A-Mazing Urho

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This game started out as a game jam entry for the three day Open Jam 2018. For years, little changed about the game, but during the last half year several features were added.
December saw the introduction of a new anglerfish enemy, as well as the ability to run the game with a level as command-line argument, allowing to test run your maze straight from the editor. From May on, the addition of a score count and timer, as well as a speedometer and level transitions, have elevated the project from merely a proof of concept to something that's a little more complete.

A-Mazing Urho is a maze game with a rhythmic twist. Other than most maze games, controls are both stepped and relative: Keys cannot be held down, but must be pressed for every square that Urho moves, with up always being forward. Furthermore, timing is essential to pick up - and maintain - pace, in order to quickly finish a level. To complete a level, simply eat all the shrimp within the set time limit. Points are awarded when hitting a shrimp in quadratic relation to the current speed.

Screenshots

Main menu
First level

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Based on this page, it would seem A-Mazing Urho features in this month's edition of Linux Format!

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Now also available as an AUR package!

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The latest update adds local multiplayer to A-Mazing Urho.

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Just released a new version on itch, which adds support for Edddy's new block boxing feature, and a new map.

🦣 Mastodon

Wuzzy

This reminds me more of Frogger (the 1999 3D game) than Pacman, because the enemies follow a fixed path. Interesting concept.

I completed the game in about 15 to 30 minutes, I guess. It was some short fun.

The music feels repetitive quite fast. The sound effects are meh. Especially the eating sound is kinda annoying and sounds like a drum?

The controls are quite unusal. I can’t seem to figure out the right pace to move fast. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and I slow down to a crawl. The game or website doesn’t really help explaining this. But still, the time limits are easy enough even if I solve a level poorly.

I do like the visuals, it’s very cute.

Gameplay-wise, I feel like this game is missing something to make it feel "complete". Is this game considered complete?

If you die, you just insta-respawn. No sound, animation or lost life. You got infinite lives. You can only lose if you run out of time. Intentional?

There's also no level selection, nor are their highscores. Which seems odd when the game has score.

Apparently, there’s also no quit button? Esc does not work.

Overall, I think the game is OK for some short fun, but could be improved.

Modanung

Wuzzy Especially the eating sound is kinda annoying and sounds like a drum?

I disagree on both accounts, and think kostik1337 did a decent job at creating a satisfying crunch.

Wuzzy Is this game considered complete?

No. And it has low priority. But - as with the other dozen projects - PRs welcome... or add some of your ideas as issues.

Wuzzy If you die, you just insta-respawn.

The player will also lose 100 points. If the Colourship doesn't land in the end, you didn't win, you only finished. I'm not sure how I feel about setting a limited number of lives. It might make the game too punitive for the youngest gamers.

Wuzzy I can’t seem to figure out the right pace to move fast. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and I slow down to a crawl.

You must be ignoring all three cues: Grid, speedometer and plop pitch. I can't deny there's a bit of a learning curve to it, but one can develop a feel. Getting it right makes the difference between 32 and 1500 points in the first level alone.

Wuzzy There's also no level selection, nor are their highscores. Which seems odd when the game has score.

It's not even possible to pause the game, it might be nice to have remaining time converted to points while some intermission panel shows, maybe display a code there to start at the following level like some of the old arcade games... sure, there's obviously plenty of room for improvements like that. The game is a slightly refined (3 day) jam entry, and the first to be released with levels made in Edddy.
But yes, since the game is easy to finish while having quite the range of possible scores, showing a highscore list in the main menu would be a great addition.

And thanks for playing.