Timeline of MazeWorld (no ontology)

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The concept origins

The name "MazeWorld" is retained for one of the author's concept games, after reshaping and rethinking a game idea which took multiple forms over the course of nearly three years. As early as 2008, the author wished to create a realm to be used as the context of a game, but only very rough ideas based on this concept alone were created. The only consistent details were that the realm was to be secluded and dystopian, would house a high amount of creatures and enemies, and would have, in general, a lot of content (lots of items, weapons, etc), and that the player character would be an outsider to this realm forcefully pulled in, with the objective of overcoming the dangers of this world and finding a way out.

Between 2008 and 2010, several tries were made, ranging from RPG forum, 2D platformer, RPG Maker-made roleplaying game, and even first-person shooter concepts were explored, but ultimately abandoned due to lack of interest, time, or resources, sometimes all three at once. Ultimately, after discovering classic roguelikes such as NetHack, and its variant SLASH'EM, the author was sufficiently inspired to create a table-top style roleplaying game system with roguelike elements.

The closer past

Between 2010 and February 2011, the project took on the name of "Project Downpour", named after one of the previous game concepts attempted and ultimately abandoned, before it took its current name of MazeWorld. A rough sketch of the game was then created and tested out privately with the author's friends; it proved, in their words, to be enjoyable and addictive and that they would always come back for more. The concept was simple: A random number generator would be used to generate room numbers, those room numbers each pointing out to an event; this event could be a new weapon, a monster, food, meds, clothing, armor, traps, and so on. The Mazes were truly born. Working from the original concept, the seemingly simple idea was greatly expanded upon to the shape it takes nowadays.

Birth of a game

On February 10th, 2011, Mazeworld left the conceptual stage of privately held games on MSN and was ported on to IRC, introducing the use of scripts and bots which completely redefined the way the conceptual game was played, to the point that it was truly born on that day. The author felt that IRC was a better platform for the game to evolve as it allowed the use of those bots, which are more flexible than MSN Plus scripts; in addition, the use of an IRC channel was a good method to gather people together and create a community. Even though the game was always meant to be a single player experience, it was a change in the direction of public, spectated games in which a player would take on his/her challenges while onlookers and spectators could watch and (occasionally and sparingly) comment.

The Pre-1.5 Era

The Pre-1.5 Era is the name given to the first months of Mazeworld, which saw the game's proper debut on IRC. It began with version 1.0 on February 10th, 2011, which is now considered to be the game's birthday. This era ended with the introduction of version 1.5. This is an era where it is difficult to establish what was introduced, and when, due to a lack of records. I have given my best efforts to find them out, though.

  • May 7th, 2011: The first wiki was founded on the Wikidot platform.
    • The version of the game was then v1.32 and had 1155 events.
  • May 23rd, 2011: Update to Version 1.35. The list of changes has been, unfortunately, lost.
  • May 30th, 2011: Creation of the Leaderboards and the scoring system.

The rise of the Big Three

Mazeworld saw the rise of three then-influential players, who started with their respective contestants for the first time: UncertainKitten with Heather, Trance with Aria Fujisaki and Dragoshi with Matthew Kethys. Those three became the Big Three, the top 3 players of the game, a title they held collectively for a long time, even far after the end of this era.

