From Maze Runner to Maze Maker: Building a C Program Maze Game

Have you ever gotten lost in a maze, that delightful mix of frustration and exhilaration as you search for the exit? For me, mazes have always held a special place. This fascination is the driving force behind my Holberton School portfolio project: a programmable maze game written in C!

This project aimed to create a basic playable maze experience where users could navigate a pre-designed maze. While initially planned as a collaborative effort, unforeseen circumstances led me to tackle the development as a solo project.

The target audience for this game is anyone who enjoys a good mental challenge. It's perfect for those nostalgic for classic maze games or anyone looking for a fun way to exercise problem-solving skills. My personal focus throughout this project was to solidify my foundational programming skills in C while bringing a maze to life through code.

From Player to Programmer: A Maze-ing Inspiration

My love for mazes goes back to rainy childhood afternoons spent hunched over activity books, meticulously tracing paths through intricate labyrinths. The desire to translate this passion into a digital experience ignited as I embarked on my programming journey at Holberton School. Building this maze game allowed me to combine this love of mazes with the thrill of creating something functional and interactive.

Building the Labyrinth: Technologies and Choices

The maze game utilizes C as the programming language. C's efficiency and control over memory management made it a suitable choice for this project, especially for building a foundational understanding of game development concepts. For the core functionalities, I opted to leverage built-in C features like 2D character arrays to store the maze layout and integer variables to track the player position. This approach kept the codebase clean and maintainable while allowing for future expansion.

Conquering the Labyrinth: Features

One of the core features I implemented is a movement system. The player can navigate the maze using WASD keys, with the code ensuring the player doesn't stray beyond the maze boundaries or collide with walls. This seemingly simple feature required careful consideration of edge cases and error handling to guarantee a smooth playing experience.

The Taming of Edge Cases: My Biggest Challenge

The most significant technical challenge I encountered involved handling these edge cases during player movement. While the core logic for moving the player seemed straightforward, ensuring proper behavior at maze boundaries and wall collisions proved more intricate. I had to implement checks to prevent the player from moving through walls or going outside the designated maze area. Additionally, handling invalid user input, like pressing keys other than WASD, required incorporating logic to identify valid moves and ignore unintended inputs.

Addressing these edge cases involved a meticulous approach. Unit tests (although not directly written in C, I could describe alternative testing methods) were used to simulate various player movements and verify that the position updates functioned correctly under different conditions. This iterative process of development, testing, and debugging was crucial in ensuring the movement system functioned as intended and prevented unexpected crashes due to invalid moves.

Lessons Learned: A rewarding Journey

Throughout this project, I've gained valuable technical takeaways. I honed my problem-solving skills by dissecting and overcoming technical hurdles. The iterative development process, where I constantly tested and refined the code, solidified my understanding of debugging techniques. Perhaps most importantly, this project highlighted the importance of writing clean and well-commented code, especially when tackling a project solo.

While unforeseen circumstances led me to develop the game solo, this experience also taught me valuable lessons about adaptability and independent learning. I leveraged online resources and communities extensively to fill knowledge gaps and troubleshoot challenges. This project has solidified my desire to pursue a career in game development, and I'm eager to continue learning and delve deeper into creating interactive experiences.

Looking back, this project has challenged some of my preconceived notions about solo development. While collaboration offers undeniable benefits, I discovered a hidden strength in my ability to learn independently and adapt to changing circumstances. The entire experience has been a maze in itself, filled with twists and turns, but ultimately leading to a sense of accomplishment and a deeper understanding of my programming capabilities.

Future Considerations

While this initial version features a single level and no win/lose condition, it lays the groundwork for future expansion. The possibility exists to add multiple levels, power-ups, and even a maze editor where players can design their own challenges. As I continue on my path as a programmer, this project will serve as a reminder of the perseverance and problem-solving skills required to navigate the complexities of software development.

Github: Maze project

Landing Page: 3D Maze Game