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Altered Labyrinth's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #296 | 3.345 | 3.345 |
| Gameplay | #362 | 3.138 | 3.138 |
| Theme | #378 | 3.483 | 3.483 |
| Enjoyment | #404 | 3.276 | 3.276 |
| Overall | #458 | 3.207 | 3.207 |
| Audio | #561 | 2.897 | 2.897 |
| Visuals | #640 | 3.103 | 3.103 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does the game fit the theme?
The player is trapped in a strange place – a Labyrinth that changes. While running from monsters and searching for an escape, the player can find themself in strange places when the Altered Labyrinth shifts.
What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
None.
Design, programming, art, and music by Andrew Corum.
How many people worked on the game?1
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Comments
Interesting game. Simple concept but great execution!
Interesting little concept. The turn-based movement with the board shifting every step keeps you thinking ahead. Once I caught on to the pentagrams telegraphing what tiles were about to change, it became a bit of a mind game trying to predict the next layout and the best course of action. It can feel a little chaotic at times, especially when enemies path straight toward you and the board reshuffles in ways you didn't expect, but that unpredictability is kind of part of its identity.
The pixel art looks great and the soundtrack fits the mysterious puzzle vibe well. Also appreciated how quick the retry is, straight back into it without waiting around or replaying stages.
And making everything from scratch for a jam is no small feat. Awesome game and concept!
Interesting idea of morphing maze
Hey, great job on this! It was a small thing, but the bits of writing / monologue really made an impact for me on the whole feel of the game, it was a nice anchor for the imagination that put me in the perspective of the character and upped the emotional ante. You might be good writer! I would suggest you double down on it next time, you might be able to add a lot to what is otherwise a pretty simple experience. I also thought the music was great - fits the overall aesthetic while contributing the right feel to the atmosphere.
For the gameplay, I admire your ability to pick a limited / refined scope and stick with it... that's something I struggle with myself. My only critique would be that there were times when I felt I was at the mercy of random chance with no way to overcome an unfortunate series of RNG. Sometimes you just get stuck and there was nothing you could have done from a skill perspective. Maybe one added ability could have helped - like a sword that you can use only once to slay an enemy. It makes me think of something like Hoplite - very cool game that I've heard the Subset Games guys drew inspiration from.
Anyway, I played through to the end and appreciated the experience!
Thank you for the feedback! I am glad the monologue added something. I was a little hesitant to include it at first, so knowing this, I might play into it a bit more in this or future games :)
I think you've nailed the biggest pain-point in this game. The limited scope/mechanics works until the later levels, where the player's success feels too up to chance. The Prayer (teleport) mechanic was my first attempt to help this, but I definitely need something else for later levels. A single use sword is a good idea! Or I thought if the player had another prayer or spell or something that could interact with the tiles on the map, that might be fun. I'll have to try some of these out and see what works.
I'm glad you enjoyed playing through the game. Thanks again
An amazing concept, and a game with a potential to become something bigger if you continue your work on it! A really stellar job! Perhaps you should introduce some mechanics that allow players to interact with the map?
Thank you, that means a lot!
And I definitely agree.. another mechanic that gives the player more control over situations would make a big difference. Some way to move or destroy tiles might be one option. I will have to do some brainstorming and see what works.
Cool game! It’s impressive that you made everything from scratch! The pray mechanic is great and it looks visually nice.
I was kind of hoping I could hold down the direction I’m moving in, but I’m not sure how that would work with the turn-based mechanic. Maybe holding the key for a short threshold of time could trigger the next tick?
Thank you for the positive feedback! Glad the prayer mechanic served its purpose and helped you out.
Yes I 100% agree on the hold-to-move mechanic. I am actually using something similar in another roguelike that I am working on, but I could not get it to work well in this game. (Tile swap animation delay was causing trouble). But yes, being able to hold a direction to cause repeated movement would be a huge quality of life improvement. I appreciate the feedback!
Congratulations on the game! It's a very challenging puzzle, because while it's a maze, that same maze is constantly changing. The idea is really cool. I loved the retro aesthetic and the music is great. Congratulations!
Thank you for the positive feedback! Glad you liked the retro aesthetic that I was going for :)
(I already left a comment, but for what it's worth, your game was very impressive!)
very neat twist on a maze puzzle game! I enjoyed it, took me a minute to understand the wait mechanic but once I did it was really nice. great work!
Glad you liked it!
Yeah, there are a few unique situations where the "wait" mechanic becomes useful. It's fun to figure it out :)
Thanks for playing!
Awesome game, really made a twist for this kind of games, super hard at later levels, congratz!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the difficulty progression.
I played your game as well. Very creative gameplay, and I liked the visuals+audio!
Great game. It’s really interesting to play. The living maze is very well made. There’s a bug where enemies can’t move past the key.
