Maze Escape

A survival adventure in its own dimension - survive a labyrinth whose walls move every night, crack the exit code, cross a burning desert and fight your way through an abandoned bunker to get back home.

Overview

Maze Escape adds a separate dimension that players enter through a single elevator at world spawn. The journey is split into three parts:

• The Maze - a Glade surrounded by rings of moving walls, rooms, traps and night-time Watchers
• The Scorch - an endless desert behind the maze with ruined cities, heat, sandstorms and hordes
• The Old Bunker - a three-level dungeon far out in the desert that holds the way back home

The dimension is shared by all players on a server. There is one maze, one exit code and one bunker per world.

Supported environment

• Minecraft 1.21.1
• NeoForge
• No dependencies
• Mod ID: maze_escape

Getting started

A single elevator is placed 24 blocks east of the world spawn the first time the server starts. Pull the lever inside the cabin and every player standing in the cabin rides down together. You arrive in the Box in the middle of the Glade. The lid opens after a moment.

Your inventory, experience and effects travel with you in both directions by default. This can be changed to separate inventories per world in the config.

To return home, either escape the maze and reach the lever at the bottom of the Old Bunker, or ask an operator to use /mazeescape leave.

World layout

The dimension is built around the Glade at 0 / 0. Every sector is 128 × 128 blocks.

Maze walls are 47 blocks high and cannot be broken. An invisible ceiling above the walls prevents players from walking on top of them. Players can only build in the Glade, in shelters, in villages and in the Scorch.

Day and night

The maze runs on its own clock, independent from the Overworld.

Carry a clock anywhere in your inventory to see a countdown until the gates close or open in the action bar.

Shifting walls

At the start of every night, wall segments in every sector slide one cell into a new position. Each sector follows a movement cycle of 8 nights: the walls move further for the first half and return along the same path in the second half.

The ground where walls have moved shows how long ago the last movement happened:

From ring 3 outward, wide boulevards cross the sectors and never change.

Rooms

Rooms are placed inside the maze and never move.

Traps

Quiet corridors can contain spike traps, arrow traps and small corridor pits - 3 × 3 patches of moss over a hole. Traps become more common in the outer rings.

Watchers

Watchers are wardens that dig their way out of the ground at night and burrow back down at sunrise.

Watchers only emerge in quiet corridors, never in rooms or the Glade.

Drops: a rune compass pointing to one of the symbol rooms, and with a 25 % chance an exit compass.

Sculk infection

A hit from a Watcher infects the player or raises the infection by one stage. Untreated, the infection advances by one stage every 5 minutes.

• Damage stops at half a heart by default. The infection can be made lethal in the config.
• Players at the last stage infect players standing within 2.5 blocks with a 5 % chance per second.
• Only a golden apple cures the infection. Milk has no effect.

Compasses

All compasses spin during a sandstorm while the player is under the open sky.

Escaping the maze

1. Find the 8 symbol rooms in rings 2 to 5. Each one shows a rune and a number.
2. The number tells you the position of that rune in the exit code.
3. Enter the runes in the right order at the exit terminal.
4. The exit gate in the outer wall opens for everyone and stays open.
5. Walk through the tunnel into the Scorch.

The Scorch

An endless desert under an orange sky.

• Terrain - dunes, hills, mesas, red sand and burnt land, with caves and ores below
• Ruined cities - small, medium and large cities with streets, collapsed buildings, leaning towers and steel skeletons. Sand dunes cover the edges. Chests on the upper floors contain loot
• Lonely towers - two to five single ruins stand around every city
• Highways - elevated roads on pillars connect neighbouring cities, with collapsed sections and parts buried under dunes
• Outer yard - watchtowers, fences, containers, generators, floodlights and barricades along the maze wall

Heat

During the day, standing in direct sunlight in the Scorch builds up heat. One point of heat equals one second of blazing sun without protection.

A player is exposed when it is day, the player is in the Scorch, the sky is visible from eye level and the player is not in water or rain. Any block above the player's head counts as shade. Outside the sun, heat drops by 3 points per second.

The maximum is 720. Heat stroke is lethal by default and can be limited to one heart in the config.

Protection is worn in any armour slot. The best piece counts.

Cooling happens when eating or drinking.

Sandstorms

• A sandstorm starts every 15 to 30 minutes and lasts 2 to 4 minutes
• A warning appears in the action bar 20 seconds before it starts
• Outside: thick sand fog with a view distance of about 18 blocks, wind sounds, blowing sand, Slowness at full strength and spinning compasses
• Under a roof the storm is barely noticeable
• Additional husks appear around players who are caught outside

Hordes

• In the deep Scorch, groups of 2 to 4 husks and skeletons hunt players who are under the open sky
• Chance every 30 seconds: 40 % at night, 12 % during the day
• Husks in a horde have Speed I
• No new horde spawns while 10 or more monsters are within 40 blocks

Sleeping

Beds work only in the Glade and in the Scorch. When every player in the dimension is asleep, the maze clock skips to the next morning. Sleeping in a bed also sets your respawn point.

