Implement a Maze Game in Python
Implementing a maze game in Python can teach you a lot.
- Problem-solving. Implementing a maze game requires breaking down a complex problem into smaller, more manageable tasks. This process involves identifying the rules of the game, designing the maze, creating the game logic, and handling user input. Problem-solving is an essential skill for any programmer, and implementing a maze game provides a great opportunity to develop it.
- Algorithmic thinking. To create a maze game, you need to generate a maze that the player can navigate through. This task requires algorithmic thinking, which involves breaking down a complex problem into a series of simple steps that can be automated. Implementing a maze game provides an opportunity to practice algorithmic thinking and develop problem-solving skills.
- User input and game logic. Implementing a maze game requires handling user input and designing the game logic. This involves creating an event loop that waits for user input, processing user input, updating the game state, and displaying the game screen. Implementing a maze game can help you learn how to handle user input and develop game logic.
- User interface. Implementing a maze game can help you learn how to create a user interface. In this implementation, it will be simple, but you can extend it to a graphical user interface (GUI) by using Python libraries like Pygame or Pyglet. You can learn how to draw images, display text, and respond to user input using a GUI. This can help you develop skills in creating user-friendly applications with good user interfaces.
Are you ready?
Project Description
You will create a maze game in Python.
In the end, you will have an interactive game, where you can create the most amazing and complex mazes on your own.
The best way to understand what the end result will be is to watch the video.
Step 1 Representing the maze
To keep the flexibility of the game as big as possible, you want a great way to represent a maze of your own choice.
Here I present a simple maze, but it is up to you to make your own complex maze afterward.
maze = [
list('######################'),
list('#### ### # # ### #'),
list('# # ## # # # # '),
list('# # # # ##### # #'),
list('# # # ######## # # #'),
list('# # # # # # # #'),
list('# # ## # # # #'),
list('######################'),
]
The walls in the maze are represented by # and you place the player somewhere in the maze.
The maze is represented by a list of lists. Each list represents a row of items of either wall (#) or space ( ).
To make it simple, we will keep a player’s location using the same coordinate system as the list of lists maze has.
Hence, a location like x = 2 and y = 1 is given by the 3rd row (indexed 2) and 2nd column (indexed 1).
Step 2 Displaying the view of the player
The player will only see the nearby view of the maze. Meaning it will see if there is a wall over, under, left, and right of the location where it is.
An easy way to display that could be as follows.
maze = [
list('######################'),
list('#### ### # # ### #'),
list('# # ## # # # # '),
list('# # # # ##### # #'),
list('# # # ######## # # #'),
list('# # # # # # # #'),
list('# # ## # # # #'),
list('######################'),
]
x = 2
y = 1
# This will display the player view
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print(maze[x][y-1]*3 + ' o ' + maze[x][y+1]*3)
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
Obviously, you are free to make it more advanced.
But this will look the location above (x – 1, y), left (x, y – 1), right (x, y + 1), and below (x + 1, y).
If you change the player’s location, you can see it will update the player view accordingly.
Step 3 Player interaction
To get player interaction we need input from the player.
# The following import is specific for JuPyter Notebooks.
from IPython.display import clear_output
maze = [
list('######################'),
list('#### ### # # ### #'),
list('# # ## # # # # '),
list('# # # # ##### # #'),
list('# # # ######## # # #'),
list('# # # # # # # #'),
list('# # ## # # # #'),
list('######################'),
]
x = 2
y = 1
while True:
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print(maze[x][y-1]*3 + ' o ' + maze[x][y+1]*3)
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
move = input('w: up, s: down, a: left, d:right (h: map) - ')
clear_output()
if move == 'w': # up
pass
elif move == 's': # down
pass
elif move == 'a': # left
pass
elif move == 'd': # right
pass
elif move == 'h': # show map
pass
elif move == 'q': # quit
break
For now, we have not implemented the controls except the quit.
Notice we use a while True loop, which is an infinite loop, and we exit the loop by using the break in the quit option q.
As you notice, we start by displaying the player’s view. Then we prompt for input and after that we clear the output (clear_output()), which will clear the output for text, to avoid rows of printing output from the last views. The clear_output() is specific for Jupyter Notebooks.
Step 4 Implementing show map
To help the player navigate in the maze, we can show the map if the player presses h.
# The following import is specific for JuPyter Notebooks.
from IPython.display import clear_output
maze = [
list('######################'),
list('#### ### # # ### #'),
list('# # ## # # # # '),
list('# # # # ##### # #'),
list('# # # ######## # # #'),
list('# # # # # # # #'),
list('# # ## # # # #'),
list('######################'),
]
x = 2
y = 1
while True:
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print(maze[x][y-1]*3 + ' o ' + maze[x][y+1]*3)
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
move = input('w: up, s: down, a: left, d:right (h: map) - ')
clear_output()
if move == 'w': # up
pass
elif move == 's': # down
pass
elif move == 'a': # left
pass
elif move == 'd': # right
pass
elif move == 'h': # show map
maze[x][y] = 'o'
for row in maze:
print(''.join(row))
maze[x][y] = ' '
input('Press enter to continue')
clear_output()
elif move == 'q': # quit
break
As you can see, we start by inserting the player as an o and then we print each row of the maze by joining all the items. This will display the map of the maze.
Also notice, that after we have displayed the map, we change the player position to space again.
Finally, we prompt the user to press enter to continue and remove the map.
Step 5 Implementing the navigation and end game
Finally, we need to implement the navigation.
# The following import is specific for JuPyter Notebooks.
from IPython.display import clear_output
maze = [
list('######################'),
list('#### ### # # ### #'),
list('# # ## # # # # '),
list('# # # # ##### # #'),
list('# # # ######## # # #'),
list('# # # # # # # #'),
list('# # ## # # # #'),
list('######################'),
]
x = 2
y = 1
while True:
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x-1][y]*3 + '###')
print(maze[x][y-1]*3 + ' o ' + maze[x][y+1]*3)
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
print('###' + maze[x+1][y]*3 + '###')
move = input('w: up, s: down, a: left, d:right (h: map) - ')
clear_output()
if move == 'w': # up
if maze[x - 1][y] == '#':
print('Illegal move')
else:
x -= 1
elif move == 's': # down
if maze[x + 1][y] == '#':
print('Illegal move')
else:
x += 1
elif move == 'a': # left
if maze[x][y - 1] == '#':
print('Illegal move')
else:
y -= 1
elif move == 'd': # right
if maze[x][y + 1] == '#':
print('Illegal move')
else:
y += 1
elif move == 'h': # show map
maze[x][y] = 'o'
for row in maze:
print(''.join(row))
maze[x][y] = ' '
input('Press enter to continue')
clear_output()
elif move == 'q': # quit
break
else:
print('Unknown move')
if y == len(maze[0]) - 1:
print('You finished')
break
It is important to check that the move is legal. This is done by checking if the move will result in a wall brick (#) or not.
Finally, we have kept the maze simple and only have one exit on the far right. This way, a simple way to check if the player has finished the maze is to see if the move results in a position on the far right side of the maze.
What you can do next?
Well, I am glad you asked.
You can create your own maze now. If you keep the only exit in your maze at the far right, keep the maze rectangular, then you can use the code as it is.
If you make further changes, you might need to modify the code to your specific needs.
Want more Python projects?
This is part of 19 Python Projects and you can build the classical heads or tails game learn 5 things that you didn’t know.
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