This maze was never one of my favorites. I was practicing making landscape mazes and this seemed like a cool location to maze. In reality the maze was a bit weak. It looks kind of flat. But once I put so much time in making it I was worth publishing. Now, I get a chance to improve it. How will it go ? Let’s find out ! Here is my original post which includes a link to a great video about the dam if you are interested.

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Dam changed. I added texture to the dam face and added light colored lines to show the shape and construction of the dam face better

2. Water changed. I added interest to the water in the reservoir and the water below the dam. I “marble-ized” it and think it is an improvement on the flat water before.

3. Added texture. I added texture to all of the rock areas. This changed the color of the earth some.

4. Added drought. I added an anti-shadow to highlight the low water in the reservoir by showing the previous water height. This is the same technique I use to make a shadow, but instead of using black I used white.

5. Added the sky.

6. New Start/Goal. The start and goal are now internal words vs. arrows. I also changed their location so I could improve the maze and use more of the page. Which means we have a

7. New Maze Pathway. I think this improves the enjoyment of the maze when solving.

8. New title font. I changed the title font to a more condensed look.

9. Added branding. I added my branding in the lower portion of the dam near the goal. It is at an angle near the water to fit into the picture.

Here is the before and after:

For all the changes it looks relatively similar. I think it still is improved.

Some data: The new file is 1,340MB from 123MB. 10X bigger.

I will be replacing the homepage with the new maze going forward. You can find the maze download there !

If you like this type of content check out all of my case studies:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve your Mazes

Happy maze-ing !

Maze of the week #38 is of the Hoover Dam, on the border of Arizona and Nevada. A feat of engineering, it opened in 1936, ahead of schedule and was dedicated on September 30, 1935. It is the largest reservoir in the US and helped spur the growth of the city of Las Vegas. The dam became a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

Read more about the Hoover Dam on Wikipedia.

You can find plenty of videos on the dam, and I like this vintage one if you have the time ! It is long, but very worth it !

Here is a photo of the Hoover Dam:

The maze: I return to a landscape maze again. Mazes of the Week #1 Horseshoe Bend and #2 Monument Valley are nearby locations that got the same landscape maze treatment. It is not a difficult maze, but it is best solved printed. I went with a single color for the earth portion of the maze. If I was to revise it I would change that and add more color variations.

I hope you enjoy the maze. Download is available in the mazes permanent home.

Coming next week:

A maze of a well known building