can be created with no sweat. In fact,
implementing teleporters while not frustrating the player is a difficult
balance.
Locked Doors: Locked doors are simple to implement in the OHRRPGCE.
Doors can have specific keys (i.e. "red key" and "red door")
or keys can be a generic resource, with each door taking an identical disposable
key. Variations on these familiar ideas are infinite. A key shortage forces players
to make irreversible decisions. Mislabeled doors create ambiguity concerning
which key to use, penalizing the player for choosing the wrong key. Keys might
be fakes and break when used, so the player must circumvent the door entirely. Or
you can always overwhelm the player with sheer volume. Dozens or hundreds of
different keys can turn navigation into a resource management nightmare.
False Walls: False walls concealing hidden paths can be made
with ease (even accidentally) while wallmap editing in the OHRRPGCE. Provide
clues to challenge the player’s observation skills. Try making the false wall
tile look slightly different, or animating it to momentarily vanish. Switch it up
with an audio clue, such as adjacent tile that triggers a sound effect. Most
players assume a false wall conceals something important, so it’s sometimes satisfying
to subvert expectations with a hidden path that’s a featureless dead-end.
Three-Dimensionality: Incorporating multiple floors creates
an incredible sense of scale. Stairs, pits, and teleporters between levels make
a tricky maze of monstrous proportions. The sprawling mazes of Phantasy Star 2 (1989)
demonstrate this wonderfully.
Et Cetera: This list is not fully inclusive. Make the maze
more elaborate with one-way doors, switches, pushable walls, fake treasure,
riddles, or anything else from the toolbox of RPG challenges.
Presentation
The OHRRPGCE’s overhead view limits options for presentation.
With a bird’s-eye view, the player maintains a consistent relationship to the
compass directions. Wrapping the map edges creates the illusion of massive size
and sows confusion. Another technique is to divide the maze into numerous maps connected
by doors. This inhibits the player’s line of sight, and allows for mazes of
impossible physical construction.
Conclusion
The maze is a superb puzzle with a history that encompasses
classic computer role-playing and beyond. A staggering variety of mazes is
achievable even within the limits of the OHRRPGCE. If you have any feedback or
maze ideas of your own, please post a comment on this article.
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