  • Heather is famous for her legendary recklessness, perverted berserk tendencies, her Heckler & Koch G3A3 battle rifle fitted with a 50-round drum, used and abused for just about anything that needed to be blown to pieces, and inexplicable amounts of luck. She originally planned to take down the Game Masters , but after finding love in her ally, a kitsune named Akemi, the two simply escaped with a bang, being at the time the first contestant to escape the Mazes with a combined carried wealth in the five figures: a total of 19000 P$, plus other riches and gear, became their war loot and their reward for a run full of emotion and events. She finished her run on September 3rd, 2011.
  • Aria Fujisaki was elevated to the rank of icon after being the first contestant to finish two consecutive runs in a row and earning the nickname of "Black Arrow Shooter" (BAS), in blatant homage to anime character Black Rock Shooter, now as iconical as her signature weapon, the Zastava M93 Black Arrow sniper rifle. She was notable for her excessive chivalry and courage, refusing to take cover and taking on enemies practically only with this weapon. Collecting achievement after achievement, "Black Arrow Shooter" was at the time the only person to have obliterated twice the Maze Soldier leader Colonel Wight, and destroyed no less than three times the MATTEO-CMP00 combat mech, a secret enemy that is no secret anymore for the iconic contestant, showing that there is no end to the success of a determinated and well-armed person. She is also famous for having befriended a Ryu she bought in a hiring bureau, which was named Syldra. Aria and Syldra became extremely famous as they continue their adventures, Aria riding the youkai dragon, and the two fighting relentlessly, until the dragon's untimely death, which was more than avenged by the contestant's victory, now better known as BAS, by achieving the FinalT ending. She finished her second run on April 4th, 2012.
  • Matthew Kethys followed suit and completed 2 consecutive runs on his own, 24 days after Aria did exactly, surpassing Aria's own score. He was reputed to not let emotion or bullshit get in his way and was practically the "tank" of the Big Three. With good reason; Matthew would carry the iconic PKP Pecheneg machine gun along with a good reserve of spare ammunition belts (each are 200-round!), universally considered to be the most powerful weapon in the game, as well as a tricked out Colt mk18 mod0 with a 100-round C-MAG magazine, for which he carried no less than 1400 rounds of spare ammunition, a trivial and huge amount that one would find easy to (harmlessly) joke on. This is, in fact, what he left the Mazes with and no doubt he would have used more, had he got the occasion to make use of such firepower. He stormed through the most dangerous of the Mazes' events at the time, shooting his way through just about ANYTHING that would stand on the business side of his guns. It must be noted that the PKP Pecheneg originally belonged to the very first Contestant to truly 'finish' MazeWorld, Hana Crosswise; the weapon was found in her grave, in a Graveyard Room; a symbolic move if anything, since both weapons practically shot the way of both contestants to victory. He finished his second run on April 28th, 2012.

The 1.5 Era

Technically speaking, Mazeworld's upgraded to version 1.5 on July 10th, 2011, but was officially made one week later, on July 17th, so that it matched the week in which the author's 18th birthday occurred (on the 20th), using the occasion for a double celebration. The update brought many new features which are now staples of the game. This started the 1.5 Era, which ended with the introduction of version 2.0. As a minor anecdote, the term Mazer was coined during the 1.5 era. This word is an affectionate nickname to denote a Mazeworld player.

  • November 7th, 2011: Update to Version 1.61

1.5 Era, second chapter

What first started as a simple update to 1.62 became a list of new features that piled up, constantly pushing the release date until the symbolic New Year's Eve, as it turned into version 1.7. The wiki opened the Other topics section and brought many new features which changed and enriched the gameplay, starting a trend to improve existing features on top of adding new ones, such as new features tied to roomstyles (crackable vaults in vault rooms, for example), the inclusion of fortune-telling elements, of restaurants and themed chefs to enrich the food system of the game, of the now ubiquitous Maze Citizen encounter type, to populate the Mazes and add to the atmosphere. In short, it is at the time of 1.7's release that Mazeworld, both as a game and as a realm, began growing sufficiently in the author's eyes to the point the realm now has a distinct feel, a sort of unique 'personality'.

  • January 1st, 2012: Update to Version 1.7
    • The amount of events was increased to 1363.
    • List of changes.
    • The "garbled transmissions" were intended as a joke to "hide" new gameplay features seen as so important they needed to be "crypted". As such, the "garbled transmissions" were links leading to pastebin, each showing a string of hexadecimal code. The hex messages, and their translation.

The 2.0 Era

Even then, the way the game was at the time with v1.7 felt incomplete, and the author felt it needed even more to suit to what was felt as needed. Thus, on February 2nd, 2012, Version 2.0 was announced, with a gigantic list of new items and features. The release date was then pegged to the game's birthday, on February 10th.

Changes and revisions

  • February 10th, 2012: Update to Version 2.0
    • MazeWorld turns 1 year old!
    • The amount of events was increased to 1540.
    • List of changes

Between February and June of 2012

Afterwards, subsequent "revisions" of 2.0, which were quick and short updates adding or fixing a lot of things, were introduced over time. A total of 8 revisions were made, which spanned over several months. Those revisions can be seen here.

Website migration

Two days after the release of revision 7, which coincidentally, could have been big enough to be an update on its own, the wikidot platform is abandoned and this very website, Mazeworld.net, is chosen to be the new home of the MazeWiki.

2.1 Beta

Revision 8 is introduced in June 20th, introducing even more weapons to the Mazes. But the biggest announcement had to be made yet; Mazeworld 2.1, which would introduce and re-work so many features of the game it would reshape Mazeworld entirely. Several months of work to develop the new features of 2.1 then started, only finishing in August 9th when the author announced he would implement Beta testing, the aptly named 2.1 Beta during which players were invited to do mock sessions specifically to test out the new elements of the game. Ultimately, the testing was completed and deemed a huge success, propelling Mazeworld into a new and refined era.

