Maze Builder Docs

Maze Builder

Create and customize mazes on multiple platforms and languages. An example output string is shown here:

+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|                 |                       |                 |
+-----+-----+     +     +-----+-----+     +     +     +     +
|                 |                 |     |     |     |     |
+     +-----+-----+     +-----+-----+     +     +     +-----+
|     |           |     |           |           |           |
+     +     +     +     +     +     +-----+     +-----+     +
|     |     |           |     |           |           |     |
+     +     +-----+-----+     +-----+     +-----+-----+     +
|           |           |     |           |                 |
+     +-----+     +     +-----+     +-----+     +-----+-----+
|     |           |           |     |                       |
+     +-----+-----+-----+     +     +-----+-----+-----+     +
|                       |     |     |                       |
+-----+-----+-----+     +     +     +     +-----+-----+     +
|                 |     |     |     |           |           |
+-----+-----+     +     +     +     +     +     +     +-----+
|                 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+     +-----+-----+     +     +     +-----+     +     +     +
|                             |                 |           |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

Data Formats

The library provides support for different export formats like Wavefront object format, JSON, and plain text or stdout.

There is an included example for parsing command-line arguments and creating JSON output:

mazebuildercli.exe -r 2 -c 5 -o 2x5.json

{
  "rows": 2,
  "columns": 5,
  "seed": 2,
  "algo": "dfs",
  "output": "+---+---+---+---+---+\n
             |           |       |\n
             +   +---+   +---+   +\n
             |       |           |\n
             +---+---+---+---+---+\n"
}

---

Examples

Command-Line Interface (CLI)

This example lets you build mazes with all the functionality of the computer terminal.

Run the binary_tree algorithm with long arguments and make a Wavefront object maze:

mazebuildercli.exe --rows=25 --columns=25 --seed=42 --algo=binary_tree --output=bt.obj

Run the dfs algorithm with short arguments:

mazebuildercli.exe -r 25 -c 25 -s 42 -a dfs -o dfs.obj

Get some help and print to standard output:

mazebuildercli.exe --help

Commands are case-sensitive!

C++ API

Interface with the C++ API in a modern C++ program:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
    
// Get all the headers from Maze Builder
#include <MazeBuilder/maze_builder.h>
 
int main() {
  
  auto rows{10}, cols{10};
 
  auto maze_str = mazes::create(rows, cols);
 
  std::cout << mazes::string_utils::format("output: {}\n", maze_str);
 
  return 0;
}

---

Voxels

• The Voxels app is set in a 3D voxel world and enables interactive maze generation and downloading of Wavefront object files.

Check out the this example in a live app!

The web app can be run locally with the provided secure_http_server.py script. Once the script is running, open the browser to http://localhost:8000.

HTTP Network

• User can connect with Corners, the maze building service, to create mazes

Physics

• Simple scoring system that includes maintaining a string of highlighted bricks
• Balls interact with the bricks and break them after repeated bounces
• Updated event handling (mouse, touch, keyboard)
• Maintains high scores via a network connection with Corners or locally on harddrive
• Spatialized sound effects in 2D

---

CMake Configuration and Testing

CMake is used for project configuration.

Here are the external dependencies which can be grabbed from the Internet by CMake:

• box2d
• catch2
• fmt
• SDL
• SFML

Use the following CMake options to configure the project:

CMake Option	Default	Description
MAZE_BUILDER_EXAMPLES	OFF	Build with project examples enabled
MAZE_BUILDER_COVERAGE	OFF	Build with code coverage using CppCheck
MAZE_BUILDER_TESTS	OFF	Build with testing using Catch2
MAZE_BUILDER_DOCS	OFF	Build the docs using doxygen
MAZE_BUILDER_MEMCHECK	OFF	Build with Valgrind and Memcheck support

---

Build Commands

Configure it with Ninja generator: cmake -G"Ninja Multi-Config" -S . -B build-examples -DMAZE_BUILDER_EXAMPLES:BOOL=ON

Build it: cmake --build build-examples --config Release

By default, both a shared-object library and static library are produced. The shared and static files have different naming conventions depending on the platform:

Platform	static lib	shared lib
Windows	mazebuildercore_static.lib	mazebuildercore_shared.dll
Linux	libmazebuildercore_static.a	libmazebuildercore_shared.so
MacOS	libmazebuildercore_static.a	libmazebuildercore_shared.dylib

---

Testing

Configure the project for testing: cmake -S . -B build-tests -DMAZE_BUILDER_TESTS:BOOL=ON

Run the tests: ctest --test-dir build-tests/tests --verbose -C Debug

---

Configure for the Web

Configure the examples for the Web using Emscripten and their toolchain file (or emcmake).

cmake -S . -B build-web -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:FILEPATH=${my/emsdk/repo}/upstream/emscripten/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake

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Scripts

The Ruby script mazes.rb generates PNG images of mazes using algorithms and methods similar to the C++ library. It is a good place to start learning about the maze-generating algorithms. The Python script solver.py plays with the maze generation by loading PNG files and finding paths and networks.

Script dependencies:

• gem install chunky_png
• pip install numpy pillow networkx

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Helpful Resources on Mazes

• Mazes for Programmers Book