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How HeroMazes began

June 1, 2026

HeroMazes didn't start as a game. It started at the kitchen table, with my kids and a pile of printed mazes.

My children loved solving mazes — the ones I'd draw by hand, and the ones I'd hunt down and print from the internet. The problem was that I ran out of them fast, and most printable mazes are the same puzzle over and over: one path in, one path out, find the exit. Fun for a minute, then solved forever.

I wanted something with more to it — mazes that could be generated automatically, so I'd never run dry, but also more intricate: a maze where you had to find a key before you could open a door, or grab a weapon before you could get past a monster. A little puzzle of order and planning, not just a single corridor.

So I built a small tool to do exactly that. It was rough and entirely functional — a settings panel on the left, a black-and-white maze on the right, a legend and an inventory checklist. No theme, no colour, no story. Just "Progression Maze Generator."

The original Progression Maze Generator — a plain settings panel and a black-and-white maze with a legend and inventory checklist.
Where it all started: the first "Progression Maze Generator" — purely functional, no theme, no colour.

And then I couldn't stop. What began as a weekend utility for my kids turned into a bit of an obsession. If a maze could have keys and doors, why not monsters and weapons? If it had monsters, it needed a theme. If it had a theme, it deserved real artwork, then collectibles, then a quest log, then a daily challenge everyone plays together, then a fully 3D way to actually play the maze instead of just printing it.

Late night after late night, that plain generator grew into something I never planned: a proper fantasy maze adventure, with characters, treasure, leaderboards, and a whole world wrapped around the same simple idea.

HeroMazes today — a polished interface with themed art, a Dragon Sword, Royal Minotaur, Ruby Wizard Key, an adventure checklist and a navigation bar.
…and where it is today: HeroMazes — themed adventures, artwork, quests, and a game you can play, not just print.

That's the whole story, really. HeroMazes exists because two kids liked solving mazes, and their dad got a little carried away. It's still free, it still generates endless adventures, and you can still print every one of them — that part never changed.

Thank you for playing. I hope it brings your family as much fun as it brought mine.

✨ Play HeroMazes