Design constraints:
- The solution path is from the outside opening to the large courtyard in the middle (or the reverse depending on how you look at it)
- no walls meet at a checkerboard / catty corner angle. All corners are solid L-shapes
- no 4x4 empty spaces outside of the entrance and nine courtyards
- no loops where you can return to a point without retracing your original path
- all small courtyards have an entrance and exit and are part of the solve path to the center
- all large courtyards (I’m going to put side goals / easter eggs in them) have only one entrance and are reachable as a branch of the solution path after the small courtyard that they are clockwise from.
If you’re curious, the center is a witch / wizard tower covered and filled with plants with a ground floor that’s an open arboretum kinda thing with stairs leading upward and a 2-level loft kinda thing up top with the bed / bath etc. When I used to play the sims the occupant would be a completely leveled up witch / wizard. Even if they don’t officially add a magic mechanic in Inzoi I’m sure there will be a community mod at some point…
Blueprint / Solution:
spoiler
EDIT: Removed / rearranged accidental Swastika just to the right of the lower-left large courtyard. original below.
spoiler
Nice QR code, but I won’t fall for it, you won’t rickroll me!
😂😆🤣
OMG it’s wild that you would say that because I’m actually reading (listening to really) Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson as I’m making this! If you’ve never read it a pretty big plot point is a Brown Note image that looks like noise but that will scramble people’s brains if they have enough of an affinity for computer languages.
Awesome book, but man that’s a pretty major spoiler lol
I feel like it was in the first 3rd or so? To me that counts more as setup than anything else. The rest of it has been more of the implications, how it works, and what to do about it, which I would consider more to be spoilers.
Maybe… It’s been a long time since I read.
Is it anything like Anathem (if you’ve read it)? I loved Anathem, but his other books looked very different.
Nope! My partner just happened to read it lately and recommended it.
There was a short story I read a while back that also featured that plot point, but I don’t remember what it was called.
Only that I found it after reading into inspirations for The Laundry Files by Charles Stross.
no loops where you can return to a point without retracing your original path
The downside of not having little floating islands in a maze is you can solve them by always going right (or left).
I wonder if the fatigue mechanics would make that a less desirable strategy, but in either case idk if I want it to be that hard. In particular I’m trying to make part of figuring it out sort of realizing what those rules / constraints are, but in a way that just gets you to the solution faster rather than eliminating a total brute force solution which would require less thinking but would definitely take longer.
Depends on the context of the game. If you have clues, maps, items, mechanics that would assist an adventurer then having a maze with islands would be rewarding for the invested player.
I.e. leaving footsteps in the sand, or being able to paint walls, or leave breadcrumbs, or finding a old incomplete map
yeah idk if they’ll ever include that much detail in the game, and if I try to do all that I’ll be working on this for weeks and my partner is already pissed about having done both the laundry AND dishes this weekend… but I definitely appreciate the ideas! Maybe something to try after a few more generations of lifesim games!
Haha. This isn’t evil… if you want evil ideas let’s talk about moving walls when the player isn’t looking
I’ve been playing the blue prince recently, it’s put me into a mood :)
So pleased to have seen this on my feed. Loved doing mazes as a kid.
(Also you might want to look at !lifesimulation@lemmy.world)
Oh thank you! I couldn’t find a sub for it but that makes sense now that I see it.
