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maze_generator

maze_generator is a module for easily generating mazes.

āš ļø This module is work-in-progress, so much of it is unstable.

Feedback is welcome. The best way to provide feedback is to open an issue.

This module is heavily influenced by Jamis Buckā€™s Coffeescript mazes. It is structured a little differently though and is written entirely in Javascript rather than Coffeescript. It also functions as a module, rather than a library. I aim to eventually add all the functionality that Jamisā€™s CS maze library has.

Example Usage

import {Maze} from "https://x.nest.land/maze_generator@0.1.0-alpha.1/mod.js"

let mazeSettings = {
  width: 12,
  height: 12,
  algorithm: "recursive backtracker"
}

//initialize the maze
let m = Maze.create(mazeSettings);

//generate it
m.generate();

//print the maze to the console
m.printString();

Other examples

See the examples folder for more examples.

Also see this OpenProcessing sketch.

Maze.create()

To create a new maze, use Maze.create(). You can optionally pass in an object with the settings (see below).

Maze settings object

These are all the properties of the object you can pass in when you write Maze.create(mazeSettings)

Property Description Valid Values Default Value
width (or xSize) The width of the maze. (How many columns there should be.) Any integer greater than 0. Any number greater than 100 defaults to 100. height or 30
height (or ySize) The height of the maze. (How many rows there should be.) Any integer greater than 0. Any number greater than 100 defaults to 100. width or 30
algorithm The algorithm to use. Any one of the following: "recursive backtracker", "eller's", "sidewinder", "kruskal's", "simplified prim's", "modified prim's", "hunt and kill", "binary tree", "aldous broder", "recursive division", "random" (random algorithm). This isnā€™t case sensitive. Characters other than a-z are ignored. "recursive backtracker"
start Where to start the maze generation from (if there is an option). An object with both an x and y property (both integers) or a string referencing a certain point ("random" or a certain side or corner such as "north east") "random" for all algorithms except Ellerā€™s, binary tree and sidewinder, which are all {x: 0, y: 0}.

.step()

Call .step() to advance the maze one step.

Returns true if the maze hasnā€™t finished generating yet and false if there are no more steps left to take. You can also check if a maze has finished generating with .finishedGenerating, which is a boolean value.

.generate()

This method calls .step() repeatedly until the maze has finished generating (or it has given up). Returns the finished maze

.display()

This is the function which displays the maze.

Note that this function (currently) only works in a html document with a canvas element.

It takes in an object with the properties listed below.

Property Description Valid Values Default Value
canvas The canvas to display the maze on. A canvas element (e.g. document. getElementsByTagName("canvas")[0]). The first canvas element in the html.
coloringMode How the cells are colored. "normal": regular coloring, "distance": each cell is colored by a distance from a point (WIP). More coloring modes coming soon hopefully. Anything other than the valid values specififed defaults to normal coloring. "normal"
colorScheme The color scheme to use when coloringMode is not "normal". This can either be "grayscale", "rainbow" or an array or hex codes. "rainbow"
mainColor This is the color of the walls (or line). A hex value as a string "#000"
backgroundColor Background color and color of the space between walls (unless colorMode isnā€™t "normal") A hex value as a string "#FFF"
antiAliasing Whether or not to apply anti-aliasing to the image drawn on the canvas (imageSmoothingEnabled). Setting it to false gives crisp edges but it can distort the output for small canvases where the cells do not line up with the canvas pixels well. true or false false
showSolution Whether or not to show the solution when the maze is complete true or false false
solutionColor The color of the solution if showSolution is true A hex value as a string "#F00"
strokeWeight The thickness of the lines drawn A number 4

.display() example usage

let kruskalMaze = Maze.create({
  width: 20,
  height: 20,
  algorithm: "Kruskal's"
}).generate();

kruskalMaze.display({
  canvas: document.getElementById("maze-canvas") //Replace this with your canvas element you want to display the maze on.
})

This will display a maze similar to this:

Kruskal's maze

.printString()

Prints out the maze as a string to the console.

.printString() example usage

Basic code

Maze.create({
  width: 10,
  height: 10
}).generate().printString()

Example output

 ___________________
|__  _____|   |  __ |
|   | ______|___| __|
| |_|__ |   |_  |__ |
|  _____| |__ | | __|
| |  _____|  _| |_  |
|_  |___  __| |  _| |
| | |   |____ | |  _|
|  _| | |_   ___| | |
| | |_|_  |_|  ____ |
|_______|_____|_____|

.getSolution()

This is a method that returns the solution to the maze in the form of an array of cell positions.

You can optionally pass in a start and end point, but it will default to the top left and bottom right of the maze.

Try console.log(Maze.create().generate().getSolution()).