The Worst Mouse Maze Levels Ever

From Alsoni's How to Make Your Games Better:

johnr wrote:Don't make the game too difficult (or too easy), it should be fun, not frustrating. If your mouse maze game is so long, and the paths are so narrow, and the moving obstacles are so fast, that it's going to take 101 attempts to complete, nobody will stick it out to the end. Don't make your game tedious.

Well you know what? Bring it on.

It was summer 2014, and I completely lost my mind. Irritation breached my soul as I struggled through a level of the ever-so-enduring game, Super Meat Boy.

Determined to beat this level so I could unlock a new character, I dedicated the entire night to achieve this lifelong goal. But the game kept denying me. Every so often, one of those wretched spikes or blade would succumb my fictional ally to death avenue. And every time that happened, an ounce of my real life soul faded out of existence. Still, I HAD to finish this. I even gambled a good chunk of my bedtime for the noble cause, but nope! Fail, fail, and fail, and sooner or later, the last ounce of sanity disappeared.

So there I was, 2 AM, in my room, lights off, doors closed, computer monitor glaring through my wide-open retinas. After pounding my desk in utmost agony, some very important questions circulated around me. "What is life?" "And what is my purpose in life?"

It turned out there were attached answers.

"Life is anger." "Your purpose is to make others rage."

And with that, my frown, as well as my eyebrows, turned upside down. And I knew exactly what I had to do next.

Without any doubt of my newly acclaimed morality, I opened up PowerPoint to fulfill my bidding. I sought to articulate the worst mouse maze level experience anyone can have, just so they too can lose their sanity. With the resulting level's ridiculously narrow paths and abstract turns, I've felt like I accomplished the goal.

Normally, I'd post screenshots, but I feel it's more thrilling if you downloaded the level to see for yourself. I guess you could see the screenshot in my blog post if you really want to though.

Click here to download the worst mouse maze level.




Moments after I shared the worst mouse maze level, I received some unanticipated feedback. I didn't think it would happen, but some people actually attempted the challenge. Believe it or not, I even watched someone with my own eyes complete the stage! Upon viewing that feat, I attempted to beat my level for the first time, and sure enough, I too was able to pull it off after a few tries. Realizing how surprisingly simple my original level was, I knew I had to step things up a notch, perhaps even add some additional obstacles. Behold, The Worst Mouse Maze Ever - Level 2!

You can find the screenshot here, but come on, you really should surprise yourself.

Ready to prolong your nightmare? You should give level 2 a shot!

Click here to download the worst mouse maze, level 2.


*Ok, I'll admit that most of my story was exaggerated. Still, it was 2 AM, and I wasn't in my best frame of mind.

If you want the true worst mouse mazes ever, try using obstacles filled with "transparent.png" or "invisible.png"!

Now THAT's unFAIR!

LOL!

JadeJohnsonGames wrote:If you want the true worst mouse mazes ever, try using obstacles filled with "transparent.png" or "invisible.png"!

Now THAT's unFAIR!

LOL!

You see, there's a difference between how a player perceives different types of deaths. If the player failed due to invisible traps, he/she would probably blame it more on a cheap level and stop trying/caring after a few tries. I find that I can extract more rage when the player can see the end and knowingly fails due to a mishap on his/her cursor movements. Ideally, the player is frustrated to his/her mistake, yet still motivated to press onward with that glimmer of possibility to finish.

Hmm — I never thought of it that way.  You do have a point!  

I like the clean lines and 'barrier removal' elements of The Worst Maze Levels Ever'.

Beat The Machine is a maze game a made some time ago. It's so hard that I give you a chance that if you hit the half-way button, you can start again from this point if/when you go off track rather than go back to the very beginning. To help, don't forget the fact that if your cursor stays still, it's immune to any dangerous moving parts.



BEAT THE MACHINE


Anyone who says that they got to the end of this 'first time' is being very economical with the truth.

Sometimes I just like to sit and watch it - much more relaxing than trying to play it!

Well, I wasted about 30 minutes I'll never get back, but I got this to show for it!

Also, would have been nice if you had it set up in kiosk mode so that way the mouse doesn't disappear after a couple seconds of inactivity. (Unless you did this on purpose, you devious . . . you!)

Just to clarify for our readers....you're not talking about 'Beat the Machine' which is in Kiosk mode and the screenshot above isn't mine.

johnr wrote:Just to clarify for our readers....you're not talking about 'Beat the Machine' which is in Kiosk mode and the screenshot above isn't mine.

Yes.

, unless!  . . .  It has stopped in one of their ways — lol!