Maze of MURDERS

I just finished programming an ASCII art Gemini multiplayer game. It's called "Maze of MURDERS." Give it a try and send any feedback you have. Thanks! The URL is gemini://rellwood.space/maze.gmi

rellwood.space/maze.gmi

Posted in: s/ascii-art

🎲 rellwood

2023-12-29 · 5 months ago · 👍 skyjake, mozz, nerd, Bernard, ed

23 Comments ↓

👤 AnoikisNomads · Dec 29 at 03:14:

very nice! I just finished a run and ran into you as well. a few thoughts:

- maybe add a "turn around" action that equals 2x left

- the visuals take up the whole screen of my mobile. having to scroll down for any action is tedious, maybe you can reduce their height

- the maze is rather empty. I found tteasures and turnips but mostly it's a walking sim.

- turnips seem unnecessary, unless maze runs take multiple days

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 29 at 03:54:

Thanks for the feedback.

- A turn-around option will be easy enough to add. I'll do that.

- I can't resize the ASCII art visuals without a total overhaul, not to mention a loss of detail which is sparse enough as it is. What if I put the navigation links above the visuals?

- I'm hoping more players will play, decreasing the emptiness. Maybe I should think about adding other stuff.

- The turnip thing is still experimental. As I see how people play the game, I'll modify them to suit.

🐐 satch · Dec 29 at 04:19:

Yes please put the navigation links above the visuals.

🐐 satch · Dec 29 at 04:34:

Also, maybe don't give wall-kits 30 points, as this perhaps too large a disincentive against using them. It's too early to tell for sure but I thought to mention it.

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 29 at 05:13:

Good call. I'll reduce the points of the wall-kits to 5, like most other items. I'll put navigation above the ASCII art.

👤 AnoikisNomads · Dec 29 at 05:40:

I just checked the game on my comp - I'm using the amfora client in a fullHD terminal. even there the graphics are higher than the screen. I understand that reworking the ASCII art will be a bit of work but it would be worth it. most of the screens are empty halls/walls anyway, reducing the height of those will be trivial, leaving only the screens with actual things in it.

🐐 drh3xx · Dec 29 at 12:49:

Cool! Has a kind of Monster Maze vibe to it.

I'd echo the other comments.

Unfortunately I only found a turnip so far, 2 sleeping players and 1 dead player and I've explored maybe 60% of the map.

I see you use a random value to prevent caching; @skyjake as one of the major clients (any idea on exact marketshare?) is there any chance you could add an option to disable caching on a domain by domain or URI regex basis? Using a random value will work (excluding minimal chance of clashes) but it eats up a fair amount of the allowable URI length.

🐐 satch · Dec 29 at 16:41:

Love the game. I finished my map and the game ended? I thought I was going to be able to leave the maze at some point. Also, how come I can't kill or steal from murderers?

Now that the map is done, here is what my page looks like (with the completed map censored):

Maze of MURDERS

X = your location

G = treasure

T = turnip (current or former position)

B = dead body

E = maze exit

Notice there are no links or actions I can take.

🕹️ skyjake [...] · Dec 29 at 17:03:

@drh3xx Note that Lagrange does not cache contents of any request that occurs via a link clicked on a page. Cached contents are only used when navigating back/forward in history or at startup when restoring open tabs. These random query strings do nothing to affect Lagrange's behavior.

In Preferences, you can set Content > Cache size to 0 to prevent all forms of caching, to see how that feels. (Not super great, IMHO.)

🕹️ skyjake [...] · Dec 29 at 17:07:

Which one of you stole all my turnips? 😄

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 29 at 17:43:

@satch The idea is that once you've completed the map and are ready to leave the maze, head back to the entrance and return to the surface there. That'll end your game and show your final score.

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 29 at 18:01:

@AnoikisNomads I've moved the navagation links to the top and added a turn around option, as you suggested. Thanks!

@satch That's a good idea to make it possible to kill and rob conscious murders. I'll add that. That'll make players think twice about committing murder in the first place.

@skyjake Thanks for the caching info re. Lagrange. I added the random string because I found that other browsers aren't nearly as sensible as yours and would cache everything.

🐐 satch · Dec 29 at 22:16:

@rellwood sorry for not being more clear. I know the idea is that at the end of the game you can head back to the entrance and return to the surface. The problem is that at some point, I became stuck in map view mode with no links displaying to take me back to action view.

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 29 at 22:28:

@satch Ah I see. I fixed that bug. You should be able to escape the map now. :) I have also made it possible to execute conscious murderers--in the name of justice, of course!

🐐 satch · Dec 29 at 22:43:

Ok sweet, yes your fix worked. I still cannot kill the sleeping murderer right in front of me, however. Also, I have a link to execute waking murderers but it doesn't seem to do anything.

🐐 satch · Dec 29 at 22:52:

Now my character sees only the # Maze of MURDERS header and nothing else...

☕️ johan · Dec 30 at 19:45:

absolutely lovely ascii arts! got some wolf3d vibes. only thing to address from my view is that there is not much to do once you have murdered all the sleeping players near the exit and stole all their things (sorry). took a pretty long tour and explored about fifty percent of the map but found nothing and no one.

🐐 satch · Dec 30 at 20:25:

@johan that’s just because this game is pretty much over as I already stole most of the treasures 😝

☕️ johan · Dec 30 at 20:47:

that did strike me as an explanation... this game really brings out the worst in us, in a fun way. anyway I also liked the yelling and carving features. close to a local instance of Castledon

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 30 at 23:01:

Thanks, @satch for the bug reports. I fixed the execute-a-murderer feature, which gives the players the opportunity to "serve justice" (and rob) without becoming a murderer themselves. Also, congrats. on the win!

@johan I'm glad you like the art...anyway a new game has now begun so now's your chance to get in there and hoard.

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Dec 31 at 00:59:

I've added a daily limit of play to 30 minutes which should make the wall-kits more valuable (so you can hope to survive the night) and threat of starvation more real.

🚀 stack · Jan 05 at 22:42:

Navigation... In Lagrange, pressing the ALT key with a number does a virtual click on the first 10 links...

If you manage to keep the first few links for consistent navigation directions - even if the direction is not available (Label as not available and just send it to an error page) -- navigation would be much easer!

🎲 rellwood [OP] · Jan 09 at 05:09:

@stack Good idea. I'll add that!

I've been thinking about adding a bulletin board to the game for discussion. Do you think that would be a good idea? Or, myabe I could request a sub-space on BBS. Suggestions?