  • August 9th, 2012: Launch of 2.1 Beta
    • 2.1 Beta was announced after months of hiatus during which the author worked on a big list of new features.
    • For the first time in the game's history, players were directly involved in feature development and testing, giving direct input through simulations (mock game sessions).

2.1

Even though no delicious and moist cake was available to celebrate this, MazeWorld 2.1 is officially released on September 6th, 2012, with all the features announced and tested in Beta now implemented into the main game for all players to enjoy, thus marking the beginning of the new and improved MazeWorld era.

  • September 6th, 2012: Update to Version 2.1
    • The amount of events was increased to 5512, then 5551 after error fixing and corrections.
    • List of changes

2.2

The game further matures and improves with the release of MazeWorld 2.2 on November 2nd, 2012, introducing two new calibers, several new weapons, bionics, and other items, but most importantly the introduction of a new service, the Maze Customs; where players will be able to fine-tune and customize firearms, further expanding the possibilities for loadout customization and allowing players to have a way to express their style and personality through their contestant's weapons. Furthermore, an Achievements system was introduced and made retroactive to all logged games since 2.0's inception.

  • November 2nd, 2012: Update to Version 2.2
    • The amount of events was increased to 5886, then later repaired to 5790
    • List of changes

2.3

Yet another new gameplay feature is introduced in MazeWorld 2.3, just in time for the new year on December 31st, 2012, introducing the Recoil system, a new caliber, even more weapons, and brand new weapon accessory types, which expand even more on the players' ability to fine-tune their equipment in its finest details, many of which are taking advantage of what the Recoil system brings on the table.

  • December 31st, 2012: Update to Version 2.3
  • February 10th, 2013: MazeWorld turns 2 years old!

2.4

Another slab of changes comes with MazeWorld 2.4, the most important of which is a re-balance of ammunition weight, and the introduction of more types of ammunition for grenade launchers. Alongside a small amount of new weapons and some minor mechanics fixes, 2.4 was unveiled on April 13th, 2013, and is another step towards the refinement and maturation of the game according to the author's vision.

  • April 13th, 2013: Update to Version 2.4

The era's figures

Following in the footsteps of the 1.5 Big Three, the 2.0 Era saw the rise of new players and new contestants, taking advantage of the newer features and mechanics to further their goals.

One of the most prominent contestants of this era is Eris Lilium, who has made it his goal to be the first completionist of MazeWorld's history. Though this objective has not been completed yet and is still in progress, Eris's first run has been completed, and saw the rise of another behemoth of power, exploiting every advantage they could, and obtaining the finest and heaviest weaponry available. Taking advantage of the Maze Customs, Eris follows in the footsteps of Aria Fujisaki's grandeur and runs a primarily Black Arrow-based set of weapons, his being customized with a white paintscheme.

Another important figure is Selis, perhaps one of the most controversial contestants, as their objective - on top of attempting a completionist conduct as well - is a personal conduct, which her player dubbed extinctionist: she will kill any encounter she meets that doesn't serve an immediate purpose in being alive. This ultraviolent, amoral playstyle was sometimes criticized by other players; but since it is possible and nothing objects to such ways, they are allowed. Selis' brutal style also leads to racking far more points simply thanks to killing more creatures every session.

So far, the 2.0 Era has been rocked by contestants expressing themselves through their style - whether it is power-gaming, brute force, or simply being highly charismatic. And through their style, the effectiveness shows; though in different ways, each with their own perks and advantages, showing that the real wealth of the game is in its players - it would be nothing without those players who dare, play the way they wish, and take advantage of what the game has to offer to suit their purposes.

2.5 era

With the introduction of MazeWorld 2.5, deep changes to the core gameplay were introduced as well, which added new dimensions and strategies to combat and fighting. These changes were so deep and important that it would be reasonable to say that the game has moved on to another entire phase of its timeline. The biggest changes are the introduction of the Initiative System, Firearm Maintenance, Limb Damage, and a few other lesser additions, such as new Maze Customs products and services, four new calibers and 28 new weapons, and much more. Further changes are planned in the future, which will change and improve even more the way MazeWorld is played, becoming more complex and richer at every new version.

