A Dark Maze by BubuIIC

[raw]
made by BubuIIC for LD31 (JAM)
You have to navigate a dark maze. You can only see your immediate vicinity. Can you reach the end of each level?

(You have to find a glowing green box.)

The randomly generated labyrinth gets bigger with every level you solve. (The first levels are actually a bit too easy. It gets more interesting later.)

Use WASD or arrow keys to control. On android use touch controls or gyroscope (tilt the device).

This is just the very basic Idea of what we wanted to do. We wanted to add 2 additional layers to the maze. An underground layer where you don't see anything and a second level where you have a better overview over the first level.
Also there actually should be a glowing trail following the ball (Which would make navigating the maze easier). But this unfortunately made some last minute problems.
This was the first time that we were using Unity 3D. We were a bit slow at times but this actually worked rather well.

Design, Code, Everything: Marcus Hoffmann & Eric Zimmermann

PS: Some thing for the different platforms.
* Windows works best, even better use the web player.
* The OS/X build is not tested at all.
* The linux build has no shadows on my Intel HD 4000. This makes solving the labyrinth __much__ easier.
* The android package can be installed manually (see here: http://papidroid.com/2013/12/12/how-to-install-apk-files-on-your-android-phone-or-tablet/)
* Android devices vary greatly, tablets should work best performance and screen space wise.
* Devices with Tegra GPU can't render any shadows. (Again, this makes the game much easier)

UPDATES:
- Fixed MacOS Build file permissions
- Fixed too big settings menu on linux
- Fixed Shadows not working on Intel cards under linux
- The server hosting the game files was down for a day... fixed now.

Ratings

Coolness 0% 2356
Overall(Jam) 2.94 729
Fun(Jam) 3.12 449
Graphics(Jam) 3.44 421
Innovation(Jam) 2.76 683
Theme(Jam) 3.35 681

Feedback

peejaygee
09. Dec 2014 路 00:56 UTC
I thought these were meant to be at least runnable before entering it, or it would fall under the other type of compo?
馃帳 BubuIIC
09. Dec 2014 路 02:46 UTC
@peejaygee: Well, it is a Jam entry. And it was entered 1 hour before the deadline as a placeholder...
MurderSantaTeam
09. Dec 2014 路 19:14 UTC
i enjoy the graphics :)
Murchurl
10. Dec 2014 路 07:39 UTC
Simple maze game, I like it! lighting is quite nice swell, good job!
Larzan
10. Dec 2014 路 22:45 UTC
I liked the shadow and light effects, but it after the first few levels it got a bit monotone, maybe if you added sth to collect?
HUMANICS
11. Dec 2014 路 00:57 UTC
made it to level 11 when suddenly thd light went off... :\
Pulsartronic
11. Dec 2014 路 19:11 UTC
funny, i spend some time playing this entry :D ... nice light effects, simple and creative :D good job
SusanTheCat
14. Dec 2014 路 03:08 UTC
Good use of light and shadow.
I played it on my Galaxy Tablet with the gyroscope and it worked well.
DonovanWu
15. Dec 2014 路 01:27 UTC
Really cool effects!
elvaq
28. Dec 2014 路 05:19 UTC
Ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would! Simple concept but the controls are nice and the lighting/mood is great. Nice work, seems like you had fun
Dans17
28. Dec 2014 路 06:04 UTC
Nice game, although the movement could be a little frustrating at times. This could be fixed by changing the movement speed to a fixed variable instead of having acceleration and friction on the ball.
Lululinn
28. Dec 2014 路 06:12 UTC
Its a simple but nice concept but so dull with no music or sound
Jezzamon
29. Dec 2014 路 12:22 UTC
Woot! I'm the 20th voter, which means your game got just enough votes to get a rating! Lucky! Next time you might want to play and rate others' games so that your people see your game more, and it gets more ratings

I got up to level 14... not sure if there's infinite or not.

Here's some suggestions for how this game could be improved, or what stuff you can work on next time:
- Add some sound effects! Check out the resources page, there's a few good tools there.
- Add some music! For Jam games you can use music made by other people as long as you have the rights to use it. (Although you should opt out of that category if you do)
- Less slidey controls. I think Unity defaults to making controls like that for some reason? But yeah I'd like to be able to press a button and have my character move, and release a button and have my character stop. I think there's a 'gravity' option you can adjust for controls in Unity.
- Some other mechanic! Maze games have been done before, to be honest. And they're mostly just trial and error. I get that you were short on time though. :)

I think next time (hopefully you guys do something next time!) you should try to familiarise yourself with your tools before you start! This might sound kinda harsh but I could probably make something similar myself in a half a day or so (assuming I didn't come across any problems). I imagine you lost a bit of time just figuring out how Unity worked. If you're practised you'd have more time to add more stuff in!