JMazeMaster

A Java recreation of Maze Master, the 1983 Commodore 64 dungeon crawler by Michael Cranford (creator of The Bard's Tale).

This isn't an emulator—I reverse-engineered the original cartridge ROM and reconstructed the entire game logic in Java. The goal was to make it as faithful to the original as possible while running natively.

What's Maze Master?

You control a party of up to 3 characters (warriors and wizards) exploring a 20×20 maze across 5 levels. Fight monsters, collect loot, solve a riddle, and eventually face the BALROG in the final chamber. Pretty standard stuff for early 80s dungeon crawlers, but Cranford made it work on the C64's limited hardware.

Building and Running

Requirements:

• Java 11 or later
• Maven (for easy building)

Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/SPixs/JMazeMaster.git
cd JMazeMaster
mvn clean package

Run it:

java -jar target/JMazeMaster-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

Or if you want to run directly without building the JAR:

mvn exec:java

Reverse Engineering Notes

I disassembled the original 6510 assembly code from the C64 cartridge and documented everything. You can find the fully commented source here:

→ c64_resources/source.asm

The Java code references original memory addresses and code labels throughout (like $A5B2, $9C99) to make it easier to cross-reference with the assembly.

If you're into retro game preservation or just curious how 8-bit games worked, this might be useful.

Game Manual

The original manual is included in the repo. It explains spells, equipment, and game mechanics:

→ media/mazeMasterManuel.pdf

Technical Details

• Hardware emulation: VIC-II graphics chip, CIA1 for input, PETSCII character set
• No external dependencies: Pure Java with Swing for rendering
• Encoding: All sources are UTF-8
• Memory: Loads the original 64KB C64 memory image and works with it directly

The architecture separates hardware emulation (org.pixs.hardware) from game logic (org.pixs.mazemaster), using a state pattern for different game modes (menu, maze exploration, combat).

Screenshots

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.