The Old Bunker

The Old Bunker lies 1200 to 2100 blocks outside the outer wall and never inside a city. It is built the first time a player comes within 200 blocks. Use the bunker compass to find it.

A half-buried outpost marks the entrance. Stairs lead down into three levels.

Blast doors

Every level is blocked by blast doors. A door opens once every trial spawner in front of it has been cleared. Standing in front of a closed door shows how many trial chambers are left.

Trial spawners drop trial keys that open the vaults on level 2. Trial spawners do not react to players in Creative mode.

The Reactor Warden

The final boss digs out of the ground when a player enters the reactor room.

After it is defeated, the last door opens. Pull the lever in the control room to return to the elevator in the Overworld.

Protection

The whole bunker area is protected in Survival mode:

• Blocks cannot be broken or placed, except torches and lanterns
• Explosions do not destroy any blocks
• Ender pearls and chorus fruit do not work inside or into the bunker

Advancements

Configuration

All settings are in config/maze_escape-common.toml.

Changing rings, patternCycle or wallMovesPerNight after the maze was created breaks the existing maze. Regenerate it afterwards.

Commands

All commands require operator permission level 2 and live under /mazeescape.

Data-driven content

Item tags

Tags are located at data/maze_escape/tags/item/. Cooling tags only work on items that are eaten or drunk.

Recipes

Maze Escape adds a cheaper empty map recipe: 4 paper and 1 coal or charcoal, shapeless. The vanilla recipe keeps working.

Loot tables

Tooltips

Items that work differently in the maze or the Scorch show a short hint in their tooltip, grouped by category. Hold Shift to see the details. Tooltips for heat protection and cooling are generated automatically from the tags and interfaces, so modded items added this way show the correct values as well.

Troubleshooting

The first blast door in the bunker does not open

The door only opens after all 5 trial spawners on level 1 have been cleared. Trial spawners ignore players in Creative mode, so switch to Survival mode to start the waves. For testing, /mazeescape bunker open opens every door.

The bunker is not there

The bunker is only built when a player comes within 200 blocks of it. Follow the bunker compass, or use /mazeescape bunker tp.

My compass is spinning

A sandstorm is active. Step under a roof and the compass points correctly again.

I can't sleep in my bed

Beds only work in the Glade and in the Scorch. Inside the maze, shelters and villages do not allow sleeping.

Walls did not change after the night

Sectors far away from players are rebuilt when their chunks are loaded again. Only walls within 96 blocks of a player are animated.

Frequently asked questions

Is the maze the same for everyone?

Yes. All players on a server share one maze, one exit code and one bunker.

Do I lose my items when entering the maze?

No. By default, inventory, experience and effects travel with you in both directions. With separateInventories enabled, each world has its own inventory.

Can I create a new maze?

Yes. Use /mazeescape regenerate and confirm it. The maze dimension is deleted and created again on the next server start.

Does the exit stay open?

Yes. Once the right code has been entered, the exit gate stays open for every player.

Does the sculk infection follow me into the Overworld?

Yes, when inventories are shared, effects are shared as well. A golden apple cures it anywhere.

For developers

Maze Escape exposes a small API for heat protection and cooling. Only reference the classes in net.veroxuniverse.maze_escape.api - all other classes may change between versions.

Heat protection

Implement HeatProtectingItem on any item that can be worn in an armour slot.

public class DustMaskItem extends ArmorItem implements HeatProtectingItem {

    public DustMaskItem(Holder<ArmorMaterial> material, Type type, Properties properties) {
        super(material, type, properties);
    }

    @Override
    public float heatFactor(ItemStack stack) {
        return 0.25F;
    }
}

The factor is the share of heat that still reaches the player: 1.0 means no protection, 0.5 half the heat and 0.0 full immunity. The interface takes priority over the item tags.

Cooling

Implement CoolingItem on any item that is eaten or drunk.

public class IceTeaItem extends Item implements CoolingItem {

    public IceTeaItem(Properties properties) {
        super(properties);
    }

    @Override
    public int cooling(ItemStack stack) {
        return 200;
    }
}

Reading and changing heat

float heat = ScorchHeat.get(player);
ScorchHeat.set(player, heat - 100.0F);
float factor = ScorchHeat.protectionFactor(player);
int cooling = ScorchHeat.cooling(stack);

The tag keys are available in MazeTags.

Disclaimer

Maze Escape is an unofficial fan-made Minecraft mod inspired by The Maze Runner. The Maze Runner and its characters, names, and related properties belong to James Dashner, his publishers, and 20th Century Studios. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by James Dashner, his publishers, or 20th Century Studios.