Mazing Hunters

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Mazing Hunters is a strategic maze-building tower defense game set in a medieval fantasy world where humans defend against waves of orcs. Build intricate mazes, strategically place towers, upgrade them, and survive 100 waves of increasingly challenging enemies!

CORE GAMEPLAY

Maze Building Mechanics:

- Place walls to create custom mazes that guide enemies through your defenses

- Strategic tower placement for optimal coverage and damage

- Quick build system: replace walls with towers instantly (toggle in settings)

- Quick sell system: right-click to remove buildings instantly (toggle in settings)

- Building health system: walls and towers can be damaged and repaired

- Shift-build mode: Hold Shift while in build mode to drag and place multiple structures

- Quick sell drag: Hold Ctrl+Right Click and drag over multiple towers to sell them quickly

Tower Defense:

- 3 Tower Types: Arrow (single-target, crits), Cannon (AoE, armor shred), Sniper (long-range, true strike)

- Cumulative Upgrade System: Purchase upgrades 1, 2, and 3 to stack powerful bonuses

- Tactical Depth: Each tower type has unique mechanics and upgrades

- Range Indicators: Visual feedback when placing towers

- Multi-selection: Hold Control (Ctrl) to select multiple towers, press U to upgrade all at once

Enemy Variety:

- 11+ Enemy Types: Ground units, Runners, Armored, Splitters, Healers, Ghosts, Flying units, Elites, Minibosses, and Bosses

- Unique Mechanics: Healers restore enemy health, Flying units ignore walls, Ghosts resist physical damage and phase through buildings, Splitters spawn smaller enemies on death, Minibosses can defend against projectiles to protect other units

- Status Effects: Armor reduction, burn, slow, freeze, electrified

- Progressive Difficulty: Enemies scale in HP, armor, heal strength, etc, across waves

Advanced Features:

- Wave System: 100 waves with special event waves (double gold, boss waves, etc.)

- Survival Mode: Infinite waves after wave 100 (coming soon)

- Economy System: Gold from kills, passive income (GPM), and wave bonuses

- Progression System: Player XP, Builder XP, achievements, and unlockables

- Multiple Map Sizes: 5x5 (tutorial), 12x12 (under development), and 20x20 arenas

- Game Speed Control: 1x to 4x speed (4x unlocks at Builder Level 25), auto-wave toggle, pause system

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Building Hotkeys:

- 1: Select Arrow Tower

- 2: Select Cannon Tower

- 3: Select Sniper Tower

- 8: Select Wall

- Hold Shift: Enable shift-build mode (drag building)

- Hold Control (Ctrl): Enter multi-selection mode

Game Controls:

- Space: Start wave (when the wave is idle and at least one tower is placed)

- P: Pause/Resume game

- Esc: Cancel build mode / Open settings / Close overlays (context-dependent)

- Tab: Switch build menu category (Physical → Elemental → Support) or expand/collapse selection panel

Tower Operations:

- U: Upgrade selected tower(s) - works with single or multi-selection

- Right-Click: Quick sell (when enabled in settings)

Item Slots (under dev):

- 5: Use item in slot 1 (potions, boosters, etc.)

- 6: Use item in slot 2

- 7: Use item in slot 3

- Items require double-click confirmation to prevent accidental usage

MULTI-SELECTION SYSTEM

Control Key Multi-Select:

- Hold Control (Ctrl) or Command (Meta on Mac) to enter multi-selection mode

- Click multiple towers to add them to the selection

- Click selected towers again to remove them from selection

- Last clicked tower becomes primary selection (shows detailed stats)

- Release Control to collapse selection to the primary tower only

- Visual feedback: Selected towers are highlighted with colored outlines

Multi-Select Operations:

- Upgrade Multiple Towers: Press the U key to upgrade all selected towers at once (if you have enough gold)

- Sell Multiple Towers: Use the sell button in the selection panel to sell all selected towers

- Aggregated Stats: Selection panel shows total upgrade cost, total sell value, and count of selected towers

- Smart Upgrades: Only upgrade towers that can be upgraded (enough gold, upgrade unlocked, not max level)

BESTIARY SYSTEM

Progressive Unlock System:

- Track kills for each enemy type automatically

- Unlock information progressively as you kill more enemies

- Claim rewards (XP and Crystals) when unlocking new information tiers

- Information is hidden until you claim the reward

Unlock Thresholds by Rarity:

