Maze of the Week 13 Redux - Clayton Theatre (MOTW #168)

This maze update is going to be different from the other options I have done. I like the original maze and wanted to make a new version of it - a view of the theatre at night. When I originally made the maze I remembered seeing pictures of the building at night with colors that were not what I was expecting. I wanted to add those onto the maze and see how it looked. It also allowed me to practice some design techniques. Here is the original blog post:

Maze of the Week #13 - Clayton Theatre Maze

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Neon added. I added glowing neon lights to top of the sign, blue lights around the C on the sign and around the marque. Basically I added neon lights, then made sure that they would glow.

2. Building glow. That also meant adding sign glow onto the building from neon signs, not just the area directly around the lights.

3. Windows darkened. I should have done this on the daytime version also.

4. Arrows changed. Unfortunately I had to use internal arrows in this maze to jump obstacles. The internal arrows are now 20-30% larger where possible.

5. Posters added. I added The Maze Runner poster to the poster boards !

6. Nighttime. I added a dark night sky and added a deeper grey on everything to show it was night.

7. Size changed. I took an inch off the height to eliminate some empty space.

8. Font Size. I reduced font size on title, with even more reduction on the city name

9. Light added. I added a bright light on the front of the building at the box office.

10. Minor Detail. A new ticket box office color/detail where the ticket seller speaks. Very small detail, but more accurate.

I prefer the night version, but I will keep both on the site. Maybe I should make some of the same changes on the daytime version ???? TBD.

Some data: The new file is 233MB from 112MB.

I will be posting this maze on the homepage in addition to the existing version. 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

What I've Learned Making Mazes

Happy maze-ing !

Maze Book Creation - Options for making the Solutions page - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my series where I look at how to make a Maze Solution page for a book . In Part 1 I used a basic standard maze and formatted the solution for it multiple ways to show how it looked. Here is a summary of what I showed (I suggest you still read the post, Maze Book Creation - Options for making the Solutions page - Part 1 for the visual examples).

Maze Solution Size

  • Full Size Solution

  • Reduced Sized Solutions (4,6,9 per pages options)

Maze Solution Coloring

  • Bolded Solution Pathway

  • Color Solution Pathway

  • Decolor the Maze with Black Solution

  • Dashed Line Solution Pathway

Here in Part 2 I will use a variety of different maze types and experiment to see what solution page method works best for each.

Maze 1 - Weaving Maze Solution

A weaving maze presents an interesting solution issue. The pathways in a weaving maze weave above and below each other so your solution is drawn in parts. My first option was a simple black line. My second option was a bolded version of a black line. And my third option includes the addition of arrows right before each “underpass” in the maze in the direction of the solution. I personally do not think these are needed, but they are an option. I believe all 3 options work and this is all about personal preference.

Maze 2 - Puzzle Maze Solution

So I puzzle maze uses color as part of the rules for solving. Because of this, the optimal solution page includes highlighting the correct pathway using color. My first option uses a contrasting color line (aqua in this case) to show the solution. The second option is my preferred solution format, using greyscale to de-emphasize the wrong squares making the solution pathway pop in the original colors.

Maze 3 - Large Maze Art Solution
For this example I am using my maze of the Moon. It is a large maze with a lot of detail. When making the solution, the full size version is difficult to see, so reducing the scale would further complicate the solution page. My example solution comes from a slide for the video of the maze being made, then solved on my YouTube Channel. I used a stamp of the word SOLVED to alert the person what they are looking at.

My first option is a simple red line solution, but it is hard to see despite the contrasts in color. I think it does not work well. The second option uses greyscale for the maze (I converted the black line to grey) and bolded the red bolded line so it is easier to see. I also added the SOLVED stamp I mentioned above. Much better. Option 3 uses the stamp and a red bolded solution on greyscale and it also works well.

