Finix's Maze Generator

Current Version: 1.2.0

Hello and thanks for checking out my asset for maze generation in the Unity Game Engine. Here you can find all the documentation to get started as well as extending the package to fit your needs.

Inspired by Mazes for Programmers by Jamis Buck this tool comes with a variety of features such as swapable generation algorithms, multiple instatiation methods and modifier components to further customize your desired maze.

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Installation

Finix's Maze Generator is fully self contained and does not depend on any external assets. If you do not need the sample scenes, standard prefabs or the triplanar shader, feel free to exclude the art and resources folder when importing the package.

Keep in mind that for a walls and pillars instatiation the walls will be stretched to fit the maze size, as such the UVs will also be stretched, it is reccomended to use the included standard triplanar shader for the walls or other similar implementation.

How to import the package

Open the Unity Editor on version 2021.3.24 or above.
On the tool bar go to Window ▶︎ PackageManager.
On the top left of the Package Manager window select the "Packages: In Project" dropdown menu and switch to "My Assets".
Select the Finix's Maze Generator Package.
On the bottom right click on the Download button.
When the package finishes downloading on the bottom right of the Package Manager window click Import.

Getting Started

Now that you've installed this package, on the Assets folder you can go to Finix's Maze Generator ▶︎ Scenes ▶︎ Sample Scene and mess around with the maze already pre-built in the scene.

Getting Started
- Table of Contents
- Using the package

Using the package

Adding a Maze into a scene

To add a maze in another scene go to the tool bar on top of the Editor and selecting Tools ▶︎ Maze Generator ▶︎ Quad Maze.
Alternitavely you can go to the Hierarchy window and create a new Empty Object and on the inspector window of that object add a new Quad Maze Component, by using this method you need to manually assign what prefabs you want for the different maze parts and Generation methods. When all of that is set-up click the Generate Maze button.

Customizing your Maze

Upon inspecting the Quad Maze component on the Inspector window you might notice a bunch of parameters to tweak and change. To see more information about each one check the documentation refering to the QuadMaze class.

You're main concern now should be setting up your desired prefabs. To do so first we need to talk about the two generation types:

Walls Type: Generates only the walls and pillars of the maze, to use it simply set the Generation Type parameter to Walls Type and add a prefab to the Wall Prefab Slot and the Pillar Prefab in the bottom.
Prefab Type: This one is a more involved process of generating a maze and requires some steps in order to work properly, however once your done, you can have more customization by adding a list of tiles that will be randomly selected per Cell and Modifiers that can help further with the variety and gameplay balance of the maze. To learn more about this Genaration Type check this next page on how to Setup Your Own Prefabs.

By doing this you can now admire your very own procedurally generated maze and change it's layout with a few clicks of a button. You can leave it static and manually adjust it to your liking or toggle the Generate On Start checkbox to generate a new map layout each time the scene loads.

Adding Modifiers

Modifiers are Components that can change both the Layout and Tile generation of the Maze. To use one of the already built modifiers (EntranceExitModifier, UniqueTileModifier):

Select the Maze game object and, on the inspector window, click the Add Component button.
- Alternitavely you can search for the script in the Project window and drag it into the Inspector window.
Search for your desired modifier and click on it.
Assign the correct parameters, which will very from modifier to modifer. Check the scripting reference for more info if needed.
Click create maze.

Setting Up Your Own Prefabs

So, you want to add your own prefabs to the maze? Here's a step-by-step guide:

Setting Up Your Own Prefabs

Step 1: Get modular maze parts

In order to generate a prefab maze, first you need to have to have at least one pre-built prefab for each scenario.

So either pick up your chosen 3D modelling software or buy a modular maze pack from the asset store. In this example I'll be using the standard pieces that come with this asset.

By scenario, we're talking about how many paths a Cell can have to its neighbouring cells and each unique pattern it creates. In the case of a Quad Maze there are 5 unique scenarios possible:


Dead End	Corner
T-Section	Crossroads
Corridor

Step 2: Converting the Meshes to prefab

Now that you have the basic mesh pieces it's time to convert them into prefabs (if you're using an asset from the asset store, chances are the pieces are already in a prefab somewhere):

First import your mesh file (.fbx, .obj, .blend, etc...) into the project by dragging the file into the editor.
Next drag the piece you're converting to a prefab into the scene, it will create a game object with the piece name.
Right click the object and select unpack completely.
Since these are game objects, you can add colliders, scripts for game logic, visual props as a child of this object, enemy or item spawns and even make some duplicates with small differences to make your maze more diverse and less boring.
Finally drag the object to the Project window.