  • July 12th, 2013: Update to Version 2.5
  • September 19th, 2013: Additions to 2.5, dubbed 2.5 Extended Cookie Dough Edition (also referred to as 2.5C and 2.5+)

MazeWorld v3

Introduced on the game's third anniversary, the changes promised and introduced by version 3 (or simply v3) of MazeWorld are once again such deep changes to the fundamentals, that it would be unfair to say the game is any comparable to its previous incarnations. Originally promised as version 2.6, the amount of changes; the majority of which are the addition of completely new features. A hunting system, two consecutive new weapon accessory reform (the first was the introduction of weapon-mounted flashlights, laser sights, and completely re-made optics - the second was another rework of the optics and the attachment system, completed with introduction of bayonets), deep changes pertaining to basic gameplay (base Failure Threshold raised to 6, Bullet-type damage now capable of opening wounds...) and most importantly, completely re-written Normal and Alternate missions, introduction of a new mission set; the Proxy missions, and re-written endgame endings. This comes with the usual bag of minor changes - new weapons, removal of unnecessary creatures, new Maze Customs offerings, and far, far more.

  • Version 3, introduced on February 10th 2014 - MazeWorld turned 3 years old at this point.
  • Community Requested Updates (CRU) - a 5-part series of multiple updates and revisions, introducing features requested by MazeWorld players.
    • The Community Requested Updates started on May 25th 2014 with the release of the first part: CRU1, with 7 subsequent revision updates - mostly minor changes. That update introduced features which have since been deprecated.
    • The second part, CRU2, was released on July 2nd 2014, and introduced a completely new hunger and nutrition system based on kcal rather than percentage values. It was followed by 5 revisions, which also brought major changes and new features, such as the introduction of Trauma Plates, the Blood statistic, the introduction of a Pain Sensitivity statistic for non-human creatures, and a variety of minor content updates such as new items and encounters, and other minor changes.
    • The third part, CRU3, was released on October 18th 2014, which introduced introduced the Mines, the Jewelry Store, a complete revamping of the Bionic augmentations system, and an expansion of the Valuables category of items. It was not followed by any revisions.
    • Immediately on the heels of CRU3, the next part, CRU4, was released 13 days later on October 31st. It introduced a revamping of the Pain statistic, a major overhaul of the Poison system, introduced many medical-related changes (most important of which is the ability to receive multiple Wounds on a single limb), as well as new augmentations and new valuables, improving on what was introduced in CRU3. This update was not followed by any revisions.
    • The final part, CRU5, was introduced on December 12th 2014. It introduced finer weapon weight categories, Bayonets as a new category of weapon accessories, the ability to Charge, an expansion of the Cover mechanic, many changes to the Weapon accessory system overall, and a large amount of minor changes, most of which have affected the Maze Customs. This update was followed by a single revision, CRU5 revision 1, introduced right on New Year 2015 (January 1st). The revision brought many new weapons into the game, new weapon accessories, 4 new calibers termed "rare calibers", and plenty of other changes largely related to weapons, weapon customization and ammunition.

Opus Perfecta updates

Following the Community Requested Updates, updates continued appearing between the months of January and April, which were largely minor changes and fixes. During those months, the author started taking decisions pertaining to the game's future. It has been decided that MazeWorld needed to receive a last, but important array of new features and modifications in order to finalize its shape ; in other words, MazeWorld needed to be "completed" ; The author is wishing to prepare the game for release as a tabletop RPG, and to form the basis of a future video game.

As such, he started the Opus Perfecta program: a roadmap of important features and changes which are planned out and developed before being slated for implementation. Much like the Community Requested Updates, they form a multi-part, large-scale series of updates, though this time, instead of introducing features requested by the community, he is introducing features to create a 'final' version of the game.

That is not to say that the author wishes to stop working on MazeWorld, but merely that future updates should be restricted to minor ones, such as fixing errors, so that managing the game as a GM and bringing in more players - as well as ending a -very- long work-in-progress state.

The author has also stated that once all Opus Perfecta updates have been released, the game will reach Version 4 and will be considered complete, as far as the tabletop RPG format is concerned. After the release of each Opus Perfecta update, a Testing Period is subsequently started to test the new features, check their functionality, and if needed, introduce or prepare the introduction of further new changes or features as part of Testing Period Updates if such changes were found to be useful or necessary but were not originally part of the planned features on the Opus Perfecta roadmap.

