Maze mechanics

See also: Level Design, Architecture

"And wow, I should say, I do hate mazes right. It was the one rule that I was trying to get across in the first game when we were working with the level artists was don't make mazes, because they just confuse people and people get lost and frustrated." - Toby Gard, Tomb Raider: Anniversary Designers' Commentary

“Look at you, hacker: a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors." - SHODAN, System Shock

STANDARD MAZE DESIGN:
 * If I know roughly which direction I'm headed, it's possible to orient the turns in a maze around that focus.
 * One of the first things to figure out is whether the game uniformly treats Manhattan distance as the "speedrun" path and hides secrets in convoluted paths - such a practice is common
 * A way "forward" that seems to spiral out is enticing and indicates progress; a way "to the side" that spirals out balloons the player's internal map and suggests (though doesn't necessitate) backtracking
 * I try to clear out the "section" I'm in before moving to the next one


 * Pledge algorithm: works for trying to escape a maze, but not for finding something inside it
 * Trémaux's algorithm

The grammar of visual language, "Pragnanz": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology#Pr%C3%A4gnanz

"The labyrinth, like a mandala, is based on ‘organic sacred geometry’ that departs from the principle ‘the shortest distance between two points is a straight line’, recognising the acceleration found in curvature of vortices."

Early History

 * Mouse in the Maze (1959) - https://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com/tag/mouse-in-a-maze/
 * Maze War (1973)
 * Gotcha (1973)
 * The Amazing Maze Game (1976)
 * Blockade (1976)
 * Nibbler (1982)????
 * Snake (1997, Nokia)
 * Tron Light Cycles
 * Armagetron Advanced (2001)
 * Mu-cade (2006)
 * Slither.io (2016)
 * https://www.pippinbarr.com/games/artgame/ArtGame.html
 * Snake Pass (2017)
 * Snakeybus (2019)
 * Maze Game (1978)
 * Space Chaser (1979)
 * Head On (1979)
 * Heiyankyo Alien (1979)
 * Berzerk (1980)


 * Pac-Man (1980, Atari)
 * Pacman Ghost AI
 * Pac-Man Ghost AI Explained
 * Ms Pac-Man (1982)
 * Differences Between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man
 * The Making of Ms Pac-Man
 * Pac 'n Pal (1983)
 * Pac-Mania (1987)
 * Pac-Man Arrangement (1996)
 * Ms. Pac Man: Maze Madness (2000)
 * Pac Man: Adventures in Time (2000)
 * Pac Man Battle Royale (2011)
 * Pac-Man 256 (2015)
 * Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (2016)


 * Wizard of Wor (1980)
 * Tranquilizer Gun (1980)
 * Make Trax AKA Crush Roller (1981)
 * Bomberman (1983)
 * Devil World (1984)
 * Labyrinth (1984)
 * MIDI Maze (1987)
 * Raimais (1988) - http://gaming.moe/?p=1794

PSEUDO-MAZE GAMES:
 * Sokoban (1982)
 * Boulder Dash (1984)
 * Solomon's Key (1986)
 * Emerald Mine (1987)
 * Supaplex (1991)
 * Rocks'n'Diamonds (1995)


 * Qix (1981)
 * Disco No. 1 (1982)
 * Quantum (1982)
 * Gals Panic (1990)
 * Dancing Eyes (1996)


 * Frogger / Crossy Road
 * Clu Clu Land
 * Blockade/Quoridor (Board Games)
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromouse

Glossary of Terms

 * T-maze and Y-Maze
 * Fractal maze
 * Infinite empty space outside the border of the maze
 * Unreachable areas


 * Passages/corridors
 * Corners
 * Dead-ends
 * Crossroads
 * Cul-de-sac checkpoints/rest areas
 * Islands
 * Loops
 * Spirals
 * Overpasses/underpasses
 * Transparent walls/windows
 * Low/high walls
 * Shortcuts/hidden passages
 * Elitism (how much ground do you have to cover to solve the maze?)
 * Unicursal labyrinth comprised of multiple circuits


 * One-way doors????
 * 4-D Backtracking????
 * Marathon: 5-D Space
 * Lunatic Fringe (Duke Nukem 3D)
 * http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/maze/simple/index.htm#spiral
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Fontana_(engineer)
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiyang_Lou
 * http://www.geomancy.org/index.php/mag-e-zine/mag-e-zine-1997/no-6-summer-solstice/dowsing-labyrinths