Maze generation algorithm

Maze generation algorithms are automated methods for the creation of mazes.

A maze can be generated by starting with a predetermined arrangement of cells (most commonly a rectangular grid but other arrangements are possible) with wall sites between them. This predetermined arrangement can be considered as a connected graph with the edges representing possible wall sites and the nodes representing cells. The purpose of the maze generation algorithm can then be considered to be making a subgraph in which it is challenging to find a route between two particular nodes.

If the subgraph is not connected, then there are regions of the graph that are wasted because they do not contribute to the search space. If the graph contains loops, then there may be multiple paths between the chosen nodes. Because of this, maze generation is often approached as generating a random spanning tree. Loops, which can confound naive maze solvers, may be introduced by adding random edges to the result during the course of the algorithm.

The animation shows the maze generation steps for a graph that is not on a rectangular grid. First, the computer creates a random planar graph G shown in blue, and its dual F shown in yellow. Second, computer traverses F using a chosen algorithm, such as a depth-first search, coloring the path red. During the traversal, whenever a red edge crosses over a blue edge, the blue edge is removed. Finally, when all vertices of F have been visited, F is erased and two edges from G, one for the entrance and one for the exit, are removed.

This algorithm is a randomized version of the depth-first search algorithm. Frequently implemented with a stack, this approach is one of the simplest ways to generate a maze using a computer. Consider the space for a maze being a large grid of cells (like a large chess board), each cell starting with four walls. Starting from a random cell, the computer then selects a random neighbouring cell that has not yet been visited. The computer removes the wall between the two cells and marks the new cell as visited, and adds it to the stack to facilitate backtracking. The computer continues this process, with a cell that has no unvisited neighbours being considered a dead-end. When at a dead-end it backtracks through the path until it reaches a cell with an unvisited neighbour, continuing the path generation by visiting this new, unvisited cell (creating a new junction). This process continues until every cell has been visited, causing the computer to backtrack all the way back to the beginning cell. We can be sure every cell is visited.

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