homework5/PROPOSAL_20240905.md

Untitled Maze Game - ID30011 Midterm Project Proposal

• Name: Bumgyu Suh
• Student ID: 20240905
• Repository URL: https://git.prototyping.id/20240905/homework5

Table of Contents

1. Game Description and Mechanics
   • Objective
   • Core Mechanics
   • Win / Lose Conditions
   • Player Controls
2. Visual Design and Implementation
   • Visual Style
   • Game Elements
   • Implementation
3. Challenges and Features
   • Expected Challenges
   • Features and Concepts Used

Game Description and Mechanics

Untitled Maze Game is planned to be a 3D first-person maze game made using Babylon.js, where the player is attempting to escape from a dungeon. The game is structured in levels. In each level, a procedurally generated maze is created, and the player must find the key to the exit in one of the chests in the level, and the exit to advance to the next level. The twist is, if the player opens a chest that the player has already opened before, the player dies and the game is over. The score is determined by how many levels the player wins, and how fast. The ultimate goal is to get the highest highscore.

Objective

• Search through the chests of the level to find the exit key.
• Avoid opening chests that has already been opened before.
• Escape the maze by finding the exit with the exit key.
• Progress through as many levels as possible, as quickly as possible.

Core Mechanics

• Each level generates a new maze with increasing size or complexity.
• The main challenge is memory-based navigation and speed:
  • If the player opens a chest that has already been opened before, the player dies.
  • This forces the player to remember previous paths and avoid repeating mistakes.
  • The player also has an incentive to make decisions quick to complete the level in the shortest amount of time.

Win / Lose Conditions

• Win (per level): Reach the exit of the maze with the key.
• Lose: Re-open a previously opened chest.

Player Controls

• W/A/S/D keys for movement
• Mouse movement to control camera direction
• Left click with mouse while facing a chest to "open" chest
  1. When correct chest with key: gives key right away
  2. When chest without key: shows that it is the wrong chest
  3. When chest that has already been opened: game over
• Automatic progression to next level when the "exit area" is reached

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Visual Design and Implementation

Visual Style

The game will have a simple 3D dungeon-like appearance, with each wall being as large as the walkable space, similar to a maze built in Minecraft:

• Dark environment (dungeon setting)
• Walls forming a maze
• Minimal lighting to create atmosphere
• The player is represented through a first-person camera (no visible body)

Game Elements

Element	Description	Implementation
Player	First-Person View (cannot see oneself)	Camera object
Maze	Procedurally generated dungeon layout	2D array → 3D meshes
Walls	Maze boundaries	Box meshes
Floor	Ground surface	Plane mesh
Exit	Goal area (highlighted ground)	Plane mesh highlighted in yellow
Chests	Special tracked cells	Box mesh
UI	Score (round count), instructions	Text overlay

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Implementation

Maze Representation

The maze will be stored as a 2D array that stores ID corresponding to this:

• 0 = empty path
• 1 = wall
• 2 = not-yet opened chest without key
• 3 = already opened before chest
• 4 = chest with key
• 5 = starting point
• 6 = exit

This grid will be converted into 3D.

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Procedural Generation

Each level:

1. Generate a new maze with walls and empty paths (0s and 1s in the array)
2. Identify dead-end cells, put chests in them
3. Make one of the chests the chest with the key
4. Make another "chest" (dead-end) the exit
5. Randomly place player in empty path position

These steps will be implemented as a sequence of functions using functional programming.

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Maze Array Logic

States that need to be stored are stored in the level array (whether chest has been opened, whether the chest is the chest with the key).

• The game will store opened chests by turning the value in the array to 3.
• When the player opens a chest marked with 3, the game over screen shows.
• When the player reaches an "exit" space WITHOUT the key, the player is told to find the key first.
• When the player reaches an "exit" space WITH the key, the player proceeds to the next level.

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Challenges and Features

Expected Challenges

1. Procedural Maze Generation

Generating a valid and solvable maze for every level while keeping it balanced in difficulty.

2. Difficulty Scaling

Designing how the maze size increases over levels without making the game frustrating or too easy. Making the highscore meaningful to incentivize fast gameplay, which turns a boring memorization-based game into something more competitive in order to be fun.

3. Player Navigation Experience

Ensuring that the maze is readable enough for satisfying gameplay without visual confusion.

4. Learning to use the Babylon.js

Learning a completely new thing I have never used before effectively.

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Features and Concepts Used

The implementation will use the following concepts learned in class:

• JavaScript arrays (maze array, chests' state)
• Functional programming (steps involved in maze generation)
• Event handling (keyboard and mouse input)
• Using javascript libraries (using Babylon.js)
• Working with real-time (stopwatch system for high score)