Maze 4 - Comic Book Maze Solution
I make comic book cover mazes every Tuesday and compiled them into a free book you can sign-up for. For this Scarecrow Maze Comic Book Cover I wanted to show an example where the background is eliminated for the solution. The maze is only one part of the scene, so in order to fit more solutions on the solutions page I deleted the background completely. In a large book this will save you a couple pages and save on the printing costs.
The format of the solutions I tried were - Black Bolded Solution (this does not work because it is hard to follow when using free drawn pathways), Black Bolded Dashed Solution (better, but not ideal), Red Bolded Solution ( My preferred version because it is easy to see), and Red Dashed on Greyscale ( also works but takes more work to execute).

Maze 5 - Full Color Free Drawn Maze

Before I go through this Santa Maze, take a look at it below and try to determine how you would make a solution for it. It has red, with free drawn pathways, so it is not an easy “solution solution”. I did many options to show what does not work. Here are the options I tried: Black solution - (does not work), Dashed Black solution - (better), Yellow Bold Solution - (works well), Greyscale with red solution - (works well and my preferred solution). If you want to go black and white, go with the Greyscale with black dashed lines solution.

Maze 6 - Arrow Maze Solution
An Arrow Maze is a specialty maze where once you choose a direction, you must follow the arrow where it takes you until you land on a new direction choice arrow.

  • Full solution - OK. But we can do better !

  • Greyscale Solution with bold - Greying the maze and leaving the correct solution black with a bold line works perfectly ! Also, you will not pay a premium for color.

My Conclusion : Different maze types mean different types of maze solutions. Use the tools I spoke about in Part 1 and the examples in Part 2 to help you determine what works for your situation.

Happy maze-making !

You like making mazes, so you might like some of my other posts about maze design:

Maze Design Case Study - Designing a Grid Maze in Different Difficulty levels

Maze Construction - 5 Maze Design Decisions Make All the Difference

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve Your Mazes

12 Maze Art Ideas : Unlocking Creative Possibilities

What I've Learned Making Mazes

Maze Comic Book Cover #63 - Toucan Do It !

Issue #63 in my comic book cover series is called Toucan Do It ! and features the maze of a Toucan. This was a difficult book to name because I had so many options to choose from, including Toucan Dance if you Want to, but it seemed a bit too long.

My comic book cover mazes can be found in 2 places:

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 1 (Issues #1-53)

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 2

Toucan Maze Comic Book

To receive a book of my first year of comic book book mazes (Volume 1 with mazes #1-53) you can sign up for my book alerts - any time I launch a free maze book, or paid book (on Amazon), I will send you a note about the new book launch.

Maze of the Week 39 Redux - Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center (MOTW#167)

When I did voting for y maze of the year in 2022 I was surprised how many votes The Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center Maze received. I thought the maze was good (it was a finalist after all) but not top 5. It ended being voted the #2 maze ! I think it is because it brought up memories of childhood. There is something simple about the maze. Black and white. Geometric. But I wanted to see if I could improve it. Here is the original post for reference:

Maze of the Week #39 - Spaceship Earth - Epcot Center Maze

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Added color. I like the black and white look but wondered if color would be better.

2. Changed Start/Goal. I switched to an internal start and goal written out vs the previous arrows to clean it up.

3. Re-sized. Originally the maze was made on 8.5 x 11 paper to facilitate printing easily, but now it is 8.5 inches square because that fits the structure better.

4. Title Changes. I changed the font for the maze title, and reduced the size of the city font vs. the title font. I also changed the location of title

5. Added branding. To the corner. Might as well get credit for my work

6. New background. I added a sky and the ground so the structure isn’t floating on the page anymore.

7. Base Changed. Previously I had some trouble getting the base right - depending on the photo it changes in shape. I re-did it to match the most common view I found.

8. Added Shadows/light. With an object like this light is always playing with the structure and changing how it looks. I added light hitting the globe on the left side, with shadows on the opposite side. I also added shadows to the right base and onto the ground.

I considered doing each panel with a shadow/light but the simpler updates look good enough.

Here is the before and after:

I prefer the new version.

Some data: The new file is 431MB from 316MB.

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

What I've Learned Making Mazes

Happy maze-ing !