Maze of the Week #98 - Elm Road Drive In Theatre Sign

Maze of the Week #98 takes us back to a familiar theme on the site, retro sign mazes ! The Elm Road Drive In Theatre Sign is a wonderful retro sign for a still operating drive-in movie theatre located in Warren, Ohio. You can see what is playing here. You’ll notice the website prominently features the wonderful sign ! They still have a movieline !


YouTube: Although it discusses covid challenges, I like that this short video shows the sign prominently !

The Maze: I went black and white and stopped despite such great colors on the actual sign. The textures from the physical sign look great as a maze. And of course I had to give a nod to some great maze movies !

Elm Road Drive In Theatre Sign Maze in black and white

Elm Road Drive In Theatre Sign Maze

I hope you enjoy the maze. Maze download is available on the homepage. Please check out my YouTube channel where you can watch this maze being made and solved!!

Similar Mazes you may like:

Sit & Spin Laundry Sign Maze

Agora Theatre Sign Maze

Chicago Theatre Sign Maze

Coming next week:

A museum maze. We are 2 weeks away from a very special maze #100 !

Ken's Labyrinth: A Blast from the Past FPS Maze Game

Maze video games have a long history and where some of the biggest games from the video arcade era. Wikipedia has a whole page listing hundreds of retro maze games and the first maze game was developed in 1959 !!! Of course you needed a massive mainframe to play it…but it existed. Some of the most famous maze games are Pac-Man and all its sequels, Dig Dug, Gauntlet, and Rally-X. The game Maze, developed in 1973 brought us a first person shooter game that was played in a maze. Today I want to discuss one of the games inspired by that original first person game, Ken’s Labyrinth.

Ken's Labyrinth Video Game opening page

Ken's Labyrinth Video Game opening page

The History of Ken's Labyrinth

Ken's Labyrinth is a first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Ken Silverman when he was 17 years old and published by Epic MegaGames in 1993. The game is notable for being one of the first FPS games to feature interactive sprites and textures, as well as for its innovative use of the Build engine.

Silverman began development on Ken's Labyrinth in 1991, when he was still a teenager. The game was originally called Walken, and it was inspired by the Wolfenstein 3D engine. Silverman quickly realized that he could do more with the engine than just recreate Wolfenstein 3D, so he began to add new features and ideas.

One of the most significant features that Silverman added to Ken's Labyrinth was the ability to interact with sprites and textures. This meant that players could interact with objects in the environment, such as vending machines, slot machines, and even the enemies themselves. This was a major innovation at the time, and it helped to set Ken's Labyrinth apart from other FPS games.

Another innovative feature of Ken's Labyrinth was its use of the Build engine. The Build engine was a new rendering engine that Silverman developed specifically for the game. The Build engine allowed for more detailed and complex levels than previous FPS engines, and it also allowed for more realistic lighting effects.

Ken's Labyrinth was released in 1993, and it was met with positive reviews from critics. The game was praised for its innovative features, its challenging gameplay, and its tongue-in-cheek humor. Ken's Labyrinth was also a commercial success, selling over 100,000 copies.

Take a look at some of the gameplay:

The success of Ken's Labyrinth helped to launch the career of Ken Silverman. Silverman went on to develop the Build engine, which was used in many popular FPS games, including Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood.

Here are some additional facts about Ken's Labyrinth:

  • The game was originally released as shareware, with the first episode available for free. The full game was available for purchase.

  • The game was inspired by the Wolfenstein 3D engine, but it also incorporated elements from other games, such as Doom and The Legend of Zelda.

  • The game's levels were designed by Ken Silverman and his friend Andrew Cotter.

  • The game's soundtrack was composed by Ken Silverman.

  • The game was released for MS-DOS, and it has since been ported to other platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Want to give it a quick play ? There are plenty of emulators out there. Here is one to try.

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Case Study#7 - How to Improve a Bad Maze - Ship

I have written 2 blog posts featuring a total of 20 mazes that I abandoned for one reason or another. You can read them here:

Why I abandoned these 10 mazes - Mistakes in Maze making

10 More Abandoned Mazes - Mistakes in Maze Making

I took the time to evaluate the mazes and see why they did not work and try to determine - could they be salvaged ? Today I present a case study (my 7th) for improving one of those mazes, The US Lightship Overfalls LV-118. Here is my analysis from the previous blog:

“Abandoned Maze #6 - US Lightship Maze

I spent a lot of time on the details of this boat. I wanted to make it for Veteran’s Day. The only place to make the maze is in the hull of the boat and I used an on-line construction. It just doesn’t look good. It might be salvageable. Mistake made: Poor maze construction.”

And let’s look at that maze, also known as the ‘before’:

And here are the changes I made to (hopefully) improve the maze:

1. Color - Changed the color of yellow - brighter to better reflect actual color and pop the picture more. I missed 2 - honestly I do not know the name of them - but they are on the side of the boat, one in the front and one in the back, anyway I colored them red. I basically cleaned up small items that needed color. I added a bit of shadows also.

2. Shoreline added - The boat appears to be floating in a white of nothingness. It isn’t terrible but I felt it would be improved with some context. I decided to do the shoreline vs. out on the water. This includes grass and a chain fence connecting black moorings. I hooked-the boat up also.

3. Hull addition - When I was exploring the location I would use for the boat I decided to add the addition hull that is black (sometimes under the water depending on the weight of the ship’s holdings). This also includes the markings showing how deep the boat is into the water on the front in white - a fun detail.

4. Sky addition - The white sky feels like empty space. Might as well finish the color.

5. Recolor the Deck - If the actual deck is not white, it is an off-white color. I think changing it to a light grey color helps give the ship more shape.

6. Re-Letter and brand - Change the font size of the lettering to reflect the smaller size layout and add my branding to the top right corner.

7. Change the maze size - Not essential. But I am starting to make more mazes that do not fit a traditional size piece of paper. I thought that this helps to showcase the maze and subject matter more than the sky

8. Details - I kept adding details as I went along. The more I added the more I wanted to add. A light, some door accessories. Another line to the shore. So many small things that are part of the picture but have no bearing on the actual maze. To be honest, I could spend a few more hours adding even more details but I decided to stop to work on the actual maze.

9. New Maze - The original on-line white color version didn’t work. With the shoreline added I decided to switch from start and goal arrows to a internal lettered Start and Goal. I tried a freehand drawn maze in black to see how it looked…and I think it looks better. The black looks better on the slightly brighter colored boat.

And now the “After”. The new maze:

US Lightship Overfalls LV-118 Maze