  • The first part was simply referred to as Opus Perfecta part 1, or OP1. It introduced yet more new weapons, a balance on the full auto fire mode, a large amount of new clothing and armor, and many related minor changes.
  • The second part, OP2, introduced an overhaul of melee combat and melee weapons, a complete revamp of the Leaderboards, many new encounters in preparation for a future feature, the Inaccurate Hit and Combat Skills systems (which increased the difficulty of the game and introduced an element of skill leveling in the game), an overhaul of the Armor Class system, and the deletion of trap rooms, alongside related minor changes.
    • Following OP2, 4 minor updates followed - largely minor changes.
  • An intermediate series of updates then occurred, during Testing Period #2 - nine such updates were implemented, the first of which on July 17th 2015, and the last of which on August 29th 2015. Among the most important changes introduced by those updates were changes to combat and damage, the introduction of value deprecation of weapons (Condition now directly affects the resale value of a weapon), the introduction of rags and rag crafting, improvements to the Hunting system, the introduction of a full limb damage map for non-human creatures, the introduction of melee weapon maintenance, and the complete revamp of the Startgame.

Current: Opus Perfecta part 3

The third part of the Opus Perfecta updates (OP3) was intended to be released on the same model as the previous two. However, the scale and amount of features forced the author to go for a gradual introduction of each feature, one by one, as if they were their own independent updates.

OP3 and the Testing Period #3 officially started on August 28th 2015, and are still currently ongoing. The details are available on the Changelog.

Opus Perfecta 3 updates

The list below details all of the features planned on the Opus Perfecta roadmap that have been subsequently released (prefixed with OP3).
In between each of these updates are also listed the Testing Period #3 mini-updates, which introduced changes that were not planned, but have been introduced as a result of feature testing (prefixed with TP).

  • OP3 p1 (August 28th 2015): Even more new weapons, accessories, and 2 new calibers
  • OP3 p2 (September 12th 2015): Introduction of the Weapon Rarity system, which regulates the availability and commonality of all weapons in the game.
  • OP3 p3 (September 14th 2015): Nicknamed The Big One, introduction of the most drastic update to the game introduced yet: the new room generation system (the Uncivilized Area), an all-new towns and settlements system (the Towns), and a few other minor changes.
    • TP u1 (September 22nd 2015): Minor changes pertaining to weapon accessories and bot commands.
    • TP u2 (October 6th 2015): Minor changes pertaining to the Weapon Rarity system.
    • TP u3 (October 17th 2015): Minor changes pertaining to gameplay mechanics, bionic augmentations, four new weapons, and the removal of the Maze Customs family of L-Frame revolvers, replaced by the Redhawk family.
    • TP u4 (October 21st 2015): Minor changes pertaining to the Maze Customs.
  • OP3 p4 (October 26th 2015): Introduction of the Reputation system, and more changes related to weapons and weapon accessories.
    • TP u5 (November 8th 2015): Minor changes related to encounters and the Inebriation statistic (introducing positive effects, to balance the negative effects of being drunk)
    • TP u6 (November 26th 2015): Nicknamed The .22 Long Rifle mini-update, it introduced 10 new .22 Long Rifle firearms and new related Maze Customs services.
    • TP u7 (November 29th 2015): Nicknamed The Agility mini-update, it introduced the Agility statistic.
    • TP u8 (December 1st 2015): Minor changes pertaining to Startgame ; which largely aimed at improving and streamlining the questions and their resulting effects. In addition, the questions related to species and constitution now affect starting natural statistics, further improving Startgame choices.
    • TP u9 (December 4th 2015): Nicknamed Wuxia'd in the face mini-update, it introduced changes to the Initiative System statistic.
  • OP3 p5 (December 17th 2015, morning): Nicknamed The Meds Update part 1, it introduced extensive changes to the effects of existing meds and addictions.
    • TP u10 (December 17th 2015, evening): Two new .500 Magnum weapons.
    • TP u11 (December 31st 2015): 1 new caliber (.260 Remington), 4 new weapons, and minor changes pertaining to weapon accessories and Maze Customs.
  • OP3 p6 (January 3rd 2016): Introduction of an all-new feature, Handloading, which is the act of crafting ammunition. It introduced a variety of new items related to handloading, as well as many changes pertaining to ammunition, nomenclature of ammunition sold in shops, and changes to damage tables.
    • TP u12 (February 2nd 2016): Minor changes pertaining to roomstyles, Containers, locks and lockpicking, and Towns.
    • TP u13 (February 7th 2016): Nicknamed The grenade spam mini-update, it introduced important changes to core gameplay mechanics, a completely remade list of Load-bearing equipment, and other minor changes.
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