Maze Generator and Visualizer

A Python project that generates mazes using classic algorithms and visualizes them in real time using pygame. The project supports animated maze generation, algorithm selection from the terminal, and saving the maze to a data format for later use.

Features

• Maze generation using:

  • Depth-First Search (Recursive Backtracker)
  • Prim’s Algorithm

• Real-time animated visualization using pygame

• Clearly distinguishable walls, paths, start and exit

• Moving pointer showing the active head of the generation algorithm

• Terminal-based algorithm selection menu

• Maze saved as JSON for reuse in solvers or replay

Project Structure

maze-generator/
│
├── main.py            # Entry point
├── maze.json          # Saved maze data
├── README.md          # Project documentation

Requirements

• Python 3.9 or newer
• pygame

Install dependencies using:

pip install pygame

How to Run

Run the program from the terminal:

python main.py

You will be prompted for:

1. Maze width
2. Maze height
3. Algorithm selection

Enter maze width: 40
Enter maze height: 40

Select maze generation algorithm:

1. Depth-First Search (Recursive Backtracker)
2. Prim's Algorithm

Enter choice (1 or 2): 1

The pygame window will open and animate the maze generation.

Controls

• Close the pygame window to end visualization

Maze Representation

• # Wall
• Path
• S Start
• X Exit

Internally, the maze is stored as a 2D grid of size:

(2 * width + 1) x (2 * height + 1)

This ensures continuous walls and proper cell separation.

Algorithms Overview

Depth-First Search (Recursive Backtracker)

• Produces long winding corridors

• Simple and fast

• Creates perfect mazes with a single unique solution

  

Prim’s Algorithm

• Produces more evenly distributed paths
• More branching and shorter corridors
• Also generates perfect mazes

Saved Data

After generation, the maze is saved as:

maze.json

This file can be reused for:

• Maze solving algorithms (BFS, Dijkstra, A*)
• Analysis or export to other formats

Known Limitations

• Very large mazes may require reducing cell size for display
• Recursive DFS can hit recursion limits for extremely large mazes
• Rendering extremely large grids may impact performance

Related Repository

🔗 Maze Solver Repository

License

This project is open for learning and experimentation.

Use and modify freely.