LiveMaze

We live in a world that is grossly overcommunicated.  LiveMaze is my attempt to make the pile of overcommunication that little bit bigger yet.  It's a promotion and presentation tool based on those cheesy Labyrinth games where you try to find your way out of a maze.  You create a maze and put visuals (images and videos) on various walls.  Then your target user watches as a "navigator" runs around the maze, stopping to "admire" your visuals as it finds them.  The maze layout creates a sense of mystery and curiosity in the viewer that helps to capture their fickle attention.

That's the basic idea; there are a few bells and whistles:

  • You can set a short caption to display with each visual.
  • You can link the visual to a URL (eg a web page).  The user can click the visual to follow the link (which usually means opening the page in their browser).
  • Occasionally the camera will leap in the air and come down in another part of the maze.  Take it from me, this is pretty cool.
  • You can switch off the navigator and wander around by yourself using the arrow keys (see below).

Run it!

I have prepared a demonstration using various images and movies from my website.  Please try it and see what you think.

This application requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Windows Installer 3.1. If you have these components then click here to run it.  If you don't have them (or you're not sure) then click here for the full installation screen.

Manual navigation mode

LiveMaze also supports manual navigation (provided it is enabled in the scene definition file).  In manual mode, the navigation keys are as follows:

  • Up arrow - move forward one cell
  • Down arrow - move backward one cell
  • Left arrow - turn left
  • Right arrow - turn right
  • J - jump to a random cell
  • Space - "admire" the wall (when standing directly in front of a wall that hosts an image)
  • M - switches between manual and automatic navigation (you can also switch modes using the compass/steering-wheel button in the information bar)

Of course, the arrow keys don't let you walk through walls.

Demo movie

©2009 Carl Johansen