Level Demo - Maze Madness

In an attempt to try and make a quick mini game, I built a level for a single-screen maze game. The idea is that a full game would include several single-screen levels of increasing difficulty, and be ideal as a mobile phone app. If you want to have a go at it, the link is here:

Maze Madness - First Level Demo

My analysis is below the cut.



Things I liked:

• The darkness element worked on numerous levels; not only did it add an interesting challenge to a simple maze, but it made my laughable graphics look almost passable. On a serious note, this means you could create very simplistic backgrounds without them looking simplistic. Of course, the darkness feature means you can't have mazes that are too complex, or too big; they would become too frustrating to play.
• The random element to the enemies adds to the difficulty without being over the top. Although they will chase you if they get close, you can also outrun them as they move more slowly than your player character.
• If anything shows that sound effects can enhance a game, I think this does. They fit nicely and make the game feel more frantic.

Things I didn't like:

• The random element to the enemies means that they can cluster together. Although its logical that all five of them would gang up on the player, it also seems a little unfair.
• From a mobile app point of view, would the background shown around the player be too difficult to see? The walls and floor could potentially be difficult to distinguish on a small screen.

Potential improvements:

• Perhaps the enemies ought to have a finite existence. Once they spontaneously destroy themselves, there could be a small lag period before another is generated to replace it.
• The contrast between the walls where the player cannot pass through and the floor where the player can move freely needs to be much greater to allow for people playing it on smaller screens.
• Perhaps the invulnerability period should be longer - or perhaps the invulnerability period should be mentioned in the instructions. Although I thought that the difference between the player flashing red and flashing white would make it clear, getting a friend to play proved me wrong.
• Creating more than one way to get to the end of the maze would allow a little more flexibility in gameplay.
• Power-ups could be utilised which increased the player's range of visibility, or showed an 'as the crow flies' route from the player to the exit, or even showed a full view of the map for a couple of seconds. These would go hand-in-hand with creating areas which spawn extra enemies if a player crosses them; if a power-up could result in either good or bad consequences for the player, they have the option of weighing up the risk of activating them.

Other points:

• I considered the idea of a full game randomising mazes for the player to play, but only if they remained the same until you had completed them. The point of the levels are that you need to engage your memory to complete the mazes, as there is no way of being able to accurately plan your route.
• I broke a little game design no-no by insulting the player slightly in the rankings, but I figured it was more fun teasing than outright derision - especially as the player also gets slightly mocked for being good. It fitted in with a game that feels as though the player is up against everything; including the game itself.