50 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
# About _Sketchy Maze_
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**Sketchy Maze** is a "drawing-based maze game" themed around hand-drawn maps
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on paper.
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You can draw your own custom maps, freehand or with some basic drawing tools,
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and then drag and drop pre-made "[doodads](doodads.md)" into your level for
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interactive things like keys, doors and buttons.
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This is an **early alpha build** of the game. Longer term it will include a couple
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of built-in "single player campaigns" of multiple themed levels, but for now it
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just includes a few example levels and the editor itself.
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## Inspiration
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When I was a kid in the era of Sega Genesys and Super Nintendo, I liked to
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draw my own levels with pen and paper and "play" them with my imagination. My
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"mouse mazes" had all sorts of features borrowed from videogames I liked.
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There were buttons that the player had to push that would open a door far
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across the level (and I'd draw a little dotted line showing the connection
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between the button and the door). Trapdoors would have the player fall through
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and then close behind them so they can't go back. Keys in different shapes
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could unlock doors in similar shapes (you'd just have to remember which keys
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you've got!)
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When you're drawing with a pen and paper, the level can be anything you want.
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You can draw a castle or a cave, place little gizmos and traps throughout the
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level (doors, keys, buttons and things) and create puzzles. Do you want the red
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pixels to mean "fire" and burn the player? Or do you want to decorate the tops
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of "bloody" spikes with red? Either way, the 'fire' attribute on that color will
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do the job and you can draw whatever shape you want for your level hazards.
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## Mod Friendly
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While the game ships with a [handful of built-in doodads](doodads.md) to
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spice up your level, you can also create your own and program them to do
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whatever you want, [with JavaScript](custom-doodads/scripts.md)!
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The game also has a few "generic" scripts built in that you can choose from,
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to create your own simple doodads with no programming required! In the future,
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template doodads can be created to be able to draw custom player characters,
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Warp Doors and other complex doodads with a script already attached.
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Full versions of the game let you bundle custom doodads _inside_ of your
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custom levels for easy sharing to other players. Custom wallpaper images embed
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in a level file for all versions of the game. |