Shri Tra Savern

Original article written by srentiln

History

A work of the more devious side, Shri tra Savern started out as a simple cobblestone and glowstone labyrinth on the outskirts of the old spawn city X known as Savern (or "Death"). Over time, the course evolved to include a small amount of randomization to avoid the problem of people just getting directions from others. While Savern did gain a reputation as one of the more hated mazes for difficulty, it needed to evolve to keep up with the newer innovations being brought to the server. It gained a major retrofitting, replacing the dull aesthetics with mood-setting netherrack bricks, obsidian, and endstone. Lighting was provided by torches behind a layer of water instead of the bright glowstone from before. Further randomization was added to the lowest region of the maze, making exiting the course that much more challenging.

Originally planned as a separate "twin" map, Shri (or "Life") took a brighter approach. Having been planned from the start with improved randomization, Shri better hid the changing points that could send each player down a different path. Unlike Savern which used death as its form of torture, Shri gave players a chance to start over without killing them, making the journey to the exit feel that much longer. As the completion of Shri drew close, inspiration struck. The circuit from Shri was attached to Savern with the thought "choices in life affect the path in death" and what was once planned as a second maze became an extension of the first.

A "wall of hate" stands outside the course for any who wish to vent their frustrations over having gone through this course.

Rating

When the FFA rating system was added in, Shri tra Savern was one of the first courses to earn a red wool rating, placing it as one of the most difficult courses on zero. However, its luck-based difficulty most likely excludes it from consideration for rotation into the hardcore maze set. Even with this probable exclusion, Shri tra Savern has been honored with being one of the first courses to be added to the FFA+ system.

Future

Shri tra Savern is a course that has reached the end of its development. The only future work currently kept in mind is in maintaining and updating the circuitry. An analogue memory cell is being considered to replace the piston tape memory currently used in the course due to tape errors breaking the route changing aspect of the course.