In terms of the maze theme, I think you did the best job.
You can also check out how I made a living house — I’d really appreciate your feedback
Thanks for playing! Yeah that was intentional with the enemy/key behavior, but I was not settled on it. Might make more sense to allow enemies to pass through the keys.
That means a lot! Thank you :)
I checked out your game as well. Very cool! You did a good job creating the atmosphere with art, and had a unique gameplay. Nice work
Just finished your game. It's good, but sometimes I just prayed to get randomly teleported into demon hugs. Funny game!
Thank you! And sorry about that haha. I discovered it could happen while I was play-testing, and I decided to leave it in. I am glad you found the failed prayer funny.
Thanks for playing :)
Hey I really liked this game! A solid concept, a solid execution. I loved that I can lure the monsters into a corner and then pray to flee to the other side of the map. Well done!
Thanks for playing! Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and that the prayer mechanic helped out too
The game was solid. The concept is great! Sadly, it felt like the winning was mostly chance, as most of my deaths were due to walls trapping me in with enemies and no way of escape. Giving the player a bit more control by giving them a skill / mechanic to possibly destroy a wall piece, limiting it to 1 or 2 times per level, could fix this.
However, that’s just nitpicking; getting this done in a shor time frame is a great accomplishment!
Good Entry!!!!
Thanks for playing!
Yeah.. I agree, winning is heavy on luck, especially in the later levels. I created the Pray (teleport) mechanic to help a bit. This can get you out of a situation when stuck. But even that is not enough sometimes.
I really like the idea of destroying a wall piece. If I make any updates to this game, I would definitely add something like this. It would be really cool if the player could control/interact with the maze somehow... rather than just react.
I really appreciate the feedback :)
Good stuff! I ended up giving up on a larger level, when there were 3 enemies and I think 3 keys, and the RNG made it impossible for me to get out of there. But the concept is great! I only ran into one bug, where enemies can't pass through keys, unless that was intentional.
Thank you! Yeah that's the last level... took me a little luck to beat it lol. Probably needs another mechanic if I wanted to push towards a more skill-based game in later levels.
I had a tricky time with enemy-key interaction. That was intentional... the game got too hard if they could walk through keys. But who knows, maybe it would be better for enemies to path around keys.
Thanks for playing :)
A nice solid entry with not so solid walls. It was indeed a strange maze that randomly has its walls change. This made the gameplay intriguing. I liked the later level having the addition of an enemy that pursues you. Also, was nice to see the 3d / 2d square isometric use of tiles. good job
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the art style and gameplay :)
Very nice. Theres only so far that skill and planning can take you, the rest of your progress is then down to randomness and your response to what it throws at you. Enemies spawning right next to a key was unfortunate any time it happened as it blocked their path and they waited next to it.
Very true.. winning is heavy on RNG, even if you play your best. Took me a few times to beat it on hard mode for this reason, even though I knew how everything worked. You can "Pray" to get out of weird situations, but even then, that is totally random. I've had the angel drop me off right next to the enemy XD.
Thanks for the review and playing!
Really cool game! :D
Fun to play, nice visuals, and I love the way you showed the controls in the settings menu.
Also cool that you directly mention the jam theme after leaving the labyrinth ;)
Nice job overall :>
Very impressive game, systems that you've built for labyrinth generation is pretty cool! I like how cubes swap positions opening a path.
I've stumbled on small issue with one generation, when demon was spawned, the only passage was through him to get out, though this is just how it is with procedural generation :)
Well done!
Thank you!
I have seen this issue happen too. I added the Pray/Teleport mechanic to help a bit... with some luck the player can get out of that situation. But it is a bit frustrating to have to use it right from the beginning :)
I appreciate the review!
Really simple and cool concept, fits the theme well!
Thanks for playing!
It was really fun to play!
Is everything actually random? like the level generation and the swapping? And if so, how on earth did you manage to balance it? I can imagine that must have taken a lot of time...
Glad you enjoyed playing!
And yes, everything is random. Though you're right, it did take some time to find good rules to balance it :)
Here's what I landed on:
Level Generation: Player, enemy, and door positions are fixed. I procedurally generate the maze using random DFS/Backtracking algorithm. Keys are then placed randomly.
Tile Swapping: First, two random unoccupied ground and wall tiles are selected. The randomness is weighted to encourage swaps closer to the player (but not too much). Then I check that, after the swap, there is still a path from the player to the exit and from the player to each remaining key. If true, those tiles swap. If not, I try again with two new random tiles.
This process repeats a max of 50 times. If there are still no good swaps, then I will swap the tile directly under the player. This avoids the player getting completely trapped. Enemies can still get trapped... but I'm calling that a feature :)
Oh wow.
Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation!