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 with roguelike elements. It wouldn't be a video game proper, but a roleplaying game, it would definitely be.

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 are still used today. 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; plus, the use of an IRC channel was the way for the Mazes to gather more people than simply two (the GM/Author and the player). Even though the roots of the game as a single player experience can still be felt today, 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 talented 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. Affectionately called "the HAM of Mazeworld", after their respective initials, their success shall remain an example to follow and a timeless feat for newer generations to re-enact.

  • 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, and still is today, 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 Mazeworld winner, 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 it coincides with the week in which the author's 18th birthday happened (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.

  • September 6th, 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

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.

The most prominent figure 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 bend the game and its objectives to their will.

The 2.5 Era

With the introduction of MazeWorld 2.5, deep changes to the core gameplay are introduced as well, which added new dimensions and strategies to combat and fighting. These changes are 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.

  • July 12th, 2013: Update to Version 2.5
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