Smiley's Maze Hunt

History

The game was initially designed by the University of Pennsylvania mathematician Ryan Manion as the third installment of his Smiley's series. Manion formed a coding group while he was a college undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, and the group worked hard to turn their idea into a real game. The group would often hold meeting that would last long into the night to figure out how to proceed in coding Smiley's quest, all at the expense of the group member's school work. Eventually, Manion became the head of the graphics department, and he created most of the game's graphics using Microsoft Paint. Additionally, Manion served as the sole level designer, creating every single one of the challenging and innovative puzzles within the game.

Currently, a three dimensional version of Smiley's Maze Hunt is being created by Manion and this will constitute the fourth installment of the Smiley's series. So far, this has been a project only of his and it is unknown if the original team will be participating in the new version's creation. The 3D version is being created using the Unity game engine. This game engine allows for the coding of more complex 3D games without having to start from scratch, and it should allow the 3D version of Smiley's Maze Hunt to run more smoothly and look sharper.

Game Code

The game's coding team loved to add jokes within the game's code. For example, within the code, the following comment exists:

/** * Returns the specified integer as a string because the * designers of C were too distracted by their beards to * write a lanague that doESNT SUCK ASS F*CK SHIT */

This is a reference to the coders' frustration with their work along with the issues presented by coding in C. They were regularly up until the early hours of the morning, and felt the need to add these messages in the code in case anyone would one day read over it and discover the message.

Game Bugs

Certain known bugs do exist in the game. These include glitches that allow Smiley to pass through walls in order to bypass certain puzzles. These types of glitches are however very uncommon. A source of these problems stems from some members of the team editing the code and slightly changing some of the gameplay at the end of development without consulting the rest of the team members.

Another known error within the game occurs with the "trapped room system," a system which incorporates the insertation of blocks to prevent Smiley from leaving a room or section without completing certain criteria, typically a puzzle or the destruction of enemies. Due to discrepancies within the enemy spawning system, some enemies will spawn outside the trap room, making it impossible for Smiley to kill them, and thus, eternally trapping him in the trap room.

There is also another error within the game's "Candy Land" section of the world, in which a cannon, which is a part of the game environment, has control over a switch that allows Smiley to move in between to rooms. In order to initially progress in this section of the game, Smiley must first solve a puzzle the orients the cannon to the correct position. After accomplishing this, Smiley may proceed to the next room and save by licking a lolipop. The bug occurs if the player dies after doing so, as dying and respawning resets all of the map's set pieces, causing the cannon to re-orient itself into its original position. This essentially traps Smiley as the cannon can no longer allow him to travel in between two rooms and Smiley has no way of repositioning the cannon to the correct place.