Common Mobs (ground, runner, armored, swarm):

- Threshold 1: Name + Animated Portrait

- Threshold 2: Full Stats (HP, speed, armor, resistances)

- Threshold 3: Long Description + Lore

Reward System:

- XP rewards for each unlock threshold

- Crystal rewards for certain unlocks

- Rewards must be claimed before viewing detailed information

- Notification system shows when new unlocks are available

- Persistent tracking across game sessions

Tower Codex:

- Tower information unlocked based on Builder Level

- Level 1: Base tower info (always unlocked)

- Builder Level 2: Upgrade 1 information

- Builder Level 4: Upgrade 2 information

- Builder Level 6: Upgrade 3 information

BUILDER LEVEL SYSTEM

Progression:

- Gain Builder XP by playing games and completing objectives

- Builder Level unlocks tower upgrade tiers:

  - Level 2: Unlocks Upgrade 1 for all towers

  - Level 4: Unlocks Upgrade 2 for all towers

  - Level 6: Unlocks Upgrade 3 for all towers

  - Level 25: Unlocks 4x game speed button

- Builder Level affects tower codex information visibility

PRE-VICTORY PANELS

Risk/Reward System:

- At waves 30, 50, 80, and 100, after defeating the boss, you get a choice:

  - Take the Win: End game and show victory screen

  - Keep Going: Continue playing with bonus rewards

Wave 30 Rewards (if continuing):

- 15% Player XP bonus for the remainder of the session

- Cosmetic unlock (tower skin, particle effect, title) (under dev)

- Builder XP (30 base XP)

- First Milestone achievement progress

Wave 50 Rewards (if continuing):

- 25% Player XP bonus (stacks multiplicatively with Wave 30 = 43.75% total)

- Cosmetic unlock (tower skin, particle effect, title)

- Builder XP

- 20% chance to drop 1 small XP totem (10% XP boost for one session)

- Simple Lootbox (placeholder for future system)

- Perseverance achievement progress

Wave 80 Rewards (if continuing):

- 50% Player XP bonus (stacks multiplicatively with Wave 30 and 50 = 115.625% total)

- Rare cosmetic unlock

- Builder XP

- 10% chance to drop 1 medium XP totem (15% XP boost for one session)

- Rare Lootbox

- Legendary Perseverance achievement

Wave 100 Rewards (if continuing) (under dev):

- 10% Player XP bonus (stacks multiplicatively: 1.15 × 1.25 × 1.5 × 1.1 = 2.371875x total)

- Epic cosmetic unlock

- Builder XP

- Guaranteed large XP totem (20% XP boost for one session)

- Epic Lootbox

- Ultimate Perseverance achievement

Temporary XP Boosters:

- Small Totem: 10% XP boost for one game session (20% drop chance at Wave 50)

- Medium Totem: 15% XP boost for one game session (10% drop chance at Wave 80)

- Large Totem: 20% XP boost for one game session (guaranteed at Wave 100)

- Only one totem can be active at a time

- Activated from inventory before starting a game

Daily Challenge System:

- New challenges every day

- Complete challenges to earn rewards (XP, Crystals, items)

- Challenge types vary (kill X enemies, survive X waves, etc.)

- Progress tracked automatically

- Rewards claimed from the challenge panel

Competitive Rankings:

- Global leaderboards for various categories

- Track best scores, highest waves, fastest times

- Filter by difficulty, map size, time period

- Personal best tracking

- Ranking updates after each game

Game History Tracking (under dev):

- View the history of all your games

- See statistics for each match (waves survived, kills, towers built, etc.)

- Filter and sort by various criteria

- Detailed breakdown of performance metrics

Comprehensive Settings Menu

Language Support:

- English (default)

- Brazilian Portuguese (complete translation)

- More languages planned for future updates

VISUAL FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

Damage Numbers:

- Floating damage numbers show damage dealt

- Color-coded by damage type (physical, fire, ice, lightning, crits, execution, heals, miss, etc)

- Critical hits shown in red with larger numbers

- Miss indicators for dodged attacks

Status Effect Indicators (under dev):

- Visual indicators for all status effects (burn, slow, freeze, electrified, armor reduction)

- Stack indicators for multi-stack effects

- Duration timers on status effect icons

HP Bars:

