Pixel Maze

About Pixel Maze

Pixel Maze is Crystal Collector's harder sibling. It shares the generated-maze foundation but adds two things that change the problem entirely: locked gates, and hunters that move.

The gates impose an ordering constraint. You cannot simply route to every objective in whatever sequence is shortest — you must collect key A before you can pass gate A, and the maze is laid out so that the keys and gates create a dependency chain. This turns a travelling-salesman problem into something closer to a small planning problem, where the correct route is the one that satisfies the dependencies with the least backtracking.

The hunters make that plan fragile. They patrol fixed circuits at a speed slightly below yours and reverse when they hit a dead end. They are not fast enough to catch you in open corridors, but a hunter sitting in the only corridor to your next key forces a detour that your time budget may not survive. The best players do not avoid hunters — they time their route so the hunter has already moved on.

How to Play

Collect every key, unlock the exit gate and escape before the countdown reaches zero.

Every game on this site can be paused with P or Esc and restarted with R. Sound, retro screen effects and fullscreen are toggled from the buttons above the play area.

Game Mechanics

Keys and gates

Each level has two to four colour-coded key and gate pairs. A gate blocks a corridor until its key is collected. The dependency chain is generated so that at least one valid ordering always exists, but usually only one ordering is efficient.

Hunter patrols

Hunters follow fixed circuits at about 85 percent of your speed. They do not pursue you — they patrol. Because they are slower, an open corridor is always survivable; the danger is being forced into a dead end or a gate you have not yet unlocked.

Time and the key bonus

The countdown starts at 60 seconds and each key adds 12. The maze is sized so that a perfectly routed level finishes with roughly 15 seconds spare, which means a moderate amount of inefficiency is survivable and a badly planned route is not.

Scoring

Your best result is saved in this browser only. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no global leaderboard — see the storage policy for exactly what is kept.

Tips & Strategy

• Solve the key order before you move. The dependency chain has one efficient ordering. Finding it before your first step is worth more than any amount of fast movement.
• Watch a hunter for one circuit. They patrol on fixed loops. Knowing where one will be in eight seconds lets you route through its corridor rather than around it.
• Never enter a dead end with a hunter nearby. You are faster in the open and trapped in a cul-de-sac. Geometry beats speed.
• Take the gate you can open now. Passing a locked gate twice costs the whole detour twice. Sequence to minimise repeats.

Common Mistakes

• Grabbing the nearest key first. Nearest-first almost always creates a backtrack when the dependency chain is considered.
• Trying to outrun a hunter in a corridor. You will, but the detour costs time you have budgeted elsewhere. Time the corridor instead.
• Ignoring the exit's position while routing. The exit is fixed from the start. A route that collects everything and finishes far from the exit wastes a full traversal.

Features

• Generated mazes with colour-coded key and gate dependency chains
• Patrolling hunters on fixed circuits at 85% of your speed
• 60-second base timer with 12 seconds added per key
• Guaranteed-solvable generation with a valid ordering
• Progressive maze growth and additional hunters per level
• Local best score and best level reached