MAZED

Load MAX.MAX with the - key, edit it with the keyboard, save with +. Then watch a game from the sysop's chair.

C:\GAME1> MAZED

The original takes its options from the command line or the METAPARM variable. Leave it empty to get the start-up dialog (it accepts the defaults by itself after about ten seconds). -; skips the dialog, -? lists every device, -e:7 picks IBM VGA 640x480.

Keys in the editor: letters, ? / and space write a cell and move right; 2 4 6 8 move, 1 3 7 9 diagonals, 5 syncs the arrow, 0 repaints; + saves, - loads (the board's map is MAX.MAX: press - and type it); an arrow key or F-key ends the program. Esc does nothing, as in the original.

YOUR FILES (this browser only)

Nothing saved yet. The editor's + key writes here; nothing is ever written to the archive.

Maps are 1,920 raw bytes, 80 columns by 24 rows, as the phone game reads them. Master maps in this build: none.

ABOUT THIS TOOL

Recreates
GAME1/MAZED.EXE (graphical editor, MetaWINDOW V3.7B) and the PC screen of GAME1/SEGAME99.EXE / PRGM.EXE (the live phone game).
Date
28 May 1995 (MAZED.EXE, SEGAME99.EXE); 4 Jun 1995 (PRGM.EXE)
Who likely wrote it
Max (the sign-off "Thank you for using Max's GROOVY little program!" is in the program; the code does not say which Max) for main, the repaint and the file routines. The start-up dialog is the graphics library vendor's own sample module (Metagraphics). The phone game is Max's with the father's voice-card library underneath (guess, knowledge/story/authorship-guess.md).
What changed in the web version
  • Files are the browser's: "save" writes to this browser (localStorage) and offers a download; "load" reads the same store plus the two real master maps (MAX.MAX and MAX.MZ1, from the board's public maze data). The archive is never written.
  • The mouse arrow starts at the middle of the screen (the DOS mouse driver's default) and is a drawn arrow, not the library's exact bitmap. The original never reads the mouse, nor does this.
  • Where the file name is echoed while you type it is not known from the original (GRAPHICS.md, undetermined): it is shown after the prompt.
  • The sysop console plays no sound: the clips that would play are listed in brackets. The trivia block is simplified.
Kept on purpose (the original's bugs and habits)
  • Esc does nothing; the only way out is a key whose first byte is 0 (an arrow key or an F-key).
  • Typed letters are white and one pixel left of where a repaint puts them (yellow) until you press 0, + or -.
  • You can walk one row below the map and type there; the letters are drawn but not stored. A cell can never be erased back to empty.
  • A new file is written in text mode ("wt"), an existing one in binary mode ("w+b"); loading reads in text mode.
  • In the sysop console the whole map is printed again whenever the north-west neighbour is a wall.
Ground truth
inventory/exe_c/games/ (mazed, segame99, GRAPHICS.md)