- Enemy HP bars aligned with zoom/pan

- Building HP bars for damaged structures

- Color-coded by health percentage

Selection Outlines:

- Colored outlines for selected towers

- Multi-selection shows all selected towers with outlines

- Primary selection has a distinct outline color

OTHER FEATURES

Grid Coordinate System:

- Visual grid labels with Ctrl+D

- Helps with strategic planning and communication

- Toggle visibility in settings

Tutorial System:

- Comprehensive tutorial for new players

- Step-by-step guidance through core mechanics

- Interactive tutorials with objectives

- Can be skipped or replayed anytime

Achievement System:

- Multiple achievement categories

- Progress tracking for all achievements

- Notification system for achievement unlocks

- Achievement rewards (XP, Crystals, cosmetics)

Progression Tracking:

- Player XP and leveling

- Builder XP and leveling

- Kill statistics per enemy type

- Game statistics (total games, wins, losses, etc.)

- Persistent across sessions

News System (under dev):

- In-game news panel

- Patch notes and updates

- Feature announcements

- Development progress updates

DEVELOPMENT DETAILS

Project Timeline:

- Development Started: October 19, 2025

- Current Status: Phase 1 (90% - Beta)

- Development Time: 1+ year of active development

- Development Style: Solo developer (Lax) with AI-assisted development workflow

Technology Stack:

- Engine: Pixi.js v7.3.2 (GPU-accelerated 2D rendering)

- Framework: React 19.2.0 (UI system)

- Language: TypeScript 5.3.3

- Build Tool: Vite 7.2.4

- State Management: Zustand 5.0.8

- Backend: Node.js/Express (PvP server), Supabase (authentication & database)

- Networking: WebRTC (co-op), WebSocket (PvP)

Development Tools:

- AI Development Assistant: Claude 3.5 Sonnet (via Cursor AI IDE)

- Asset Management: Custom asset pipeline with Antigravity AI integration

- Assets Creation:

  - Characters/Towers/Sprites: Voidless

  - Music/SFX: Elevenlabs

  - Narrations: I recorded all voices organically myself. But my professionally cloned voices are available on ElevenLabs - search for "Lax."

- Testing: Vitest 4.0.15

- Version Control: Git with automated build scripts

- Documentation: Comprehensive GDD, technical specs, and development logs

Architecture:

- Pattern: Component-based + Systems Architecture

- Systems: 16+ core systems (Pathfinding, Tower, Enemy, Economy, Progression, Audio, etc.)

- Performance: Object pooling, frustum culling, GPU rendering optimization

- Code Quality: TypeScript strict mode, comprehensive type system, modular design

Performance Features:

- Object pooling for projectiles, particles, and graphics

- Frustum culling for off-screen rendering

- GPU-accelerated rendering with Pixi.js

- Attack throttling to prevent crashes with 300+ towers

- Sprite pooling for efficient memory usage

- Tested performance: 60 FPS with 300 towers and 200 enemies on RTX 3060

PROJECT SCOPE

Current Phase: 1 - Medieval Fantasy:

Future Phases:

- Phase 2: Additional content (new builders,  new towers, new enemies, difficulty modes, balancing)

- Phase 3: Co-op multiplayer, campaign missions

- Phase 4: Map editor, community features, monetization

DEVELOPER

Created by: Lax

Development Approach: Solo developer with AI-assisted workflow

Project Type: Educational case study + playable game

License: MIT (code), Custom (assets)

KEY FEATURES

Strategic Depth: Balance maze design, tower placement, and economy

Replayability: Multiple map sizes, infinite survival mode, achievement system

Polish: Smooth performance, responsive controls, comprehensive settings

Accessibility: Full localization, customizable controls (coming soon), accessibility options (coming soon)

Modern Tech: Built with the latest web technologies, GPU-accelerated rendering

Active Development: Regular updates, community feedback integration

NOTES

This project serves as both a playable tower defense game and an educational case study for game development. All systems, documentation, and workflows are designed to be transparent, well-documented, and educational for other developers.

The development process itself is extensively documented, making it a valuable resource for learning modern game development practices, TypeScript architecture, and Pixi.js optimization techniques.

Ready to test your strategic skills? Play Mazing Hunters and see how many waves you can survive!

Here's our Discord: https://discord.gg/EqSnDRaWap

Thanks for playing! #survival #TD #TowerDefense #builder #maze #mazebuilding #strategy