Hopworld devlog 5

May 1, 2025

Big update to the generation of the maze and the sequence for the power ups.

Hello and welcome to another Hopworld devlog. This one followed sooner then the last one.

Last devlog I mentioned I added onscreen mobile controls. So I tested the game a lot on the go and after a while a lot of bugs and issues started itching. The major thing was that the sequence of power ups sometimes just didn't feel right.

New power up distribution system

In the past the system I had made to distribute them was more or less satisfying. When generating the world, I would send some "runners" through the maze and they would drop the different items.

So I started sketching up a grid based approach.

Previously the entire world was just one Eller maze, with some extra random walls knocked out. Now I wanted to try to create 9 mazes and merge them. Instead of sending runners, I now hide the powerups somewhere in one of those mazes. You can see the reflections of these new concepts in the Ancient Maze Scroll.

On the left the runners in the old maze and on the right the items hidden in the 9 mazes.

On the right you might also see some darker patches. These are parts of the maze which are being made completely solid. Most items on are now placed at the dead ends of the corridors. The dead ends which wind up not getting an item are being closed. This way you will always find something, before you start backtracking.

More info on the minimap

There is now also more info on the minimap. You can check the vending machine locations. You can see the Homeblock and the Teleport Flag. Always nice to know where you left that thing, before you teleport to it.

Dropping through platforms key remapped

The key for quickly dropping through a stack of one-sided platforms has been changed. I had to remap the key from the down cursor key to the X key. This is because the small cursor button on mobile screens was not handling it very well. Sometimes you would accidentally trigger it, when you actually just wanted to run.

Well that is all for now. Hope you like the new generated scenarios.

Until next devlog,

Q