Maze Escape by RadicalEd

[raw]
made by RadicalEd for LD21 (-)
In this game you control small blue dot, which should run through the maze and escape from the lava flow. To win the game you must complete 5 random levels. Control - arrows or WASD.

2011/09/09 Suddenly my primary hosting is down, so I changed the links.

Ratings

Coolness 5% 115
Overall 3.21 140
Audio 1.05 368
Community 2.00 336
Fun 3.08 125
Graphics 2.06 398
Humor 1.35 387
Innovation 2.54 300
Theme 3.83 32

Feedback

SusanTheCat
21. Aug 2011 路 20:16 UTC
Very cool! I kept having trouble on the corners.

Susan
馃帳 RadicalEd
21. Aug 2011 路 22:07 UTC
Oh, those corners! My friends told me the same, but I have no time to deal with it.

You can "stick" to walls with no speed loose, this can do the job :)
gigitrix
22. Aug 2011 路 13:08 UTC
I'm sorry, I'm too busy being mesmerized by the title screen slowly generating the mazes then filling them with lava! Tell me you are turning that into a screensaver!
馃帳 RadicalEd
22. Aug 2011 路 17:47 UTC
Maybe I will! Just for $0.99 xD
redwater
22. Aug 2011 路 22:17 UTC
cool stuff! i like how the lava forces you to go through it quickly, check the path in advance. finally making a mazegame challenging and skillful :D
Zaron
23. Aug 2011 路 01:19 UTC
I've seen similar done before, but you balanced the speed of the lava quite nicely to keep one moving but not domed if they pause for a millisecond on the corner. Five stages is pretty short, but works well enough to give some slight difficulty curve (I notice the lava gets a bit faster each time) without becoming completely impossible or anything.

I'mma call this a job well done.
offwhitefox
23. Aug 2011 路 01:42 UTC
Nicely done. Well executed idea with a solid mechanic. I have to echo the complaints about the corners, though I did find it easier once I started holding down the keys of whatever direction I was going to move in next. Well done :)
Milo
23. Aug 2011 路 02:01 UTC
The lava's speed seems to be pretty well balanced - it was about 1 square behind me on the last level. I like how it kind of helps to show you the path.
gbear605
23. Aug 2011 路 02:08 UTC
I really like this game, very fun :)

Make the lava a tiny bit slower, but not much.
Bloodyaugust
23. Aug 2011 路 02:25 UTC
This game was very fun, quick and dirty, the controls were sometimes lacking especially going around corners... I got stuck ALOT. XD
DrPetter
23. Aug 2011 路 09:59 UTC
Fun and relaxing. Could be interesting to take it further by perhaps making mazes that are locked off in various points, and providing the player with a couple of explosive charges to blow holes in strategic places. Making a hole in the wrong spot would create a shortcut for the lava and put you at greater risk. Maybe the bombs would actually be placed throughout the maze for you to pick up. Obviously with such a change the flow would have to be delayed or slowed down to make it all playable.
kevglass
23. Aug 2011 路 11:53 UTC
Sweet game. One level was enough for me though.
BlueShaman
23. Aug 2011 路 16:31 UTC
Cool. The only real suggestion I have for it is different generation algorithms, which might have made it harder / more appealing, more novel, etc. So that you could play it over and over and over and have a little more variance than with just this.
agersant
23. Aug 2011 路 22:45 UTC
Very good gameplay mechanic. It becomes very fun to play after mastering the wall sticking technique.
Drekinn
24. Aug 2011 路 07:04 UTC
Simple yet panic-inducing fun. :)
馃帳 RadicalEd
24. Aug 2011 路 07:11 UTC
I'm very glad that most of you have found this game interesting :)

Big thanks to all, I hope I'll continue to participate in LD, and I hope I can create more interesting and exciting games.
wally2069
24. Aug 2011 路 21:27 UTC
The loading and exit screens are almost hypnotic. The maze is nicely generated and the flow of lava has just about the right pace to it. Great work.
Nihilate
25. Aug 2011 路 04:04 UTC
I have to agree with everyone else; the game over screen is really, really cool.

I got caught a little on some of the corners, but it probably doesn't help that I don't have an Up key haha

Well done
kavs
25. Aug 2011 路 06:33 UTC
I played this over and over on the train home today and made many notes about how much fun I was having. The lava filling up the screen on the intro/game over screen has a mesmerizing effect. A lot like winning a game of Solitare on Windows. :D

It wasn't very hard, but it was enjoyable. I had to micromanage my player position while scouting ahead for the viable route. I found that the red lava was a nice contrast and gave me enough information via peripheral vision so that I knew where it was walling things off and it ended up helping guide me home.

Well done! Super polished and super fun. :) I like how the lava sped up. I barely made it!

I wish you had time to add some music and sound effects, though. That would have been the icing on the cake.
heck
25. Aug 2011 路 14:44 UTC
Cool twist on maze game! I had the same "corner" problem with everyone else. It will be interesting to see the basic idea being expanded.
r00tbeer
26. Aug 2011 路 05:42 UTC
Nice basic maze game. Needs some panic-inducing music and sound FX that get louder as the lava approaches. Turning corner "sticking" into a slowdown might be interesting?
Rudy
26. Aug 2011 路 15:40 UTC
Well executed, but uneventful. As gameplay, it is basically a timed maze-game. Not really innovative within the theme. Not sure if 3 more levels are worth the ending screen, which is supposed to be great, unless it means automatically filling in the maze again.
Basilios
27. Aug 2011 路 18:06 UTC
Neat little game. I liked that the lava increased in speed between levels, as it helped to keep things challenging.

I agree with everybody elses' comments about the corners, though. I'm not sure that the current method of movement actually adds anything to the game (apart from frustration); you might want to consider making it tile-based instead.
arielsan
28. Aug 2011 路 20:33 UTC
Simple but great game.
TaslemGuy
30. Aug 2011 路 00:18 UTC
It's a neat game. Pretty and fluid-feeling. Real nice. Only problem is that it's essentially just a simple maze, and mazes aren't generally all that fun. It would be neat if this expanded into a sort of Key + Door / Sword + Monster type game.
ippa
31. Aug 2011 路 16:47 UTC
I think I made it: "A WINRAR IS YOU"? ;)

Well, now it's proved, labyrinths get at least 3x better with lava.

I'm not sure but I think the lava was flowing faster and faster too? Easy to way to make it harder and harder.

I also liked that you Could get stuck on corners, actually made you "plan" your movements.

The lava could also work in your advantage, explicity showing you a section Not to move into.

I can't help to wonder what other obstacles one could have added to the simple labyrinth base to make it even more challanging.

Nice game!
Andrew
01. Sep 2011 路 21:13 UTC
The mazes were a bit too linear, so there was more a matter of making turns in time than making right turns. A less linear maze would have probably not have worked out with lava though.
Benjamin
02. Sep 2011 路 15:57 UTC
It's more race+lava than laby+lava ( which is a very neat idea ), most of the time there's only one path. The lava mechanic should still work with deeper branches of corridor ( player will just have to check his path while running ).
tcstyle
03. Sep 2011 路 07:05 UTC
Simple, yet a lot fun.
Could need some thrilling soundtrack. The maze generator works great.
krangGAMES
04. Sep 2011 路 03:53 UTC
Simple, yet very fun :) I managed to get through the whole thing on my first try, but I made one slightly wrong turn on the last level - the last bit was pretty hairy!

I enjoyed the gameplay quite a bit, well done. A winrar is YOU ;)