The Prison Maze of Ozxu

by mrphil
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.08
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.00
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.70
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.92
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.70
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.08
MrPhil’s Ludum Dare 40 compo entry: The Prison Maze of Ozxu, a Roguelike Tower Defense game.

You play as a mage who’s been imprisoned in a maze built as a prison for criminals with magic abilities. You’ve been restrained with a cursed breast plate limiting the spells you can cast. The few spells you can, will be necessary to defend yourself from the prison’s Keepers, magical Golems who's ranks grow stronger with each spell you cast.

No one has ever escaped a Prison Maze, but you are different! Maybe.

screenshot

Comments19

valkyrie4 Dec 2017, 09:58
I somehow escaped! I like the old Windows game aesthetic. I couldn't find any totems.
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor4 Dec 2017, 18:36
@valkyrie Hacker! jk If you are fast and reckless you can get away. Also, you cast Totems with the E key.
Zinkler
Zinkler5 Dec 2017, 01:49
Here I am, spamming totems everywhere I go. Some simple sounds would benefit the game tremendously.
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor5 Dec 2017, 04:31
You're right @Zinkler, I wish I had gotten some sounds in. Helpful Tip: spamming Totems is going to make things really, really hard because the more you make the more Keepers will spawn.
Zinkler
Zinkler5 Dec 2017, 05:54
@mrphil Nope, not in my playthrough. They are spawned more often, that's true, but killed instantly by the wall of projectiles.
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor5 Dec 2017, 06:44
@Zinkler okay, that make sense. I'll have to think on it and figure out how to improve the design. Thanks!
THX13425 Dec 2017, 15:12
it's a challenging game! I like the balance between setting down totems and getting more enemies, it's a nice spin on the theme!
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor5 Dec 2017, 22:25
@THX1342 Thanks! I hope people like it, I have a lot of ideas on how the exapnd and polish the game.

P.S. It's funny how your name made me think about that short George Lucas made: THX 1138.
C1FR1
C1FR110 Dec 2017, 01:49
would be more interesting if the map was either randomly generated, or if you had multiple. I found the exit on the second run (I don't know how I died on the first).
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor11 Dec 2017, 05:44
@C1FR1 I totally agree, some procedurally generated maps are at the top of my improvement list. Thanks for playing!
trabitboy
trabitboy13 Dec 2017, 08:51
well I quite like it ! for a start it is hosted on itch.io so it's easy to download and play :p
the field of view is really cool, it really pushes you to exploration . I think there is no description of the keys anywhere ? I just found 'e' as main spell key. The graphics look good to me, simple but distinctive, especially the baddies. One small improvement would be to fade in and out the walls more smoothly like the ennemies . Is it possible to finish the game?
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor23 Dec 2017, 01:39
@trabitboy Thanks for playing and for the feedback! If you press the H or the ? you should see a screen describing the keys, but I should have added it to the start screen too though. If enough people like it I will make a post compo version.
atmospherium
atmospherium23 Dec 2017, 17:01
Hey, I escaped. The first couple playthroughs I just threw totems down everywhere. It seemed to work pretty well until I would run into an unexpected swarm of enemies. I finally just ran through in the dark and made it to the end. Until I did my dark runthrough I didn't really understand how the totems impacted the enemy spawns, but it was cool to see that the game adjusted to your playstyle. I second the request for procedurally generated maps - that would have made my sneaky approach MUCH more difficult and tense.
vfabien2127 Dec 2017, 10:02
Hey, that's a cool game, and the mecanism spawning more enemies with each totem is great, if not devilish ;). However, without the ludum theme, I am not sure that I would have figured it out. So some hints to the player would have been great.

Nive entry ! Thank you for the experience.
PavelDlouhy
PavelDlouhy27 Dec 2017, 17:01
@mrphil Nice entry! ;-) Constructive criticism: It would be great to mention 'E' key somewhere. ;) I was lucky and found out about it here in comments.
chunkybrewster
chunkybrewster27 Dec 2017, 17:51
Fountains are usually good, I thought it restored health or something, but I'd die every time I stood in one. It wasn't til I saw a monster come from it that I saw it was bad. Maybe have it been like a den or cave instead of a fountain sprite. Also it'd be nice if you could destroy monster spawnners like in Gauntlet. I like the fog of war, but I feel like past stuff should have stayed discovered.
MrPhil
MrPhilauthor28 Dec 2017, 21:38
@vfabien21 Yeah, I think you are right. If I do a post-compo game I'll have to add some beginning story to explain the dynamic.

@PavelDlouhy See, this has beena problem for most. I'll try to highlight the controls in the beginning better.

@chunkybrewster You are totally right! I had not thought of that! Thanks! I'll have to change it if I do a post-compo.

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