Important Note: Rotate the prefabs correctly

It's important that the prefabs are rotated in a certain way, the value of the base Y rotation is not important but the paths must be like the images with the first path starting in the Z+ axis and each next path going in a clock wise direction like the images above are laid out:

example

Not doing so will result in some glitches when generating the maze like so:

bad_example

Save Your Maze to An Image

Now that you have created your mazes you might want a map of that maze. If your maze is generated at runtime and you want to use just a texture, you can just use the ToTexture method to get a Texture2D of the maze.

However, sometimes you might want to generate your maze on the project and use the map texture as a file image like a PNG or JPEG. For this you have the Maze Printer component. Simply attach the Maze Printer Script to the Maze Game Object and after the Maze is created press print script.

Warning: Currently this feature is still a work in progress so you might encounter some bugs if you change scenes. Also currently the ToTexture method just prints the maze in black and white but you can change the colors in the script.

Package Contents

Folder Structure

└── FinixMazeGenerator/
    ├── Art/
    │   ├── Materials/
    │   │   ├── DefaultMaze.mat
    │   │   ├── Entrance.mat
    │   │   ├── Exit.mat
    │   │   └── Unique.mat
    │   ├── Textures/
    │   │   ├── Grid_01_BaseMap.png
    │   │   ├── Grid_01_Emissive.png
    │   │   ├── Grid_01_Normal.png
    │   │   └── Grid_02_BaseMap.png
    │   ├── quad_maze_parts.fbx
    │   └── StandardTriplanar.shader
    ├── Icons/
    │   └── Maze_Icon.png
    ├── Resources/
    │   └── Prefabs/
    │       ├── Corner.prefab
    │       ├── Corridor.prefab
    │       ├── Crossroads.prefab
    │       ├── Deadend.prefab
    │       ├── Entrance.prefab
    │       ├── Exit.prefab
    │       ├── Intersection.prefab
    │       ├── Pillar.prefab
    │       └── Wall.prefab
    ├── Scenes/
    │   └── SampleScene.unity
    ├── Scripts/
    │   ├── Core/
    │   │   ├── Cells/
    │   │   │   ├── Cell.cs
    │   │   │   └── QuadCell.cs
    │   │   ├── Grids/
    │   │   │   ├── Grid.cs
    │   │   │   └── QuadGrid.cs
    │   │   ├── Algorithms.cs
    │   │   └── Distances.cs
    │   ├── Editor/
    │   │   ├── MazeEditor.cs
    │   │   ├── MazePrintEditor.cs
    │   │   └── StandardTriplanarInspector.cs
    │   ├── Modifiers/
    │   |   ├── AbsoluteLongestPathModifier.cs
    │   |   ├── CellLinkModifier.cs
    │   |   ├── RandomTileModifier.cs
    │   │   └── RelativeLongestPathModifier.cs
    │   ├── IQuadMazeDataModifier.cs
    │   ├── IQuadMazePrefabModifier.cs
    │   ├── Maze.cs
    │   ├── MazePrinter.cs
    │   └── QuadMaze.cs
    ├── FinixMazeGenerator.asmdef
    ├── ThirdPartyNotcice.md
    ├── README.md
    └── Documentation.pdf

FinixMakesGames.MazeGenerator

This section refers to the first layer between the Unity Engine and the one you'll probably be working more close with, be it to automate certain Maze settings or creating your own Modifiers.

Maze

class in FinixMakesGames.MazeGenerator / Inherits from:MonoBehaviour

Method	Description
CreateMaze	Generates the maze
ResetMaze	Destroys every child object of this maze object

Property	Description
_cellPosition	The position of the Cell in the Grid
_unLinkIfFalse	If true removes the path of the directions set to false
_north	Makes a link to the north path
_south	Makes a link to the south path
_west	Makes a link to the west path
_east	Makes a link to the east path

Property	Description
cutPaths	Remove the connection to the valid path
longestExit	Always choose the longest candidate cell as the true exit
entrancePrefab	Reference to the entrance prefab to spawn
exitPrefab	Reference to the exit prefab to spawn
fakeExitPrefab	Reference to the exit prefab to spawn
fakeExitCount	Number of fake exits to spawn

Method	Description
ApplyDataModifier	Modifies the Cell links and consequently the Grid layout
ApplyPrefabModifier	Adds one or multiple <QuadCell,GameObject> pairs to the uniqueTiles property in the given QuadMaze.